Ripple CEO Says Stablecoins Will Be Businesses’ ‘ChatGPT Moment,’ Transforming Global Payments

Stablecoins maintain a stable value against assets such as the US dollar and enable instant settlement on blockchains. They are evolving from crypto trading instruments into tools for corporate payments and treasury management. Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of payment infrastructure provider Bridge shows that major payments companies are betting on cross-border money movement. Stablecoins’ low cost and programmability also make them well suited to autonomous payments by AI agents.

Bridge executive Lindsey Einhaus and Deus X Capital CEO Tim Grant said at Consensus 2026 in Miami on May 7, 2026, that large institutions would accelerate their use of stablecoins for cross-border payments and treasury operations over the next two years. Low transaction fees could help AI micropayments overcome cost barriers, but fragmented blockchains and wallets and regulatory uncertainty over autonomous finance remain obstacles to adoption.

Stablecoins maintain a steady value by pegging themselves to assets such as the U.S. dollar. Their use is gradually expanding beyond cryptocurrency trading into cross-border remittances and everyday payments. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said the vast user bases and payment ecosystems of major technology companies such as Meta and DoorDash could make their formal adoption of stablecoins a key turning point for broader uptake.

Hougan recently said Meta and DoorDash have begun using stablecoins in payment pilots, indicating that technology platforms are exploring ways to cut settlement costs and improve payment efficiency. He predicted that the stablecoin market could grow to $4 trillion by 2030, with adoption by large technology companies bringing hundreds of millions of users into the market.

Stablecoins, once viewed mainly as tools for trading crypto assets, are increasingly being used for corporate payments and settlement by financial institutions. Juniper Research said they can reduce the time and cost of traditional cross-border transfers while supporting supply-chain payments, treasury management and international settlement, making them an important area of development in global B2B payment infrastructure.

Juniper Research’s latest report forecasts that cross-border B2B stablecoin payments will reach $5 trillion by 2035 and account for 85% of the value of all stablecoin transactions. The projection signals a shift in the market’s focus from speculative trading to institutional use, with stablecoins enabling businesses to make programmable cross-border payments and manage funds around the clock.

Stablecoins offer round-the-clock settlement through fiat-pegged assets and could reduce the costs, delays and prefunding burden associated with cross-border transfers. Citi and corporate treasury platform Stable Sea said companies are not seeking to replace the banking system. Instead, they are prioritizing specific payment corridors that are costly, slow or unreliable.

On April 9, 2026, PYMNTS interviewed Citi Head of Digital Assets Ryan Rugg and Stable Sea CEO Tanner Taddeo. The stablecoin market was worth about $315 billion at the time, but everyday consumer and commercial payments still accounted for only a single-digit share of activity. Stable Sea can provide same-day payments in more than 40 markets, although institutional transactions currently account for most of its volume.

Ripple, which has long used blockchain infrastructure to facilitate cross-border payments for businesses, has introduced its Unified Stablecoin Platform, bringing stablecoin issuance, transfers and settlement into a single workflow. For multinational companies, the platform is designed to reduce the layers of correspondent banks involved while improving visibility into fund flows and accelerating payments.

The latest reports say Ripple is using the platform to drive global enterprise adoption, allowing customers to make and settle cross-border payments with stablecoins. As of July 20, 2026, available information did not disclose the investment amount, transaction volume, initial enterprise customers or number of countries covered. Attention will now turn to the formal launch date, regulatory progress and actual payment volumes.