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Episode Brief: Stablecoins Make Global Expansion a Single Integration w/ João Del Valle (EBANX)

Why this episode matters

Payments into and out of emerging markets are still defined by fragmentation: dozens of domestic rails, inconsistent reliability, uneven bank connectivity, and expensive uncertainty in cross-border settlement. EBANX sits directly in that mess, which makes this conversation a useful reality check on where stablecoins actually help versus where they are still just a narrative.

The key shift discussed here is that stablecoins are becoming less about “crypto payments” and more about a neutral interoperability layer: a way to connect fast domestic payment schemes, reduce prefunding and settlement lag, and standardize global reach without rebuilding 200 local integrations one country at a time.

Core ideas you should take away

• Stablecoins in this context are best understood as an “always-on global alternative payment method” that can be added to a PSP’s checkout stack with one integration, unlocking many markets at once.
• For mainstream consumers, stablecoins do not replace domestic rails (PIX, UPI, etc.). They route around the gaps in international acceptance and cross-border settlement that domestic rails do not solve.
• The first wedge for PSPs is often pay-ins (checkout), not because it is the biggest volume today, but because it lets you test demand while instantly expanding coverage across geographies.
• Expansion bottlenecks are increasingly non-technical: regulation, licensing, partnerships, and liquidity setup dominate the critical path more than engineering.
• Stablecoins’ near-term treasury value is speed, predictability, and observability of settlement, more than a guaranteed basis-point cost win in every corridor.
• Non-USD stablecoins likely get seeded by “cash-leg needs” in tokenization (stocks and other assets settling onchain), not by domestic retail payments where RTP schemes already work well.
• The long-run market structure looks like specialization plus connectivity: local rail experts plus stablecoin infrastructure providers that stitch liquidity pools and corridors into a usable network.

What this changes

• PSPs and global merchants: Stablecoin checkout is a credible shortcut to geographic coverage, but only if you treat it as part of a full stack (on/off-ramps, reconciliation, fraud, compliance), not a single feature.
• Banks and sponsor-bank infrastructure: Visa settlement to US banks in stablecoins is a gating-event: it drags stablecoin settlement from “edge workflows” into card-network plumbing, which can pull merchant acquirers along.
• Builders and liquidity providers: The winning primitives are not just chains or coins, but “last-mile” integrations (local FX, domestic RTP endpoints, payout rails) that turn stablecoin liquidity into spendable money.
• Regulators and compliance teams: The episode frames an emerging consensus: the compliance obligations remain, the transport rail changes. That narrative is how stablecoins become normalized inside existing controls.

What we didn’t fully resolve

• Whether stablecoin acceptance can break the chicken-and-egg problem fast enough, or if wallet distribution remains the rate limiter even with PSP coverage.
• Where privacy lands: what privacy concessions are acceptable for regulated payment flows, and what technical primitives will be adopted at the chain or app layer.
• How fragmented stablecoin and chain ecosystems can get before “global APM” becomes “global fragmentation,” and what concentrates liquidity back into a few standards.

If you listen, listen for this

Treat stablecoins not just as a new payment method but also as a coordination layer that connects domestic instant-payment islands into a cross-border network. The underlying thesis is that the hard part is building compliant, reliable last-mile connectivity and liquidity so the “global rail” actually terminates cleanly in local money.