How companies use stablecoins for supplier payments, payroll and treasury

Most companies that use stablecoins use them for one or two specific jobs, not for everything. Here are the jobs where they help, and the controls that keep them safe.

Rashidatou K.Payments editor

Published: 24 September 2026
Updated: 1 November 2026
Reading time: 2 min read

The short answer

Companies mostly use stablecoins for narrow jobs: paying counterparties where bank rails are slow, settling outside banking hours, and moving money between their own entities.
Contractors in countries with expensive inbound wires often prefer USDC or USDT, then convert locally. The company still needs each contractor's tax form and a payment record.
Treasury use is about access and timing, not yield. A balance that can move at any hour is useful for a group with entities in several time zones.
Every stablecoin payout needs the same controls as a bank payout: approval, an allow-list of addresses, a test transfer to new addresses, and a record that ties the transfer to an invoice.
The World Bank's figures show sending money to many corridors still costs well above the 3% G20 target, which is why these routes are where stablecoins are used most.

The useful question about stablecoins for a finance team is which of your payments would be cheaper or faster in USDC, and what controls you need around them. In our experience, companies that use stablecoins well use them for one or two jobs and keep bank rails for the rest.

Paying suppliers where wires are slow

An importer paying a factory in a country where incoming USD wires take three to five days and lose fees to intermediary banks can pay in USDC or USDT instead, if the supplier accepts it. The transfer settles in minutes and the supplier converts locally.

The supplier carries the conversion cost, so agree who pays it before the first invoice. The stablecoin vs SWIFT guide compares both routes on cost and time.

Paying contractors

Agencies with designers, developers and media buyers in Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines or Argentina often find contractors prefer stablecoins. Inbound wires can be costly or slow there, and some contractors already price their work in USD.

Run it as a normal contractor payout:

A contract and an invoice for each payment.
The contractor's tax form on file.
An address the contractor confirmed in writing, on a named network.
A small test payment to every new address.
A record of the amount, date and transaction hash.

Moving money between your own entities

A group with a US LLC, a UK Ltd and a team in Kenya moves money between entities every month. Bank transfers between them can take days across time zones. A stablecoin balance moves at any hour, so the parent can fund a subsidiary on a Friday evening and payroll runs on Monday. Your accountant still needs an intercompany agreement and records on both sides.

Weekend and holiday settlement

Bank rails close. ACH and Fedwire do not settle on weekends or US federal holidays, and SWIFT payments depend on banks in both countries being open. Stablecoin networks run every day. For marketplaces paying sellers daily, that removes a two-day gap every week.

Why these routes and not others

The World Bank tracks the cost of sending money between countries. On many corridors into Africa, South Asia and Latin America the average cost remains well above the G20's 3% target for 2027. Those are the corridors where stablecoins are used most, because the gap is largest. Between two countries with fast, cheap local rails, a bank transfer is usually simpler.

The controls every stablecoin payout needs

Control	Why
Approval by a second person	Same rule as bank payouts
Address allow-list	Stops payments to unknown addresses
Network named on every address	USDT on Tron and USDT on Ethereum are not interchangeable
Test transfer to new addresses	A wrong address cannot be reversed
Link to an invoice	Your auditor will ask

Running it on Rivet

On Rivet, a stablecoin payout is one line in the same batch as bank payouts, under the same roles and approvals. Each recipient can be paid on their local rail or in USDC or USDT, and you see the cost of each leg before you send. See Payouts and Ramps.

Questions people ask

Which companies use stablecoins?

Mainly companies with counterparties in countries where receiving dollars by bank is slow or expensive: agencies with offshore teams, importers paying suppliers in Asia and Latin America, and marketplaces paying sellers. Large payment companies have also added stablecoin settlement to their own networks.

Can I pay contractors in stablecoins?

Yes, where the contractor agrees and local rules allow it. Treat it like any contractor payment: a contract, an invoice, the right tax form (a W-8BEN for non-US contractors of a US company) and a record of the amount in dollars on the day you paid.

Are stablecoins used for remittances?

Yes, increasingly, because a stablecoin transfer costs the same whatever the corridor. The cost moves to the edges: buying the stablecoin and converting it to local money at the other end. Where those edges are cheap, the total can be lower than a traditional transfer.

How do stablecoin companies make money?

Issuers such as Circle and Tether earn interest on the reserves backing their tokens. Payment providers earn fees and FX spreads on converting between bank money and stablecoins, and on payouts.

Sources

Written by

Rashidatou K.

Payments editor

Rashidatou writes Rivet's guides to how money moves between countries: the payment rails, what each one costs, and the account details a company needs to get paid in another currency. Every figure in Rashidatou's articles is traced to the scheme rulebook, the regulator or the provider's published price list, and those sources are listed at the end.