Stablecoins are now being used to settle real payments. AI features are live in consumer and business fintech products. Blockchain infrastructure is increasingly part of production systems rather than pilots.
For banks and fintechs, the discussion has turned to practical concerns such as how these tools fit into existing operations, what they cost to run and whether they can scale reliably.
That reality is forcing tougher decisions. Token-based money is colliding with account-led settlement models, AI deployments are pushing compute costs into the open and blockchain adoption is accelerating in markets where speed and liquidity matter most. The Fintech Times asked industry experts to share their insights on what this means for payments, infrastructure and the next phase of fintech adoption.
From pilots to payments
Banks are already dealing with the operational reality of stablecoins moving through live payment systems, from settlement and reconciliation to chain support and on- and off-ramps.
Julie Sutton, head of growth Europe at global issuer-processor Paymentology, says the conversation has moved into day-to-day payments operation.
“Last year, stablecoins moved well beyond the hype by proving that they work in live environments. Transaction volumes rose 72 per cent in 2025, causing banks to hold regular, practical conversations about payments infrastructure that incorporate blockchain-based money.
“The focus now is how they fit alongside the systems banks already run. Settlement across different tokens, chain support and moving funds back into the banking system have quickly become operational issues, not theoretical ones.
“In 2026, fintechs such as Rain and RedotPay building infrastructure that makes stablecoins easier to access from traditional money will continue to see high demand from banks. Card networks are stepping up to solve settlement headaches, handling the complexity of multi-chain and multi-issuer stablecoin flows. Prioritising cloud-first payments systems is key in deploying these capabilities, easily scaling with higher volumes and ensuring product flexibility as stablecoin adoption increases.”
The platform decision banks now face
As stablecoin volumes grow, the pressure is falling on banks to decide whether they stretch legacy systems or invest in platforms designed for token-based money from the outset. Teo Blidarus, CEO of end-to-end financial product management platform FintechOS, suggests that 2026 will expose the cost of standing still.
“Stablecoins moved fast while banks did not in 2025. Token based money is scaling outside traditional infrastructure, and the gap is now impossible to ignore. These new rails speak wallets and tokens, not accounts and batch files, and stablecoins have found a clear product-market fit as they expand into real world payments and treasury use cases.
“With regulatory frameworks announced in 2025, 2026 is the inflection point where adoption shifts from pilots to production grade deployments and drives broader mainstream acceptance. Stablecoin market capitalisation stands at $261billion. More than half of financial institutions expect to adopt within 12 months, yet only 15 per cent currently offer stablecoin services; demand is ahead of the banking industry.
“This year, banks face a fork in the road. While some stretch legacy systems with bolt on solutions, leaders will lean into programmable, token native infrastructure. As regulation brings greater clarity and trust, the winners will be those with agile, future ready product operations platforms that let them move at the speed of intent.”
Liquidity, cost and the Global South
While banks in mature markets debate architecture, fintechs operating across emerging markets are adopting blockchain infrastructure out of necessity. For Mouloukou Sanoh, co-founder and CEO of MANSA, the cross-border payments and liquidity infrastructure provider, stablecoins are already playing a central role in payments across emerging markets.
“Blockchain adoption in fintech will be an essential part of the global payments landscape this year, especially in the Global South. What’s driving this shift is pure necessity. In many emerging markets, cross-border payments remain slow, expensive, and capital intensive, with trillions of dollars locked up in pre-funded accounts simply to keep money moving. Stablecoins are beginning to change that reality.
“We’re already seeing stablecoin usage scale rapidly across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia because they solve two fundamental challenges at once: liquidity and cost. They allow fintechs to move digital dollars in real time, often at up to 90 per cent lower cost than traditional rails, without tying up scarce capital across multiple countries. That unlocks growth for payment companies and enables them to serve businesses that were previously priced out of global trade.
“As this adoption accelerates, blockchain moves closer to mass adoption- not because users care about the technology itself, but because it delivers real, measurable outcomes. The next phase will be defined by last-mile infrastructure: reliable on- and off-ramps, deep local liquidity, and true interoperability with banks. When those pieces come together, blockchain will become the backbone of global fintech.”
Infrastructure moves into the core
Distributed ledger technology is also becoming embedded across financial and public infrastructure, from tokenised assets to digital identity. Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association, the Swiss-based non-profit organisation specialising in Hedera-based enterprise solutions, sees 2026 as the year these systems become part of the institutional core.
“For the first time since the emergence of blockchain and distributed ledger technology, we are seeing a decisive shift from isolated, experimental deployments to genuine, large-scale adoption. What was once limited to sporadic pilots across a handful of enterprises or public institutions is now becoming embedded within core financial and governmental infrastructure.
“Adoption is expanding not just in volume, but in significance. Major institutions such as the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, the London Stock Exchange, leading banks, and public-sector bodies are actively deploying decentralised ledger technology (DLT) across asset tokenisation, digital payments using stablecoins, digital identity and sustainability reporting.
“What will truly define 2026, however, is the convergence of DLT with decentralised AI. This combination enables greater data integrity, transparency, operational efficiency and smarter coordination across technologies such as IoT and DePIN. For the first time, interoperable DLT networks embedded with AI will support payment rails that transcend borders. The digital economy will no longer sit at the margins – it will shape the centre of global decision-making.”
The hidden cost of AI infrastructure
The same infrastructure pressures are playing out in AI. As financial institutions deploy AI at scale, compute costs are emerging as a defining constraint.
Gaurav Sharma, CEO of io.net, the open source AI infrastructure platform, says fintechs are underestimating how quickly centralised cloud economics can undermine AI-led products.
“Model choice, scope of deployment and expert advice is the center of most bank’s discussions about the cost of AI. They’re missing the elephant in the room: compute spending.
“As deployments of AI increase in complexity and reach more users, fintechs will face a difficult realisation; success with customers and success on the balance sheet are two separate milestones. Unlike traditional fintech applications that typically rely on storage, AI-based applications also require a large amount of compute for each user interaction.
“To build sustainable, AI-enabled businesses, fintechs need to focus on the price of day-to-day model inference. Maintaining their easy-to-use centralised cloud contracts will be the long-term downfall of most fintechs integrating AI within their applications.
“Blockchains provide an alternative through blockchain-based GPU marketplace that directly match compute suppliers with consumers, removing access restrictions and high margin enforced by hyperscalers. By switching to decentralised compute networks, fintechs can save up to 70 per cent on the core cost which is dragging down AI ROI.”