Stablecoin Payments Are the Future—And They’re Arriving Faster Than You Think
(Originally posted on LinkedIn - join the conversation there!)
In 1975, Kodak invented digital photography, but chose not to pursue it. Afraid of cannibalizing their film business, they delayed. By the time they adapted, it was too late. Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
We’re seeing a similar moment in payments today.
Stablecoins, blockchain-based digital dollars, are scaling faster than any payment method in history. It took Visa and PayPal nearly a decade to hit 100 million users. USDC did it in under three. That’s not just innovation. That’s acceleration.
Stripe, PayPal, Shift4, and others see it. Stripe’s $1.1B acquisition of Bridge was a bet on a $1T future built on stablecoin rails. They know this is more than a trend, it’s a transition.
Why? Two big reasons:
Supercharged Issuance
Stablecoin wallets aren’t issued by banks—they’re spun up by apps solving real problems: sending money across borders (Félix), building next-gen loyalty (Blackbird Labs), or investing socially (Frens). Every time someone joins a Web3 app, they’re handed a wallet—and a new payment rail. That’s how we get to 500M+ stablecoin holders and $700B in monthly transaction volume (excluding bot and high-frequency activity - see Allium's stablecoin dashboard).
Global Interoperability
Traditional payments are complex and fragmented. Stablecoins offer a single, borderless method—and through platforms like Loop Crypto, merchants can accept global stablecoin payments and settle instantly in local fiat. You can see below just how many countries Loop payers are from. That’s transformative. It means better customer access, lower fees, and faster settlement, all through a single API.
We’re seeing a flywheel take shape: more users leads to more merchant adoption leading to even more users. And this one doesn’t require intermediaries like issuing or acquiring banks. Value flows directly between buyer and seller, faster, cheaper, and more transparently.
This is not a hypothetical future. It’s already happening. The question isn’t if stablecoins will reshape global payments. The question is who will move fast enough to benefit.
At Loop, we’re helping merchants, marketplaces, and platforms tap into this transformation today, with seamless stablecoin payment infrastructure built for global scale.
If you’re curious about how stablecoins could unlock new markets, reduce costs, or future-proof your business—we’d love to talk.
Drop us a note. Or just start with a question: What is holding your business back from accepting stablecoins?
