At Visa GCC Connect 2025, industry leaders gathered to discuss the future of payments and the evolving role of digital assets. Among the highlights was a fireside chat between Usman Ahmad, Co-Founder and CEO of Zodia Markets and Shahebaz Khan, SVP, Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, CEMEA at Visa. The conversation centred on stablecoins. Particularly, the problem they solve, their trajectory and the implications for banks, corporates and policymakers. What follows are key insights from that discussion, distilled into the broader context of how stablecoins are reshaping global finance.

The inefficiency of today’s system

At first, blockchain and digital assets were often dismissed as “a solution looking for a problem.” That changed with the rise of stablecoins. Their value proposition is clear and immediate in solving one of the most pressing challenges in global finance – how painfully slow and inefficient it is to move money across borders.

When large corporations move billions across jurisdictions, their “cash ladder” is tied up for days, sometimes weeks. Cut-offs, correspondent banking networks, FX conversion layers and fees all mean capital isn’t available when businesses need it most. The result is friction, cost and lost opportunity.

Stablecoins provide an alternative. They enable money to move instantly, 24/7. Capital can be deployed on demand, with no waiting for markets to open or banks to process settlement. This isn’t theory, it’s already happening and we’re seeing a rise in commodities, energy and metals firms exploring stablecoins as a solution for greater supply chain and wholesale payments efficiency. Increasingly, central banks and large corporations are also exploring stablecoins for treasury and trade finance.

Why banks must adapt, or risk irrelevance?

The story is familiar. Kodak once dominated film. Nokia once ruled mobile. Both failed to adapt to technological shifts and lost relevance. Banks face the same risk today.

Stablecoins already represent a $260* billion market, with forecasts suggesting growth to $1.2 trillion by 2028** and up to $3.7 trillion by 2030***. The rails of money movement are being rebuilt. If banks fail to engage, they may find themselves displaced by more agile participants able to provide the speed, scale and transparency that their institutional clients demand.

This shift is also supported by governments. In the US, stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Tether are now among the largest holders of US Treasury debt, creating a new, mutually beneficial relationship between government funding needs and digital asset adoption.

*Willkie, The GENIUS Act: A New Pathway for Stablecoin Issuance, July 2025

**Coinbase, New Framework for Stablecoin Growth, 21st August 2025.

*** Citi Group, Digital Dollars, April 2025

Beyond the dollar

While dollar-denominated stablecoins dominate, there is growing momentum for non-USD options. Take the example of a Japanese corporate paying suppliers in the UAE. Today, funds must route via the US, introducing two to three day delays, plus layers of FX conversion and network fees. On a $100 million transaction, as much as 4-9% can be lost in leakage. The equivalent of $4-9 million just vanishes in the process.

With stablecoin-to-stablecoin settlement, the same $100 million moves instantly, with significantly less cost and risk.

• Reduced counterparty risk from days of waiting.
• $4-9 million saved in intermediary fees.
• Suppliers paid on the spot, strengthening relationships, moving goods faster and allowing that capital to be deployed quicker to realise another opportunity.

For businesses, that isn’t just efficiency, it’s competitive advantage.

Regulation and regional leadership

Regulators are catching up. The UAE, in particular, has taken a progressive stance, exploring the launch of the digital dirham and framing a regulatory approach that balances innovation with oversight. For global institutions, this creates an attractive environment to experiment and scale.

The tipping point ahead

For all the progress, scale remains the critical challenge. Most participants in the stablecoin market today are geared towards retail flows or smaller wholesale transactions. When it comes to handling large-scale, high-value movements, the infrastructure is thin.

This is where Zodia Markets change the picture. With the ability to process transactions of up to $1 billion, 15 to 20 times larger than most other participants, Zodia Markets is enabling stablecoins to serve not only trading firms but also corporates with complex supply chains, commodity players and institutions that need to move serious capital at speed.

In 2024, the B2B cross-border payments market had a total global size of $31.6tn and is set to grow by 58% to $50tn in 2032****. Stablecoins have only scratched that surface however, as institutional-scale infrastructure matures, the adoption curve will accelerate rapidly and the efficiency gains will be too significant for businesses to ignore.

****FXC Intelligence, NEW DATA: cross-border payments market now worth over $194tn and is forecast to reach $320tn by 2032, January 2025

A new foundation for institutional finance

Stablecoins and the new rails of banking are in their infancy when compared to the legacy giant that has been in place for decades. That said, we are entering a new era and while much of the conversation today focuses on the risks of adopting stablecoins, the more important question is, what are the risks of maintaining the status quo? What are the risks if innovation does not take place?

History offers clear lessons from those who once dominated their domains, but their failure to adapt caused them to lose their relevance. The same fate awaits institutions that resist change in financial infrastructure.

The imperative is to engage, participate and help shape what comes next. By doing so, institutions will not only remain part of the conversation but also play a decisive role in defining the future of money movement.

Speak to our team to learn how Zodia Markets could help unlock the critical advantage your company needs.