Stablecoins in the real world: The regulatory landscape

Stablecoins have long promised faster, cheaper, and more transparent ways to move money as a bridge between traditional finance and crypto. But until recently, the lack of regulatory clarity kept many enterprises on the sidelines. Now, with new laws emerging in the US and Europe, stablecoins are entering a new phase defined by compliance, credibility, and real-world utility.

With stablecoins here to stay, how can you safely integrate them into your payments strategy? 

What are stablecoins? 

Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to a reference asset, most commonly a fiat currency such as the US dollar or euro. Unlike other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, whose prices fluctuate significantly, stablecoins are engineered to provide price stability, making them more practical for payments, remittances, and financial contracts. 

Think of them as digital-native dollars that can be sent globally in seconds. 

Stablecoins bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and traditional currencies by combining the programmability, speed, efficiency, and borderless nature of crypto technology with the stability, trust, and familiarity of traditional currencies. 

The regulatory landscape: Maturity takes shape

Stablecoins are entering their next chapter, moving on from speculation to being defined by compliance and credibility.

An introduction to the GENIUS Act 

The GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act) is the regulation that gives stablecoins legal legitimacy. For enterprises, it signals a new era of trust: the digital dollars you’re using to pay contractors or settle trade balances in another country may be federally recognized financial instruments rather than just speculative assets. 

The GENIUS Act sets out to regulate stablecoin issuers at the US federal level. It emphasizes full 1:1 backing of stablecoins with cash or cash equivalents, transparency in reserves, and audited reporting. This reduces systemic risk, laying the groundwork for stablecoins to operate within the same trust standards as traditional money transmitters.

The crypto market reached a historic milestone of $4 trillion in total market capitalization almost immediately after the GENIUS Act was delivered by Congress. 

What’s really telling about the GENIUS Act is the fact that it’s helped bring transparency and clarity to the industry. It establishes a federal framework for how we think about what’s in and out of bounds in the US. And often, what starts in the US is followed by other countries.

An introduction to MiCA

Across the Atlantic, the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation – coming into force gradually in 2025 – is doing the same for the European Union’s 27 member states. MiCA introduces a harmonized framework for crypto assets, including stablecoins. It requires issuers to maintain full reserves, authorization from financial regulators, and robust consumer protection measures. 

Here’s what it does in practice: 

• Defines and classifies crypto assets: Introduces legal categories for tokens with distinct compliance and capital requirements.
• Regulates stablecoins: Issuers of stablecoins must maintain sufficient reserves, publish white papers, and ensure redemption rights for holders.
• License crypto service providers: CASPs, including exchanges and wallet providers, must obtain authorization from one EU regulator to operate across the bloc (“passporting”).
• Enhances consumer and investor protection: Requires disclosure of risks, prevents market abuse, and introduces accountability for custody and transaction security.

In summary, MiCA is to crypto what PSD2 was to digital payments – a cornerstone regulation designed to foster innovation while ensuring financial stability and consumer confidence. 

MiCA essentially came in two parts: one put consumer protection in place for crypto exchanges, and the other put regulation on stablecoins. The latter prevents stablecoin issuers from paying or accruing interest on stablecoins and requires them to safeguard consumer funds.

Together, MiCA and the GENIUS Act signal a clear trend: stablecoins are being treated as regulated financial instruments that can safely integrate into the global payments ecosystem. They’re no longer on the fringe. But since the crypto market has been fighting for regulatory clarity for so long, there are lots of questions around how these will change the industry. 

The Bank of England’s approach 

The Bank of England is “designing a regulatory regime for stablecoins that is fit for the future”. It wants to support “stablecoins as part of a ‘multi-money’ system alongside commercial bank money [...], all underpinned by the continued role of central bank money at the heart of the financial system.” Its approach looks forward because it recognizes that once tech innovations like stablecoins have begun their real-world use cases at scale, retrofitting regulations are rarely successful. It aims to set clear standards to ensure that systemic stablecoins actually behave like real money – staying stable in value, legally protected, and always redeemable for the same amount in fiat currency. 

The Bank wants to collaborate with stakeholders to deliver interoperability between systemic stablecoin issuers (defined as “a recognized payment system or service provider issuing the stablecoin”), traditional and tokenized bank deposits, and central bank money. Systemic stablecoin issuers will be subject to the Banking Act 2009 whereby the Bank of England will be able to obtain information, require the establishment of system and service provider rules, and more. 

The Bank intends to leverage the benefits of stablecoins in UK payments and encourage responsible innovation. 

Why stablecoins matter for enterprise merchants

If you’re a large merchant or platform, the above developments uncover a new opportunity: access to programmable, global liquidity within a compliant framework. Regulated stablecoins can also provide faster settlement and reduced costs, while remaining compliant with financial and consumer protection laws and complementing existing card and bank infrastructures.

Payments teams should view this as an inflection point. As an early mover who explores stablecoin integrations today, you can shape how they fit into tomorrow’s payment landscape – particularly across use cases like cross-border settlements, treasury operations, and instant payouts.

The benefits of stablecoins for enterprise merchants

Stablecoins combine the efficiency of blockchain technology with the predictability of fiat-backed value. That combination delivers tangible advantages for your business.

• Faster settlement: While card payments can take days to settle, stablecoin transactions clear in near real time, reducing working capital lockups and improving liquidity management.
• Lower fees: On-chain transfers often cost a fraction of card interchange or wire fees, especially for cross-border payments.
• Global reach: Stablecoins operate on open networks, making them accessible in markets where traditional rails may be limited or expensive. People see them as borderless. 
• 24/7 availability: Unlike traditional banking systems, stablecoin networks operate continuously, supporting round-the-clock commerce and treasury operations.
• Programmable payments: Smart contracts enable automated reconciliation, escrow, and payouts without manual intervention.

In other words, stablecoins are not here to replace the card ecosystem. They’re a new rail for how money moves.

One of the most attractive qualities of stablecoins for businesses is their irreversibility. But that comes with its own consumer challenges; how do you then build consumer confidence in refunds? Chargebacks are a huge benefit of cards, but they add significant costs for businesses. The industry needs to find a way for disputes and refunds to be managed with a stablecoins framework that doesn’t detract from the merchant benefits – cost-efficiency and finality. 

“I think blockchain interoperability is very appealing. Many businesses have explored the idea of loyalty points moving between platforms, for example. But it requires businesses to be comfortable with data sharing, and many aren’t because it could lead to competitors targeting their users with ads and promotions. The real challenge isn’t the technology; it already exists to make this shared ecosystem work, but businesses are still hesitant,” shares Millie Yang, CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze. 

Travel enterprises, for example, generate large amounts of revenue in treasury yields. Their customers make bookings and then wait months before actually attending the vacation, which is the point at which the provider – whether hotel, property host, or guide – is paid out. For the entire period between customer payin and provider payout, the business is earning treasury yields.

“The part that we’re most excited about is figuring out how to support businesses that hold balances as part of payment operations – whether it’s travel, payroll, or gaming – to enable those businesses to generate yield on their balances without complex financial operations. This will create an entirely new monetization model that hasn’t existed before,” Millie reveals. 

Real-world stablecoin use cases

When you strip away all the noise around stablecoins, what’s the actual utility? Is it transaction speed? Acceptance rates? Enterprises are already exploring stablecoins across a range of operational and customer-facing scenarios: 

1. Cross-border treasury optimization
   Move funds instantly between global entities and markets, reducing FX costs and improving visibility across liquidity pools. USDC, for example, allows instant settlement 24/7.
   
   
2. Payouts and disbursements
   Gig platforms and marketplaces are exploring stablecoins as a way to offer instant, borderless payouts to global users. Without relying on local banking cut-off times or correspondent networks.
   
   
3. Digital commerce and tokenized loyalty
   Stablecoins can underpin digital wallets, deposits, and rewards systems, bridging fiat and digital experiences in a single customer journey. If the token’s value is pegged to fiat, e.g., one token equals $1, is backed with equivalent reserves, and can be redeemed across multiple platforms, it’s a stablecoin. 

"In today’s world, stablecoins are mainly used by merchants for two reasons: as an alternative to a US dollar bank account, and instant liquidity for funding payouts.

As a Merchant of Record, Breeze enables foreign businesses to sell to US users, for example, without the headache of setting up US entities or bank accounts. For us to settle funds back to the merchant, they’re happy to receive and hold US dollar-denominated stablecoins with the optionality of converting to their local currency as needed. This is a big use case for stablecoins.

As for the second use case of instant liquidity, if merchants do have payouts, it’s very convenient for them to simply allocate a portion of stablecoins to fund them without waiting on US banking hours. No merchant wants payout delays, and stablecoins being instant is incredible for them," Millie adds.

Is consumer adoption there?

On the consumer adoption side, there are a few more considerations before stablecoins fully take off. First is the need to establish whether consumer appetite is there. This will depend on the market. While in some markets there’s a long way to go, others are far more advanced – like Brazil, where 19% of the population owns cryptocurrency. 

Many people question whether we need to get businesses to adopt stablecoins before we see mainstream consumer adoption. But there’s another question here: how do you define adoption? Stablecoins will play a role in moving money faster, but will that be enough to get consumers to hold more stablecoins? They certainly create an opportunity to have digital native money in the ecosystem. 

Perhaps more importantly, though, is the above-mentioned question of how disputes and refunds will work. For consumers to have confidence in stablecoins as a payment method despite their finality, they’re going to need to know how they’ll get their money back or raise a dispute.

And then there’s the regulatory hurdles. Stablecoins might be borderless, but the regulations are not. They remain uneven around the world. While the US has the GENIUS Act and the EU has MiCA, other markets like Mexico still ban stablecoins for payments entirely. 

Some industry experts believe merchant adoption will come first because the primary use case is business-to-business (B2B), e.g., FX mitigation and treasury management. It’s already happening in the background; it just needs to move money. But there are still questions on the merchant side over whether it’s best to hold onto stablecoins and gain rewards, or move them back into cash, for example.

The stability of classical fiat currency has been entwined with the concept of money flowing freely globally, making a lot more consumers comfortable touching stablecoins than the preceding, more volatile cryptocurrencies. 

Key considerations for building a stablecoin strategy

Integrating stablecoins should be a strategic decision, not a speculative one. A thoughtful approach helps you capture value while maintaining compliance and control.

1. Start with a clear use case
   Identify where stablecoins create measurable value. Are you optimizing global treasury flows, reducing settlement time, or enabling new payment experiences? Each use case carries distinct regulatory, operational, and liquidity implications. Before diving into use cases, consider their potential value to your business from three angles. Firstly, is your business ready and at the right scale to uncover that value? Then, ask yourself if it aligns with your wider business strategy. And finally, assess whether the ecosystem itself is ready. That will help you zoom in on which use cases are actually right for your business. 

2. Choose regulated stablecoins
   Prioritize stablecoins backed by transparent reserves and issued under regulatory frameworks – such as USDC or EURC. These minimize counterparty and compliance risks.
   
   
3. Integrate through trusted partners
   Payment service providers (PSPs) like Checkout.com already offer infrastructure that connects card, bank, and blockchain-based rails. This lets you experiment safely without building from scratch.
   
   
4. Align finance and treasury teams
   Stablecoins introduce new liquidity management considerations – such as custody, conversion rates, and accounting. You should align finance and treasury teams early in the process.
   
   
5. Stay ahead of evolving regulations
   Global stablecoin frameworks are still taking shape. Proactive governance is key. Work with providers that maintain real-time compliance with local and cross-border rules.

The road ahead: From innovation to infrastructure

Every major evolution in payments – from cards to real-time payments – began as an innovation before becoming infrastructure. Each of those moments marked a shift in how value moves, and each coexisted with what came before. Stablecoins are following that same path. 

Rather than competing with card networks, they will coexist as complementary infrastructure. Card rails remain dominant for consumer payments, but stablecoins will increasingly power the back-end rails – cross-border settlements, treasury flows, or instant merchant funding. Over time, these layers will interconnect, creating a more efficient global payments ecosystem.

As stablecoins move under regulatory supervision, confidence and trust will grow. That’s the signal the market has been waiting for, and with that trust comes scale. 

This requires fraud prevention, dispute resolution, compliance checks, and connections to bank payment rails and fiat currency conversion – which the card schemes can supply. 

For enterprises, this is your moment to experiment intelligently: pilot small-scale stablecoin use cases, partner with compliant issuers and PSPs, and monitor how regulation shapes adoption in key markets.

The convergence of stablecoins and regulation is the beginning of scalable adoption. And for payment leaders, it’s an opportunity for you to shape what comes next.

Get in touch to explore how Checkout.com connects businesses to the next generation of payment rails.