Stablecoin payments for business: how USDC and USDT work, and what the GENIUS Act changed

Most of the noise about stablecoins is about trading. The use that has grown fastest is duller and more useful: companies paying other companies. A June 2025 study of payment companies by Artemis, Castle Island Ventures and Dragonfly found business-to-business stablecoin payments had grown from under $100 million a month in early 2023 to more than $3 billion a month in 2025.

The reason is practical. A supplier in a market where an international wire takes four days, or a contractor who wants dollars their local bank won't hold, can be paid in minutes, on a Sunday, for a network fee measured in cents. This guide covers how that works, what the new US law requires of the companies that issue stablecoins, and the operational mistakes that cost businesses money.

What a stablecoin is

A payment stablecoin is a digital token designed to be worth one unit of a currency, almost always the US dollar, and redeemable for it. The issuer holds reserves (cash, bank deposits, short-term government debt) to back the tokens in circulation.

The two largest dollar stablecoins are:

• USDC, issued by Circle.
• USDT, issued by Tether.

How the two differ on reserves, regulation and reach is covered in USDC vs USDT for business.

Tokens live on public blockchains, often several. The same USDC exists on Ethereum, Base, Solana, Polygon, Optimism, Avalanche and others. A token on one network is not automatically usable on another, which matters a great deal when you send one (see the mistakes section below).

What the GENIUS Act changed

The GENIUS Act (S.1582, Public Law 119-27) was signed on 18 July 2025. It is the first US federal law written specifically for payment stablecoins. In short:

• Only permitted issuers may issue payment stablecoins in the US: subsidiaries of insured banks, federally licensed non-bank issuers, and state-licensed issuers under a size limit, with a route for foreign issuers in comparable regimes.
• One-to-one reserves. Every token must be backed at least one-for-one by high-quality liquid assets: US dollars, deposits at insured institutions, Treasury bills with maturities of 93 days or less, and certain repurchase agreements backed by Treasuries.
• No reusing reserves. Reserve assets generally cannot be lent out or pledged.
• Monthly disclosure. Issuers must publish the composition of their reserves every month, examined by a registered public accounting firm, with the CEO and CFO certifying the reports.
• No interest to holders. Permitted issuers may not pay holders interest or yield for holding the token. Whether exchanges and other third parties can offer rewards is still being argued over and is subject to rulemaking.
• Redemption and insolvency. The Act sets out redemption policies and gives holders priority over reserves if an issuer fails.

The law takes effect on the earlier of 18 January 2027 or 120 days after regulators issue final rules, so parts of it are still being implemented.

For a business, the practical effect is clearer rules about what stands behind a regulated dollar stablecoin, and more banks and payment providers willing to support them.

And in Europe

The EU regulates stablecoins under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), whose stablecoin rules have applied since 30 June 2024. Issuers of tokens offered in the EU need authorisation. In practice, that has changed which stablecoins European exchanges and payment providers can offer, so a token that works for a US counterparty may not be available to a European one.

Where stablecoins fit in a company's payments

Stablecoins are a rail, like SWIFT or SEPA. They are good at some jobs and wrong for others.

Good fits:

• Paying suppliers and contractors where bank rails are slow, expensive or closed. Many corridors still take days by wire; an on-chain transfer settles in minutes.
• Weekends and holidays. Blockchains don't keep banking hours. A payment due on a Saturday can arrive on a Saturday.
• Recipients who want dollars. In countries with volatile currencies or limited access to dollar accounts, a USDC payment can be the most useful form of payment you can make.
• Moving money between your own accounts across providers or countries, quickly.

Poor fits:

• Paying anyone who has to convert straight back to local currency at a bad rate. If the off-ramp costs 3%, you've saved nothing.
• Payments that might need reversing. There is no chargeback and no recall.
• Counterparties whose regulators restrict digital assets.
• Domestic payments where a free instant rail already exists. Faster Payments or SEPA Instant are simpler.

The risks, and how to manage them

Operational risk: the expensive mistakes

1. Wrong network. Sending USDC on Polygon to an address the recipient only monitors on Ethereum is the classic error. Confirm network and address together, in writing.
2. Wrong address. Addresses are long strings; a copy-paste error or a malicious clipboard swap sends money to someone else. Use saved, verified payee addresses and check the first and last characters.
3. No test transfer. For any new recipient, send a small amount first and wait for confirmation before sending the rest.
4. Fees in the wrong token. Some networks charge gas in their native token. Providers that manage this for you avoid stuck payments.

Issuer and market risk

A stablecoin is only as good as its reserves and its issuer's ability to redeem. Prices have briefly moved away from $1 in past stress events. Prefer stablecoins whose issuers publish regular, independently examined reserve reports, and don't hold more in a single token than you would leave with a single counterparty.

Compliance

Your provider will screen counterparties and wallet addresses, and may ask about a payment's purpose, as a bank would for a wire. Sanctions apply to on-chain payments exactly as they do to bank transfers. Keep records of each payment: date, amount, counterparty, network, transaction hash, and the rate used at any conversion.

Accounting and tax

Treatment varies by jurisdiction and accounting framework, and the standards are still developing. Ask your accountant how to classify balances and conversions before your stablecoin holdings become material.

Getting in and out: on-ramps and off-ramps

Most companies don't want to hold stablecoins indefinitely; they use them for a leg of a payment. That makes the ramps (converting fiat to stablecoins and back) the part that decides the cost:

• See the rate and fee before you confirm, both ways.
• Prefer ramps that fund from and pay into the same account your clients already pay, so you're not wiring money between providers to reach the ramp.
• Check which networks are supported for both deposit and withdrawal, and that they match your counterparties.

How Rivet handles this

Rivet's ramps convert between your fiat balances and USDC or USDT, on Ethereum, Base, Solana, Polygon, Optimism and Avalanche, with the rate, the fee and the exact amount on screen before you confirm. Funding comes from the same account details your clients pay into. In bulk payouts, one batch can mix local-rail payments with on-chain USDC legs, so a contractor who prefers stablecoins and one who wants a bank transfer are paid in the same run. Digital assets are not deposits, are not legal tender and may lose value, and the service is not available in every jurisdiction.

For the bank-rail side of the same decision, see SWIFT vs SEPA vs ACH vs Faster Payments.