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The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) statement on stablecoin regulation provides an opportunity for cross-border payments innovation.
In the midst of the chaos unleashed in Washington by the Trump administration, there have been some winners so far — in particular, crypto firms and their fans in the banking industry.
US banking giants such as JP Morgan and Bank of America have shown their enthusiasm for stablecoin issuance, and the regulatory clarity offered by the SEC’s , issued in April, will only enhance that.
In the statement, the SEC said that certain stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, fully backed by low-risk, liquid assets and redeemable 1:1 for USD are not considered securities under federal law, provided they meet specific criteria related to their use, design and reserve composition.
A gamechanging development
The regulator’s guidance has sparked enthusiasm among crypto players, who view it as a gamechanger for innovation, and many of the solutions that stablecoin products have been intended to create.
Speaking to žž, Mazyar Torkpour, co-founder of Paymento, a crypto payment gateway company, said that “this marks a greenlight moment for stablecoin-based payments, signalling mainstream business adoption by eliminating significant legal friction”.
According to Torkpour, it also opens the door for developers to build non-custodial fintech products without needing to comply with full securities-level regulations.
“This paves the way for decentralised solutions in areas like invoicing, subscription billing, and payroll.”
“With their comments, the SEC has opened the door for Delivery versus Payment/ settlement of transactions to happen on blockchains,” said Andrew MacKenzie, founder at Agant, a stablecoin issuer and blockchain infrastructure provider in the UK.
MacKenzie said that it “gives issuers comfort to develop their distribution on-shore in the US” and also provides financial institutions with “the confidence to interact with stablecoins and integrate them into use cases where their benefits are clear to see”.
Examples of such use cases include on-chain delivery and payment for assets, reduced credit risk due to improved settlement times, FX , improved remittance corridors, programmable payments, payments automation and agent-to-agent payments, MacKenzie added.
“It’s a pro-innovation stance that will allow financial institutions to build on top of this digital foundation layer, reducing frictions on cross-border payments and delays on settlement times.”
The age of crypto
Michelle O'Connor, VP global expansion and innovation at Taxbit, welcomed the SEC’s statement as a “yet another encouraging signal”, adding that “the tide is turning in the US toward a more innovation-forward, crypto-inclusive regulatory environment”.
Welcoming the US’ change of heart on crypto more broadly, O'Connor said that “this follows a growing list of actions and positioning from US regulators who were once perceived as hostile but are now demonstrating a commitment to the administration’s stated goal: to bring pro-crypto innovation back onshore”.
“From the evolving posture at the SEC to bipartisan legislative momentum in Congress, we’re seeing meaningful steps that recognise blockchain’s foundational role in modern financial infrastructure,” she said.
O'Connor explained that when it comes to stablecoin issuers, “this provides a much-needed path forward, offering regulatory clarity that supports compliant innovation while minimising the fear of arbitrary enforcement”.
Meanwhile, for the banking industry, she said that “this opens the door to deeper engagement with tokenised deposits, payment rails, and real-time settlement mechanisms without the looming uncertainty of securities classification”.
Disrupting the system
There is also a feeling that the SEC’s position on stablecoins could be a disrupter to the incumbent banking industry, shaking up the global payments ecosystem.
"Stablecoins have the potential to disrupt traditional banking by reducing friction in cross-border settlement and payments,” said Torkpour. “This will challenge the intermediary role that conventional banks have long played."
In the US, establishing stablecoin legislation is on the agenda beyond the SEC.
For example, as covered by žž, the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act of 2025 (GENIUS Act), a bill that aims to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for payment stablecoins in the US, is in the process of going through Congress.
If passed, it would establish the licensing and oversight requirements for stablecoin issuers at both the federal and state levels.
