Stablecoin issuers and fintech-linked corporations are launching payment-focused blockchains as they attempt to management extra of the settlement infrastructure behind US digital-dollar transfers.
Some stablecoin issuers and fintech-linked corporations are constructing a brand new wave of blockchain networks designed for institutional fee flows relatively than the broader token issuance and smart-contract exercise related to general-purpose layer-1 networks, in accordance with Delphi Digital.
These embrace stablecoin big Tether-backed Plasma, a public L1 community optimized for cross-border USDt (USDT) transactions, which launched on mainnet on Sept. 25, 2025 after it raised $24 million in February. A month later, stablecoin issuer Circle launched the general public testnet for Arc, which it describes as an open L1 blockchain purpose-built for stablecoin finance.
The developments add to indicators of a structural shift from generic blockchain infrastructure towards payment-focused networks, as corporations compete to manage the rails underpinning stablecoin settlement, which Delphi Digital described as one in every of crypto’s clearest real-world use instances.
Fintech corporations have additionally joined the funds infrastructure push, looking for to carve out a market share of the rising stablecoin funds sector.
Proudly owning the fee rails is turning into “strategically necessary,” Ran Goldi, senior vp of funds and community at digital asset custody platform Fireblocks, advised Cointelegraph. He mentioned:
“As an alternative of counting on exterior networks and paying charges to ecosystems like Ethereum, corporations want to seize extra of that worth themselves by constructing or controlling the settlement layer.”
For fee corporations, proudly owning the underlying rails means they keep away from being “taxed” for the mint and burn operations of the stablecoin, added Goldi.
Fintech corporations are additionally becoming a member of the stablecoin chain wars
Tempo mentioned Wednesday that its mainnet is dwell, describing the community as a merchant-focused settlement layer constructed for high-throughput stablecoin transactions. The undertaking says it’s incubated by Paradigm and Stripe.
In October 2024, Stripe acquired stablecoin infrastructure startup Birdge for $1.1 billion. In June 2025, it acquired crypto pockets infrastructure supplier Privy and later purchased billing platform Metronome on Jan. 14.
Delphi Digital mentioned these offers positioned Stripe to manage extra of the issuance, pockets and billing layers round stablecoin funds alongside settlement infrastructure.
Stablecoin fee infrastructure is more and more seen as a brand new “income layer,” positioning entities controlling the end-to-end fee workflow to seize charges on each transaction, in accordance with Alvin Kan, chief working officer at Bitget Pockets.
“As settlement prices on the protocol stage pattern decrease, worth seize shifts to the orchestration layer across the rail: compliance, FX conversion, pockets infrastructure, on- and off-ramps, native payout connectivity and service provider integration,” he advised Cointelegraph.
Associated: Stablecoins to interchange previous FX rails, however off-ramps stay a chokepoint
Controlling the settlement infrastructure behind stablecoins is the following battleground amongst crypto and fintech corporations, in accordance with Irina Chuchkina, chief progress officer of Pockets in Telegram. She mentioned:
“Stablecoin fee rails may develop into the defining income driver of this cycle, for a similar motive Visa and Mastercard turned indispensable: not as a result of they issued forex, however as a result of they owned the pipes.”
Firms constructing settlement rails interoperable with agentic synthetic intelligence stand to “seize a disproportionate share of the worth flowing by way of these networks,” she added.
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