Payments in crypto sound futuristic until you actually try to do it.
In theory, stablecoin payments should be a dream for ops teams. Faster than international wire transfers. Cheaper than legacy systems. Fully traceable and programmable. But the reality? We’re still early. If you're managing payroll or payments at a crypto-native company, chances are you’ve already run into the blockers.
At WalletConnect, we’ve been experimenting with stablecoin payouts for a few years now. And while it’s definitely usable, it’s still far from easy.
Why Stablecoin Payments Matter to Ops and People Teams
Let’s start with the upside. When stablecoin payments work, they really work.
You can pay anyone, anywhere, and see funds settle almost instantly. No waiting days for banks to clear a transfer. No exorbitant international fees. No need to route through four intermediaries just to pay an invoice. In a remote-first, global industry like ours, that's a massive win.
We’ve seen firsthand how useful this is for international payments. Once the flow is agreed on, the actual transfer is fast and efficient. In some cases, it's quick and easy for recipients to off-ramp directly from their custodial wallet.. Compared to the friction of traditional international payments, it’s a clear improvement.
For early adopters, stablecoins are more than a workaround; they're becoming the preferred way to get paid.
Where It Breaks: Too Many Wallets, Too Many Clicks
Now for the harder part.
Paying in crypto comes with real operational overhead. There’s no one-size-fits-all setup. If you want to support stablecoin payments across multiple chains, you’re juggling different wallets, approval policies, and compliance tools for each.
Let me paint you a picture:
- You want to pay an invoice in USDC on Polygon.
- Your primary wallet only holds USDC on Ethereum.
- You need to swap assets across chains using a DEX, which involves multiple steps and wallet approvals. The swap needs multiple signatures, and they can have timeouts - and your 2+ signers might be in different time zones (or just busy with something else). Or you have to onramp directly to the chain you want, so you may need to go through a few different providers.
- We don’t blind-sign transactions, so every step needs to be reviewed and validated.
- You finally send the payment, but not before logging every step for accounting and internal policy checks.
That’s just one vendor. Multiply that by ten, and suddenly your monthly crypto payments look like a full-time job.
Even with good processes in place, stablecoin payments still feel scattered. It’s hard to automate across different wallets and governance systems. Every chain has its own quirks. And from a security perspective, the stakes are high: one wrong address, one missed scam check, and you’re in trouble.
At WalletConnect, we take every precaution. That means extra validation, extra test transactions, and a lot of Slack threads. The result? Safe payments, but slow ones.
Ops and Finance Teams Are Adapting, But It's Not Built for Scale
Despite all this, teams are adapting. They’re putting up with friction because the benefits of crypto payments are still there: speed, flexibility, and global reach.
Tools like Deel are pushing this forward by offering stablecoin payroll as a formal option in some jurisdictions’s a clear signal that demand is growing, even outside of core crypto teams. People want the flexibility to choose how they get paid. And for some contractors, being paid in stablecoins is faster and more reliable than their local bank. Stripe also offers a stablecoin payment solution, where people pay in stablecoins to Stripe and this settles back to the vendor in fiat, but this adds fees that are higher than sending directly, and sometimes the fees are more than traditional payment solutions, putting off regular vendors.
When a payment gets delayed because of gas fees or signer lag, it's frustrating, but people usually understand the tradeoff. The value of having the option outweighs the hassle.
The Missing Piece: Stablecoin Payments Need to Feel Like Card Payments
So how do we get from “doable with effort” to “default and seamless”? Here's what would change the game for stablecoin payroll and onchain invoicing:
1. Chain abstraction: Ops teams shouldn't need to care what chain a vendor prefers. Payment tools should abstract that away so you can send stablecoins anywhere without manual routing.
2. Pre-approved policies on multisigs: If your wallet requires 2-of-3 signatures, let us pre-approve trusted flows. Reducing signer overhead is key to scaling crypto payments.
3. Embedded tools that work across chains: Vendors using Reown’s SDK or similar solutions should be able to accept stablecoins natively inside the apps we already use, without sending us off to different wallets, dApps, or bridges.
4. Security-first automation: We need workflows that help automate compliance and logging without removing human checks. Think: smart approvals, better built-in accounting memos, and validation by default.
In short, stablecoin payments need to feel like card payments: fast, familiar, and low-effort.
Trends & Market Overview
Stablecoins aren’t just a crypto trend. They're becoming an enterprise payment primitive. Here’s a quick snapshot of how fast the landscape is changing:
- Deel enables stablecoin payroll for global workforce (Source: Thierry Edde, Payments and Strategy at Deel) “
- Bullish accepts $1.15 billion in IPO proceeds via stablecoins (Source: coindesk.com)
- Fireblocks sees nearly half of platform transaction volume in stablecoins (Source: fireblocks.com)
- Circle reports explosive growth in USDC circulation, up 90% year-over-year (Source: marketwatch.com)
- U.S. GENIUS Act paves the way for stablecoin integration in mainstream finance (Source: politico.com)
Automation Is the Missing Layer for Onchain Payments
Right now, most stablecoin payments rely on humans to click buttons at every step. That’s not just inefficient, it’s risky.
In the fiat world, teams rely on scheduled payments, approval tiers, and integrated accounting tools. Crypto payments don’t have those same systems yet. But they should.
We need automated onchain actions that reflect how real companies operate:
- Pre-approved payment flows that automatically trigger after a milestone is hit or a time-based condition is met.
- Scheduled payouts that happen monthly or weekly without multiple signers having to click through multiple wallets.
- Differentiated Role-based policies on multisigs, where finance roles can queue and draft, and signer roles can bulk-approve with one click.
- Onchain transaction metadata, so every payment is labeled, categorized, and auditable by default.
This isn’t about removing human control. It’s about giving ops teams the ability to scale without compromising safety or clarity. If you’re managing crypto payroll, you don’t want five Slack messages to confirm every invoice. You want a policy that says: “This vendor gets paid $3,000 in USDC on the 1st of every month, sign once and move on.”
We’ve started to see some of this emerge.
At WalletConnect, we’re not just watching this space; we’re building it.
We believe the next leap in onchain finance won’t come from faster block times or new tokens. It will come from automation powered by AI and built directly into the workflows that ops teams use every day.
WalletConnect enables a PayPal-like experience for wallets. WalletConnect supports 500+ wallets and full multichain coverage, giving companies the depth of connectivity needed to abstract chain complexity and enable payments from any wallet, on any app, across any chain.
That’s why we’re focused on unlocking automated onchain actions, from AI-driven transactions that reflect how real businesses operate. Think smart triggers and predictable flows that don’t rely on someone clicking through six wallets at 10 pm.
Our vision is bigger:
Stablecoin payments that run on automated, compliant, AI-enhanced logic, not spreadsheets and Slack threads. When that infrastructure is in place, onchain payments won’t just catch up to traditional finance; they’ll outperform it.
The Road Ahead: We’re Getting Closer
Crypto payroll and vendor payouts aren’t going away. If anything, the demand is growing. People want faster payments. Companies want more flexibility. And the infrastructure is starting to catch up.
WalletConnect is investing in the foundations to make this easier. From smart wallet integrations to app-native payment flows, we’re laying the groundwork for a future where paying in USDC is as easy as clicking “Pay Now.” Especially with Automated Onchain Actions.
But we’re not there yet. Stablecoin payments are usable today, but only if you’re willing to fight through the complexity.