Cryptocurrency valuations plunged across the board from frothy October highs, per Coinmarketcap data. Crypto volatility scares consumers and dampens consumer interest even in relatively safer types of crypto like stablecoins, which have practical applications for cross-border payments. Stablecoin services need to educate their consumers about the safety of their products, especially as other non-fiat-backed tokens hemorrhage value, to assure clients that their crypto-powered remittances are a safe choice for sending loved ones overseas money.

Circle reported $740 million in total revenues and reserve income for Q3 2025, up 66% growth YoY. Circle additionally wants to build a platform around USDC to encourage adoption by financial institutions, remittances players, and fintechs. To break into consumer-facing payments, stablecoin issuers need to make it easy for partners to integrate their coins into their cross-border payment systems. By offering remittance senders lower fees is already part of crypto’s appeal. Stablecoin issuers can take that a step further by offering recipients yield-bearing accounts to store their funds to compete with incumbent rivals that have more established reputations and brand recognition.

Western Union will launch a stablecoin to power crypto remittances in the first half of 2026, per a press release. The stablecoin will be called the U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT) and will run on Solana’s Bitcoin infrastructure. As more remittance players pivot toward crypto, they face a bind of a customer base that is more likely to trust in-store cash transactions than novel digital methods, which makes a strong retail presence necessary for success. Targeted advertising campaigns educating remittance senders about the benefits of digital transfers with incentives for new customers could help convert more users to crypto.

SoFi reported net revenue of $950 million and member growth of 35% YoY, to 12.6 million, in its Q3 earnings. The bank continues to expand its range of consumer products with the launch of blockchain-based remittances, an AI-driven financial wellness tool. SoFi’s membership of 12.6 million pales in comparison to megabanks’ customer rolls—but the breadth of its consumer products does not. Traditional community and small regional banks are the most threatened, while SoFi’s infrastructure business puts it in direct competition with banks that provide licenses and infrastructure for consumer fintechs.

Zelle will use stablecoins to break into cross-border payments, per a press release. Countering this integration will be challenging for all players, unless they can also find a pay-by-bank integration as convenient as Zelle with better incentives. Incumbent remittance platforms like Western Union and Moneygram may be able to harness entrenched customer behaviors to their advantage. Many US remittance users feel safer dropping off cash for overseas loved ones at storefront locations versus using an app. Fintechs may be also able to peel off some competition by leaning on the underbanked within the remittance community, who may not have banking accounts with an institution in Zelle’s consortium.

Walmart’s OnePay will reportedly offer crypto trading and custody through its banking app, per CNBC. Major retailers like Walmart and Amazon can save substantial margin on each transaction if they can get consumers to use their own crypto instead of traditional payment rails. While the ramp up to stablecoin issuance would take time, more operationally ready ventures like crypto-powered remittances stand as easier plays to execute.

Citi and Dandelion, a digital wallet network, partnered to deliver near-instant cross-border payments, per a press release. With PayPal’s digital wallet-based PayPal World’s simplifying money transfers for 2 billion users across its partner wallets and networks, Citi’s partnership with Dandelion is a necessary step to keep up with fintechs and meet consumer preferences.

The news: Western Union will acquire International Money Express (Intermex) in a deal with a total equity and enterprise value of $500 million, per a press release. Our take: Increasing its retail footprint in the US positions can help Western Union capture more remittance outflow from the US, which we forecast to hit $92.58 billion this year.

The news: PayPal will enable Pay with Crypto in an attempt to streamline cross-border payments for US merchants through its intricate network of digital wallet and cryptocurrency integrations in the coming weeks. In the meantime, US consumers will have to break age-old payment habits: Only 8% of crypto owners who use cryptocurrency to purchase goods and services do so daily; most only use it up to four times a year. Building these consumer payment preferences will take time, so PayPal should remain patient.

The news: PayPal launched PayPal World, a global platform linking major international payment systems and digital wallets. Our take: While PayPal’s starting list of key partnerships represents Latin America, India, and China, the payment provider could penetrate further into European markets by tying up with the European Payments Initiative and the Wero wallet—as well as with top US wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay or the nascent Paze.

The news: SoFi will relaunch its crypto investing platform and will introduce self-serve international money transfers powered by blockchain technology by year’s end, per a press release. Our take: As customers warm to crypto transactions, remittance providers stand to score valuable volume—and customer loyalty—if they style their businesses around what remittance senders want most: cheap, convent, and fast transactions.

In the wake of slowing remittance volume, the company’s financial media network can help it diversify and boost revenues

The Latin American consumer banking market is vast, yet over 40% of consumers are currently underbanked. Foreign banks looking to enter the market can tap this audience, but they should learn from and partner with local fintechs to do so.

Solving this hurdle can help digital wallets better meet customer demand.

Payment provider innovation and regulatory changes are setting a long-term growth runway for cryptocurrency payments. But providers will still need to overcome low merchant acceptance and a sense of mistrust before crypto can go mainstream.

Holiday spend, international transactions, and non-card payments boosted growth

Partnerships, non-card payments, and value-added services will help offset potential losses from the Capital One-Discover merger

Remittances represent a large share of global payments and will keep growing—although at a flat rate. Traditional money transfer organizations have to fight harder for a share of the prize as digital-only entrants have stepped up the competition.

PYUSD has struggled to gain significant adoption. The Trump admin could change that

Despite rapid digitization, providers shouldn’t close their retail doors just yet