Stablecoins Powering Emerging Market Payments
Arjun Sethi, co-CEO of Kraken, on building the Nasdaq of crypto
Stablecoins are moving from crypto trading tool to everyday business cash rail in the parts of the world where local banking and local currencies are least reliable. The pattern is concrete, not theoretical. Small businesses use dollar stablecoins to hold treasury, pay overseas suppliers, collect export proceeds, and avoid the delays and FX spreads of wires. In these markets, adoption is being pulled by a basic need, access to digital dollars that can move instantly and be spent inside normal business workflows.
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In Latin America, stablecoins already show up in two separate jobs. They are a savings layer for SMEs that want dollar exposure, and a payment rail for cross border transfers. Kapital pairs a stablecoin wallet with a card, and also uses stablecoins to pay foreign vendors inside its working capital product.
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The same regional pattern appears beyond LatAm. Chainalysis found faster stablecoin growth in retail and professional sized transfers in lower income markets, especially Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and later highlighted Africa trade flows where stablecoins are used in higher value transfers tied to commerce between Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
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This matters strategically for Kraken because exchanges with deep liquidity become infrastructure, not just destinations for traders. If a bank, neobank, or exporter needs to switch between fiat and stablecoins cheaply and at size, the exchange that can clear that flow becomes part of the payment stack.
The next phase is stablecoins disappearing into the product. More banks, fintechs, and export software platforms will tuck dollar wallets, vendor payments, and treasury storage behind familiar cards, invoices, and accounts. The winners will be the platforms that combine compliance, local distribution, and deep fiat to stablecoin liquidity, turning crypto rails into ordinary business plumbing.