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The debate around stablecoins has largely missed the point.

For many businesses, the question is no longer whether stablecoins will matter, but whether they have already waited too long to engage with them strategically.

In 2025, stablecoins quietly crossed a threshold, not as a speculative asset, but as part of the infrastructure through which value increasingly moves across borders.

From my perspective, the biggest risk businesses face today is not adopting stablecoins too early.

It is doing nothing at all. One of the clearest signals in 2025 came not from crypto-native firms, but from the most established institutions in global finance.

Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement capabilities. Mastercard accelerated its on-chain payments initiatives. J.P. Morgan launched its USD-denominated deposit token (JPM Coin/JPMD) on the public Base blockchain for institutional clients.

SWIFT, long synonymous with correspondent banking, began exploring how digital assets could integrate with existing financial rails rather than sit outside them.

According to public statements from these institutions, the focus was not on disruption but on efficiency, interoperability, and scale.

These organisations do not move quickly, and they do not move speculatively. When they adapt, it is because underlying economic behaviour has already shifted.

At the same time, according to the State of Crypto Report, transaction volumes last year reached $9 trillion, up 87% from the year prior. Importantly, a growing share of this activity was driven by real economic use – enterprise payments, remittances, payroll, and cross-border settlement – rather than trading.

For businesses, the implication was clear. The way value moves globally is changing, with or without them.

For years, inefficiencies in cross-border payments were tolerated as a cost of doing business. Slow settlement, high fees, fragmented banking relationships, and currency volatility were accepted constraints.

In 2025, those constraints became harder to justify.

Geopolitical uncertainty, persistent inflation, and uneven access to banking infrastructure placed new pressure on global operations. Predictability – in cash flow, settlement, and access to capital – became a strategic asset.

Stablecoins addressed these challenges directly.

They reduced settlement times, lowered transaction costs, and offered businesses greater control over liquidity across markets.

Faster settlement and reduced FX friction can materially improve working capital efficiency for firms operating across multiple jurisdictions.

This is why stablecoins should not be viewed as a payments trend. They are increasingly a business continuity tool. However, there is also a subtler risk in delay.

Businesses that leave stablecoins unexamined until competitive or regulatory pressure forces action often find themselves making rushed decisions – selecting partners, structures, or jurisdictions simply to move, rather than to move well.

We have seen this pattern repeatedly with major infrastructure shifts.