Foreign media reports that global capital flows are increasingly struggling to adapt to the operating hours restrictions of traditional banks, which is driving more institutions to focus on stablecoin settlement networks. Mastercard recently expanded its support for multiple regulated stablecoins, covering multiple blockchain networks, with a focus on institutional settlements and liquidity allocation rather than retail payments.
The scope of support continues to expand
The article mentions that Mastercard has newly added supported stablecoins including USDC, PayPal USD (PYUSD), Global Dollar (USDG), USDP, Ripple USD (RLUSD), and SoFiUSD. As the total market capitalization of stablecoins rises to approximately $319.5 billion, the related infrastructure is expanding from transaction uses to payment and clearing scenarios.
Institutions value 24/7 settlement
The main reason stablecoins have garnered attention is their ability to provide near real-time fund transfers. The article points out that traditional cross-border settlements typically take 2 to 5 days and are affected by bank opening hours, weekends, and holidays. In contrast, stablecoin networks operate 24/7, and funds can usually be transferred within minutes.
Such efficiency improvements are more attractive to institutions that need to frequently allocate liquidity and handle cross-border funds. The article argues that the key issue now is not whether the technology is feasible, but whether institutions are willing to migrate a sufficient volume of real-world transactions to these networks.
Adopting a bottleneck-driven approach to compliance and system access
The article also points out that stablecoins have had faster transfer capabilities than the traditional financial system for many years, but speed itself has not automatically led to widespread adoption. As more institutions begin testing related networks, the obstacles are shifting from the technical level to the implementation level.
On the one hand, different jurisdictions have different compliance requirements for stablecoin transactions, and the same process may not be applicable to all markets. On the other hand, institutions also need to integrate blockchain settlement networks into their existing treasury, reporting, and clearing systems, most of which predate digital assets, and the cost of transformation is not low.
The article argues that whether stablecoins will further integrate into mainstream institutional settlements depends on two key factors: whether regulatory coordination can be advanced, and whether real transaction volume can continue to grow. Faster settlement speeds alone are insufficient to fundamentally change existing fund transfer methods.
