1. Why Do We Need to Reunderstand Payments?#
Everyone uses payments every day: WeChat scanning, card swiping, online shopping, cross-border transfers... We hardly use cash anymore, and it seems convenient enough. But have you ever thought that behind these payment actions lies a vast, ancient, and highly inefficient system?
It’s like a seemingly normal building; the exterior has glass walls, but inside are wires and pipes from decades ago.
Stablecoins are rewriting all the underlying logic of this system.
2. The Origins of Traditional Payments: It Seems Fast, But It's Actually Slow#
Before we talk about stablecoins, let's understand today's payment system.
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The "Detour Journey" of a Card Transaction
Suppose you swipe your card to buy a cup of coffee for 25 yuan. What happens behind the scenes?
There is no direct transfer between you and the merchant;
The money is first "pre-authorized" from your issuing bank account;
It is transferred through card organizations (like Visa/Mastercard) to the merchant's acquiring bank;
The clearing and settlement process usually takes 1-3 days, or even longer;
The merchant also has to pay about 2-3% in fees.
In other words, you give the merchant money, but what the merchant actually receives is the payment days later, minus the platform's cut. -
Why Hasn't This System Collapsed Yet?
Because it has a long history, a wide network, and is almost monopolistic.
From Diners Club issuing the first universal credit card in 1950, to Visa and Mastercard building a global settlement network, to later PayPal and Stripe integrating gateways... the entire payment industry has evolved in a "stacked" manner over decades, with low efficiency but strong inertia.
Banks, clearinghouses, card organizations, and payment gateways—like layers of charging intermediaries—make payments increasingly expensive and complex.
3. What Are Stablecoins? Why Can They Revolutionize the Entire Payment System?#
Stablecoins are essentially blockchain tokens pegged to fiat currency values, such as:
USDT and USDC pegged to the US dollar;
EURC pegged to the euro;
FDUSD, PYUSD, etc., issued by financial institutions and compliant on-chain access.
The most important feature of stablecoins is: the on-chain ledger directly confirms "who owns this money."
When we transfer stablecoins on the blockchain, there is no need for clearinghouses, card organizations, or bank authorization; the change of ownership of funds is already written into the on-chain ledger. Settlement occurs upon receipt, and transfer is equivalent to settlement.
For example:
You are in Country A and hire a designer from Country B. Under traditional payment, you would need to:
Open a SWIFT account or use PayPal;
Wait 1-3 days;
Pay 5-10% in fees;
Face a significant risk of being frozen or reviewed by intermediary banks.
But with USDC, you and the other party just need to each have an on-chain wallet (like MetaMask, Phantom, OKX Wallet, etc.), enter the address, click "send," and the funds arrive in seconds.
Fees? It might be less than a dime.
It's not just a cheaper channel; it's a new "accounting method."
The core logic of traditional payments is "I authorize someone to withdraw money," while the logic of stablecoins is: "I directly write the ownership of this asset into the other party's wallet."
This is not optimizing the payment chain; it is rewriting payment itself in an internet way.
- This Will Disrupt the Entire Payment Value Chain
Let's look back at several roles in traditional payments:
Role Function What Happens After Stablecoins?
Issuing Bank | Authorizes fund outflow | No longer needed
Card Organizations (Visa, etc.) | Clearing & Standard Setting | Bypassed
Acquiring Bank | Receives merchant funds | Can be replaced by stablecoin accounts
Clearing Companies | Daily batch settlement | No longer needed
Payment Gateways | Connect online and offline payments | Replaced by on-chain wallets
Merchants | Payee | Can receive payments directly on-chain
A combination of "wallet + smart contract + stablecoin" can already accomplish payment actions that previously required the collaboration of six roles.
For example:
You run a cross-border e-commerce business selling global products.
Traditional Path:
Integrate PayPal or Stripe;
User payment → Clearing → Acquiring → Account (after 3 days);
After deducting fees, exchange rate losses, etc., you might lose 5%-10%.
Stablecoin Path:
User pays directly with USDC;
You receive it in 1 second;
You can choose to exchange it on-chain for other stablecoins or fiat, at a very low cost.
5. More Than Just Payments, It's the Gateway to Programmable Finance#
The true power of stablecoins lies not just in "fast money transfer," but in their programmability.
In other words, money can automatically "understand conditions":
Automatically pay salaries upon reaching KPIs;
Automatically pay loans upon maturity;
Trigger bonus distributions based on voting results in DAO governance;
Automatically unlock funds when goods arrive in supply chain finance.
Traditional finance relies on paper contracts + manual reviews + bank operations. Stablecoins, combined with smart contracts, directly become "code is trust."
6. Who Will Be Eliminated? Who Will Rise?#
Those likely to be eliminated include:
High-cost cross-border payment companies (like Western Union);
High-commission payment gateways;
Clearing institutions that only charge channel fees;
Slow-moving bank intermediaries.
Those likely to rise include:
Stablecoin wallets (like Phantom, OKX Wallet, World App);
On-chain acquiring tools (like Sphere, Onboard);
Finance systems based on stablecoins (like Request Finance, Superfluid);
On-chain payment SDKs for developers (like Solana Pay, USDC Connect);
Enterprise-level compliant stablecoin service providers (like Circle, Paxos).
7. This Is an Unstoppable Payment Revolution#
You may ask, will regulation stop this transformation?
Indeed, the regulation of stablecoins is still progressing—such as the GENIUS Act in the U.S. and the MiCA regulations in Europe.
But essentially, regulation is about incorporating into the rule system, not halting innovation.
As more and more businesses begin to accept stablecoin payments (like Shopify, Telegram, Visa pilots), and as traditional banks also issue on-chain dollars (like JPM Coin), this revolution will be unstoppable.
Conclusion: We Are Standing at the Threshold of a Major Migration in Payment Systems#
We are transitioning to a new "value internet" model, much like the switch to the internet in the 1990s.
The rise of stablecoins is not just a replacement for financial products, but it transforms payments from "coordination between institutions" to "updating on-chain consensus."
This is a true paradigm shift.
It not only makes money flow faster and cheaper but also changes the very nature of money.
And you and I are witnessing this historic turning point.
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