[TL;DR]
- The stablecoin market has reached 40 million unique users and has moved beyond pure speculation to become a practical tool for solving real financial problems such as cross-border remittances, global payroll, and neobank services.
- From fiat-backed USDC/USDT to crypto-collateralized DAI, there are diverse types of stablecoins, with Ethereum and Tron leading the market; in this context, multi-chain support is emerging as an essential strategy.
- By leveraging infrastructure partners such as WaaS, on/off-ramp, and RPC service providers, you can launch an MVP quickly without implementing complex technology yourself, while embedding regulation and security into the initial design is the key to long-term success.
1. Stablecoin Market Growth, Adoption, and Regulation
1.1 Growth trajectory of the stablecoin market
Since 2020, the stablecoin market has shown explosive growth. Total market capitalization has increased from USD 10 billion in 2020 to USD 26 billion in 2025, roughly 2.6x. This growth is largely evaluated as being driven not by speculative demand, but by the expansion of real-world use cases.
USDT is the primary driver of this market. From September 2021 to September 2024, USDT has accounted for a significant portion of total stablecoin market cap and has led market growth. USDC follows behind it, and more recently, new issuers like PYUSD have entered the market, creating a more competitive landscape.
The expansion of the user base is even more noteworthy than the growth in market cap. The number of unique wallets interacting with stablecoins has accelerated on a quarterly basis, surpassing 40 million at the time of the referenced report. This shows that stablecoins are moving beyond early adopters and becoming a mainstream financial tool.
Investor interest has also surged. As of Q2 2025, companies in the stablecoin sector accounted for over 25% of total funding raised across the broader crypto industry, setting a new record. This indicates that stablecoins are recognized not as a sub-category of the crypto market, but as a core vertical with its own growth engine.
1.2 Shifting patterns of global adoption
Stablecoin usage is becoming more geographically balanced. In the early days, North America accounted for most of the stablecoin transaction volume, but over time the shares of Europe, Asia, and Latin America have been increasing. This shift reflects global demand for a digital dollar.
Regional adoption patterns are closely tied to local economic characteristics. In Latin America, stablecoins are adopted as a hedge against unstable local currencies; in Asia, as a means of cross-border remittance; and in Europe, as part of the digital payments infrastructure. Depending on each region’s regulatory environment and financial infrastructure maturity, both the purpose of use and preferred types of stablecoins differ.
P2P transaction data reveals even more interesting patterns. In addition to USD-pegged stablecoins, P2P volume based on diverse currencies such as CNY, EUR, NGN, and RUB is increasing. This shows that stablecoins are evolving beyond a simple digitalization of the U.S. dollar and emerging as a global medium of exchange.
This global expansion of adoption carries important implications for stablecoin app builders. Rather than building services focused on a single region or single currency, it will be more competitive in the long term to prepare infrastructure that can support multiple regions and currency pairs.
1.3 Current state of blockchain infrastructure
Stablecoins exist across multiple blockchain networks, with Ethereum and Tron accounting for the majority of market share. Ethereum, as the frontrunner in stablecoin adoption, sees the highest stablecoin transaction volume thanks to deep integration with the decentralized finance ecosystem.
Tron, leveraging low transaction fees and fast processing, shows particular strength in payments and remittances. High usage of Tron-based stablecoins in Asia and Latin America is closely related to these characteristics. Beyond these, high-performance blockchains and Layer 2 solutions such as Solana, Polygon, and Arbitrum are also expanding their stablecoin support.
From a builder’s perspective, chain selection cannot be decided purely by technical specs. You must consider where your target users are located, which use cases you are aiming for, and which DeFi protocols or services you want to integrate with—and on which chains they are built.
Multi-chain support is rapidly becoming a necessity rather than a choice. Users want to choose the chain that offers them the most favorable conditions, and improvements in cross-chain bridge technology are making asset movement between chains increasingly seamless. Therefore, even if you start with a single chain in the early stages, it is important to design your infrastructure with multi-chain expansion in mind.
1.4 Evolution of the regulatory environment
Stablecoin regulation is quickly becoming more concrete across the world. The EU’s MiCA framework has been phased in since 2024 and provides clear standards for stablecoin issuers. MiCA offers a comprehensive regulatory framework for reserve management, consumer protection, and transaction transparency.
In the United States, federal-level stablecoin bills are under discussion, while regulations such as New York’s BitLicense are already in place at the state level. Singapore’s MAS maintains a relatively friendly regulatory environment while providing clear guidelines for issuers. In Korea, the Virtual Asset User Protection Act has laid the foundation for regulating virtual asset service providers, including those dealing with stablecoins.
The regulatory environment directly affects the range of infrastructure options available to app builders. For instance, serving users in jurisdictions with stricter regulations may require using licensed custodial wallet services. In regions where regulations are less defined, there may be more room to opt for non-custodial solutions.
Compliance requirements also vary by region. The strength of KYC and AML procedures, transaction reporting obligations, and user fund protection requirements are all applied differently. Therefore, it is crucial to first decide which regions you will serve and then select infrastructure partners that can satisfy those regions’ regulatory requirements. If you aim to build a global service, you will need an architecture flexible enough to comply with multiple jurisdictions at the same time.
2. Understanding Stablecoins: Definition, Types, and Competitive Edge
2.1 Definition and design philosophy of stablecoins
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain stable value by being pegged to traditional assets like the U.S. dollar, the euro, or gold. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, stablecoins put price stability above all else. Cryptocurrencies whose prices can fluctuate by tens of percent in a single day are difficult to use as means of payment or savings.
This design philosophy stems from the attempt to combine the speed and openness of crypto with the reliability of fiat currencies. Stablecoins create a foundation for real financial activities such as global payments, savings, and payroll, while preserving the technical advantages of blockchains.
The most intuitive way to maintain stability is to hold the same amount of fiat currency in a bank account as the total value of tokens issued. For example, if 100 million USDC are in circulation, the issuer should hold USD 100 million in bank accounts. Users can then be confident that they can always redeem 1 USDC for 1 USD. However, although this value-pegging mechanism appears simple, in practice it requires a complex operating system involving reserve management, audit processes, redemption workflows, and regulatory compliance.
2.2 Types of stablecoins by collateral model
Stablecoins can be broadly divided into four types based on their collateral model. The most common type, fiat-backed stablecoins, are backed 1:1 by actual fiat currency held in bank accounts and can be redeemed for the corresponding fiat currency at any time. USDC and USDT are representative examples. This model is easy to understand and offers high stability, but it requires trust in a centralized issuer and relies heavily on regular audits.
Crypto-collateralized stablecoins are issued via smart contracts using other cryptocurrencies as collateral. DAI and LUSD follow this model and use overcollateralization to manage the price volatility of the underlying assets. For example, you might need to deposit USD 1.50 worth of ETH as collateral to mint USD 1 worth of DAI. This model is more decentralized than fiat-backed models, but faces liquidation risk if the value of collateral falls sharply.
Commodity-backed stablecoins are pegged to physical commodities such as gold or silver. PAXG and XAUT are pegged to gold, and each token represents ownership of a specific quantity of physical gold held by a trusted custodian. These can be used as an inflation hedge, but since commodity prices themselves are volatile, they behave differently from fiat-pegged stablecoins.
Algorithmic stablecoins attempt to maintain their peg using algorithms and smart contracts that automatically adjust token supply without collateral. FRAX and USDD have taken this approach, but as the collapse of TerraUSD demonstrated, once market confidence is lost, algorithms alone are often not sufficient to sustain value.
2.3 Comparison with traditional payment systems
To understand the competitive edge of stablecoins, we need to clearly compare them with existing financial infrastructure. Traditional payment rails such as SWIFT, ACH, Visa, and Mastercard are used by virtually all consumers and businesses, and have been built upon decades of regulatory maturation. When problems arise, the allocation of responsibility is clear, and dispute-resolution mechanisms are well established.
However, these systems often take 1–5 days to settle payments, and cross-border or card transactions can be very expensive. International wire transfers typically pass through multiple intermediaries—originating bank, correspondent banks, receiving bank—introducing frictions, raising costs, and increasing failure risk. The fact that business stops on weekends and holidays is also a major constraint in a globalized business environment.
Crypto-based payment rails run on blockchains like Ethereum or Solana, allowing users to transfer funds peer-to-peer using wallet addresses without banks or processors. This structural difference brings several advantages. Networks operate 24/7, and transactions can reach finality within seconds: roughly 12 seconds on Ethereum and under 1 second on Solana.
In terms of cost, global remittance fees are often under USD 0.01. What used to cost tens of dollars in the traditional system can be processed for a fraction of a cent. Because funds can move globally without relying on banks, currency exchanges, or intermediaries, the chain of actors taking fees and adding delays is removed.
Programmability is a uniquely powerful feature of stablecoins. With smart contracts, you can automatically execute specific conditions along with payment. For example, you can activate a service simultaneously as a subscription fee is paid, or pay freelancers immediately upon task completion with just a few lines of code.
Because of these differences, stablecoins perform especially well in cross-border payments, real-time settlement, and micropayments, where traditional systems have been highly inefficient. Rather than fully replacing the traditional system, stablecoins complement it in areas where it has struggled and create new use cases.
2.4 The role and importance of issuers
Equally important as the technical characteristics of a stablecoin is who issues and manages it. Issuers are the entities that mint new tokens, manage the collateral reserves backing their value, and are responsible for redemption. They function as a bridge between the blockchain world and traditional finance; if this bridge is weak, the peg itself can be threatened.
Trust and transparency are the issuer’s most important assets. Whether they publicly disclose reserve data, undergo regular audits, and cooperate with regulators directly influences user trust. Circle publishes monthly attestations from independent accounting firms, and Tether releases quarterly reports. This level of transparency determines market trust and ultimately impacts adoption and liquidity.
Redemption policies also differ by issuer. Issuers set the rules for whether they guarantee 1:1 redemption when users convert stablecoins back to fiat, what fees or delays apply, and what minimum redemption amounts are required. Some issuers allow only institutional customers to redeem directly while retail users must go through exchanges. Compliance is tightly coupled with these operational policies. Issuers with strong compliance are less likely to face legal issues and can operate more stably, while those in conflict with regulators may face service suspensions or lose banking partners in certain regions.
The level of technical support issuers provide also matters. Which blockchains they support, how robust their developer APIs are, and how easy it is to integrate on/off-ramping all influence how useful a stablecoin is in practice. Comparing actual issuers reveals clear differences in approach.
Paxos focuses on enterprise clients and issues the USDP stablecoin. It holds customer deposits in U.S. banks and operates under the supervision of the New York Department of Financial Services, offering a white-label program that powers PayPal’s own stablecoin issuance. This is a model optimized for large enterprises prioritizing regulation and stability.
By contrast, MO takes a modular approach tailored to developers and builders. It provides a technical platform that allows companies to easily issue application-specific stablecoins with their own branding, regulatory policies, and revenue-sharing structures. For app builders, choosing which stablecoins to support means considering not only their technical characteristics but also the issuer’s credibility, regulatory status, supported networks, and API quality. A poor choice can later result in service disruptions or loss of user trust.
3. Real-World Use Cases and Revenue Generation with Stablecoins
3.1 How stablecoins are reshaping fundamental properties of money
Stablecoins are making the movement of money more global, more programmable, and more accessible. This shift is not just a technical improvement; it creates new use cases that traditional finance has not been able to provide.
Cross-border payments are the clearest area where stablecoins show their strengths. Traditional international remittances can take days and cost up to 10% in fees, while stablecoin transfers settle within seconds at a cost of mere cents. These advantages are particularly critical in regions with unstable currencies or limited banking infrastructure. In emerging markets where remittance fees take up a meaningful share of household income, lowering fees directly improves quality of life.
Payroll and contractor payments address a core need in the era of global remote work. When companies pay workers distributed across multiple countries, stablecoins offer a fast and cost-efficient solution. With smart contracts, advanced features like recurring payments or real-time salary streaming can be implemented, and recipients can avoid the risk of rapid depreciation in local currencies.
In the DeFi ecosystem, stablecoins function as base assets. Users can earn interest via lending protocols or generate fees by providing liquidity on decentralized exchanges. Stablecoins provide a reliable store of value in a volatile crypto market, while simultaneously offering yield opportunities. Users can borrow stablecoins using volatile assets like ETH or SOL as collateral, allowing them to maintain their original positions while deploying capital for new opportunities or payments.
Stablecoins also serve as a bridge between crypto and traditional finance. Users can easily convert stablecoins to local currency via exchanges, off-ramp services, ATMs, and P2P marketplaces. Even when moving funds across different wallets, trading platforms, or blockchains like Ethereum and Solana, stablecoins offer a fast, cheap, and interoperable means of transfer. Recently, stablecoin-backed debit cards have been gaining popularity. Platforms like Rain allow users to top up their cards with stablecoins and spend them anywhere Visa or Mastercard are accepted, just like regular cards.
3.2 Cross-border payments and remittances: global transfers without intermediaries
Traditional cross-border payments are notoriously inefficient. They often take several days, involve high fees, and require multiple intermediaries. For example, sending money from Korea to the Philippines typically involves the remitting bank, the SWIFT network, correspondent banks, and the receiving bank—each adding fees and processing time.
Stablecoins and smart contracts provide a much cleaner alternative, which is especially important for people in underbanked regions. They enable instant, open value transfers without intermediaries, while ensuring interoperability across blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. With private keys and non-custodial wallets, users gain stronger ownership and reduce reliance on third parties.
24/7 availability, independent of bank operating hours, is another crucial advantage. Instead of waiting until Monday for a transfer sent on Friday evening, stablecoin transfers settle instantly at any time. Ultra-low global transfer fees fundamentally change the economics of small-value remittances. Paying USD 5 in fees for a USD 50 transfer versus paying USD 0.01 is a completely different experience.
3.3 Neobanks: programmable financial services
Historically, neobanks have relied on slowly moving legacy financial infrastructure. But with stablecoins, they can build new service models using APIs, smart contracts, and programmable logic. Stablecoins and embedded wallets support everything from onboarding to off-ramping, which is especially important for users in emerging markets, remote workers, and the unbanked.
Providing 24/7 access to a stable, global digital dollar delivers value that traditional banks have not been able to offer. Users can move funds, save, and invest even on weekends and holidays. Frictionless cross-border transfers translate into instant settlement and minimal fees, which is a tangible benefit for users with frequent international transactions.
A programmable money layer gives neobanks a foundation to build differentiated services. Automated rewards, smart-contract-based savings products, and conditional transfers can all be implemented in code. In high-inflation markets, the role of stablecoins as a reliable store of value becomes even more important. In environments where local currencies rapidly lose value, USD-pegged stablecoins serve as a means to preserve wealth. Integration with on/off-ramps that make it easy to move between stablecoins and local fiat allows users to flexibly manage their funds as needed.
3.4 Payroll: transforming global workforce management
Paying workers across borders has always been slow, expensive, and fragmented. Different banking systems, regulations, and tax rules must be considered in each country, and the FX process adds time and cost. Stablecoins simplify this flow, enabling payments to settle within seconds at much lower cost.
Instant settlement of salaries and contractor payments, regardless of region, allows companies to tap into global talent pools more easily. The low transaction fees relative to Wire, ACH, and SWIFT are particularly meaningful in the freelance economy, where small payments are frequent. If sending USD 100 costs USD 30 in fees, it’s not economical—but if it costs USD 0.01, small payouts suddenly make sense.
Currency stability is a critical benefit for workers. Stablecoins help protect workers from the impact of sharp declines in local currency purchasing power. For those seeing their salary lose 10% of its value within a few days, being paid in USD-pegged stablecoins becomes a real income-protection tool.
Programmable payment features greatly increase flexibility in payroll management. Recurring payments, milestone-based payouts, and performance-based bonuses can all be automated via smart contracts. With wallet integration, workers can spend, convert to local currency, or deploy idle funds to earn yield as soon as they get paid. This kind of financial inclusion opens up new opportunities for workers in regions where opening a bank account is difficult.
3.5 Treasury management for institutions: 24/7 global liquidity
Large enterprises constantly face challenges in managing liquidity across multiple markets, currencies, and entities. Traditional treasury operations are fragmented, expensive, and constrained by time zones and geography. Moving funds from an Asian subsidiary to a European one requires coordinating across local banking hours and can take days due to intermediate banks.
Stablecoins provide a more efficient and programmable foundation for global treasury operations. 24/7 liquidity management without cut-off times or weekend delays allows treasury teams to respond immediately to market changes. Faster settlement between subsidiaries reduces trapped capital in local accounts and improves overall capital efficiency.
Programmable treasury operations enable automation at the institutional level. Smart contracts can implement automated cash sweeping, scheduled payments, and conditional transfers, reducing errors and delays caused by manual processes. Diversifying holdings into digital dollars can also help manage FX risk by reducing exposure to weakening local currencies.
Integration with DeFi opens new possibilities for corporate treasuries. Idle balances can be deployed into relatively safe protocols to earn yield, often higher than that offered by traditional bank deposits. While smart contract risk and regulatory uncertainty must be considered, with proper risk management, this can become an effective way to utilize idle funds. These examples show that stablecoins are no longer just remittance tools—they are becoming infrastructure that can redesign corporate treasury operations.
3.6 Yield: activating idle stablecoin assets
Yield turns stablecoins from a passive tool into an active financial infrastructure. For users, it opens up the possibility of earning returns on their holdings without volatility risk; for developers, it creates new opportunities to retain users, monetize wallet apps, and design programmable financial flows around rewards and savings.
Yield functions as a powerful equalizer. In markets where banks pay almost no interest or where inflation erodes local-currency savings, stablecoin yields offer a credible alternative. Anyone with internet access can earn interest or rewards, regardless of where they live or how much they earn.
Unlike traditional finance, yield is embedded into the system itself on blockchains. In banks, earning interest typically requires signing up for specific deposit products and maintaining minimum balances. With stablecoins, yield can be generated simply by depositing into a particular protocol or holding a specific token. This structural difference opens new possibilities for a wide variety of actors, each of whom uses yield in different ways.
For fintech apps and neobanks, yield is a powerful differentiator in a crowded market. They can compete not only on UX but also by embedding real economic value into their products—providing users with savings tools and reasons to return. The choice between a bank app offering 0.01% annual interest and a neobank offering 4–5% is obvious. For developers, yield itself becomes programmable infrastructure.
Yield can be tokenized, shared, redirected, and used as a trigger for other on-chain activities. For example, users’ earned interest can be automatically reinvested; once it reaches a certain threshold, an NFT can be minted; or a portion of the yield can be donated to charity. This transforms value creation from static storage into dynamic movement.
For users in emerging markets, stablecoin yields can be extremely powerful. They help cushion inflation, provide alternatives to unstable local banks, and offer portable ways to build financial resilience. In environments where local currencies lose 20–30% of their value annually, earning 5% yield in USD-pegged stablecoins becomes a practical asset-protection strategy. For everyday users, yield makes stablecoins a smarter way to hold cash. Instead of leaving funds in low-yield checking accounts, they can passively earn returns without taking on high volatility or complex procedures.
Yet there remains substantial untapped opportunity. Even though total stablecoin supply has surpassed USD 100 billion, the share of stablecoins actually earning yield has fallen from 18% to 10%. Helping unlock yield from idle balances may be one of the largest opportunities in on-chain finance. The biggest barriers today are trust, user experience, and awareness—providing clear signals for app builders. Even if yield is technically possible, real adoption depends on whether users trust the system and can access it easily.
Users have diverse ways of earning yield with stablecoins depending on their goals, risk appetite, and platforms. Supplying stablecoins to lending protocols like Aave allows them to earn a share of the interest paid by borrowers. Providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges or stable-swap pools gives users a share of trading fees. Participating in tokenized real-world asset markets such as short-term U.S. Treasuries enables them to earn traditional financial yields on-chain.
There are also yield-bearing stablecoins that accumulate value simply by being held. Users do not need to take separate deposit actions; the token itself generates yield. Solutions like Superform offer a familiar fintech-like interface that embeds yield-generation features behind the scenes, abstracting technical complexity and giving users a simple experience. These methods range from permissionless DeFi tools to solutions directly integrated into apps, and builders can choose yield mechanisms that align with their target users’ technical literacy and risk preferences.
4. Technical Components Needed to Build Stablecoin-Based Apps
4.1 Stablecoins: the medium of exchange
Stablecoins are both the medium of exchange that users send, receive, and hold, and the digital funds themselves. The first decision when building an app is which stablecoins to support. The most common model is one where users deposit actual USD with the issuer and receive a digital dollar redeemable 1:1.
Choosing issuers cannot be based solely on market cap or brand recognition. As discussed in Section 2, you must consider the issuer’s transparency, regulatory posture, supported networks, and API quality. USDC is favored by institutional clients for its transparent attestation and regulatory compliance; USDT is widely used by retail users due to its liquidity and broad exchange support. PYUSD has the unique strength of being integrated with the PayPal ecosystem.
Choices vary depending on your target users and regions. If you are targeting Latin American users, you need to factor in the high adoption of Tron-based USDT; for U.S. institutional clients, USDC may be more suitable. Supporting multiple stablecoins increases initial complexity but provides users with choice and gives you the flexibility to enter diverse markets.
4.2 Blockchain networks: choosing the payment rail
The blockchain network is the underlying payment rail and infrastructure layer where stablecoin transactions are recorded and settled. Unlike traditional payment systems, these networks are permissionless and transparent.
Ethereum has the most mature stablecoin ecosystem. Most DeFi protocols, exchanges, and wallet services support Ethereum first, and its developer community and tooling are the richest. However, when network congestion is high, transaction fees can spike to tens of dollars, which is burdensome for apps requiring frequent or low-value transactions. To address this, Layer 2 solutions such as Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism have emerged, leveraging Ethereum’s security while bringing fees down below USD 1 and speeding up settlement.
Tron, with its low fees and fast finality, excels in payments and remittances. Its transaction fees often stay below 1 cent, making it suitable for small-value transfers, and it enjoys high adoption in Asia and Latin America. Solana offers extremely high throughput, processing thousands of transactions per second with sub-second finality and fees around USD 0.001, though past network outages have raised some concerns about stability.
Chain choice is directly linked to your app’s use case. For high-frequency, low-value payments, Tron or Solana may be appropriate; for deep DeFi integration, Ethereum’s ecosystem is advantageous. If you are aiming for a global service, you should consider multi-chain support. Although this increases development complexity upfront, it significantly improves user accessibility over the long term. With cross-chain bridge technologies improving, it is crucial to design infrastructure with multi-chain expansion in mind.
4.3 Wallet infrastructure: the core authentication layer
Wallet infrastructure is the core authentication layer and control plane where users store stablecoins, prove ownership, and send and receive funds. For developers, wallets go far beyond storage; they handle user identity, transaction signing, and complex key management in the backend.
There are three main wallet implementation models. Custodial wallets are those where the service provider manages users’ private keys. Users log in with familiar IDs and passwords and do not have to worry about key management. This lowers the barrier to entry for non-crypto-native users, but if the service provider is hacked, all user funds are at risk. Wallets offered by exchanges like Coinbase and Binance are typical examples.
Non-custodial wallets require users to manage their own private keys. MetaMask and Phantom fall into this category, giving users full control over their funds. Even if the service provider is hacked, user assets remain safe, but losing private keys means they cannot be recovered. For mainstream users, securely storing 12- or 24-word seed phrases is a significant burden.
WaaS (Wallet-as-a-Service) attempts to combine the strengths of both approaches. Services like Circle Programmable Wallets, Fireblocks, Privy, and Korea’s WEPIN offer infrastructure that allows developers to integrate wallet functionality into their apps without implementing complex key management logic. They use MPC (multi-party computation) to shard and secure keys, support social login and biometrics, and improve UX. For early-stage apps, leveraging WaaS is an efficient way to secure both speed of development and security.
Wallet choices depend on the technical literacy of your target users and your app’s security requirements. For mass-market consumer apps, ease of use is critical, so custodial or WaaS-based approaches are often suitable. For crypto-native users, integration with non-custodial wallets is usually preferred. You must also factor in regulation. In some jurisdictions, licensing requirements for custodial services are strict enough that it may be more reasonable to rely on a licensed WaaS provider instead of building everything in-house.
4.4 Payment processing: creating and confirming transactions
Payment processing is the system that creates, signs, broadcasts, and confirms blockchain transactions for sending and receiving stablecoins. Although it is core functionality, it requires significant technical expertise due to protocol differences and complex error handling across blockchains.
Custodial services with APIs are the simplest approach. Solutions like Circle’s Payments API and Coinbase Commerce provide RESTful APIs for sending, receiving, and querying balances. Developers can implement payment features by calling web APIs without worrying about blockchain internals. This enables rapid prototyping and launch, but increases dependency on third parties and limits control over user funds.
Non-custodial SDKs provide developers with more control. Libraries such as Web3.js and Ethers.js abstract away low-level protocol details while allowing direct interactions with blockchains. This enables you to manage user funds directly, customize transaction logic, and reduce dependencies on third parties—but raises the development bar and places the burden of security squarely on your team.
Direct blockchain integration gives the highest level of control but also the heaviest operational burden. Running your own nodes frees you from external availability and pricing risks, but requires ongoing effort for synchronization, upgrades, and monitoring. Most apps start by using RPC node services like Infura or Alchemy and then consider running their own nodes as they scale.
Robust error handling and state management are critical to payment processing. Blockchain transactions can fail for many reasons—insufficient gas, network congestion, or other conditions. A stable service must provide clear status feedback to users, implement retry logic for failures, and prevent duplicate transactions.
4.5 On/off-ramps: connecting with fiat
On/off-ramps are the bridges that allow users to exchange traditional fiat currency and stablecoins. On-ramping refers to buying stablecoins with fiat; off-ramping refers to converting stablecoins back into fiat. They are essential for onboarding non-crypto-native users into your app and often handle KYC and payment processing on your behalf.
Services like MoonPay, Transak, and Ramp provide on/off-ramp solutions via SDKs and APIs. Users can purchase stablecoins using credit cards, bank transfers, or local payment methods, and the on-ramp provider handles KYC. This saves developers from implementing complex regulatory and payment integrations, but typically incurs 3–5% fees per transaction, which can be a meaningful cost for users.
Because preferences for payment methods and regulatory environments vary across regions, choosing on-ramp services that fit your target market is critical. In Korea, bank account integration and KRW support are essential; in Southeast Asia, support for local wallets like GrabPay or GoPay increases adoption; in Latin America, support for local payment systems like PIX or Boleto is important.
Off-ramping is often more complex than on-ramping. To let users withdraw stablecoins into local bank accounts, integration with local banking systems is required, and stronger transaction monitoring is needed to comply with AML regulations. In some regions, off-ramp services are limited or charge very high fees, causing users to rely on P2P trades or crypto ATMs. When designing your app, you should understand off-ramp availability and costs ahead of time, and provide alternative cash-out options where possible to improve user experience.
4.6 Compliance infrastructure: the regulatory layer
Compliance infrastructure is the technology layer required to meet financial regulations. Stablecoin apps are treated as financial services in most countries, which means they usually need to comply with KYC, AML, and money-transmitter licensing requirements.
Identity verification is essential at the onboarding stage. Services like Jumio, Onfido, and Sumsub provide APIs for ID verification, biometric checks, and address verification, offering varying levels of assurance tailored to different regulatory standards. For some users, basic KYC—name, date of birth, address—is enough; for high-value transactions or specific regions, enhanced due diligence may be required.
Suspicious activity monitoring is an ongoing compliance task. Companies like Chainalysis and Elliptic analyze blockchain transactions in real time to detect money laundering, terrorism financing, and interactions with sanctioned addresses. These tools assign risk scores, flag suspicious transactions, and generate reports for regulators.
Money transmitter licensing requirements differ widely by region. In the U.S., money services businesses may need a Money Transmitter License at the state level; in Europe, firms must comply with MiCA; in Korea, virtual asset providers must register under the relevant regulatory framework. Licensing is costly and time-consuming, so early-stage startups often rely on partners that already hold the necessary licenses. For example, using licensed WaaS providers or on-ramp services allows you to start building without securing your own license upfront.
As regulations evolve quickly, flexibility in compliance strategy is crucial. A practical approach is to initially launch in jurisdictions with relatively lighter regulation to validate product–market fit, and then strengthen compliance infrastructure as regulations clarify and the business scales.
4.7 Crypto cards: instantly usable liquidity
Crypto cards allow users to spend stablecoins directly at the point of sale, converting them into fiat on the fly without going through a separate off-ramp process. They deliver real-world usability for stablecoins; the CEO of Rain has described this as making digital dollars spendable anywhere Visa is accepted.
The mechanism is straightforward. When a user pays with the card, the backend automatically sells the required amount of stablecoins for fiat and settles with the merchant. Users only have to manage their stablecoin balance and do not need to handle complex conversion or withdrawals. Services like Rain, the Crypto.com card, and the Coinbase card all offer these capabilities.
Crypto cards maximize day-to-day utility of stablecoins. Instead of cashing out via an exchange for every purchase, users can buy coffee or groceries using stablecoins just like a regular debit card. Some cards even offer crypto cashback on spending, strengthening user incentives.
But issuing such cards requires complex regulation and partnerships. Integration with Visa or Mastercard networks, agreements with issuing banks, and compliance with each country’s card-issuance regulations are needed, making it difficult for early-stage startups to build everything in-house. Instead, card-issuing platforms like Lithic and Marqeta allow you to launch branded cards relatively quickly.
4.8 On-chain FX and security: the final puzzle pieces
On-chain FX is the foreign-exchange layer that converts received stablecoins into a user’s local currency after cross-border payments complete. Because most stablecoins are USD-pegged, users in other currency zones ultimately need to convert into local fiat. Providing competitive FX rates in low-liquidity or volatile emerging markets remains a key challenge.
Some DeFi protocols provide stablecoin pools with various currency pairs, allowing users to perform FX on-chain. However, liquidity is often limited outside major currencies, causing large slippage. Hybrid models that combine off-chain FX services with on-chain settlement can offer rates closer to market prices while maintaining blockchain transparency.
On-chain security refers to tools and services that detect and block scams, fraud, and hacks in real time. Providers like Fireblocks and Forta can block risky smart contract interactions, warn users about phishing sites, and monitor suspicious transaction patterns. When users connect their wallets to malicious dApps or are prompted to grant unlimited token approvals, these systems can warn them and prevent asset loss.
Security also needs to be enforced at the app level. Transaction simulation helps predict outcomes before execution; multi-signature schemes and timelocks enhance the safety of high-value transfers; and whitelisting addresses can prevent unintended payouts. These technical components do not operate independently—they are interconnected and collectively define the app’s overall functionality. The next chapter will look more closely at security considerations for operating these components safely.
5. Conclusion and Outlook
Stablecoins are restructuring the fundamental infrastructure of finance. The increase in market cap from USD 10 billion in 2020 to USD 26 billion in 2025 and the growth in unique users beyond 40 million are more than just numbers—they represent global demand for digital dollars. From cross-border remittances and payroll to DeFi yield and institutional treasury management, stablecoins are providing practical solutions in areas where traditional finance has been inefficient.
For app builders, this is a clear opportunity. As infrastructure such as WaaS, on/off-ramps, and RPC services matures, it has become possible to integrate stablecoin functionality without implementing complex technology in-house. The key is to choose your tech stack wisely. An effective strategy is to leverage proven partners in the early stages to rapidly launch an MVP and validate product–market fit, then gradually build your own infrastructure as you grow. Regulation and security are non-negotiable and must be embedded into the architecture from day one to operate a stable, long-lived service.
The stablecoin market is still in its early days. The fact that only about 10% of outstanding stablecoins are earning yield suggests a massive remaining opportunity to activate idle assets. As regional adoption patterns become more balanced, P2P volume across diverse currency pairs increases, and the multi-chain ecosystem expands, new use cases will continue to emerge. As regulatory frameworks become clearer, early uncertainties will fade, drawing in more companies and users.
Above all, the most important thing is to deliver real value to users. True adoption begins when the technical benefits of stablecoins—speed, low cost, and programmability—are translated into experiences users can actually feel. Services that use stablecoins to solve problems the traditional financial system has failed to address are the ones that will ultimately survive. It is our hope that the market landscape, technical stack, security considerations, and real-world examples covered in this guide will provide practical support in your journey to build stablecoin-powered applications.
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