Stablecoin Payments for Businesses: Should Companies Hold Stablecoins?
Stablecoin payments for businesses often begin as a faster way to move money. But what happens when a company stops converting every balance back to fiat and starts holding some stablecoins in its treasury?
In this episode of Money Rewired, Murat Prokopov and Océane Codjia explore how stablecoins could move beyond cross-border payments into business treasury management — from 24/7 settlement to tokenised money-market funds. They also discuss why fast blockchain transfers can still run into slow banking processes, how regulation differs across markets, and what could make x402 payments useful to businesses.
How Do Stablecoin Payments for Businesses Work?
Stablecoin payments for businesses allow companies to transfer or settle value using stablecoins. A company may convert fiat into a stablecoin, move the funds on-chain, then convert them back to fiat or keep a balance for future use. In this episode, Océane Codjia describes a payment company moving money between its EU and US entities: stablecoin transfers between wallets can take minutes, while traditional transfers may take 24 to 48 hours. The real benefit depends on the entire payment process, including when the recipient can access or use the funds.
From Stablecoin Payments to Business Treasury
The conversation starts with a question beyond crypto trading: could stablecoins become part of how businesses manage their money and working capital day to day?
Océane describes a gradual path. A payment company may first use stablecoins for a small share of its cross-border flows. As those transactions become familiar, it may consider keeping part of its treasury in stablecoins and then building products around those balances. That could turn stablecoins from a payment rail into a way to hold and deploy capital, depending on the product, jurisdiction, and risks involved.
Murat and Océane also examine the less visible work behind that shift: banking relationships, local payment habits, regulation, liquidity, and the systems that connect blockchain settlement to usable funds.
Episode Breakdown: Payments, Treasury and Regulation
From crypto’s “Wild West” to business finance
Océane reflects on joining digital assets in 2018, when institutional adoption was limited, and crypto was difficult to explain to wealth managers. She discusses how her view changed as financial institutions entered the market, and whether crypto’s role is to replace traditional finance or improve how it works.
Cross-Border Stablecoin Payments Between Company Entities
The episode explores cross-border stablecoin payments, including transfers between a company’s own entities. Océane describes a payment company moving several hundred million dollars a day between its EU and US operations. Traditional transfers could take 24 to 48 hours, while stablecoin transfers between internal wallets took minutes.
When Stablecoins Become Part of Business Treasury
Murat asks when it makes sense for a business to hold stablecoins rather than convert them straight back to fiat. They discuss how keeping a balance could support recurring payment flows and new products, while also raising questions about liquidity, risk, and jurisdiction.
Tokenised Money-Market Funds and Access Beyond Banking Hours
Océane explains the Coinbase integration with Spiko, which allows investors to subscribe to or redeem tokenised money-market funds using stablecoins. The episode looks at how moving into and out of a regulated fund outside normal banking hours can change access to liquidity.
Stablecoin Regulation Across the US, UK and Europe
The discussion compares the regulatory and payment environments in these markets. It covers how rules affect which products companies can offer, why one licence does not automatically make every market the same, and how local payment preferences shape product design.
x402, API Payments and AI Agents
The episode closes with x402, an open protocol for internet-native payments. Murat and Océane discuss potential uses such as paying for API access, data, content, or computing resources, and what businesses would need, including regulatory clarity and integration with existing systems, before agentic payments could scale.
Why Stablecoin Adoption Matters for Businesses
Stablecoin payments are attracting attention as businesses explore faster cross-border settlement and more flexible treasury operations. But adoption depends on more than blockchain speed. Companies still need to manage fiat-to-stablecoin conversion, understand local rules, and decide how much of their financial operations they are ready to move on-chain.
This conversation examines the move from stablecoins as a way to transfer money to stablecoins as funds a business might hold and use. It asks what would make that shift practical and how to distinguish lasting commercial demand from industry hype.
About Money Rewired
Money Rewired is a podcast by CoinsPaid Media about the systems reshaping finance, from crypto infrastructure and modern banking to payments, AI, regulation, and the companies connecting them.
FAQ
A transaction record shows that value moved, but it may not reveal whether it was a customer payment, a treasury transfer, an incentive, or funds moving between related wallets. Océane and Murat discuss why on-chain activity needs business context to explain what is happening.
The episode frames the choice around what the company needs to own. Building can make sense when a needed capability does not exist. A partnership can work when each side brings a different strength, such as technology and merchant reach. An acquisition may be the faster route when a company needs capabilities or market leadership that would take too long to build.
Transaction counts, wallet numbers, trading volume, and funds locked in protocols can be misleading on their own. The episode considers how activity driven by bots, incentives, or repeated movement of funds can look like real demand, and why payment context matters when evaluating adoption.
