Why stablecoins’ biggest challenge isn’t technical, it’s adoption

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The future of payments may not be a battle between crypto and traditional finance, but a slow and messy convergence of the two, according to Dan Mottice, head of stablecoin strategy at Modern Treasury. 

“I personally am of the belief that they will become symbiotic,” Mottice said on Token Relations’ Talking Tokens podcast. Rather than stablecoins fully disrupting legacy payment networks, Mottice thinks they can be a part of an evolution that sees incumbents adapting to unlock entirely new business models.

The total stablecoin market cap has surpassed $300 billion and we’re seeing transfer volumes reach an average of $9.25 trillion per  month, but a lot of that activity remains within crypto-native circles. 

The crypto industry argues that the traditional payments system is “broken,” but Mottice has a more measured point of view, grounded by his experience leading crypto products at Visa and building the stablecoin-focused platform Beam (acquired by Modern Treasury in October 2025). He thinks the current system works, but there’s space for growth. 

“I think there's always room for improvement,” Mottice said. “My general take is that in many markets around the world, domestic payments are pretty well solved […] but there’s still a lot of room for improvement in how domestic systems can play nicely with each other and cross-border payments probably can be improved.” 

That gap is more obvious on the settlement front. While consumers can tap a card or send money instantly, the actual movement of funds between institutions often takes longer and is often restricted by banking hours. That's where stablecoins and their 24/7 availability can fill the gap.

Still, the experience isn’t seamless. “Getting money into a blockchain is hard, and then getting money out of the blockchain is hard,” Mottice said.

On the infrastructure side, blockchains like Solana are increasingly positioning themselves as a home for new payment rails. But Mottice argues the winners won’t be decided by technical specs alone. 

“The key area is distribution,” he said, pointing to developer tools, integrations and real-world usability, not just high speeds and low costs. “It’s all about distribution and who can maintain distribution and expand distribution.”

That dynamic mirrors earlier fintech growth stories, where infrastructure sparked innovation, but the companies that controlled customer relationships often captured the most value. 

And after years of experimentation, he believes stablecoins are approaching an inflection point. “We’re crossing the chasm from early adoption into mainstream adoption,” he said.

Still, it will take time. He expects 2026 to be defined by enterprise pilots to prove out stablecoin use cases to CFOs, boards, and large financial institutions.

“My take is that 2026 is like the year of [the enterprise pilot,]” he said. Then in 2027, “we’re really going to see the hockey stick [growth] happen.”

That next phase will likely be driven not just by crypto-native startups, but by traditional fintechs embedding stablecoins into their existing payment stacks. “Stablecoins should be a default first-class rail,” Mottice said. “It is another rail. It is another tool in the arsenal.”

Check out the next section for more details and the full episode.

For today’s episode, I interviewed Dan Mottice, head of stablecoins at Modern Treasury and founder of Beam, a stablecoin payment platform it acquired in October 2025. Dan, who previously led Visa's crypto products before building Beam, explains how payment infrastructure is evolving to treat stablecoins as a default rail alongside traditional fiat systems.

He walks through why moving money remains hard, how 24/7 liquidity will transform cross-border and domestic payments, and why the layer between fiat and crypto is the real bottleneck. The conversation covers stablecoin clearinghouses as an emerging opportunity, why stablecoin neobanks need to match incumbent features and where value will accrue in the payment stack. Dan also shares lessons from building consumer versus B2B products and his advice for staying focused on the builders who stick around during bear markets.

This episode is a part of the Solana Sessions campaign that Token Relations and the Talking Tokens podcast are doing, diving into founders’ journeys and startups building on Solana. Check out the accompanying newsletter on www.token-relations.com

TIMESTAMPS 

00:00 – Intro

01:40 – Dan's background at Visa and building Beam
03:36 – Modern Treasury acquiring Beam in October 2025 and the vision for stablecoins as a rail

04:16 – How Visa and stablecoin platforms will become symbiotic, not competitors

06:13 – Current payment systems: pretty well solved domestically, room for improvement cross-border

08:12 – Why 24/7 liquidity will dramatically improve both domestic and cross-border payments

09:54 – Where value accrues: infrastructure layer vs customer relationship ownership

13:04 – If starting over today: building a global liquidity protocol or stablecoin clearinghouse

17:24 – Biggest misconceptions about payments and how hard it is to get money in and out of blockchains

20:01 – Why stablecoin neobanks need FDIC insurance and customer support to beat incumbents

31:26 – What Dan wants to see builders create with new onchain money movement primitives

32:14 – Final advice: focus on the people who stick around during bear markets

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