Stablecoins, Trust, and the Invisible UX Layer
I just got back from the stablecoin conference in Mexico City. I went to see firsthand what actually moves money today.
On stage, Matt Oppenheimer from Remitly said: “Send USDC, land in GCash instantaneously.” It reminded me of the product we launched at Alipay years ago. We were ahead of our time.
We’ve Built the Rails Before
At Alipay, we launched a blockchain remittance corridor from Hong Kong to the Philippines. The tech worked—fast, fraud-proof, elegant.
But adoption lagged. Few people in the Philippines used GCash back then. Cash pickup and delivery were still the dominant channels. This is something people in developed countries don’t fully grasp: in many regions, financial infrastructure is fragile, and cash is king.
The lesson: building rails isn’t enough. Timing and distribution are equally important.
Cross-Border Frictions Don’t Vanish
I’ve lived these frictions myself. When I tried to pay my US mortgage from Hong Kong, I had to fill out a long form and provide a BIC code.
At World Kitchen Club, I managed payments through spreadsheets, bouncing HKD → USD → HKD via Wise. It took endless back-and-forth with recipients, and I was never sure whether the transaction went through.
That’s the gap small businesses are still stuck in—without the seamless multi-currency tools large enterprises enjoy.
The Universal Promise—And the Clunky Reality
The excitement of stablecoins is that they act as a universal layer—a shared settlement rail that transcends borders and intermediaries.
But in practice, the experience is clunky. Users juggle wallets, networks, and compliance pop-ups. Merchants struggle with fragmented cash-out partners. Regulators, exchanges, and payment providers all add friction at different points in the chain.
The technology has the opportunity to make banking modern—to give the smallest business the same level of financial tools as a multinational. But realizing that promise requires more than building rails. It requires thoughtful design that hides the complexity.
The Invisible UX Layer
Stablecoins give us a programmable ledger. The rails exist. But for users, what matters is the invisible layer on top:
Access everywhere → KYC that works even with cracked IDs.
Routing everywhere → Funds move on the best rail, no user choice needed.
Cash-out everywhere → Wallets remember user preferences automatically.
Savings everywhere → Balances just grow, no dashboards to decode.
When the UX disappears, adoption scales.
Stablecoins Are Gaining Traction
Global remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries are projected to hit $685B in 2024 (World Bank).
The global average cost to send $200 rose to 6.4% in 2024—more than double the UN’s 3% target (FXC Intelligence).
Stablecoins can cut fees to 0.5–3%, depending on corridor (FGV Europe).
Annual stablecoin transfer volumes reached $27.6T in 2024, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined (Axios, Bastion).
Supply is surging too—market cap now at $255B, up sharply in 18 months (Atlantic Council, BIS).
The rails are here. The question is whether users will trust them.
The Takeaway
Stablecoins don’t win because they’re cheaper or faster.
They win when nobody notices them.
The real winners won’t just build rails—they’ll abstract away the fragmentation. Finance should feel as simple as sending a text, whether you’re a migrant worker sending remittances or a small business running cross-border.
Stablecoins give us the universal layer. The challenge now is to build it with trust and invisible UX—so modern banking finally feels modern.