Cryptocurrency payments have never been primarily a technical challenge. The real difficulty lies elsewhere.

Let's start with the most practical aspects—compliance and user habits. No matter how much Layer2 optimizes speed or reduces costs, merchants still need to be willing to settle in USDT. Behind this are tax handling, accounting, regulatory reporting, and a whole set of processes. Most traditional merchants see no incentive unless they can clearly save costs or customer demand forces the issue.

Next is the issue of volatility. USDT is theoretically a stablecoin, but there is still a risk of de-pegging in certain markets. Merchants can't monitor exchange rates 24/7, and if at the moment of receipt USDT experiences a premium or discount, who bears the risk? This system also relies on third-party oracles and hedging tools, which significantly increases complexity.

However, from a product perspective, there is a real breakthrough point. Once privacy payment features can be implemented, it will be a game changer. Currently, all on-chain transfers are fully transparent, which is a nightmare for payroll or B2B payments—you don’t want everyone in the company to see who gets what. Mechanisms like stealth addresses and encrypted memos can solve privacy issues while remaining compatible with EVM and regulatory requirements. Balancing these is difficult, but if achieved, it will greatly enhance the appeal for enterprise applications.

Strategically, this type of infrastructure should focus on building the underlying layer, rather than directly creating user-facing products. Providing capability layers allows upper-layer applications to connect with users—this division of labor is correct. But the challenge also lies here—success largely depends on the execution ability of ecosystem partners. Currently, the number of integrations is growing rapidly, but actual transaction volume and user retention still need time to verify. Many crypto payment projects stumble when moving from demonstration to scale. Whether this time can be broken through depends on how the entire ecosystem follows up.