Ep. 6: How are stablecoins used in payments? Ran Goldi of Fireblocks explains real-world adoption
EPISODE GUESTS
Ran Goldi is SVP of Payments & Network at Fireblocks, specialising in blockchain, digital assets and financial infrastructure. His experience spans payments, security and fintech, with a focus on building and scaling blockchain-based financial products.
At Fireblocks, Ran leads work across the payments go-to-market strategy, product development, research and development, and the Fireblocks Network. His current focus is helping payment companies, fintechs and financial institutions use digital assets within enterprise payment services.
SHOW NOTES
Key Topics Discussed:
Where stablecoin payments are gaining real-world adoption
Why cross-border payments remain a leading stablecoin use case
Stablecoin payouts for gig workers, employees and global businesses
Why settlement speed can matter more than lower transaction costs
How fintechs and PSPs can introduce stablecoin accounts
The relationship between fiat currency and stablecoins
What growing customer demand means for banks
Why tokenised deposits could follow today’s stablecoin model
Episode Summary:
This episode gets into stablecoin payments, and why they matter for banks, fintechs, PSPs and businesses moving money across borders. Ran Goldi, SVP of Payments & Network at Fireblocks, joins Grant Evans at Money20/20 USA to discuss real-world adoption, digital asset payment infrastructure and the commercial value of faster settlement.
The conversation looks at the gap between stablecoin hype and practical application. Stablecoins are not automatically cheaper, and they do not solve every payments problem. Their value becomes clearer when moving money faster creates a measurable commercial benefit.
So, how are stablecoins used in payments? The strongest use cases discussed in the episode are cross-border importer-exporter transactions, payouts to gig-economy workers and salary payments. In each case, stablecoins can reduce the time it takes for funds to reach the recipient.
Why speed matters in cross-border stablecoin payments
For importers and exporters, payment speed can have a direct effect on operating costs. Ran gives the example of a business waiting for goods to be released from a port. A traditional payment might take two days to settle, while a stablecoin transaction may reach the recipient within an hour.
The saving does not necessarily come from a lower payment fee. It comes from avoiding delays, storage costs and disruption to the supply chain. That distinction matters for payment providers assessing whether stablecoin infrastructure has a genuine business case.
Stablecoin payments make the most sense when faster access to money changes the economics of the transaction. For PSPs, platforms and financial institutions, the important question is therefore not simply whether a stablecoin rail is cheaper. It is whether faster settlement removes a larger operational cost.
Where stablecoin adoption is growing
Ran identifies payouts as one of the fastest-growing areas of stablecoin adoption. This includes payments to gig workers and employees who may need to receive money across borders or hold value outside a volatile local currency.
Importer-exporter payments remain Fireblocks’ largest payments use case, according to figures shared during the episode. Ran says the category represents around 40% of the company’s payment volume. The examples point to a broader pattern. Stablecoin adoption is strongest where businesses or individuals face slow international transfers, limited access to reliable currencies or a clear need to move funds quickly.
How fintechs and PSPs can approach stablecoin payments
Ran describes a gradual adoption path for fintechs and payment service providers. The starting point is often a stablecoin account that lets customers receive, hold or transfer digital dollars.
Providers may then consider additional services, such as sharing yield with customers or offering programmable money capabilities. However, the episode does not suggest that every fintech should launch the full range of stablecoin products immediately.
The practical lesson is to begin with a customer problem. A fintech may have users who want protection from local inflation, quicker international payments or easier access to dollar-denominated value. Stablecoin infrastructure is useful when it addresses one of those needs, rather than when it is added purely because the market is talking about it.
Do stablecoins replace fiat currency?
Not at this stage. Ran’s view is that fiat and stablecoins currently complement each other. Domestic payment systems already work well in many markets. Businesses in the US do not necessarily need stablecoins for ordinary local payments, while European businesses can use SEPA for euro transfers. The stronger case emerges when money needs to move between countries, currencies or financial systems.
This is why stablecoin payments should be judged use case by use case. Established fiat rails may remain the better option for domestic transactions, while stablecoins can add value in international settlement and markets with weaker access to reliable banking infrastructure.
What stablecoins mean for banks
Banks are still working out their position. Stablecoins generally require one-to-one reserves, which limits some of the balance-sheet activity associated with conventional bank deposits. At the same time, business and consumer customers are increasingly asking to receive or send stablecoins.
That demand affects global institutions and regional banks alike. Even where banks are cautious about stablecoins themselves, they may need a way to support customers who use them. Ran suggests that stablecoins may be an intermediate stage rather than the final model. Tokenised deposits could eventually allow banks to offer blockchain-based money while retaining more of the economic characteristics of a bank deposit. He estimates that broader adoption could be around five years away, while acknowledging that technology forecasts are rarely exact.
Frequently asked questions
What is a payment stablecoin?
A payment stablecoin is a digital token designed to maintain a stable value, usually by being backed by a fiat currency such as the US dollar. In payments, it can be used to hold value, make payouts or settle transactions across borders.
How are stablecoins used for cross-border payments?
Stablecoins allow funds to move between parties without waiting for every stage of a traditional international bank transfer. The episode highlights importer-exporter payments as a leading example, particularly where faster settlement can prevent costly delays.
Are stablecoin payments cheaper?
Not necessarily. Ran argues that stablecoins are primarily faster rather than inherently cheaper. The financial benefit may come from avoiding delays, releasing goods sooner or giving recipients quicker access to their money.
How can banks integrate stablecoin payments?
The episode suggests that banks should first understand what their customers are asking for and where stablecoins solve a real payment problem. It does not provide a complete technical integration framework, but it points towards working with enterprise digital asset infrastructure and preparing for future tokenised deposit products.
The big takeaway: stablecoin payments are most useful when speed creates clear economic value. For banks, fintechs, PSPs and cross-border businesses, that means starting with the payment problem rather than the technology. Get that right, and stablecoins can improve settlement and unlock useful new services. Get it wrong, and businesses risk adding costly infrastructure without solving a meaningful customer need.
MEET THE HOSTS
Co-Host and Co-Founder of The Payments Shed Podcast
Grant Evans
Grant Evans is a leading voice in the fintech industry and the creator of the widely followed ‘The Payments Shed Newsletter’. With more than 15 years experience shaping commercial strategy and driving partnership growth, he is recognised for turning complex topics such as embedded payments, BNPL, unified commerce, and open banking into clear, actionable insights that resonate with global audiences. Named a LinkedIn Top Voice in both 2024 and 2025, Grant has built a community of over 27,000 engaged professionals, merchants, and innovators who look to him for commentary on the trends redefining global commerce. A sought-after speaker and panelist, his thought leadership is regularly featured in financial services publications and at flagship industry events including Money 20/20, FTT Fintech and the Global RegTech Summit.
Co-Host and Co-Founder of The Payments Shed Podcast
Justin Hanna
Justin Hanna was recently named the #1 Head of Sales Top Voice by the National Sales Conference for good reason: he’s redefining what sales leadership looks like in the modern era. With deep B2B sales experience and a people-first approach, Justin earns trust through insight and practical strategy, not tired tactics. A respected voice in payments, he’s also built a 22,000-strong LinkedIn following by making complex topics relatable and actionable. His influence has been recognised widely: a LinkedIn Top Payment Systems Voice (2024), one of the top 30 voices shaping the future of payments, banking, and fintech (2025), and celebrated by the National Sales Conference as the #1 Head of Sales Top Voice. Known for challenging the status quo, Justin’s unfiltered take on leadership, culture, and growth resonates because it’s honest, and his ability to lead with both expertise and empathy has made him one of the most influential sales voices today.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to another episode of the Payment Shed podcast live from Money2020 USA. We're very lucky to be joined by Goldie, SVP Payments and Networks at Fireblocks. Goldie, welcome to the show. Please introduce yourself.
Yeah, thank you for having me. I basically, I've been at Fireblocks for probably about four years now, and I manage everything related to our payments industry, go-to-market, the product, R&D, everything, and including our network. So, if there's a payments company out there that wants to use digital assets, that's my assets on the line that they'll use us.
We're really interested in how you guys have expanded across that full digital asset stack over the last few years. Can you talk to us about that from a payment perspective?
Yeah, of course. Look, I think that payment companies have actually looked into this space several times, right? They looked at this space when it started in, let's say, 2017, 2018. They looked at it, they thought, “Oh, we don't want to accept payments in crypto.” We'll go back a bit.
Then 2021, 2020, around the COVID era, people were looking at this. Stablecoins were already almost there, and people were saying, “Oh, maybe we should start doing stablecoin stuff.”
But then there was this whole banking, obviously, you know, colossal show, if I may, with SVB and others, and a lot of these payment companies went back a bit.
And now, what happened over the last 18 months? Obviously, Stripe acquired a company called Bridge for a billion dollars. That made everyone notice, right? So Adyen, Nuvei, Checkout, Worldpay, they're all like, “Wait, they spent a billion on something. That's big.”
And then administration change, obviously, more regulation, and all these payment companies are now in this, I guess, huge sort of FOMO of, “Wait, stablecoins are actually happening,” and they're waking up to see smaller fintechs stealing their payment flows.
They're now coming in and they're saying, “Wait, wait, wait. We need to understand this better. We need to be in this.”
But also, they're saying, and we're very lucky to be in this position, “We actually want to work with a company that knows how to serve enterprise, that knows how to do scale.”
And when we tell a payments company that this year we're going to process $5 trillion, they are like, “Oh, wow. Okay, we want to work with you guys.”
Where are you seeing the most meaningful adoption of stablecoins at the moment?
It's mostly around, I want to say, payouts. Over the last 12 months, that has quadrupled. So payouts to gig economy employees, payouts to even salaries, for example, that's been growing tremendously.
The number one use case, which is 40% of our volume in payments, is still the importer-exporter use case. I love that use case because I say this a lot: stablecoins are not cheaper, right? They're faster.
If you can find economic value in that speed, then great.
The importers and exporters, if they pay someone within an hour and not within two days, that saves them that container being in the port. That saves them like $100,000 a day.
So the speed equals money. That's the number one use case. It's my favourite use case.
Does fiat have to work in harmony with stablecoins? Is there a happy medium between fiat and stablecoins?
Look, I think they complement each other today. I think stablecoins are great for some things, not so great for other things. The world still runs on fiat. That's great.
If you're in the US, you don't necessarily need stablecoins to pay for anything. If you're in Europe, SEPA is great. If you want to move money between these nations, between borders, then you sort of have to, unless you just want to waste your time.
How do you guys work specifically with fintechs and PSPs as part of your ecosystem?
I think the first thing that we tell them is, look, your users, believe it or not, want stablecoin accounts.
We start this education process where we show them that this is coming from the grassroots. This is not Fireblocks trying to shill you on a new technology.
Your users actually want to either be protected from inflation in different countries, or maybe they just want to hold that money so they can move it faster.
So we start slowly. We start with stablecoin accounts. Then we bring them on to, “Hey, here's yield. Imagine this. You can actually earn yield. Share that with your clients.”
Then we get them to the more complex programmable money use cases, but slowly.
I guess that's a nice segue into banks and how they're looking at this from a liquidity and interoperability point of view. Maybe dive into that in a little bit more detail.
Yeah, I think the banks are still in this stage where they're trying to understand what is their role.
Stablecoins are still not the banks' best friends because stablecoins mean one-to-one reserve. You can't rehypothecate.
But at the same time, the banks' clients are demanding to get paid in a stablecoin or send money in a stablecoin.
By the way, this is true for JP Morgan and this is true for your regional bank that has, I don't know, like a thousand clients. It's becoming a thing now.
The banks are slowly understanding that they have to be in this.
I will tell you one thing. I don't think stablecoins are the end result. I think they are just a patch, in a way, until we get to a different tokenised method, maybe tokenised deposits, where the banks will bring that as a product, but also be able to benefit as a bank that wants to rehypothecate funds.
How far off are we from that, if you were to be guessing?
Probably five years.
I come from tech, so my estimates are always wrong. I always think that things will happen faster than they are. This is what I'm trying to say.
But I think that the bigger banks have understood this and they're now creating tokenised deposits. You see JP Morgan and Citi and others.
I think we'll get there in five years, probably.
Obviously, we're at Money2020, so it would be remiss of us not to talk about why this event is such an important event for Fireblocks.
We were just talking about this, Michael Shaulov, the CEO, and myself. This has been the best event we've ever had because we usually need to come here, where all the most important companies in the world come to talk about payments, and we used to need to convince people why stablecoins, why is this good, why use digital assets.
This year, they're coming to us with the why because people are asking them. This is what I love, and we're just here to tell them how.
So the whole narrative has changed.
People watching us can't look at the booth, but the booth is not, if you would see it here in real life, it's not about us showing demos.
Justin can show the booth quickly. Give us a quick pan.
We're not doing demos. It's basically a huge meeting room where we're trying to get as many people to sit down and tell us what they need.
It's not even us trying to shill a technology or something. They're coming to us with their use case. Very different than before.
I'm loving it, by the way.
Great endorsement for the biggest event in payments, right?
Just one final section, then. All of our guests get asked to nominate something for the Shelf of Shame.
Oh, wow. Shelf of Shame.
I'm going to put LinkedIn on the Shelf of Shame this time because I think that what's happening right now with stablecoins and LinkedIn is probably pure.
If you are just going on LinkedIn for the first time and you're a bank or a payments company, and you know nothing about stablecoins, you could by accident think that they're going to cure world hunger, right?
Stablecoins are not the answer to all of everyone's problems in this world. They're great for some things, some things are not.
So don't believe every shiller on LinkedIn.
I don't think you'll ever get Justin to fully nominate LinkedIn for the Shelf of Shame, but if we take stablecoin misinformation on LinkedIn, that will go on the Shelf of Shame.
Brilliant. Thanks for joining us on The Payments Shed.
Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you.
Join the podcast for a relaxed conversation where you can share your experience and perspective with people working across the payments industry.
Be a Guest on the Podcast
Sponsor the podcast and get your brand featured in front of the top players in the Payments and fintech industry.