Key takeaways
Stablecoins cut back settlement time, cross-border prices and allow programmable rewards. They outpace conventional bank card programs.
US retailers pay over $100 billion in card charges yearly. Compared, stablecoins supply less expensive, quicker funds.
Ripple’s RLUSD, Gemini’s XRP Card and Moca’s Air Store present stablecoins shifting into mainstream commerce.
With massive gamers exploring adoption, stablecoins are positioned to turn out to be central to US fee programs.
Since stablecoins first emerged in 2014 to supply value stability within the unstable cryptocurrency market, they’ve redefined conventional banking. They’ve separated the core features of storing and transferring cash, which permits fintechs to construct programmable providers on a world digital foreign money system.
Historically, companies accepted card funds, whereas the remaining features, together with holding deposits and providing further providers and instruments, had been the banks’ area.
Stablecoins have largely changed this with an ecosystem the place most are centrally issued however function on decentralized networks relatively than a centralized entity. Furthermore, it reduces cross-border switch instances, lowers prices, stabilizes fund values and introduces flexible reward systems that outpace bank cards.
Every time a bank card is used within the US, banks and fee networks take a small portion of the transaction, sometimes 1.5%-3.5%. This considerably reduces earnings of retailers and contributes to greater costs for shoppers. That is beginning to change due to stablecoins.
This text discusses the prices related to bank cards, how stablecoins examine with bank cards, stablecoin use instances within the trade and the way stablecoins are disrupting the bank card trade for the higher.
The price you pay for bank cards
Bank cards are broadly used for funds, not simply within the US, however internationally. Nonetheless, this comfort has a excessive value. Every transaction entails hidden charges, corresponding to interchange charges paid by retailers to banks, community charges collected by Visa and Mastercard and different processing prices. These charges, sometimes between 1.5% and three.5%, lower immediately into retailers’ earnings.
Companies like airways, retailers and small retailers usually elevate costs to cowl these prices, which in the end impacts shoppers. The fee system favors card networks, leaving retailers with little management. In the meantime, shoppers find yourself not directly paying for the networks’ earnings.
Stablecoins, pegged to a fiat foreign money just like the US greenback, supply an answer with quicker, cheaper and clearer transactions. By avoiding card networks and decreasing charges, stablecoins might assist companies get monetary savings and supply higher worth to shoppers.
Do you know? Not like inflexible cashback or factors programs, stablecoins allow programmable loyalty applications. Retailers can customise rewards throughout manufacturers, let prospects commerce or save them and guarantee tokens keep worth, reshaping how loyalty is earned and spent.
What are stablecoins?
Stablecoins are a sort of cryptocurrency created to carry a gentle worth by pegging to steady property, often the US greenback. Not like unpredictable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), stablecoins supply stability, making them appropriate for each day transactions.
Their worth is usually supported by reserves of money, short-term US Treasury securities or comparable property, designed to take care of one token at roughly one greenback. They mix the velocity and effectivity of blockchain technology with the reliability of conventional foreign money.
USDC (USDC), issued by Circle, is a dollar-pegged stablecoin that operates beneath US money-services-business registration and publishes common, third-party attestations of its reserves. In December 2024, Ripple launched Ripple USD (RLUSD), making the coin out there on international exchanges after receiving regulatory approval from the New York Division of Monetary Companies. These US dollar-linked stablecoins are remodeling the fee system, offering companies and shoppers with a cheap, quick, international various to conventional fee strategies.
Stablecoins vs. bank cards: The case for a greater fee system
Stablecoins current a substitute for bank cards by addressing two of the largest ache factors in US funds: excessive charges and gradual settlements.
Bank card funds could really feel immediate, however retailers often wait one to 3 enterprise days to obtain funds. Throughout that delay, additionally they pay charges of 1.5%-3.5% per transaction, which lower into margins and sometimes get handed on to shoppers. Stablecoins decide on blockchain networks, often inside seconds to minutes, at a fraction of the associated fee, giving each retailers and prospects a quicker and cheaper possibility.
No surprise stablecoins have caught the eye of retailers, airways and enormous retailers which might be keen to cut back their dependence on Visa and Mastercard’s entrenched networks. By adopting stablecoins, they’ll reclaim misplaced income, shield tight margins and nonetheless keep strong loyalty applications.
Initiatives are actually utilizing blockchain-powered platforms to facilitate stablecoin-based rewards factors. It helps retain real-world worth, guaranteeing loyalty schemes stay enticing to prospects whereas delivering tangible monetary advantages to companies.
Clients are in a position to actually personal their reward factors, which implies they’ll save the factors or transfer them elsewhere to spend outdoors of the platform the place they had been earned.
Here’s a desk illustrating how stablecoins examine with bank cards:
Use instances of stablecoins within the bank card trade
The competitors between stablecoins and bank cards isn’t just about decrease prices and faster transactions. It additionally displays how main corporations are reshaping fee programs for finish prospects and companies.
From cryptocurrency-backed bank cards to stablecoin-based loyalty applications, the trade is creating inventive hybrid options that mix conventional and trendy fee approaches.
Listed here are two case research that will help you get insights into how companies are refining their fee programs:
Gemini and Ripple’s strategic strikes
On Aug. 25, 2025, Gemini introduced the XRP Credit score Card in collaboration with Ripple. The cardboard supplies as much as 4% cashback in XRP (XRP) for fuel, electrical car charging and rideshare purchases (with a month-to-month cap); 3% for eating; 2% for groceries; and 1% for all different purchases. Rewards are credited immediately in crypto, and the cardboard has no annual or international transaction charges.
Gemini additionally adopted Ripple USD (RLUSD) as the bottom foreign money for all US spot trading pairs, simplifying foreign money conversions. To additional help RLUSD, Ripple acquired Rail, a funds platform, for $200 million, including instruments for cross-border payments, digital accounts and automation to its ecosystem.
Do you know? In Q2 2025, the average rate of interest on US bank cards was 21.16%. For accounts carrying a steadiness, the speed was even greater, averaging 22.25%.
Retail and e-commerce improvements
Air Store, scheduled for launch in September 2025, seeks to reshape loyalty applications by stablecoin-powered commerce. The platform employs Air Package for safe identification and tiered membership verification, providing tailor-made rewards. At its core are Secure-Factors (AIR SP), USD-backed tokens linked to stablecoins, which keep their worth in contrast to conventional loyalty factors. These Secure-Factors can be utilized at over 2 million retailers by way of BookIt.com, spanning journey, retail, eating and luxurious experiences.
Not like typical loyalty applications with restrictive utilization or diminishing worth, Air Store ensures flexibility and interoperability, letting customers carry rewards throughout manufacturers. Retailers acquire a clear, cost-effective option to join with prospects, whereas shoppers get pleasure from belief, flexibility and real financial worth.
The $100-billion potential: How stablecoins might disrupt the bank card trade
In 2024, bank cards had been the most well-liked fee methodology amongst US shoppers, accounting for 35% of all transactions. The full buy quantity reached $5.51 trillion throughout 56.2 billion transactions made with Visa and Mastercard merchandise.
Stablecoins problem this costly system by offering almost cost-free transactions, immediate settlements and versatile rewards by blockchain expertise. If stablecoins acquire even 10%-15% of the transaction market, they may redirect billions in financial savings to retailers and shoppers.
Continued adoption of stablecoin-based funds and loyalty applications by retailers, airways and e-commerce corporations might enhance stress on conventional bank card networks. Such a shift wouldn’t solely reshape fee economics but additionally promote broader use of blockchain expertise, transitioning stablecoins from a distinct segment answer to a central element of US monetary infrastructure.
Do you know? Gemini’s XRP Credit score Card launched in 2025 and is a hybrid mannequin providing bank card comfort with crypto rewards. It exhibits how fintechs are mixing previous and new programs, easing shoppers into blockchain-based funds with out forcing them to desert plastic.
Stablecoins have gotten a core element of the monetary system
The competitors between stablecoins and bank cards extends past fee strategies. It determines who will management the circulate of cash within the digital age. With rising regulatory readability, institutional help and client confidence, stablecoins supply quicker, cheaper and programmable transactions which might be extremely interesting.
Initiatives like Ripple’s RLUSD and Gemini’s choices reveal how cryptocurrency corporations are embedding themselves in mainstream finance. On the similar time, main retailers corresponding to Amazon and Walmart are exploring proprietary stablecoins to chop charges and reinvent loyalty applications. If these initiatives succeed, they may remodel the economics of funds, redistributing billions in prices and advantages throughout the ecosystem.
Whereas bank cards stay deeply rooted, blockchain-powered stablecoins are more likely to turn out to be a core element of US commerce, reshaping incentives, decreasing prices and redefining buyer engagement in a $100-billion fee panorama.
This text doesn’t include funding recommendation or suggestions. Each funding and buying and selling transfer entails danger, and readers ought to conduct their very own analysis when making a choice.
