A new consortium of seven crypto firms has just been formed to establish common standards for cross-chain stablecoin transfers. For those not following the explosion of stablecoins to transfer funds – including cross-border payments settled almost instantly for pennies – crypto stablecoin transfer volume reached US$27.7 trillion in 2024 – surpassing the combined volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. This is not a fringe sector, rather one that is about to dominate the traditiional finance payments industry. Outdated systems such as SWIFT will need to adapt to blockchain technology, or die in the likes of Kodak, Nokia, and the fax machine.
The seven crypto firms leading this new consortium, the Blockchain Payments Consortium (BPC), are the Solana Foundation, Fireblocks, TON Foundation, Polygon Labs, Stellar Development Foundation, Mysten Labs and Monad Foundation. The group is aiming to create a “common framework that enhances blockchain transactions with traditional data requirements of traditional payments.”
According to BPC’s manifesto:
“Blockchain rails are reshaping the global payments landscape. But for blockchain payments to reach full potential, we must address the inconsistent and fragmented experiences individuals and institutions face when moving between traditional payments and blockchain.”
Among the goals of the BPC is to enable faster, low-cost cross-border payments and remittances, while also integrating blockchain ecosystems into traditional finance and aligning with regulators.
“This will enable financial institutions, enterprises, and other organizations to build systems that work seamlessly across networks and borders,” the BCP said, adding that it wants to “act as a bridge between blockchain ecosystems, regulators, and traditional financial institutions; offering a consistent, interoperable framework for compliance across jurisdictions.”
Visa, Mastercard and Western Union pivot to the blockchain
As we reported in recent editions of Crypto Finance Asia, payment giants Visa, Mastercard, and Western Union have already begun pivotting to blockchain and stablecoins for payment settlements – quickly reacting to the competetive threat. Visa is set to roll out support for four crypto stablecoins across four unique blockchains: Ethereum, Solana, Stellar and Avalanche, a move that some analysts are calling a potential game changer. Both Solana and Stellar are part of the newly formed BPC.
Meanwhile, Mastercard has just teamed up with the crypto giant Ripple Labs, the developer of the XRP cryptocurrency and the RLUSD stablecoin, the US bank WebBank, and the crypto exchange Gemini to test using the RLUSD stablecoin to settle fiat credit card transactions over the XRP Ledger blockchain.
Western Union is emerging from the Jurassic error as it plans to launch a dollar-backed stablecoin to allow its 100 million customers to send money internationally detached from local currency fluctuations and risks. Their new stablecoin, USDPT, wil launch on the Solana blockchain, a high performance blockchain known for its speed, reliability, scalability and low transaction costs. As noted above, Solana is a member of the BCP.
According to a press release from this legacy payments firm:
“Western Union will provide users with access to digital assets, and will enable the ability to send, receive, spend and hold USDPT through a seamless user experience supported by the company’s global compliance and risk capacities.”
The BPC intends to ensure that payments between blockchains mirror the simplicity of traditional systems while retaining decentralization benefits. Nikola Plecas, Vice President of Payments at the TON Foundation – one of the founding memebrs of the BPC – said:
“Through the Blockchain Payments Consortium, we’re uniting networks, institutions, and enterprises to make blockchain payments fast, trusted, scalable, and global.”