To conclude: in the G10 gold corridor such as USD-EUR, Airwallex's "instant + one ten-thousandth fee" indeed scores nearly full marks; however, the financial world is not limited to this one highway. Stripe's reckless acquisition of Bridge, Visa integrating stablecoin settlement into its network, Circle's explosive IPO on the NYSE—these actions collectively outline a larger landscape: whoever can dig through the "last mile" of money will have the opportunity to rewrite the next payment infrastructure.
The halo of "0.01% + instant arrival" can only cover 15% of the territory.
Jack Zhang published a long article on X, and the core point is very straightforward:
Price - Airwallex has reduced the USD→EUR rate to 0.01%;
Speed - Fund settlement in real time, not necessarily faster on-chain;
Landing - Stablecoin deposits and withdrawals are expensive and heavily regulated, and I haven't seen any hardcore use cases in 15 years.
If we limit the stage to London ↔ New York ↔ Frankfurt, he is not bragging. The problem is that 85% of global cross-border traffic does not occur on this G10 highway.
In the eyes of Argentine freelancers, banks still start at 3 days with a 3% fee.
Kenyan vendors supply goods to Nigeria, and they have to navigate two correspondent banking "winding roads";
Turkish importers wanted to pay the deposit on Friday night, but they faced a bank closure for the weekend and could only wait.
In these corners overlooked by the "mainstream", the volume of stablecoins has tripled in half a year, growing wildly like weeds.
Two or three curves, explain "why it is specifically stablecoin"
1 The Latin American Curve: The Dollar Shortage Drives On-Chain Dollars
In 2021, the scale of stablecoins in Latin America was only $20 billion; by 2024, it had surged to $68 billion, and in the first half of this year, it rose again to $75 billion. High inflation, dollar scarcity, and weekend downtime have all pushed funds onto the chain—not to save 0.01%, but for "instant settlement."
2 Giants Bet on the Curve: Keep Customers on the Network, Don't Let Money Escape
Bridge has just been acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion, and Visa immediately laid out this network in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. What they value has never been the FX spread, but the expansion bonus of "keeping money within their own ecosystem" — once money doesn't need to be deposited in banks, payment companies can simultaneously transform into custodial banks, financial supermarkets, and credit gateways.
3 Wall Street Valuation Curve: Circle Can Print Money Just by Relying on Spread
Circle earned a net profit of 780 million US dollars last year just from the interest on its USDC positions; its stock price more than doubled in three days after the IPO. What Wall Street is buying is the cash machine of "on-chain dollars + treasury bond spread," as well as the early signs of a network effect that has already been realized: with every additional company accepting USDC, the outflow demand decreases a little, and the rate dispute quiets down a bit.
Third, beyond "cheap" and "fast", there are more tricky costs.
Many people focus on the fee schedule but overlook the T+2 liquidity, Nostro pre-funding, and KYC multi-head review hidden behind the reports. These are the black holes that consume cross-border profits.
When these frictions are compressed into "code logic", a 0.01% rate advantage quickly becomes insignificant.
Fourth, three scenarios where you can outperform the bank right now
USD→ARS Salary
Bank foreign exchange control + weekend downtime, transfers have to wait until working days. USDC wallet arrives in 5 minutes, actual comprehensive fee rate ≈ 1%—employers use it steadily, employees are willing to receive.
KES↔NGN Small and Medium Loans
There is no direct settlement between Kenya and Nigeria; on-chain P2P is rolled over 24 hours, with a rate of 1-2%.
Weekend Global Liquidity Scheduling
The bank enters sleep mode after hours on Friday, with funds being frozen; the finance department can Sweep to BUIDL on-chain in seconds, safely earning 4% annualized, and transfer out for payroll as soon as the workday begins.
These may not be "sexy", but they are indeed the long tail where the profit margins are the thickest and bank services are lacking.
V. How will the flywheel accelerate before 2026
Bank issuers: After the MiCA comes into effect, at least ten regional banks in mainland Europe will replicate Société Générale's EUR stablecoin.
Super App Entry: Grab, MercadoPago, etc. have already started the grayscale testing of the USDC wallet; once enabled by default, tens of millions of users will immediately step into the on-chain world.
On-chain closed loop formation: merchants receive, supply chain pays, employees earn, and wealth management earns interest, all completed within the same network, with Off-ramp fees naturally tending to zero.
Corporate Finance Migration: Deloitte predicts that by 2027, 10% of the cash of the Fortune 500 will be idle in interest-bearing stablecoin accounts, with more than half of bank demand deposits suddenly withdrawn.
At that time, discussing the 0.01% of the G10 corridor was like the telecom giants in 2010, who were still reducing long-distance fees by 1 cent, yet couldn't stop WhatsApp from adding a million new users a day with free calls.
Six, the last words left by the Circle IPO.
Circle uses a beautiful spread ledger and a rapidly expanding network effect to tell the market: "Cheap remittances" is just the prologue, rewriting the financial base is the main act.
Airwallex has pushed G10 to near perfection, representing the champion stance in a world with 15%; however, the remaining 85% of the market is changing tracks and scoreboards.
Next stop, money will fly everywhere like mail. By then, who will care whether the postage stamp is 1 cent or 0.1 cent?
Watch the reshuffling of the landscape and don't tie your hands and feet at the starting line.
The content is for reference only, not a solicitation or offer. No investment, tax, or legal advice provided. See Disclaimer for more risks disclosure.
What is wrong with stablecoins according to the founder of Airwallex?
To conclude: in the G10 gold corridor such as USD-EUR, Airwallex's "instant + one ten-thousandth fee" indeed scores nearly full marks; however, the financial world is not limited to this one highway. Stripe's reckless acquisition of Bridge, Visa integrating stablecoin settlement into its network, Circle's explosive IPO on the NYSE—these actions collectively outline a larger landscape: whoever can dig through the "last mile" of money will have the opportunity to rewrite the next payment infrastructure.
Jack Zhang published a long article on X, and the core point is very straightforward:
Price - Airwallex has reduced the USD→EUR rate to 0.01%;
Speed - Fund settlement in real time, not necessarily faster on-chain;
Landing - Stablecoin deposits and withdrawals are expensive and heavily regulated, and I haven't seen any hardcore use cases in 15 years.
If we limit the stage to London ↔ New York ↔ Frankfurt, he is not bragging. The problem is that 85% of global cross-border traffic does not occur on this G10 highway.
In the eyes of Argentine freelancers, banks still start at 3 days with a 3% fee.
Kenyan vendors supply goods to Nigeria, and they have to navigate two correspondent banking "winding roads";
Turkish importers wanted to pay the deposit on Friday night, but they faced a bank closure for the weekend and could only wait.
In these corners overlooked by the "mainstream", the volume of stablecoins has tripled in half a year, growing wildly like weeds.
Two or three curves, explain "why it is specifically stablecoin"
1 The Latin American Curve: The Dollar Shortage Drives On-Chain Dollars
In 2021, the scale of stablecoins in Latin America was only $20 billion; by 2024, it had surged to $68 billion, and in the first half of this year, it rose again to $75 billion. High inflation, dollar scarcity, and weekend downtime have all pushed funds onto the chain—not to save 0.01%, but for "instant settlement."
2 Giants Bet on the Curve: Keep Customers on the Network, Don't Let Money Escape
Bridge has just been acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion, and Visa immediately laid out this network in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. What they value has never been the FX spread, but the expansion bonus of "keeping money within their own ecosystem" — once money doesn't need to be deposited in banks, payment companies can simultaneously transform into custodial banks, financial supermarkets, and credit gateways.
3 Wall Street Valuation Curve: Circle Can Print Money Just by Relying on Spread
Circle earned a net profit of 780 million US dollars last year just from the interest on its USDC positions; its stock price more than doubled in three days after the IPO. What Wall Street is buying is the cash machine of "on-chain dollars + treasury bond spread," as well as the early signs of a network effect that has already been realized: with every additional company accepting USDC, the outflow demand decreases a little, and the rate dispute quiets down a bit.
Third, beyond "cheap" and "fast", there are more tricky costs.
Many people focus on the fee schedule but overlook the T+2 liquidity, Nostro pre-funding, and KYC multi-head review hidden behind the reports. These are the black holes that consume cross-border profits.
When these frictions are compressed into "code logic", a 0.01% rate advantage quickly becomes insignificant.
Fourth, three scenarios where you can outperform the bank right now
USD→ARS Salary Bank foreign exchange control + weekend downtime, transfers have to wait until working days. USDC wallet arrives in 5 minutes, actual comprehensive fee rate ≈ 1%—employers use it steadily, employees are willing to receive.
KES↔NGN Small and Medium Loans There is no direct settlement between Kenya and Nigeria; on-chain P2P is rolled over 24 hours, with a rate of 1-2%.
Weekend Global Liquidity Scheduling The bank enters sleep mode after hours on Friday, with funds being frozen; the finance department can Sweep to BUIDL on-chain in seconds, safely earning 4% annualized, and transfer out for payroll as soon as the workday begins.
These may not be "sexy", but they are indeed the long tail where the profit margins are the thickest and bank services are lacking.
V. How will the flywheel accelerate before 2026
Bank issuers: After the MiCA comes into effect, at least ten regional banks in mainland Europe will replicate Société Générale's EUR stablecoin.
Super App Entry: Grab, MercadoPago, etc. have already started the grayscale testing of the USDC wallet; once enabled by default, tens of millions of users will immediately step into the on-chain world.
On-chain closed loop formation: merchants receive, supply chain pays, employees earn, and wealth management earns interest, all completed within the same network, with Off-ramp fees naturally tending to zero.
Corporate Finance Migration: Deloitte predicts that by 2027, 10% of the cash of the Fortune 500 will be idle in interest-bearing stablecoin accounts, with more than half of bank demand deposits suddenly withdrawn.
At that time, discussing the 0.01% of the G10 corridor was like the telecom giants in 2010, who were still reducing long-distance fees by 1 cent, yet couldn't stop WhatsApp from adding a million new users a day with free calls.
Six, the last words left by the Circle IPO.
Circle uses a beautiful spread ledger and a rapidly expanding network effect to tell the market: "Cheap remittances" is just the prologue, rewriting the financial base is the main act. Airwallex has pushed G10 to near perfection, representing the champion stance in a world with 15%; however, the remaining 85% of the market is changing tracks and scoreboards.
Next stop, money will fly everywhere like mail. By then, who will care whether the postage stamp is 1 cent or 0.1 cent?
Watch the reshuffling of the landscape and don't tie your hands and feet at the starting line.