When a small business owner in Miami sends $200 to a supplier in Mexico City, that transaction quietly triggers a $12-14 fee split among acquirers, card networks, issuing banks, and correspondent banks, a 6-7% tax on moving money that has persisted for decades. When you multiply that by the whole world economy, the numbers become staggering: In 2023, U.S. businesses spent $172 billion on card-processing fees, which are passed on to customers in the form of higher prices.
It’s no surprise, then, that this costly inefficiency is exactly the kind of market dysfunction venture capitalists look to leverage. It’s also why Alumni Ventures Managing Partner Ray Wu believes stablecoins — digital dollars that settle on blockchains — are one of the most exciting ways to disrupt the financial services industry. “Stablecoins break that chain,” Wu says. “A tokenized dollar can clear in seconds, settle 24/7, and include rules for compliance right in the transaction.”
And the shift is no longer just a theory. Visa already accepts stablecoins, Mastercard is also launching a multi-token network just for stablecoin payments, and Stripe has turned stablecoin checkout back on so merchants can accept digital dollars without ever having to deal with what most people think of as “crypto.” Wu sees this as a classic case of technological disruption hitting an established industry as the infrastructure goes from being tested to being used.
The current system for cross-border payments is like a financial Rube Goldberg machine, with each middleman adding more time and money. Sending money to another country still takes days and requires many people to check, process, and settle transactions across different time zones and banking systems. Stablecoins get rid of most of these problems by making a direct, programmable payment rail that works all the time.
Wu thinks the peer-to-peer payment space will flip the fastest. People can already send money between PayPal and Venmo accounts instantly and for free using PayPal’s PYUSD. People in the U.S. can now send PYUSD across borders for much less money than regular remittance services thanks to the company’s Xoom product. If the big wallet companies can get their stablecoin rails to work together, the industry could go from closed networks to open, internet-based dollar transfers.
This change puts immediate pressure on business models that rely on charging fees for moving money. Card networks won’t go away, but they are already changing by going from “owning the lane” to managing multiple payment rails. Remittance specialists are the companies that are most affected by the changes. Their high-fee corridors become less stable when on-chain transfers can cut legacy pricing by 50% or more.
Customers will notice small but important changes. In addition to regular card options, checkout pages will also have the option to “Pay with USDC.” Stripe already charges 1.5% for stablecoin payments, which is a good deal compared to many card payments and a lot less than cross-border transfers. Even on weekends and at night, small businesses get paid almost right away.
“It’s becoming clear who will win and who will lose here. Merchants and money senders benefit from lower costs and faster settlement, but card issuers, acquirers, processors, and high-fee remittance corridors have to deal with the economic pressure,” says Wu. “Instead of collecting tolls, they’re now forced to compete by offering value through services, compliance, and settlement infrastructure,” Wu adds.
Alumni Ventures points out that clear rules and regulations are essential to adoption. There are now two sets of rules that will make it easier for most people to use. The rules in Europe for the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) say that there must be full reserves, clear disclosures, and orderly redemption processes. The GENIUS Act, which passed in the U.S. in July 2025, says that there must be 1:1 reserves in liquid assets, monthly audits, redemption rights within one day at par value, and payment stablecoins that don’t make money. These rules make it easier for traditional banks to build on stablecoin infrastructure.
Even with these rules in place, though, the risks are still there and have been talked about a lot. When TerraUSD failed, it showed what can happen when stablecoins aren’t backed up correctly. USDC’s short de-pegging in March 2023 showed how important it is to have a variety of banking relationships, since part of its reserves were held at Silicon Valley Bank. Alumni Ventures believes the answer is regulated, fully backed models with a range of banking partners, regular audited reserve reports, redemption stress tests, and licensed middlemen who check for fraud and make sure the rules are followed.
Wu says that three things will show that people all over the world are willing to accept stablecoins as payment. First, you can see that costs are going down because the average remittance fee has gone down from 6–7% to 3%. Second, mainstream checkout integration, which shows stablecoin options next to regular credit and debit cards with fees that are competitive. Third, quiet dependability shown by 24/7 uptime and orderly redemptions even when the market is stressed.
The main point is that stablecoins don’t take the place of dollars; they just make it easier for dollars to move around. If the government keeps an eye on things and more businesses start using it, the hidden tax on moving money around the world could go down a lot. This is a big step forward for the global economy when it comes to handling one of its most basic tasks. It will help businesses that have trouble with processing fees, workers who send money to family members living abroad, and customers who pay more to cover payment costs.
As Wu puts it, “Stablecoins let dollars ride on better rails.”
