Original Title: Stablecoins: Payments Without Intermediaries
Original Author: Chris Dixon, a16z Partner
Translated by: Felix, PANews
The internet made information free and global. So why are money transfers still so difficult and costly?
The early internet promised a future where anyone could publish, build, or trade without permission. Protocols like email and the World Wide Web were open and neutral, unleashing creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. But it deviated from its path during development.
Today, the global financial system is like a patchwork network of corporations: centralized, closed, and predatory. Behind every transaction are Rube Goldberg-like intermediaries, such as point of sale, payment processors, acquiring banks, issuing banks, local banks, correspondent banks, foreign exchange platforms, credit card networks, etc. Each institution extracts a commission, adds delay, and imposes rules. These networks levy unnecessary taxes on commercial activities and stifle innovation. They transform what should be neutral channels into high-friction bottlenecks.
Stablecoins, cryptocurrencies pegged to stable assets like the US dollar, are a way out, a reset—a way to bring the internet's original vision into money.
Disruptive Opportunities of Stablecoins
The current payment system was not built for the internet—but for a world filled with fee-charging intermediaries (who once played a role in managing local cooperation, fraud prevention, and operations). Even today, international remittance fees can be as high as 10% (in September 2024, the average fee for a $200 transfer was 6.62%). These are not just frictions—they are effectively regressive taxes on some of the world's poorest workers. The inherited system is slow, opaque, and exclusionary, leaving billions underserved or completely isolated from the global financial system.
For many businesses, traditional payment methods are highly inefficient. Stablecoins can significantly improve this situation. B2B payments from Mexico to Vietnam typically require 3 to 7 days of settlement time, with costs between $14 and $150 per $1,000 transaction, passing through up to five intermediaries, each taking a commission. Stablecoins can bypass traditional systems like the international SWIFT network and related clearing and settlement processes, making such transactions nearly free and instant.
This is not theoretical—it's already happening. Currently, companies like SpaceX are using stablecoins to manage corporate funds (including repatriating funds from countries with high local currency volatility like Argentina and Nigeria). Companies like ScaleAI are using stablecoins to pay global employees faster and cheaper. Meanwhile, in the B2C (business-to-consumer) space, Stripe is the first service provider widely offering cryptocurrency payments, charging a 1.5% commission, only half of traditional payment methods. This could significantly improve some businesses' profit margins: as a16z partner Sam Broner points out, for low-margin businesses like grocery stores, a 1.5% profit margin increase could potentially double net income. (And in competitive, blockchain-based markets, transaction fees are expected to drop even lower).
Unlike the old financial system that developed in "silos", stablecoins are globally native by default. They run on blockchain: anyone can build open, programmable networks. No need to negotiate with dozens of cross-border banks; just connect to the network. People have recognized these advantages. In 2024, stablecoin transaction volume reached $15.6 trillion, comparable to Visa's transaction volume. Although this figure primarily represents fund flows (not retail payments), its scale still indicates that we are on the edge of a financial infrastructure revolution that does not depend on patching together 20th-century systems.
Instead, we can build something entirely new—truly internet-native—or what Stripe calls the "room-temperature superconductor of financial services", where instead of lossless energy transmission, we achieve lossless value transmission.
A "WhatsApp" Moment in Money
Stablecoins give us the first real opportunity to make money open, instant, and borderless, just like the revolution email brought to communication.
Recall the evolution of text messaging. Before apps like WhatsApp, sending an international text meant paying 30 cents per message. And if the message actually got through, you were lucky. Then, internet-native communication apps emerged: instant, global, free. Today's payment methods are like messaging in 2008: fragmented by borders, bogged down by intermediaries, controlled by "gatekeepers".
Stablecoins offer a completely new alternative. Instead of cobbling together clumsy, expensive, and outdated systems, they flow seamlessly on global blockchains. These systems are programmable, composable, and designed for cross-border expansion.
Stablecoins have dramatically reduced remittance costs: sending $200 from the US to Colombia traditionally costs $12.13; using stablecoins, the fee is just $0.01. (Stablecoin local currency exchange fees are between 0-5%, and due to increasing competition, prices continue to drop).
Just as WhatsApp disrupted expensive international calls, blockchain payments and stablecoins are transforming global remittances.
Regulation: From Bottleneck to Breakthrough
It's easy to see regulation as an obstacle, but wise legislation is the key to solving problems.
Establishing clear rules for stablecoins and crypto markets could ultimately help these technologies move beyond the sandbox toward broader adoption. For years, DeFi was trapped in a closed, circular, "coin-to-coin" economy. Not because these tools weren't useful, but because regulators made it difficult to enter traditional financial systems.
This is changing. Policymakers are actively developing rules to recognize and regulate stablecoins to maintain US competitiveness, protect consumer rights, and foster innovation. Comprehensive regulation—such as frameworks distinguishing network tokens from security tokens—can prevent bad actors while providing clear guidance for compliant entities. In fact, an upcoming bill clarifying these regulatory rules could pave the way for broader adoption and integration into the global financial system.
Building Public Goods That Benefit Everyone
Traditional finance is built on private, closed networks. But the internet demonstrated the power of open protocols (like TCP/IP and email) in driving global collaboration and innovation.
Blockchains are the native financial layer of the internet. They combine the composability of public protocols with the economic power of private enterprises. They have trustless neutrality, auditability, and programmability. Adding stablecoins to their foundation provides something never truly possessed before: an open monetary infrastructure.
Think of it like a public highway system. Private companies can still build vehicles, conduct business, and create roadside attractions. But the roads themselves are neutral and open to everyone.
Blockchain networks and stablecoins do more than reduce fees. They are giving birth to new software categories:
· Programmatic Payments Between Machines: AI agent-driven markets automatically broker transactions for computer resources and other services.
· Micropayments Contributed by Media, Music, and AI: Simply establish some budget rules and let the "smart" wallet make payments.
· Transparent Payments with Complete Audit Trails: Use these systems to track government expenditures.
· Global Trade without Cumbersome Intermediaries: Instantly settling international transactions at extremely low costs—which is already happening.
The era of blockchain networks and stablecoins has arrived: Technology, market demand, and political will are converging to make these applications a reality. A stablecoin bill may be passed this year, and regulators are weighing frameworks that match risks with appropriate oversight. Just as early internet startups flourished after it became clear they would not be shut down by telecom companies or copyright lawyers, cryptocurrencies are ready to bridge the gap from financial experiments to critical infrastructure, with stablecoins leading the way.
There is no need to patch old systems; we can reconstruct better ones.
