At OpenPayd’s Summer Soirée, leaders from Circle, Kraken, and B2C2 discussed how stablecoins are moving from speculative assets to real-world infrastructure. With regulatory clarity growing, the focus is now on usability, access, and the path to mainstream adoption.
As regulatory clarity emerges and institutional demand sharpens, stablecoins are entering a new phase – one defined less by crypto speculation and more by infrastructure transformation.
That was the overriding message from the OpenPayd Summer Soirée, held this week at Los Mochis London City. Opening the evening, OpenPayd CEO Iana Dimitrova reflected on the company’s journey—rooted in founder Dr. Ozan Özerk’s mission to democratize payments—and celebrated the firm’s new digital asset licence and its partnership with Circle.
“We’re building a community united by one mission: to help people do business more efficiently and grow—and as a result, do good,” she told the audience.
Iana Dimitrova, CEO at OpenPayd
The panel that followed brought together senior figures from Circle, Kraken, and B2C2 to explore the evolution of cross-border payments and the next chapter in digital asset utility.
Moderated by OpenPayd’s Director of Marketing and Business Development, Michael Treacy, the panel tackled the shift from theoretical use cases to tangible financial applications, particularly in the realm of real-time global settlement.
A Turning Point for Stablecoins
“We’re seeing a radical shift, especially in the last two years,” said Sanja Kon, Commercial Head of Circle Europe.
“Stablecoins are no longer viewed simply as in-and-out assets for trading. There’s a growing understanding that they offer real utility—settlement speed, transparency, and cross-border accessibility that the traditional system still struggles to deliver.”
For Circle, regulation has been a catalyst. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in Europe is starting to provide the kind of clarity institutions have waited for.
“Being MiCA-compliant is a door-opener,” Kon added. “It gives institutions and their customers the confidence to view stablecoins as more than experimental finance.”
Liquidity Is Not Utility
Yet utility has limits without liquidity and access, warned Thomas Restout, Global CEO of B2C2. While adoption has surged among crypto-native firms, Tier 1 institutions remain cautious.
“The ecosystem is still small,” Restout explained. “We’ve got convertibility, on-ramps, and trust through players like Circle and OpenPayd, but there are still operational and technical barriers. Institutions want reliable infrastructure—but they also want to avoid working weekends or managing private keys.”
Restout also highlighted the significance of “connectivity to cash”—noting that the total market capitalisation of all stablecoins remains under $300 billion, making it “minuscule in the grand scheme of finance.”
The ability to instantly convert to fiat remains a non-negotiable requirement.
Thomas Restout (B2C2) Sanja Kon (Circle), Kaushik Sthankiya (Kraken), Michael Treacy (OpenPayed – moderator)
Regulation, Resilience, and Real-Time Expectations
Kraken’s Kaushik Sthankiya, Global Head of Banking and Payments, painted a broader picture of the infrastructural frictions fintechs face at scale—especially across jurisdictions.
“Clarity was the biggest issue for us. Regulation has lagged far behind innovation,” he said.
Reflecting on recent instability in the US banking sector, Sthankiya noted that even well-prepared firms like Kraken found themselves in high-stakes crisis management. “You don’t plan for two banks to collapse in one weekend.”
Despite these challenges, he remains bullish on the end-state: “Borderless, permissionless, 24/7 settlement. That’s the goal.”
To get there, stablecoins need to feel invisible to the user.
“No one should have to think about keys, wallets, or what chain something’s on,” said Kon. “When you send an email, you don’t think about SMTP or how it’s routed. Payments should feel the same.”
Infrastructure in Transition
Circle’s recently launched Circle Payment Network reflects this ambition. It uses what Kon calls a “stablecoin sandwich” model—fiat in, fiat out, with blockchain-based stablecoins acting as a frictionless intermediary layer.
It’s a vision that embraces the hybrid model: part on-chain, part off-chain. “The world of tomorrow isn’t ‘everything blockchain.’ It’s infrastructure that fits together,” she said.
Still, panellists agreed: technical integration challenges and global regulatory inconsistency remain real hurdles.
Final Takeaway: Stability Requires Standards
The discussion concluded with a nod to the importance of partnerships—not just between fintech players but between innovators and regulators.
“Trust is built when rules are clear,” said Sthankiya. “And real growth comes when fintech infrastructure just works—whether you’re in London, Lagos, or Lima.”
As stablecoins mature from speculative tokens to serious financial infrastructure, it’s this convergence—of traditional banking practices with new, interoperable rails—that could define the next decade of digital finance.
