As traditional finance and crypto infrastructure companies bet on global capital flows, the competition to build global stablecoin payment rails is accelerating.
On Wednesday, blockchain infrastructure provider Fireblocks announced the launch of a global stablecoin payment network focused on compliance and connectivity, while Stripe CEO Patrick Collison unveiled Tempo, a new layer one blockchain designed specifically for stablecoin transactions.
Ran Goldi, Fireblocks' Senior Vice President of Payments and Networks, stated that Fireblocks' new stablecoin network focuses on the interoperability of "programmable, compliant, real-time capital flows."
According to Fireblocks, companies exploring stablecoin payments face a patchwork of banking, liquidity, and compliance partners, making scaling difficult. The company claims its new network aims to simplify stablecoin adoption by connecting companies to over 40 pre-approved providers across 100 countries.
Stripe is also targeting enterprise adoption, focusing on gaps that existing blockchains have not addressed when integrating payment services into their existing offerings.
Collison mentioned in an X post, "For example, for real-world financial applications, it is valuable to price fees in fiat currency that makes sense to users, but existing blockchains price their fees in blockchain-specific tokens."
The network named Tempo is incubated by Stripe and venture capital firm Paradigm. Collison stated, "We see Tempo as a layer one focused on payments, optimized for large-scale, real-world financial service applications."
According to DefiLlama, the momentum for stablecoins continues to grow as the total market capitalization of fiat-pegged cryptocurrencies reaches $281.2 billion.
Interoperability has become central to stablecoin strategies, with issuers pushing for launches across multiple blockchains but facing challenges in decentralized liquidity and fragmented user bases.
In September 2023, the cross-chain bridge Wormhole integrated Circle's cross-chain transfer protocol, allowing USDC transfers to four blockchain networks.
Fireblocks and Tempo will compete with stablecoin payment rail providers as well as traditional payment processors like Visa and Mastercard, which have recently entered the crypto industry.
In July, Visa announced it was increasing stablecoin support on its settlement platform. This move is seen as a direct response to competition from financial institutions.
Crypto-native companies providing payment networks include Ripple, which announced plans in August to acquire the stablecoin payment platform Rail, and Stellar, a decentralized payment network aimed at enabling cross-border transactions.
In May, new data from Artemis showed that stablecoin payment volumes reached $94 billion, driven by two growth sectors—business-to-business (B2B) transactions and card-linked stablecoin payments.
Stablecoins are considered a form of programmable currency, offering advantages over traditional fiat currencies. Companies issuing stablecoins can program logic into the currency through smart contracts, reducing friction and counterparty risk.
Traditional financial institutions have also expressed interest in stablecoins. JPMorgan and Citigroup have considered entering the stablecoin space.
Related: Galaxy Digital CEO: AI agents will become the largest users of stablecoins
Original article: “As Stripe and Fireblocks Launch Payment Networks, Competition in Global Stablecoin Rails Intensifies”
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