Why does Patrick Collison consider stablecoins a solution for global payments

The digital economy demands new solutions for money transfers. Patrick Collison, CEO of the payment company Stripe, explained in recently voiced community Hacker News theses why traditional systems are gradually giving way to blockchain solutions. His position reflects a fundamental shift in business practice: companies are moving to stablecoins not because of speculative appeal but due to specific advantages for daily operations.

Companies Have Already Found a Practical Path to Cryptocurrencies

Stripe’s journey to cryptocurrency acceptance has been long. Collison admitted that the company was skeptical of digital asset payment capabilities for many years. However, opinions changed when enterprises began integrating stablecoins into real financial processes.

Examples prove theories faster. SpaceX uses stablecoins via the Bridge infrastructure (acquired by Stripe in October 2024) to manage cash flows in emerging markets. Latin American fintech platform DolarApp relies on this technology to provide banking services. An Argentine bicycle importer uses Stripe tools to pay suppliers in stablecoins. “These companies do not see cryptocurrency as a speculative instrument,” Collison emphasized. “They conduct real financial activities and have found that using stablecoins works simpler, faster, and more efficiently than existing alternatives.”

Tempo: a blockchain built for payments, not trading

On September 5, 2025, Stripe and investment fund Paradigm introduced Tempo — a blockchain developed from scratch specifically for stablecoin payments. The project combines Stripe’s global payment experience with Paradigm’s research potential.

Key point: Tempo operates in the background like SWIFT or ACH systems for traditional banking. Consumers and businesses will not interact directly with the blockchain but will benefit from its efficiency. Collison described this as “a decentralized SWIFT on the scale of the internet” — an illustrative, though imperfect, analogy.

The technical implementation is impressive. Tempo can process over 100,000 transactions per second with finality in less than one second. The platform supports global payouts, payroll systems, money transfers, 24/7 operations with tokenized deposits, and even microtransactions. Its design features predictably low fees, optional privacy, and the ability to pay fees in any stablecoin.

Five reasons why businesses choose stablecoins

When asked by Collison to explain the appeal of cryptocurrency payments for enterprises, he highlighted five specific advantages:

First, near-instant transaction settlement reduces frozen liquidity and improves cash flows. Second, fees are significantly lower than card payments. Third, cross-border transfers become more reliable by eliminating intermediaries. Fourth, the number of currency conversions decreases, saving funds in international trade. Fifth, businesses gain direct access to the US dollar on the blockchain without needing to work with correspondent banks.

Collison also rejected the claim that adopting cryptocurrencies is motivated by regulatory arbitrage. He noted that stablecoins are now clearly regulated in the United States under the GENIUS law and in Europe under the MiCA regulation. “The appeal is not in avoiding oversight but in eliminating inefficiencies at large transaction volumes,” he concluded.

Platform governance as a guarantee of neutrality

Stripe and Paradigm emphasize the importance of decentralized management of Tempo. The blockchain will operate as a neutral platform for all stablecoin issuers, supported by an independent and diverse set of validators. The companies published a roadmap leading to fully permissioned validation, ensuring no control by a single entity.

Support from major financial players confirms the seriousness of the project. Visa, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank, Nubank, Revolut, Shopify, OpenAI, Anthropic, Coupang, DoorDash, Lead Bank, and Mercury are involved in Tempo’s design. Such a broad range of partners, combining payment operators, investment firms, tech giants, and fintech providers, indicates industry recognition of the need for a new payment infrastructure.

Patrick Collison’s position and the launch of Tempo demonstrate that stablecoins are transitioning from experimental technologies to practical tools for solving real business problems. When global payment companies and cryptographic researchers join forces, it signals that the transformation of financial infrastructure is inevitable.