Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: The Operating Model for 24/7 Money

 

A five-part examination of how stablecoins are moving beyond payment pilots and into the treasury, compliance, operations, and core infrastructure of financial institutions.

How stablecoins are changing liquidity management, settlement infrastructure, and the economics of transaction banking

Key Takeaways

●The value of stablecoins lies increasingly in reducing pre-funded liquidity, not only accelerating settlement.

●Stablecoins and tokenised deposits are likely to serve different roles within the bank stack.

●A wallet that operates 24/7 does not automatically create a bank capable of operating 24/7.

●Compliance, treasury, operations, and legacy core systems remain major implementation barriers.

●Regulatory clarity and fintech competition are increasing the urgency for banks.

●Real adoption begins when stablecoins become part of corporate deposits, treasury services, payouts, and bank-to-bank settlement.

 

1. Stablecoins Are Changing Liquidity Economics

Cross-border payments traditionally rely on correspondent banking networks and liquidity positioned in advance.
Depending on the transaction, funds may be pre-funded T+1, T+2, T+3 before settlement. During that period, capital remains committed even though the payment has not been completed.

Stablecoins can reduce that delay. More importantly, they may allow banks and corporate clients to hold liquidity closer to the point at which payment is actually required.

This changes the economics of the transaction.
 

 

 

For corporate clients, less pre-funding can improve the use of working capital. For banks, more direct settlement may reduce dependence on correspondent institutions and allow them to retain more of the payment, treasury, and net-interest economics associated with the client flow.

The strategic question is therefore moving beyond:

How quickly can the payment settle?

It is becoming:

Who controls the liquidity before, during, and after settlement?

This is particularly relevant for regional banks. Large global institutions can often serve clients through their own international networks. Regional banks are more dependent on correspondent partners when supporting cross-border activity.

Stablecoins may give those institutions a more direct way to participate in international financial flows. But faster settlement does not automatically mean lower cost. Banks must still account for liquidity, compliance, conversion, reconciliation, and operational support.

The stronger business case may come from better liquidity mobility—not transaction speed alone.

Institutional Use Cases 

●Circle is helping payment providers optimise cross-border liquidity by reducing pre-funded balances through stablecoin settlement. The same infrastructure also powers production use cases such as creator payouts for global platforms and humanitarian aid disbursements through UNHCR. (Insights from the discussion "Global Stablecoins, Local Markets: The Politics of Market Entry in Asia" featuring Chengyi Ong, Director of APAC Policy & Regulatory Strategy, Circle)
 

 

●Ripple demonstrated how stablecoins can replace pre-funded correspondent accounts with just-in-time liquidity, enabling financial institutions to move capital between global operating accounts more efficiently. The company also highlighted cross-border trade finance, where businesses gain faster access to US-dollar liquidity for international commerce. (Insights from the discussion "From Corridors to Stablecoins: How APAC Institutions Move Value in 2026" featuring Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Ripple.)

●Fireblocks highlighted how settling closer to the point of payment changes the economics of transaction banking. By reducing one-to-three-day pre-funding requirements, banks can keep capital productive for longer while preserving float and net interest margin (NIM). (Insights from the discussion "Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: Treasury, Settlement, and the Operating Model for 24/7 Money" featuring Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Banking, Fireblocks.)

 

 

2. Banks Are Building a Multi-Money Stack

The market is often framed as a competition between stablecoins and tokenised deposits.

In practice, they solve different problems.

 

Tokenised deposits

Tokenised deposits may be well suited to controlled banking environments, including settlement between subsidiaries or affiliated entities.

They represent a liability of the issuing bank and preserve more of the existing commercial banking model. However, recipients must accept the issuing institution’s credit risk and may require a relationship with that bank to redeem or use the asset.

This limits their transferability outside the issuing bank’s network.

 

Stablecoins

Stablecoins provide a more open settlement asset.
A stablecoin can move between external wallets, institutions, exchanges, and service providers without requiring every participant to belong to the same banking network.

This makes stablecoins more suitable for cross-border activity and settlement between otherwise disconnected financial ecosystems.

The future bank stack is therefore unlikely to depend on one form of digital money.

Banks may use tokenised deposits for internal or closed-network settlement, stablecoins for open-network payments, and domestic real-time systems for local interbank transfers.

The more important capability will be orchestration: selecting the appropriate instrument based on the counterparty, jurisdiction, liquidity requirement, compliance obligations, and economics of the transaction.

 

Real use cases

●Visa is building the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP) to help banks issue and manage multiple forms of digital money—including tokenized deposits and stablecoins—allowing institutions to use different settlement assets for internal banking networks and external payment ecosystems. (Insights from the discussion "From Stablecoin Strategy to Rollout: What Enterprises Need to Launch Real Payment Flows" featuring Bob O'Brien, Senior Director, GTM Visa Crypto Solutions, Visa.)

●Fireblocks provides digital asset infrastructure that enables banks to operate both tokenised deposits and stablecoins within a single platform. Institutions can settle internal treasury flows between subsidiaries using tokenised deposits while leveraging stablecoins for cross-border payments and transactions with external counterparties. (Insights from the discussion "Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: Treasury, Settlement, and the Operating Model for 24/7 Money" featuring Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Banking, Fireblocks.)

●Matter Labs | ZKsync is developing a hybrid banking architecture where tokenised deposits remain inside a bank's own balance-sheet environment, while stablecoins are used when value needs to move beyond the bank's perimeter. This approach combines traditional banking relationships with open blockchain interoperability. (Insights from the discussion "From Stablecoins to Tokenised Deposits: Building Institutional Rails Onchain" featuring Omar Azhar, VP of Business Development , Matter Labs|ZKsync)

●Circle is supporting the adoption of multiple digital settlement assets by working with regulators and financial institutions on both stablecoins and tokenised deposits. Initiatives such as Malaysia's Digital Asset Innovation Hub demonstrate how different forms of digital money can coexist to support distinct institutional payment and settlement use cases. (Insights from the discussion "Global Stablecoins, Local Markets: The Politics of Market Entry in Asia" featuring Chengyi Ong, Director of APAC Policy & Regulatory Strategy, Circle) 

 

 

3. A 24/7 Wallet Does Not Create a 24/7 Bank

Stablecoins can be transferred continuously.

Most banks are not organised to operate continuously.

A bank may deploy a wallet capable of accepting stablecoins at any time. But if its internal systems cannot process, monitor, reconcile, and respond to that transaction outside normal business hours, the capability remains disconnected from the bank’s actual operating model.

Institutional adoption therefore requires changes across several functions.

Treasury

Banks need continuous visibility into fiat and stablecoin balances, liquidity locations, conversion requirements, redemption access, and foreign-exchange exposure.

Compliance and risk

KYC, AML, sanctions controls, wallet screening, transaction monitoring, and Travel Rule requirements must be incorporated into digital-asset workflows.

Blockchain activity may provide a high level of transaction visibility, but banks still need the systems and expertise required to interpret that information and apply institutional policies.

Operations

Banks must define how they will manage failed transfers, compliance alerts, liquidity shortages, delayed redemptions, and reconciliation differences outside normal operating hours.

Technology

Digital-asset infrastructure must connect with core banking platforms that may have been built decades ago.

Banks may use middleware, APIs, sidecar ledgers, parallel systems, or separate digital-asset interfaces. The appropriate architecture will depend on the product and the condition of the bank’s existing infrastructure.

The central challenge is not simply connecting a wallet.

It is coordinating treasury, compliance, risk, operations, finance, and technology around a continuous financial environment.

Real use cases

●Bastion is integrating stablecoin payments directly into ERP, treasury, and accounts payable systems, allowing enterprises to adopt blockchain settlement without replacing existing finance workflows. The company expects accounting and reconciliation to be the first operational functions redesigned for stablecoin adoption. (Insights from the discussion "B2B Stablecoin Payments: The Enterprise Use Case No One Expected" featuring Nassim Eddequiouaq, CEO& Co-Founder, Bastion.)

●Turnkey embeds policy engines directly into wallet infrastructure, enabling institutions to define approval workflows, transaction policies, spending limits, and multi-party authorisation. This allows organisations to apply enterprise-grade governance beyond simple private key management. (Insights from the discussion "Wallet Control in Production: Policy Engines, Automation, and Institutional-Grade Guardrails" featuring Michael Lewellen, Head of Solutions Engineering, Turnkey.) 

●Talos connects digital asset infrastructure with existing custodians, trading systems, settlement, portfolio management, and reporting platforms. Rather than replacing legacy infrastructure, Talos allows institutions to operate digital assets while synchronising activity with existing banking and asset management systems. (Insights from the discussion "Institutional Trading for Tokenized Markets: Execution, Risk Controls, and 24/7 Market Access" featuring Anton Katz, CEO & Co-Founder, Talos.)

 

 

4. Regulation Is Accelerating the Infrastructure Race

Regulatory uncertainty has historically limited banks’ willingness to make large investments in stablecoin infrastructure.

As frameworks become clearer across major financial markets, institutions can move beyond experimentation and begin incorporating digital assets into long-term infrastructure planning.

At the same time, competitive pressure is increasing.
Fintech companies and payment providers are using stablecoins to enter areas traditionally served by banks, including cross-border payments and services for small and medium-sized businesses.

This matters because transaction banking and corporate payments are core banking businesses.

If a fintech controls the customer interface and determines how the transaction moves, the bank may still provide an account or settlement service—but it no longer controls the financial flow.

The bank moves from directing the transaction to receiving a transaction designed elsewhere.

Stablecoins therefore do not need to replace banks to challenge their competitive position. They only need to allow another platform to control the client relationship surrounding a core banking service.

Thailand's SEC is expanding its regulatory framework to support tokenised securities, digital investment products, and programmable financial infrastructure. Through initiatives such as the Enhanced Regulatory Sandbox, the regulator is enabling financial institutions to test new operating models before broader market adoption. (Insights from the discussion "When Digital Assets Become an Asset Class: ETFs, Tokenization, and the Future of Capital Markets" featuring Nopnuanparn Pavasant , Assistant Secretary-General and Head of Capital Market Infrastructure Center of Securities and Exchange Commission)

Visa is developing the Visa Tokenised Asset Platform (VTAP) to help banks issue and manage digital assets within regulated environments. The platform reflects growing demand for infrastructure that supports compliant issuance, settlement, and interoperability as regulatory frameworks mature. (Insights from the discussion "From Stablecoin Strategy to Rollout: What Enterprises Need to Launch Real Payment Flows" featuring Bob O'Brien, Senior Director, GTM Visa Crypto Solutions, Visa.)

Fireblocks is helping financial institutions prepare for regulated digital asset adoption by building infrastructure that supports stablecoins, tokenised deposits, and CBDCs under enterprise-grade governance, compliance, and security requirements. Rather than focusing on a single asset, the platform is designed to adapt as regulatory frameworks evolve. (Insights from the discussion "Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: Treasury, Settlement, and the Operating Model for 24/7 Money" featuring Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Banking, Fireblocks.)

Ripple is working with regulators and financial institutions across multiple jurisdictions to expand regulated cross-border payment infrastructure. As stablecoin regulations become clearer, the company expects adoption to accelerate from pilot programs toward production financial services. (Insights from the discussion "From Corridors to Stablecoins: How APAC Institutions Move Value in 2026" featuring Fiona Murray, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Ripple.)

 

 

From Stablecoin Access to On-Chain Banking

Institutional stablecoin adoption is likely to develop through a broader set of banking services.

These may include:

●Stablecoin acceptance for corporate clients

●Institutional custody

●Fiat-to-stablecoin conversion

●Stablecoin payouts from deposit accounts

●Treasury and liquidity management

●On-chain foreign exchange

●Allocation into tokenized yield-bearing assets

●Bank-to-bank settlement

The opportunity is not limited to moving a token between wallets.

It includes managing the full lifecycle of digital money—from receipt and custody to compliance, conversion, treasury management, and external payment.

The strongest signal of institutional adoption will therefore not be another pilot or token launch.

It will be banks assuming responsibility for real client money, real compliance obligations, and real revenue-generating activity.

 

 

SCB 10X Perspective

The Strategic Layer Is Infrastructure, Not Issuance

The market is moving from proving that stablecoins can work toward determining how they can operate inside regulated financial institutions. That shift changes where value may be created.

Stablecoin issuance represents only one part of the stack. Banks also require infrastructure that can secure assets, enforce transaction policies, monitor risk, manage liquidity, integrate with core systems, and coordinate different forms of digital money. We see several strategically important layers emerging.

Institutional control infrastructure

Banks need systems for key security, transaction permissions, approval workflows, counterparty restrictions, audit records, and asset governance.

Treasury orchestration

Institutions need to coordinate liquidity across stablecoins, fiat deposits, tokenised deposits, foreign exchange, and tokenised assets.

The value lies in helping banks determine where money should be held, when it should move, and which asset or network should be used.

Compliance and risk infrastructure

Digital-asset activity requires real-time monitoring and controls that can translate on-chain information into decisions suitable for regulated institutions.

Core banking integration

Many banks will not replace their core systems immediately. They will require APIs, middleware, digital-asset ledgers, and reconciliation infrastructure connecting blockchain transactions to existing banking records and workflows.

On-chain financial products

Stablecoin acceptance, custody, conversion, treasury management, foreign exchange, and access to yield-bearing assets may eventually form a broader institutional product suite.

The companies that combine these capabilities into an integrated workflow may become more valuable than those offering a single technical feature. From an investment perspective, the key question is not whether a company can move stablecoins.

It is whether the company can become a critical part of how financial institutions operate when stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and traditional money coexist.

 

What Comes Next?

The next stage of adoption will be defined by production activity rather than experimentation.

The most important signals will include:

●Banks accepting stablecoins as part of corporate treasury relationships

●Clients converting deposit balances into stablecoins for external payments

●Stablecoins moving between regulated institutions

●Continuous treasury and compliance operations

●Ownership shifting from innovation teams to revenue-generating business units

●Stablecoin services producing recurring payment, custody, foreign-exchange, or treasury revenue
Stablecoins have already demonstrated that money can move continuously.

 

The next challenge is building financial institutions capable of operating the same way.

 

 

Source: SCB 10X analysis based on insights from "Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: Treasury, Settlement, and the Operating Model for 24/7 Money," featuring Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Banking, Fireblocks, at REDeFiNE TOMORROW 2026.

 

About SCB 10X

SCB 10X is the disruptive technology investment arm of SCBX Group. With an investment track record since 2016, SCB 10X has deployed over USD 500 million globally into startups in AI, blockchain, and fintech. SCB 10X has backed exceptional companies such as Together AI, Pagaya, Ripple, Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital

Beyond capital, SCB 10X partners with our portfolio founders to test, grow and scale their solutions through SCBX’s network, unlocking commercial opportunities into Thailand and Southeast Asia. Mandated as the group’s speedboat, we discover and ship state-of-the-art technologies and solutions into SCBX group. 
 
For more information, please visit https://scb10x.com/