IOSG Report: Stablecoins and Cross-Border Payments in Asia

Author: Turbo, IOSG

TL;DR

1. The stablecoin strategy of cross-border payment companies falls into three categories: stablecoin payments (accepting stablecoin settlements), stablecoin issuance (applying for licenses to issue their own stablecoins), and mitigating regulatory risk through independent offshore brands. Currently, only a few companies have live products.
2. Stablecoins offer weak advantages in fees or speed for cross-border payments. With the widespread adoption of local payment channels, traditional transfer costs have been significantly reduced; today, fees are primarily concentrated in domestic settlement processes, which stablecoins cannot bypass. Currency exchange remains unavoidable, and stablecoins have not truly solved these two core pain points.
3. Neobanks represent the highest-value segment in the stablecoin cross-border payment value chain. The true advantage of stablecoin payments lies in ecosystem circularity, which achieves frictionless transactions only when both payer and payee settle in stablecoins. Regions with underdeveloped banking infrastructure—such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa—offer the strongest use cases, and Tether’s investment in SQRIL is a clear signal of this trend.

The stablecoin strategy of Asian cross-border fintech companies primarily consists of three directions:

• Stablecoin usage: Accept stablecoin payments for settlement
• Stablecoin Issuance: Apply for a license to issue stablecoins
• Independent Brand: Conduct cryptocurrency/stablecoin operations through an offshore entity under an independent brand to isolate regulatory risks from domestic licensing requirements.

An independent offshore entity is a necessary condition.

All companies with substantial stablecoin operations operate through independent offshore entities: KUN (under Yeepay), DFX Labs (under LianLian), and RD InnoTech (under RD Technologies).

Stablecoin receipts are currently the only product available, but few companies disclose their fees or settlement times.

Most companies start by receiving stablecoins rather than issuing them, including LianLian, KUN, and OristaPay. Currently, only RD InnoTech is closest to truly issuing a stablecoin (HKDR).

However, no company has yet publicly disclosed the fees and settlement speeds for its stablecoin payment services, as established payment companies typically do. The only company to disclose its fees is BVNK, whose fee structure consists of: $0 transfer fee + standard foreign exchange fee + service fee for deposits and withdrawals to external wallets + blockchain transaction fee.

The issuance of Hong Kong licenses in March 2026 will be an industry turning point.

The HKMA will issue its first stablecoin issuer licenses in March 2026, with only a very limited number of companies approved. Companies confirmed to have applied for the licenses include RD InnoTech, JD, and Anchorpoint Financial. RD InnoTech has a higher likelihood of approval, as it has already entered the HKMA’s stablecoin issuer sandbox.

The licensing outcome will determine which companies can advance from using stablecoins to issuing them, and whether Hong Kong can become a true stablecoin hub or remain constrained by Beijing's influence.

Reasons for the slow adoption of stablecoins by cross-border payment companies

Stablecoins have almost no fee or speed advantages in cross-border payments.

For a cross-border business owner, completing a cross-border payment from overseas to mainland China primarily involves three steps: transfer, currency exchange, and domestic settlement.

• Transfer: Move funds from an overseas buyer to the payment platform via SWIFT, local bank payment channels, or internal wallets.
• Currency exchange: Convert foreign currencies (such as USD, EUR) into CNY at a specified exchange rate.
• Domestic settlement: Withdraw the converted RMB to a bank account in mainland China or Alipay.

New local payment channels have reduced traditional transfer fees to nearly 0% with near-real-time speeds.

Traditionally, SWIFT transfers are expensive and time-consuming, representing the primary source of cross-border payment costs. Among the companies analyzed in this article, transfer fees account for 56% of total costs. For example, using SWIFT through Airwallex incurs a fee of approximately $25.

However, many cross-border fintech companies already have local payment channels, which means:

• Fintech companies collect payments through local payment networks in the payer’s region (e.g., ACH in the U.S., SEPA in Europe, UPI in India), internally transfer funds across their global network, and then disburse payments through local payment networks in the recipient’s region, completely bypassing SWIFT.

The new channel has significantly reduced cross-border transfer fees. Currently, domestic settlement accounts for 58% of total fees.

However, domestic settlement is not a step that stablecoins can bypass, as users always need to hold RMB cash in their bank accounts.

Stablecoins cannot bypass domestic settlement, and currency exchange remains an essential part of cross-border payments, leaving stablecoins with little room to enhance user experience. Transfers are already nearly real-time and costs are approaching zero; currency exchange is the primary source of fees, and stablecoin companies also need to facilitate currency exchange for their users.

Overall, when fairly comparing the cross-border transfer process (excluding domestic settlement and currency exchange), stablecoins have no room for improvement.

Core argument: Neobanks are key to cross-border stablecoin payments.

The value chain for stablecoin cross-border payments consists of three layers:

1. Issuance Layer (Tether, Circle, HKMA licensees): Create stablecoins
2. Infrastructure Layer (Bridge/Stripe, BVNK, Circle CPN): Stablecoin Transfer and Exchange
3. Distribution/End-User Layer (Emerging Digital Banks): Converting stablecoins into local spending power

Emergent digital banks are the core bottleneck in the value chain and the highest-value opportunity.

New digital banks are the "last mile."

Stablecoin cross-border payments truly offer advantages only in ecosystems where the stablecoin itself is the final destination, not merely a fiat bridge.

If a merchant receives payments in stablecoins, pays suppliers in stablecoins, and employees are paid salaries in stablecoins and spend them through emerging digital banks native to stablecoins, the entire transaction is completed on-chain without touching traditional channels.

When either party needs to convert back to fiat currency, withdrawal costs—comparable to those of local fintech channels—are reintroduced. This is precisely why stablecoin payments are most compelling in regions with weak banking infrastructure, active remittance corridors, or crypto-native communities.

In addition, Neobank users can earn yields above the market average while holding stablecoins, providing an additional incentive to choose stablecoins for cross-border payments—not just as a payment tool, but also as an interest-earning asset.

Must prioritize areas with weak financial infrastructure

The most compelling use cases for stablecoins are where they are more convenient than traditional banks:

• Southeast Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia): Over 44% of the population is unbanked, with high penetration rates.
• Middle East/Africa: Large remittance channels, weak local payment infrastructure, and a positive and open regulatory stance (UAE has established four regulatory frameworks).

Tether plays the role of a parallel financial system in Vietnam. Tether’s investment in SQRIL signals its growth strategy of betting on the emerging layer of digital banks—enabling people in developing countries to spend USDT in local ways—making it the strongest market signal yet.

Why the Series A/B Round Is the Optimal Investment Window

Stablecoins and neobanks are infrastructure-heavy businesses requiring local licenses, local banking partners, KYC/AML compliance infrastructure, merchant networks, and accumulated consumer trust.

• Seed or Pre-A round too early: Business model unproven, high regulatory risk, unclear unit economics.
• Series A/B is the optimal window: demand has been validated, compliance confirmed, and unit economics proven, significantly reducing investment risk.
• The later/IPO stage may already be too late: the valuation has fully reflected the premium of a mature business model.

Airwallex

Airwallex has adopted a more cautious strategy: first completing internal infrastructure development and delaying deployment until regulatory and market conditions are more favorable. This reflects the company’s existing strengths in traditional payment channels, reducing the urgency to adopt stablecoins immediately.

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: Skeptical, no product launched yet

CEO Jack Zhang is skeptical about stablecoins.

• He believes Airwallex has already achieved "real-time transfers with fees below 0.01%," and stated, "You can't get cheaper than free or faster than real-time."
• The company's official blog also reflected this position, stating that existing local payment channels are already sufficiently efficient.

Internal Stablecoin Team

In July 2025, Airwallex posted 22 engineer positions for stablecoins to build a token settlement platform. The job postings reveal that the company is developing infrastructure to enable customers and internal systems to buy, hold, send, and settle tokens globally, supporting near-instant global payments and enabling on-chain liquidity management as well as seamless conversion between fiat currency and stablecoins.

Planned use cases include cross-border settlement in emerging markets, on-chain liquidity management, and programmable payments with fiat-to-stablecoin conversion services.

Current situation

• There are currently no stablecoin products live. The 2025 year-end mission update made no mention of stablecoins whatsoever.
• No public partnership has been established with Circle, Tether, or other stablecoin issuers.
• The 2026 strategic priorities include geographic expansion, AI-driven developer tools, and enhanced customer experience; stablecoins are not included.
• The company blog (January 2026) stated: It remains uncertain whether the value of stablecoins is justified.

XTransfer

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: Positive attitude, but no product has been launched yet

Offshore Stablecoin Receipt Service

XTransfer announced in August 2025 that it would launch an overseas stablecoin collection service within the year, initially available to a select group of customers. However, as of February 2026, there has been no official confirmation of the service going live.

Prediction: Dual Wallet Model

The core of XTransfer's stablecoin strategy is a dual-currency wallet model that allows businesses to hold both fiat currency and stablecoins simultaneously.

WorldFirst (WanliHui — Ant Group)

Stablecoin/blockchain integration: Not yet addressed at the WorldFirst product level, but Ant International is building blockchain infrastructure.

• WorldFirst’s own products currently do not offer stablecoin or cryptocurrency services. Its official services do not include blockchain, stablecoins, or digital currencies; all WorldFirst products operate solely through traditional banking channels.
• However, parent company Ant International is building significant blockchain infrastructure, which is expected to gradually extend to WorldFirst:

#Whale Platform Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS)

In 2024, more than one-third of Ant International's total transaction volume of over $1 trillion was processed through the Whale platform using blockchain technology. This is not a stablecoin, but rather a tokenized deposit service (TDS).

Tokenized deposits are issued by licensed banks, not stablecoin companies. For example, HSBC’s tokenized deposits allow its customers to create digital records of their traditional fiat deposits. HSBC holds the fiat deposits, while each digital record on the DLT is a transferable token, enabling customers to transfer funds without waiting for batch processing.

In May 2025, Ant Group and HSBC jointly launched Hong Kong’s first blockchain-based settlement service for tokenized deposits, enabling real-time payments in Hong Kong dollars and US dollars via corporate wallets.

• Other tokenized deposit partners include: DBS Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, OCBC, BNP Paribas, JPMorgan Kinexys Digital Payments, and Deutsche Bank.
• UBS Digital Cash (November 2025): UBS Singapore signs an MoU with Ant International to explore multi-currency tokenized deposit capabilities and integrate them into the Whale platform.
• Standard Chartered Bank (December 2025): Launched tokenized deposit solutions for HKD, offshore CNY (CNH), SGD, and USD on the Whale platform, and completed a HK$38 million interbank token transfer (from HSBC to Standard Chartered).
• Ant International has partnered with ten international banks to support tokenized deposits on the Whale platform.
• Tokenized deposits in transaction banking applications as part of Singapore’s MAS Project Guardian (an industry report jointly released by ISDA and Ant Group on the use of tokenized bank liabilities for foreign exchange settlement)

Yeepay

Stablecoin/Blockchain Integration: Yeepay's official products do not have direct integration.

• Yeepay's official products do not integrate stablecoins. However, Yeepay's co-founder is actively expanding into stablecoin payment services through the independent brand KUN.

#KUN Product Suite

Note: KUN serves only customers outside of mainland China and the United States.

#KUN Partnerships and Integrations

• Circle Payments Network (CPN): Live. Confirmed by Circle, KUN is a CPN partner, supporting 7x24 USDC/EURC stablecoin settlement. The CPN mainnet officially launched in mid-2025, with the first 29 financial institutions integrated.
• WSPN: WUSD (USD-pegged stablecoin) has been integrated into the KUN Space platform for cross-border business transactions (March 2024).
• Marco Digital (01942.HK): Reported to have completed Asia’s first USDT-based insurance commission payment via KUN (August 2025).

LianLian Pay (LianLian Digital)

Stablecoins/Blockchain: Implemented, integrated with stablecoins through partners

• LianLian Pay is one of the most proactive Chinese cross-border payment companies in its stablecoin strategy.

Circle/USDC MOU: Still in the exploration phase, no product has been launched yet

Signed an MOU with Circle to evaluate the use of USDC for large-scale international payment flows. Explore the potential application of Circle’s Layer-1 blockchain, Arc, in future payment scenarios.

#BVNK Partnership: Stablecoin Payment Integration Live (June 2025)

Fund Flow: Merchant deposits stablecoin → BVNK automatically converts to USD → LianLian completes the transfer via its global network.

#RD Technologies (Yuanbi Technology): HKDR Stablecoin

Partnered with RD Technologies, which plans to issue HKDR, a Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoin, on Ethereum. LianLian utilizes RD Technologies’ RD ezLink enterprise identity verification and RD Wallet payment tools, and has also partnered with HashKey Exchange and Cobo.

HKDR is currently in the sandbox/testing phase. The partnership cannot be fully implemented until RD Technologies obtains the official stablecoin issuer license from the HKMA, expected in March 2026.

#DFX Labs: Virtual Asset Trading Platform (wholly owned by LianLian, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary)

Main services include:

• Cryptocurrency Trading: Buy and Sell Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
• Wallet Services: Virtual Asset Custody/Storage
• Liquidity services
• DFX Labs has obtained a VATP license from the SFC of Hong Kong (Type 1 - Securities Trading and Type 7 - Automated Trading), subject to the conditions that it must complete the SFC's on-site inspection remediation and pass an independent penetration test before full operations can commence.

RD Technologies (Yuanbi Technology)

Founded by the former CEO of the HKMA, core competitive advantages:

• Regulatory context: Former HKMA CEO serves as Chairman; among the first sandbox participants
• Dual Licensing: SVF (Fiat Payment) + Stablecoin Sandbox

Core business: Payments (OristaPay) + Stablecoin Issuance (RD InnoTech)

• Operated under the SVF license (SVF0016) issued by the HKMA in December 2022.
• Multi-currency digital wallet supporting 8 currencies for business payments and exchange rate management.
• Transfer methods: FPS (Faster Payment System), CHATS, Wire Transfer (TT)

Two independent business lines:

1. OristaPay (Yuanwen Payment): A fiat-based B2B cross-border payment and wallet service positioned as a "next-generation payment infrastructure provider."
2. RD InnoTech Limited: Focused on stablecoin issuance (HKDR) and blockchain/Web3 services

#OristaPay (RD Wallet)

OristaPay has launched its Global Collection product, supporting cross-border fiat and stablecoin payments with 24/7 liquidity, with particular depth in African and Latin American markets.

• Supports accepting over 100 currencies and payments from 200+ countries and regions
• Accept major stablecoins with fast settlement capabilities and perform real-time AML and KYT compliance screening.
• The specific fees for Global Collection have not been publicly disclosed.

RD InnoTech Stablecoin Issuance — HKDR

RD InnoTech has been selected as one of the首批 members of the HKMA Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox, alongside Standard Chartered/Animoca/HKT (HKDG) and JD CoinLink (JD-HKD).

Stablecoin Regulatory Timeline:

• December 2022: HKMA issued an SVF license (SVF0016)
• July 2024: Selected for the HKMA Stablecoin Issuer Sandbox (first cohort)
• August 2025: Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance officially takes effect
• September 2025: Brand restructuring, with OristaPay and RD InnoTech spinning off as independent entities
• January 2026: OristaPay Global Collection officially launches with support for stablecoins.

# Important Partnership

ZA Global co-led the $40 million Series A2 funding round for RD Technologies. Signed an MOU with ZA Bank:

• Reserve Custody: ZA Bank provides custody services for HKDR reserve assets.
• Distribution: ZA Bank is exploring becoming a sales/distribution partner for HKDR.

Other partners: Allinpay International, Ripple, Circle Payment Network (CPN)

Fee comparison: $100 transferred from overseas to mainland China (lowest fee)

Scenario: Transfer $100 USD from overseas to a domestic bank account, using the lowest available fees offered by each company at each step.

Note:

• A settlement fee of 0.1% for XTransfer applies only after reaching a certain trading volume; the standard fee is capped at 0.4%.
• WorldFirst $0 total fee applies to personal Alipay withdrawals; B2B bank withdrawals are 0.3% (B2C) or 0.4% (B2B)
• The fee range for Yeepay local payment methods is 0.6%–1.6%; the CNY settlement fee has not been publicly disclosed.
• LianLian's settlement fee of 0.3% applies to high-volume users; the standard fee can be up to 0.7%.
• RD Technologies has not disclosed fee and arrival time information.

Fee comparison: $100 transferred from overseas to mainland China (highest fee)

Note:

• Airwallex's SWIFT fee is a fixed $25 per transaction; this represents 25% of a $100 transfer, making it relatively reasonable for larger amounts.
• Yeepay credit card processing: base rate of 3.8% + $0.30 + international surcharge of 1% + currency conversion fee of 3%, totaling $8.10 for a $100 transaction.
• LianLian Wish Payout fee cap is 0.75%; settlement fee up to 0.7%
• TT wire transfer via RD Technologies, including correspondent bank fees, is HKD 400 (approximately $51.28); domestic CNY settlement services are not provided.

Speed comparison: Fastest incoming transfers from overseas to mainland China

Speed comparison: Inbound transfers from overseas to mainland China (slowest)

Note:

• XTransfer X2X requires both buyer and seller to be XTransfer platform users.
• WorldFirst 1-minute Alipay settlement is available for personal Alipay accounts, not corporate bank accounts.
• Yeepay's fastest transfer is subject to CNY settlement times of T+1 to T+2.
• RD Technology does not provide CNY settlement services within mainland China; processing times apply only to Hong Kong local transactions.
• The slowest bottleneck for all companies lies with SWIFT, adding a waiting period of 1 to 7 days before currency exchange or settlement.