Solana Accelerate 2025: Accelerating Cross-Border Payments with Stablecoins

Accelerating Cross-Border Payments with Stablecoins

At Solana Accelerate, I had the opportunity to share Sphere’s journey and what we’ve learned working at the intersection of stablecoins, international trade, and financial infrastructure.

When we first started building, stablecoins were not the topic they are today. Prices were down, banks were collapsing, and many people told us this technology was “dead.” Instead of walking away, we dug deeper. What we found was that the strongest demand wasn’t coming from Silicon Valley. It was coming from the emerging world.

Where the Real Demand Comes From

At the event, I shared the story of Bob, a machinery exporter in Texas, and Ahmed, a farmer in Nigeria. Their businesses depend on one another, yet they are separated by a financial system that is slow, expensive, and unpredictable.

Traditional wire transfers can take days or even weeks to settle. Each delay creates real costs by tying up working capital and putting pressure on already thin margins. For businesses like Ahmed’s, these inefficiencies don’t just slow growth. They threaten livelihoods.

Why Stablecoins Matter, and Why They’re Not Enough on Their Own

Stablecoins can address many of these challenges by enabling faster and more reliable settlement across borders. But adoption is not automatic.

For stablecoins to work in the real economy, they require:

• Education and trust at the business level
• Strong compliance and transparency
• Engagement with regulators and governments

At Sphere, our focus has been on embedding compliance directly into the flow of payments, not bolting it on after the fact, and making cross-border settlement as intuitive as sending an email.

Unlocking Real Impact in Global Trade

International trade is full of inefficiencies. With stablecoins, we have an opportunity to bridge these gaps and unlock exponential benefits, not just incremental improvements, for people like Ahmed and the businesses that rely on them.

That belief is what led us to live and build in emerging markets. It continues to guide how we design infrastructure today.

Watch the Full Talk

If you’d like to hear the full story, including why we chose to build on the ground in emerging markets and how we’re helping businesses move billions of dollars across borders, you can watch my full Solana Accelerate talk below.