Cross-border payment companies (2026): 14 compared

Cross-border payment companies now move money over bank rails and stablecoins. Six of the 14 here added or announced stablecoin payouts or settlement between September 2025 and April 2026.

Mastercard completed its acquisition of the stablecoin payments company BVNK, valued at up to $1.8 billion, on 3 August 2026, a month after SWIFT switched on a blockchain ledger with 17 banks.

Cross border payment companies now sit in three groups: fintech and traditional providers such as Wise, Airwallex, Payoneer, Convera, Nium, Thunes, Rapyd and dLocal; stablecoin-native providers such as Bridge, BVNK and Conduit; and networks such as Ripple Payments, Visa Direct and SWIFT. Seven of the eight fintechs have added or announced stablecoin rails next to their bank rails, often through one of the stablecoin-native companies.

How we chose

Every company here sells cross border payment solutions to businesses and publishes its coverage and licences. Figures come from company sites, docs and press releases on 14 October 2026.

• Rails: the payment systems each company connects to, from SEPA and ACH to USDC on a named chain.
• Corridors: how many countries and currencies it pays into.
• Stablecoin support: what a business can do in stablecoins, with the date it was announced or confirmed.
• Licences: the regulators and licence types it lists publicly.
• Who it fits: one "best for" label each, unranked.

Cross-border payment companies compared

Fintech and traditional providers moved onto stablecoin rails

Rapyd added stablecoin acceptance, settlement and payouts on 9 September 2025 through regulated third-party partners. Convera announced a partnership with Ripple on 31 March 2026 to use a stablecoin for the settlement leg while the payment starts and ends in fiat.

Nium added USDC with Coinbase on 20 April 2026, and pitches it as "just-in-time liquidity" for clients that would otherwise prefund accounts. dLocal launched Stablecoin Full the next day, and Airwallex lists USDC wallets as a payout destination in its coverage docs. Wise is the exception. Analysts quoted by The Block in July 2026 call it agnostic about the rail.

dLocal and Thunes reach mobile wallets and local payment methods in emerging markets, and Thunes reports 85% immediate settlement across its network.

2026 consolidation: card networks and fintechs bought or rented stablecoin rails

• Mastercard and BVNK. Mastercard agreed on 17 March 2026 to buy BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments, and completed the deal on 3 August 2026. It names cross-border B2B payments, remittances and payouts as uses.
• Stripe, Bridge and Payoneer. Stripe closed its Bridge acquisition on 4 February 2025. Payoneer announced on 17 February 2026 that its customers would receive, hold and send stablecoins through Bridge, which operates the stablecoin wallet.
• SWIFT's ledger. SWIFT launched its blockchain ledger for a tokenised deposit pilot with 17 banks in July 2026, including Citi, HSBC, UBS and BNP Paribas.
• Visa. Visa said its stablecoin settlement had passed a $20 billion annualised run rate, up more than 15x in a year, The Block reported on 8 September 2026.

A large fintech or network either buys a stablecoin company or plugs into one, and the stablecoin company often holds the licences for the stablecoin leg. Payoneer's customers hold stablecoins in a wallet that Bridge runs, and Thunes routes stablecoin payouts through a licensed partner. Convera's stablecoin settlement runs through Ripple. Nium works with Coinbase. One contract with a fintech can carry two or three companies' licences, and due diligence then covers the partner that holds the stablecoin balance too.

Prefunding, weekend payouts and where the float sits

Prefunding is money sent ahead, usually in local currency, that lets a payout land before the sender's own funds settle. Within its sample, Artemis Analytics put annualised prefunding loans from Arf and Mansa at a $3.6 billion run rate in August 2025.

B2B stablecoin payments in the same sample ran at $76 billion. The report cites Huma's daily rates of 6 to 10 basis points for this liquidity, with most of it settling back within 1 to 6 days. A 3-day advance at 8 basis points a day costs 0.24% of the amount.

Self-funding a corridor costs less per dollar but ties up more of them. At the 4.11% 13-week Treasury bill rate on 2 October 2026 (US Treasury), $5 million parked with payout partners gives up about $205,500 a year. Our cross-border prefunding guide works through the days of cover per corridor.

Weekends stretch that cover. RTP pays out up to $10 million at any hour, while the wires that refill a payment company's bank account stop on Friday evening and restart on Sunday night. Stablecoin top-ups move on Saturdays. How PSPs fund weekend payouts maps the 50-hour gap hour by hour.

The float sits in four places:

• In local currency at payout partners and correspondent banks.
• In the payment company's own settlement account, waiting for Friday's wire.
• In USDC or another stablecoin, either in transit or in a wallet held for the next top-up.
• With the stablecoin provider, when a fintech holds customer stablecoins through a partner such as Bridge.

Where Upshift fits

Upshift runs stablecoin vaults where prefunded stablecoin balances and float can earn between payouts. Asset managers and curators run the strategies inside each vault, within limits set per vault. A payment company can start in a Cash band vault that holds tokenized money market funds, and add Core or Enhanced vaults later without a new integration.

Most vaults use a 72-hour withdrawal period, with instant exit up to the vault's USDC buffer for a fee. The contracts have had 11 smart contract audits by 6 firms. Stablecoin cross-border payments follows a payment from funding to payout. Add stablecoin yield to your product, from 24/7 tokenized money market funds to DeFi.

Risks

• Smart contract risk in every onchain product, including tokenized funds.
• Liquidity: withdrawals above a vault's USDC buffer wait for the withdrawal period.
• Stablecoin depeg risk on the coin itself.
• Partner risk when a payout or off-ramp provider in a corridor fails or pauses, and yields change daily with no yield guaranteed.

See how Upshift works for payment companies, or compare the three bands on yield options.

Frequently asked questions

Best B2B cross-border payment solutions using stablecoins

Among B2B cross border payment platforms that settle in stablecoins, the stablecoin-native names in this list in October 2026 are BVNK, Bridge, Conduit and Ripple Payments. Payoneer, Nium, dLocal and Rapyd add stablecoin legs to fiat accounts, and Convera announced one with Ripple. Conduit lists Fedwire, SWIFT, Pix and SPEI next to USDC, USDT and USDH.

What is prefunding in cross-border payments and what does it cost?

Prefunding is local currency or stablecoins placed with a payout partner before payouts go out. Self-funded, it costs the return the money would otherwise earn, about 4.11% a year at the 2 October 2026 T-bill rate. Borrowed, Artemis cites Huma's daily rates of 6 to 10 basis points for short advances.

Yield on prefunded stablecoin balances for cross-border payment companies

Prefunded stablecoin balances can earn in a stablecoin vault or a tokenized money market fund until they're sent. The GENIUS Act bars issuers from paying holders interest on the coin itself. The yield comes from the assets a vault or fund holds. Upshift's Cash band vaults hold tokenized money market funds for this kind of balance.

Can stablecoin payments settle on weekends?

Yes. Transfers settle onchain on any day, and on 29 April 2026 Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement pilot to 9 blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana and Stellar. The local payout at the far end still depends on the off-ramp partner's banks in each country.

Are stablecoin payments faster than SWIFT?

Ripple says its network can move money in as little as 3 to 5 seconds, and Conduit lists SWIFT payments at 0 to 8 hours. SWIFT's ledger, in a live pilot with 17 banks since July 2026, moves tokenised deposits between banks around the clock, with final settlement still on existing systems.

Are stablecoin cross-border payments regulated in the US?

The GENIUS Act was signed on 18 July 2025. Section 13 told regulators to issue rules "not later than 1 year after the date of enactment", which was 18 July 2026. As of 14 October 2026, the Federal Register shows proposed rules and a Treasury interim final rule under the Act, and no final rule implementing it. Section 20 says the Act takes effect on the earlier of 18 months after enactment (18 January 2027) or 120 days after the primary federal regulators issue final rules.

Keep reading

• Nostro vostro vs stablecoin settlement. What changes on the funding leg.
• Stablecoin payout APIs. The providers behind stablecoin payouts, side by side.
• Borrowing against settlement balances. Credit for payout peaks.