Cross-border payments with stablecoins: efficiency, costs, and regulatory challenges

Cross-border payments remain one of the most expensive frictions for Spanish companies with international operations. Commissions can exceed 6% for each transfer, settlement periods stretch for days, and visibility over the real cost of each operation remains limited.

The European MiCA Regulation, fully applicable since December 2024, has created a legal framework for regulated stablecoins to function as a settlement channel against correspondent banking. Spanish companies are already exploring cross-border payments with stable assets issued by authorized entities, over infrastructures that offer native traceability and integrated regulatory compliance.

Any company that wants to take advantage of this pathway needs to evaluate suitable issuers, comply with Spanish tax obligations, and operate on infrastructures with legal validity.

Traditional cross-border payments accumulate friction in time, cost, and visibility. The global average cost of sending 200 dollars in remittances stands at 6.49% of the amount, according to the World Bank. Only between 35% and 55% of these operations are settled in less than an hour.

Correspondent banking reaches an average cost of 14.55% per operation, according to the Q1 2025 Remittance Prices Worldwide report by the World Bank. Specialized digital Money Transfer Operators or MTOs have dropped to 3.55%.

The G20 objective of placing costs below 3% remains unfulfilled in most corridors.

The Financial Stability Board or FSB has set two goals for 2027 that affect companies. Cross-border retail operations must be settled in less than an hour, and wholesale costs must stand below 1%. Long correspondent chains and non-overlapping schedules between jurisdictions slow down each operation. Fragmented anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls, known as AML/CFT, are added at each link.

Blockchain technology offers an infrastructure capable of shortening those chains of intermediaries. An architecture based on distributed ledgers allows operations to be settled in minutes and reduces the pre-funding in nostro and vostro accounts that banks maintain with each other to operate in foreign currency, with native traceability of commissions and exchange rates.

Regulated stablecoins allow companies with international operations to shorten settlement periods to a matter of minutes, reduce intermediaries, and improve visibility of their cash flows in real time. For exporting SMEs, this model eliminates dependence on multiple correspondent accounts in different jurisdictions.

A common operational model consists of the company denominating and settling its international flows in an electronic money token linked to the euro or the dollar. Conversion to local currency occurs only in the last mile, which reduces exposure to intraday variations in bank exchange rates.

Immediate settlement accelerates the reconciliation of collections and payments, in addition to improving cash forecasting. Companies with subsidiaries in several countries can centralize their global liquidity in a stablecoin and redistribute it on-chain, that is, directly over the network, with a consolidated cash position in real time.

According to studies gathered by the Bank for International Settlements or BIS, stablecoins can reduce settlement times by around 30% in specific corridors. Blockchain traceability provides visibility over the applied commissions and facilitates automatic reconciliation and financial reporting. The BIS itself qualifies that the real gain depends on the comprehensive redesign of operational processes. Changing the digital ledger alone is not enough.

The MiCA Regulation, fully applicable since December 2024, establishes the first comprehensive legal framework for stablecoins in the European Union. Issuers of electronic money tokens must maintain 100% reserves in low-risk assets and guarantee the right of redemption at par at all times.

Electronic money tokens or EMTs, a category regulated by MiCA, reference their value to a single official currency and require a license as an electronic money institution or credit institution. Asset-referenced tokens or ARTs are linked to baskets of currencies or assets and require specific authorization. The transitional period for providers can extend until July 2026 depending on the Member State.

Crypto-asset service providers or CASPs must obtain authorization in a Member State. The European passport allows them to operate in the rest of the UE.

The European Securities and Markets Authority or ESMA maintains a public registry of authorized CASPs that companies and professionals can consult before operating.

The BIS and the FSB warn that challenges persist in international coordination. Regulatory arbitrage and the difficulty in supervising on/off-ramps, the entry and exit points between crypto-assets and fiat money, remain open. It is advisable to work with EMT issuers authorized under MiCA and prioritize CASPs registered in the UE.

Companies with international operations already use stablecoins for payments to suppliers, B2B remittances, and optimization of working capital. Most combine on-chain settlement with automatic conversion to fiat currency at destination, which minimizes prolonged exposure to crypto-assets on the balance sheet.

In remittances, the payer converts local currency to stablecoin through an authorized agent and transfers the amount on-chain to the destination country. The beneficiary converts it to local currency on the other end. According to BIS analysis of flows between 184 countries between 2017 and 2024, corridors with higher costs in traditional remittances record higher adoption of stablecoins as an alternative channel.

A recent B2B initiative, Qivalis, driven by ten European banks including CaixaBank, plans to launch a stablecoin denominated in euros and regulated under MiCA in the second half of 2026. Projects like this bring banking stablecoins closer to the concept of the digital euro as complementary instruments of the European payment ecosystem.

Each company decides how to preserve the asset. The fiat-anchored model uses stablecoins as a settlement rail between two points of fiat currency. The crypto-native model maintains direct treasury in stablecoins. The fiat-anchored model is the most compatible with MiCA and with European accounting and tax obligations.

ISBE offers a public-permissioned environment that incorporates GDPR and eIDAS2 compliance by design and integrates MiCA requirements into its architecture, allowing the deployment of payments with regulated stable assets and cross-border legal validity.

ISBE operates with institutional governance, identified nodes, and access control that grant it legal reliability comparable to traditional trust service infrastructures. Compatibility with eIDAS2 facilitates high-level identity verification and KYC schemes over blockchain. Alignment with MiCA allows the deployment of EMT or ART tokens issued by authorized entities in a national environment interoperable with European infrastructures.

In permissioned infrastructures like ISBE, safeguards that open networks do not contemplate can be implemented. Whitelists of verified addresses and pre-authorization reduce operational risks. Interoperability with EBSI and European standards opens the door to cross-border payments between administrations and companies with reinforced legal certainty.

ISBE does not host permissionless crypto-assets or stablecoins issued outside European regulatory frameworks. Any use case must be based on issuers and providers authorized under MiCA and eIDAS2.

Does your company make international payments and look for an infrastructure with legal validity? Discover how ISBE facilitates cross-border settlement with regulated stable assets. Visit redisbe.com and learn about the use cases underway.

How is the taxation of a payment received in stablecoins managed in Spain?

The taxation of a payment received in stablecoins in Spain is governed by the same rules as any other crypto-asset. A collection in stablecoins is taxed as ordinary income for its value in euros at the time of receipt. Invoices must be issued in euros. If holdings in foreign exchanges exceed 50,000 euros as of December 31, it is mandatory to submit Form 721.

Is there a risk that the stablecoin loses its parity or de-pegging during shipment?

Yes, there is a risk that a stablecoin loses its parity, even with 1:1 backing, due to reserve, liquidity, or solvency issues of the issuer. MiCA mitigates this risk by requiring EMT issuers to have 100% reserves in low-risk assets and the right to redemption at par. Supervision falls on the competent authorities. The European Banking Authority or EBA additionally supervises significant tokens.

Is it necessary for my traditional bank to accept crypto-assets to make these payments?

It is not necessary for the traditional bank to accept crypto-assets to make these payments. If the company operates through a CASP authorized under MiCA, the bank can limit itself to receiving and sending conventional SEPA or SWIFT transfers. Some European banks already integrate MiCA services and allow operating stablecoins from their platform. The minimum requirement is that they accept transfers coming from the crypto provider.

What happens if I send a payment to an incorrect wallet address?

A payment sent to an incorrect wallet address is practically irrecoverable. On-chain transactions are irreversible once confirmed and there is no native forced return mechanism. In permissioned infrastructures like ISBE, safeguards such as whitelists of verified addresses and double approval can be implemented. Internal verification procedures and testing in small amounts before each significant payment are essential.

How does the Startup Law or the Crea y Crece Law affect the use of these technologies in Spain?

The Startup Law and the Crea y Crece Law favorably affect the use of stablecoins in cross-border payments. The Crea y Crece Law mandates electronic invoicing between companies and facilitates the integration of payment rails based on blockchain with approved invoicing systems. The Startup Law offers tax incentives to emerging fintech companies. Both operate within the limits of MiCA and payment services regulations.