Enterprise Adoption of Stablecoins

Q2 2025 signaled a shift in stablecoin adoption across enterprise finance, as companies referenced stablecoins over 200 times in earnings calls. This analysis draws on transcripts from leading financial services firms to map out their stablecoin strategies, highlight specific initiatives, and surface the key themes shaping corporate Board discussions.

What stood out to me digging through these transcripts:

1️⃣ We’re past “wait and see” — With 90% of businesses actively testing and giants like Visa (35 mentions) and Remitly (40 mentions) committing serious resources, stablecoins are moving from pilots to full production deployments.

2️⃣ Payments & fintechs are sprinting ahead — embedding stablecoins into settlement, FX services, and emerging market access. Banks are cautious but serious — doubling down on regulatory clarity, tokenized deposits, and institutional custody.

3️⃣ Public blockchains dominate for speed and network effects, but Google (GCUL), Stripe (Tempo), and Circle (Arc) are betting big on proprietary L1s for full-stack control, compliance-by-design, and predictable costs.

4️⃣ A network orchestration era is here — success will hinge on value-added services like liquidity, partnerships, and platform effects rather than cost savings. Companies like PayPal and Remitly are already reshaping their business models around this tech.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the author's current employer. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Recipients should consult their own advisors before making these types of decisions. The author is not responsible for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions of information; nor for the accuracy or authenticity of the information upon which it relies.

1. The Market Has Reached an Inflection Point

Takeaway: The shift from experimentation to production deployment is happening now. With 90% of businesses actively testing and major players like Visa (35 mentions) and Remitly (40 mentions) dedicating resources behind initiatives, we are past the "wait and see" or experimentation phase of adoption.

2. Use Case Hierarchy Has Emerged

Takeaway: The most cited use cases in press releases are cross-border payments, treasury operations, and emerging market access / inclusion. However, the real opportunity may be in value-added services (FX, clearing, interoperability, off-ramps) around stablecoins, not just efficiency or cost gains.

(1) Cross-border payments (highly cited as primary use case)

• Corpay partnered with Circle to integrate USDC across pay-in and pay-out rails for businesses operating in over 80 countries. The company's multicurrency account product has grown from 2,000 to 10,000 accounts with $1 billion in aggregated customer deposits, demonstrating rapid enterprise adoption of hybrid fiat-stablecoin solutions.

• d.local reported 75% cross-border volume growth driven partly by stablecoin-enabled settlement services. The company has formed strategic partnerships with Circle and BVNK to provide stablecoin settlement and on/off-ramp services, particularly targeting Latin American markets where traditional banking infrastructure remains limited.

(2) Treasury operations (24/7 settlement capability valued over cost savings)

• Western Union and Corpay both highlighted how stablecoins enable faster settlement speeds and reduce partner funding requirements. Corpay CEO Ron Clarke noted that the "biggest edge for stablecoins is their 24/7 payment capability and not necessarily cost savings, since 90% of Corpay's value creation comes from FX conversion".

Emerging market financial inclusion (serving 1 billion underbanked)

• Visa specifically highlighted emerging markets where traditional digitization efforts have faced challenges: "In emerging markets use cases, the bulk of those markets around the world are very cash rich markets — markets where we haven't been as successful digitizing cash as we have in more mature markets".

• Remitly emphasized that “stablecoin demand is emerging, especially in markets facing currency instability" with broader adoption expected as financial services continue evolving. This aligns with global trends showing stablecoins serving up to 1 billion underbanked individuals worldwide, particularly in countries experiencing high inflation rates.

3. Approaches Are Diverging by Sector

Takeaway: Companies have different approaches, with banks largely taking a defensive stance (regulation-first, avoiding deposit flight) and payment companies going on offense (disintermediation, network effects).

Banks:

Focus on tokenized deposits over pure stablecoins

• Citigroup made headlines when CEO Jane Fraser announced the bank is "looking at the issuance of a Citi stablecoin" while emphasizing that "tokenized deposits represent a more immediate focus”. Fraser outlined four key areas of development: stablecoin reserve management, fiat-crypto conversion services, tokenized deposits, and crypto custody solutions.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon confirmed that: "We're going to be involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it". The bank's JPMD deposit token pilot on public blockchains represents a significant evolution from its initially private Kinexys Digital Payments platform, which already processes approximately $2 billion in daily transactions.

Regulatory compliance as a differentiator

• Deutsche Bank secured regulatory approval for "the first fully regulated, euro-denominated stablecoin out of Germany" through its DWS asset management division. This development positions the bank as a pioneer in European stablecoin infrastructure, complementing the broader MiCA regulatory framework that has provided clarity for institutional adoption across the European Union.

• Standard Chartered forecasts the stablecoin sector will grow eightfold to reach $2 trillion by 2028. The bank's earnings call revealed active exploration of banking services with compliant stablecoin issuers, particularly following Hong Kong's regulatory framework implementation.

Payment Companies:

Direct integration with existing networks (PayPal's PYUSD ecosystem)

• PayPal has issued its PYUSD stablecoin into its merchant ecosystem (PayPal World, powered by PYUSD, enables merchants to accept over 100 cryptocurrencies with instant conversion capabilities). CEO Alex Chriss characterized PYUSD as "a pivotal part of PayPal's mission to advance global commerce….addressing customer pain points around high fees and the slow speed of cross-border money transfers"

Partnership strategies to avoid infrastructure build (Remitly + Stripe's Bridge)

• Remitly positioned stablecoins as central to expanding its total addressable market through new product categories. CEO Matt Oppenheimer explained that customers will have "the option to store and manage stablecoin balances along with traditional fiat in their Remitly wallet" through partnerships with Stripe's Bridge platform.

Strategic pivots to avoid disruption

• Western Union marked a strategic pivot by announcing stablecoin initiatives despite historically avoiding cryptocurrency exposure. CEO Devin McGranahan explained that “stablecoins could reduce dependency on legacy correspondent banking systems, shortened settlement windows and improved capital efficiency". The company has initiated pilot programs in South American and African markets, focusing on creating on/off-ramps for digital assets in emerging economies.

4. Integration with Public Blockchains Is The Dominant Strategy, but some are taking a “Full Stack” Approach

Takeaway: Many enterprise players are choosing integration with existing blockchains over building proprietary L1 chains. They are choosing to innovate on the application layer.

• Visa is expanding to multiple stablecoin networks rather than creating their own

• Corpay partnering with Circle rather than building proprietary solutions

• Banks are focusing on custody and infrastructure rather than issuance

However, there are some notable exceptions of firms that are taking a “full-stack” approach to monetize transaction fees, set performance parameters, and capture more margin. Proprietary L1s also allow integrated KYC/AML, improved latency, and jurisdiction-specific customization.

Conclusion

Q2 2025 earnings calls made it clear that stablecoins are becoming core to financial infrastructure strategy.

(1) Payment networks and fintechs are racing ahead with stablecoin-enabled settlement, FX services, and emerging market expansion, while banks are positioning around regulatory clarity, tokenized deposits, and institutional custody solutions.

(2) The dominant trend is integration with existing public blockchains to gain speed-to-market advantages, but a parallel movement toward proprietary Layer-1 blockchains (Google’s GCUL, Stripe’s Tempo, Circle’s Arc) shows that full-stack control, compliance-by-design, and predictable economics remain powerful levers for differentiation.

(3) The market is entering a network orchestration era, where success will hinge less on raw cost savings and more on building liquidity, partnerships, and platform effects. Companies that embed stablecoins into treasury operations, remittance services, and merchant ecosystems are already redefining their business models, setting the stage for rapid consolidation around a handful of trusted standards.

Strategic Takeaways for Executives:

1. Positioning Matters – Decide early whether your competitive edge is as an infrastructure provider, orchestrator, or vertical innovator.

2. Flexibility is a Hedge – Maintain reversible commitments with multi-chain support and modular architectures to navigate evolving regulation.

3. Think Beyond Payments – Focus on value-added services (FX, clearing, interoperability) to capture sustainable margins.

4. Prepare for Scale – Consolidation is inevitable; leaders will be those who can scale liquidity, compliance, and distribution rapidly.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the author's current employer. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. Recipients should consult their own advisors before making these types of decisions. The author is not responsible for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions of information; nor for the accuracy or authenticity of the information upon which it relies.