Global Payments: How Stablecoins Are Reshaping Payments

As stablecoins are now part of real-world financial infrastructure.

Although it emerged more as a form of experimentation, it now plays a clear role in reshaping global payments. 

From cross-border settlement to enterprise liquidity management, businesses are exploring how digital assets can deliver faster, more transparent and efficient ways to move money at scale.

Against this backdrop, Nabil Manji, Executive Lead for Enterprise Growth and Partnerships at Global Payments oversees key growth areas including payouts, B2B and digital assets, while managing strategic relationships with card networks, banks and partners worldwide. 

His work sits at the intersection of payments, enterprise commerce and emerging technologies, with a focus on applying innovation to solve practical challenges in global money movement.

Global Payments itself plays a significant role in the fintech ecosystem, providing payment technology and software solutions that enable businesses to operate seamlessly across markets, channels and currencies. 

Processing approximately US$3.7tn in annual volume across more than 150 currencies and 175 countries, the company supports millions of merchants worldwide and handles around 94 billion transactions each year.

In this exclusive Q&A with FinTech Magazine, Nabil discusses how stablecoins are evolving from niche digital assets into practical payment infrastructure, the growing enterprise use cases shaping adoption and the regulatory frameworks needed to support scalable innovation.

How do you see stablecoins reshaping the future of global payments over the next five years? 

Stablecoins are increasingly moving into the mainstream as regulatory clarity and institutional confidence grow.  

Between 2024 and 2025, we saw global circulation of stablecoins increase 59% to US$316bn as institutions began putting stablecoins to work in real payment flows.

Over the next five years, I expect stablecoins will be embedded even further into operational payment flows as regulatory clarity improves across major markets and as more businesses move from pilots into production. All of this makes the commercial case easier. 

At Global Payments, we have already identified cross-border settlement as a strong use case for enterprises, with businesses applying stablecoins to improve speed, transparency and liquidity visibility alongside existing rails. 

Those that embed stablecoins as part of the payments toolkit, rather than treating them as a separate crypto product, will be in a better position to capitalise.   

What is driving the recent surge in euro-backed stablecoins? How significant is this trend? 

The biggest driver is regulatory clarity. 

MiCA has given Europe a clearer framework for how stablecoins can be issued, backed and supervised, which is giving banks and fintechs more confidence to build.

On the strategic side, Europe does not want the future of digital money to be dominated entirely by dollar-backed stablecoins. This is why major European banks have come together to launch a MiCA-compliant euro-denominated stablecoin, expected in the second half of 2026, with the aim of supporting near-instant, low-cost payments and settlements. 

This trend is still emerging. The ECB estimated euro-denominated stablecoin market capitalisation to be around €450m (US$512.2m) in January 2026, up from €50m (US$56.9m) at the start of 2024, but still very small compared with dollar-denominated stablecoins. 

Why are stablecoins becoming an increasingly attractive solution for cross-border payments? 

Stablecoins solve a clear problem for businesses dealing with cross-border transactions. 

Traditional cross-border settlements must move through intermediary bank networks and local clearing infrastructure. This comes with additional processing steps, multiple currency conversions and varied settlement timelines across markets that add real cost, delay and uncertainty for businesses. 

With stablecoins, businesses can move value directly on blockchain networks in minutes, an attractive alternative for businesses managing money across different markets. 

This also aids liquidity management as funds do not need to sit across as many fragmented accounts or markets. 

For enterprises that operate globally, the ability to move funds across markets more quickly, efficiently and transparently can improve working capital, customer experience and partner relationships. 

What are the biggest benefits businesses can expect from integrating stablecoins into their payment infrastructure? 

Most businesses are not asking about stablecoins specifically. They are asking how to settle faster, reduce costs and pay out to more markets with less friction.

Stablecoins are increasingly the answer to those questions. 

The core benefits are speed, efficiency, transparency and reach. Stablecoins can help businesses reduce settlement delays, lower conversion costs, retain revenue in a stable digital asset and enable near real-time payouts. 

The payout use case is especially important. Global Payments has announced work to enable stablecoin payouts for clients in the US and Europe across markets, allowing businesses to pay customers, contractors, creators, sellers and other third parties almost instantly without having to hold or handle stablecoins themselves. 

Most businesses do not want to become crypto specialists. They want faster, more flexible payment infrastructure that fits into their existing operations. Stablecoins are most valuable when the complexity is abstracted away and the experience feels familiar. 

How can the UK create a regulatory environment that encourages stablecoin innovation while maintaining trust and stability?

 There is real opportunity in the UK if we have a framework that is clear, proportionate and commercially usable. That means giving businesses certainty on the things that matter – issuance, safeguarding, redemption, reserves and payment services – while effectively managing risk. 

The direction from HM Treasury, the FCA and the Bank of England is encouraging.

Stablecoin payments have been identified as a priority for 2026 by the FCA, with substantial testing of UK-issued stablecoins planned throughout the year. 

There is also a clear intention to bring payment services using qualifying stablecoins into the regulated perimeter through forthcoming payments reform.  

As the framework is still being finalised, we need to remember that regulation must remain commercially and practically viable. 

Regulation should protect consumers, financial stability and market integrity, without making the UK less attractive than other major markets. 

A good regime should allow innovation to scale responsibly.  

Do policymakers still view stablecoins too narrowly as crypto assets rather than as financial infrastructure? 

In some cases, yes. Stablecoins are often still discussed through a crypto lens, when the more relevant question is what function they perform.

A stablecoin used for speculative trading is fundamentally different from one used for merchant settlement, treasury management or regulated payouts. 

That distinction is starting to inform UK policy thinking. HM Treasury has recognised that qualifying stablecoins can be appropriate for payments and is setting the overall legislative direction, the FCA is developing the regime for qualifying stablecoin issuance and custody and the Bank of England is focused on systemic stablecoins and financial stability. 

The direction of travel is toward more differentiated treatment based on risk and regulatory activity, with increasing recognition of the different roles stablecoins can play in payments and financial markets.

This shift is directionally important, but the framework is still being finalised. The priority now is to ensure these distinctions translate into clear, consistent and workable rules in practice.

What role could the UK play in becoming a global hub for stablecoin adoption and development? 

The UK has a real opportunity to become a competitive stablecoin hub if it can combine regulatory credibility with practical openness to innovation. The advantage lies not just in setting rules but in creating a market where firms can test, launch and scale payment use cases with confidence. 

That means a clear route to authorisation, proportionate rules for non-systemic use cases, strong consumer safeguards and close coordination between the HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the FCA. 

The UK should also focus on areas where stablecoins have clear commercial value: cross-border payments, merchant settlement, platform payouts, treasury movement and tokenised financial markets. 

Delivering a clear, workable regime will be key to attracting investment and innovation. If the UK gets this right, it can position itself not just as a place that regulates stablecoins, but as a place where trusted stablecoin infrastructure is built.