Stablecoin payments are growing rapidly in the corporate market, but a bottleneck to real expansion is bank infrastructure rather than blockchain technology, a report said.

On Sept. 6, blockchain outlet Decrypt reported that annualised stablecoin payments at end-2025 totalled about $390 billion. That was about 0.02 percent of the $208 trillion cross-border payments market. Because corporate payments still start and end in fiat currency, stablecoins are focused on replacing the middle leg of cross-border value transfer previously handled by interbank networks.

Corporate cross-border payments are broadly divided into three stages. A sender's funds move through local currency and payment rails, such as when a Brazilian importer pays in reals using Pix. On the other side, a supplier receives payment into an account in local currency such as dollars. The middle leg that moves funds across borders has traditionally been handled by correspondent banks and international interbank payment networks.

Stablecoins settle that middle leg on-chain in seconds. But banks still handle inflows and outflows, regulatory compliance and access to local payment networks in each country. That is because most corporate money flows, including payroll, supplier payments, revenue and capital allocation, are based on fiat currency and regulated financial infrastructure.

The market size also shows these limits. FXC Intelligence put the 2025 cross-border payments market at $208 trillion. McKinsey and Artemis estimated annualised stablecoin payments at end-2025 at about $390 billion. Stablecoin volumes often cited at more than $30 trillion a year include a large share of bot trading, internal exchange fund movements and automated trading, and should be distinguished from actual payment volumes.

Another analysis said that as corporate payment volumes grow, the depth of banking networks, foreign exchange and licensing systems matters more than technology. At annual payment volumes of about $50 million, a company can manage with 1 bank, 1 stablecoin issuer and a single compliance framework. But as volumes expand to $500 million and $10 billion, the key becomes how many payment legs banking, FX and licensing systems can actually support. Ultimately, volumes follow the infrastructure that backs them.

The same structure appears in Brazil. Brazil's instant payments system Pix processed more than 35 trillion reais in 2025, and business-to-business transactions accounted for 47 percent. That means handling institutional-size payments requires real-denominated settlement, access to local payment networks and FX infrastructure.

In particular, dependence on a single bank was identified as a major operational risk. Many stablecoin payment firms rely on a single main bank, but a bank can exit fintech and virtual-asset programs or halt certain payment legs due to regulatory changes, management turnover or compliance reviews. Examples cited as precedents for such risks included Silvergate's wind-down, the FDIC receivership of Signature Bank, and the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's "pause letters" obtained by Coinbase through a freedom-of-information request.

In March 2026, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission sent formal warning letters to PayPal, Stripe, Visa and Mastercard over debanking practices. That coincided with federal-level moves following a debanking-related executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in August 2025. Companies with only 1 banking relationship may have to halt operations if it is cut off, creating a need to connect to multiple regulated banks and diversify payment rails.

The regulatory environment is also moving toward tighter integration with banks. The Genius Act, signed in July 2025, applies bank-level reserve, disclosure and licensing requirements to compliant stablecoin issuance. Even where non-bank issuers are allowed, the importance of partnerships with banks and bank-custodied reserves is likely to grow in large-scale transactions.

An EY-Parthenon survey showed 13 percent of financial institutions and companies use stablecoins, and 80 percent of non-users are actively considering adoption. As demand expands, supply of regulated, institution-grade infrastructure that companies can trust is becoming a bottleneck.

Major operators are also strengthening ties with banks. Stripe acquired Bridge, which is built around bank connectivity, for $1.1 billion, and Citi is pursuing a digital-asset custody business. Standard Chartered is testing stablecoin settlement in Singapore. The analysis said companies expanding institutional transactions are converging on a structure that integrates with bank infrastructure.

Business-to-business stablecoin payments rose 733 percent year on year to an annualised about $226 billion at end-2025. But the growth was concentrated among firms that first built bank connectivity, local payment networks and FX infrastructure. Stablecoins' strengths, including fast settlement, programmability, 24-hour payments and reduced friction from correspondent banks, can be used in the institutional market only when supported by banking infrastructure.

Bernardo Brites (베르나르두 브리치스), co-founder and CEO of Trace Finance, assessed that sustainable payment infrastructure at corporate scale is being built not by moving away from banks but by integrating with multiple banks.