The stablecoin layer is integrating rapidly in the real economy

Stripe's Tempo recorded its busiest stretch since going live in March: DoorDash stablecoin payouts to merchants and delivery workers across 40-plus countries, Meta creator settlements in USDC targeting 160-plus countries, and Visa running validator nodes on the chain. Tempo was built for exactly this - sub-second finality, fees payable in stablecoins rather than a volatile gas token, and compliance tooling designed to slot into existing treasury workflows. In the same week, Ramp, the $32 billion spend platform for 50,000-plus businesses, launched USDT support for global payments and chose Ethereum, Solana, and Plasma - all decentralized chains - to run it on.

The two stories reveal an emerging three-way split. Tempo is a corporate-incubated payments chain, with a curated institutional validator set, designed around enterprise-grade payments, compliance, and predictable settlement. Activity on Tempo does not accrue to a public native token. Ethereum and Solana are general-purpose decentralized chains: no single entity can modify the ledger, and transaction fees flow back to the protocol and its token holders. Plasma is a third model - purpose-built for stablecoin payments, but neutrally operated rather than corporate-owned. Ethereum's lead in tokenized real-world assets, a $30 billion market, is the clearest read on this dynamic. The signal is not that institutions reject corporate rails; it is that the deepest public liquidity still sits on neutral, open settlement networks. Ramp routing across all three non-corporate options, and Western Union's move to build its own stablecoin on Solana to eliminate $2 billion in pre-funded float

, both point in the same direction. That said, Tempo's enterprise wins are not pilots: Meta and DoorDash are among the largest distribution platforms in the world.

Whichever design choices are being made in individual cases, it is clear that traditional platforms are moving toward the fuller capabilities of onchain infrastructure: programmability, composability, and instant settlement. This can be extrapolated from stablecoins to equities and other asset classes.

The key takeaway? The great onchain migration is accelerating.

Also this week

• Visa stablecoin settlement hits $7 billion run rate as pilot expands to nine blockchains
• Securitize, Computershare open path for $70 trillion in U.S. stocks to move onchain
• Western Union to launch stablecoin next month, with 'Stable Card' planned for global consumers
• Meta begins paying some creators in stablecoin with Stripe's support
• PayPal elevates crypto to core business in strategic reorganization
• Polymarket taps Chainalysis to police insider trading as it seeks $15 billion valuation and CFTC sign-off

Relevant financial updates

• Sodot, a crypto security infrastructure company, was acquired by Moonpay* for $100 million
• MegaETH*, a real-time consumer blockchain built on Ethereum, launched its token which is now trading at a $1.5bln FDV
• Pharos*, a blockchain built for tokenized real-world assets, launched its token which is now trading at a $620mln FDV
• Gensyn*, a decentralized compute network for AI training, launched its token which is now trading at a $370mln FDV
• XO Market, a prediction markets platform, has raised $6mln in a Seed round led by Picus Capital and 20VC with investments from Coinbase Ventures, INSIDERS VENTURES, Foreword VC, Pat Cummins, and Ventures Together
• Squads*, a multisig wallet and business finance platform on stablecoin infrastructure, has received a $18mln strategic investment from Coinbase Ventures, Robot Ventures, Solana Ventures, Electric Capital, Jump Crypto, Collab+Currency, Placeholder VC, Haun Ventures, and L1D
• Legend Trade, a social trading platform, has raised $3.5mln in a Seed round led by Electric Capital with investments from GSR Investments and Amber Group.
• Blockworks Group*, a crypto news platform, has raised funding in an Extended Series A round led by ParaFi Capital and Reciprocal Ventures at a $192mln valuation.
• Fence, a decentralized lending platform for asset-backed finance, has raised $20mln in a Series A round led by Galaxy Ventures with investments from ParaFi Capital and Crane Venture Partners
• Belo, a decentralized payments and wallet platform for Latin America, has raised $14mln in a Series A round led by Tether with investments from Mindset Ventures, The venture city, G2 Momentum Capital, and Titan Fund
• Liquid, a decentralized exchange and perpetuals trading platform, has raised $18mln in a Series A round led by NEO and Left Lane Capital with investments from SV Angel, Haun Ventures, K5 Global, Anti Fund, and Sunflower Capital
• Four Pillars* has raised funding in a Series A round led by Pantera Capital with investment from Further

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 01/05

Interesting things to read

• The new stack for global finance: Stablecoins edition, from a16z Crypto
• Quantum Computing Threats to Bitcoin & Post-Quantum Cryptography, on the Empire podcast

Upcoming events

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