Blockradar - Secure Stablecoin Wallet Infrastructure for Fintechs

After years of working with and for fintechs serving markets like Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, one thing has become clear to me: building locally is hard and going cross-border is even harder. Even the most ambitious teams hit invisible walls: regulatory gaps, FX volatility, and liquidity constraints that can stall growth before it starts.

Stablecoins are emerging as a more efficient alternative. They’re quietly becoming essential infrastructure for the next wave of fintechs.

This two-part series dives into what’s actually working on the ground and why it matters.

TL;DR

Fintechs in emerging markets have unlocked financial access for millions, but cross-border payments remain costly, slow, and complex. Under the hood, fintechs still rely on traditional financial infrastructure, which struggles with FX volatility, high costs, and settlement delays—especially for small to mid-sized cross-border fintechs without economies of scale.

Stablecoins are emerging as a game-changing tool, helping fintechs solve painful challenges faced by businesses and retail customers/users in emerging markets. They offer faster, cheaper rails and open the door to new use cases in these markets:

Wealth Creation & Preservation
USD Treasury & Corporate Spending
Global Trade Liquidity
Seamless On/Off-Ramping

Leading fintechs across these markets are already integrating stablecoin offerings, signalling a shift toward onchain financial infrastructure (meaning transactions are recorded directly on a blockchain, like a public digital ledger that’s secure and transparent). As digital assets become a bigger part of global finance, stablecoin-powered wallets are emerging as the next frontier in fintech innovation and relevancy.

In Part 1, I'll unpack what’s broken in today’s cross-border systems.

In Part 2, we’ll explore how fintechs are using stablecoins to fix it and drive real-world adoption through the very use cases that put them on the map.

Introduction

The Fintech Revolution in Emerging Markets

Over the last 10 years, we've seen an explosion of fintech startups, specifically in emerging markets driven by factors such as increasing smartphone adoption, rising internet penetration, and a large unbanked population. This evolution represents not only technological adoption, but also a fundamental socio-economic restructuring through improved financial accessibility.

Examples of fintechs driving financial inclusion

M-Pesa (Kenya): Introduced mobile money transfers via SMS, increasing financial access from 27% in 2006 to 84% in 2021, with 96% of Kenyans now using mobile money services.
GCash (Philippines): Democratized digital finance through accessible e-wallets and lending services, now serving 76% of Filipino adults and enabling 4.5M MSMEs to participate in the digital economy.
Nubank (Brazil): Challenged traditional banking structures through zero-fee models and AI-driven credit assessment, providing first-time financial access to 21M + Brazilians and serving 100M+ customers across Latin America,
Super Apps (Mercado Libre, Gojek, Rappi): Evolved from non-financial platforms to dynamic financial ecosystems, integrating payments, lending, and banking services in regions where financial inclusion was previously limited.

Despite these advancements, cross-border transactions continue to pose significant operational challenges, particularly for small to mid-sized fintechs lacking economies of scale.

The Structural Inefficiencies Limiting Current Cross-Border Models

Behind the sleek interfaces and innovative features of emerging market fintechs offering cross-border services lie significant operational hurdles, such as regulatory compliance, currency risks, and high transaction costs. This is especially true for small to mid-sized fintechs that lack economies of scale across multiple countries. Additionally, beyond these operational burdens, fintechs are also dealing with evolving customer demands. Users today expect more than just basic financial services—they want instant transactions, multi-currency support, and even access to digital assets like stablecoins.

Critical Operational Challenges

Foreign Exchange Exposure – Transactions across volatile currencies create market risk windows during settlement periods. In Nigeria, the naira lost 40% of its value against the dollar in 2023 alone, making FX volatility a critical risk for fintechs.

Multi-Currency Complexity – Maintaining liquidity across multiple currencies requires sophisticated treasury operations and significant capital reserves. Approximately 70% of businesses in emerging markets cite currency volatility as a key operational challenge.

Extended Settlement Timelines – Cross-border settlements can take 1-5 days, increasing counterparty risk and capital inefficiencies. For example, SWIFT transactions can take up to five days to clear, creating cash flow constraints for businesses.

For many fintechs, these limitations translate into transaction costs ranging from 1-5% and settlement delays that restrict scalability and financial inclusion. Legacy banking rails impose structural inefficiencies that stablecoins can directly address.

Rising Crypto Curiosity and Changing Customer Expectations

Consumers in emerging markets are increasingly crypto-curious, viewing stablecoins as practical tools for remittances, savings, and financial independence from volatile local currencies. Some consumers also seek exposure to decentralized finance (DeFi) services like lending and staking, which offer alternative financial opportunities. As of October 2024, stablecoins accounted for 43% of total crypto volume in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Latin America, they drove ~ $415 billion in stablecoin transactions in a 12 month period—representing 9.1% of global crypto activity.

Fintechs such as Nubank, Mercado Pago, and GCash have recognized this trend, integrating stablecoin services that allow users to buy, sell, send, and store stablecoins. These platforms, having mastered fiat transfers, are making on/off-ramping into stablecoins virtually seamless. This shift indicates a broader transformation, as customers desire more than just local financial services; they seek globally connected, borderless finance.

In Part 2, I’ll unpack 4 stablecoin use cases I’ve seen firsthand solving real pain points and driving onchain adoption.

About Blockradar
Blockradar provides secure, developer-friendly stablecoin infrastructure for fintechs. Our non-custodial wallet APIs, transaction monitoring, and AML compliance tools make it easy to launch and scale stablecoin-powered financial services. From USDC and USDT payouts to onchain expense management, we help companies move money instantly and safely across borders—without building blockchain infrastructure in-house.

Blockradar is trusted by payment platforms, remittance providers, and Web3 startups building the future of finance.