Stablecoins have been attracting growing interest from the cross-border payments industry in recent months, with activity from a broad range of companies, from traditional players to more tech-focused fintechs. Here’s some of the developments of note in Q1 2025.

Several players have made key moves in the stablecoin market of late. Standard Chartered formed a joint venture with Web3 player Animoca Brands and Hong Kong Telecom (HKT) to issue a stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, which will initially focus on applying for a Hong Kong Monetary Authority licence but ultimately see the stablecoin made available to HKT mobile wallet users.

Latin American player Bitso, meanwhile, has also added to the range of non-USD-pegged stablecoins with the launch of MXNB, a stablecoin pegged to the Mexican peso that is the first product of newly launched Juno, a stablecoin payments platform from the crypto payments company. 

There have also been some moves focused on the interoperability of stablecoins, including BVNK’s launch of an embedded multicurrency wallet that brings together fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. 

Elsewhere, the US has seen growing regulatory discussion, with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison among those to give evidence in a House Financial Services Committee hearing on the potential creation of a federal framework for stablecoins as a payments instrument in the US. Coming shortly after Stripe completed its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge, his testimony focused on the benefits of stablecoins for American businesses, including increased speeds, lower costs and global architecture, with Collison adding that “stablecoins represent a significant opportunity to enhance the efficiency of the global financial system”.

Such attitudes have also been echoed from more traditional parts of the US financial system, with Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan saying that the bank will enter the stablecoin market if lawmakers “make that legal”. 

Despite the currently challenging market conditions for fundraising at present, multiple stablecoin-focused startups have announced funding rounds this quarter, with several applying the technology to the cross-border payments landscape. Rain, a stablecoin-powered global card issuing platform that has also secured principal Visa membership, attracted $24.5m after seeing 15x growth in the last year, while Cedar’s focus on using stablecoins to provide high-volume cross-border payments saw it attract $9.9m in Seed funding.

The majority of players in this space are currently processing relatively small flows as a share of the total market but many are growing extremely fast and attracting attention from many investors. We are watching closely.

How are stablecoin and non-fiat-based money transfers companies competing?

Lucy Ingham

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Lucy is Head of Content & Editor-in-Chief at FXC Intelligence, overseeing all content and taking deep dives into the trends and data driving changes in payments. Before joining FXC Intelligence, Lucy worked as a technology journalist and editor, interviewing CEOs and major names across enterprise technology, including fintech. She has an MSc in Development Anthropology from Durham University.