Money20/20 Vegas 2026: Velocity's Eric Queathem on Upgrading Payment Infrastructure

Quick Summary

The global payments ecosystem is often oversimplified, yet it remains a complex web of issuers, networks, acquirers, and intermediaries. Eric Queathem of Velocity explains at Money20/20 Vegas 2026 how his company is using stablecoins to upgrade the back end of these legacy systems, providing more efficient capital flow for low-margin industries.

Why does the payments ecosystem need an upgrade?

According to Eric Queathem, the industry has relied on legacy banking infrastructure for decades. The movement of money involves multiple hops: originating from an issuer, moving to a network, then to an acquirer or another intermediary before finally reaching the merchant. This process is often inefficient. For the first time in thirty years, there is a genuine opportunity to upgrade these rails. Velocity was founded with the core focus of changing the experience for constituents across this value chain by using stablecoins to make capital flow more effectively.

How is Velocity helping the aviation sector?

Airlines operate as very low-margin businesses where treasury and payment optimisations can significantly impact the bottom line. Eric Queathem highlights a partnership with Continuum, a leader in multi-currency pricing for major airlines, to improve these outcomes. The collaboration focuses on:

• Enabling faster settlement of funds.
• Creating tighter FX spreads for the business.
• Providing a better consumer experience by allowing payments in a preferred currency while ensuring the airline receives cash quickly.

Will businesses need to understand blockchain technology to use these tools?

While there is currently significant attention on the mechanics of stablecoins and networks, Eric Queathem believes this technology will eventually disappear into the background. Most financial institutions and organisations do not want to develop internal expertise on the specific details of different networks or coins. Instead, they seek a partner that can provide the desired outcome through a single API. Velocity aims to obfuscate the underlying complexity, allowing businesses to benefit from the security and economics of the technology without needing to manage the technical specifics themselves.

What is the growth trajectory for Velocity?

Following a successful period of capital raising, Velocity is accelerating its global expansion. The company is focused on becoming the most licensed infrastructure provider in the world, offering enterprise-grade capabilities across various geographies. Currently supporting 12 currencies, the platform aims to increase this to 20 by the end of the year. The ultimate goal is to find new use cases where stablecoin infrastructure can transform how real-world businesses hold value and move money, creating better experiences for treasurers and CFOs.

FF NEWS TAKE:

The move to treat stablecoins as invisible infrastructure rather than a novel asset class marks a significant shift in the fintech narrative. By focusing on the plumbing of payments, specifically for high-volume, low-margin sectors like aviation, Velocity is demonstrating that the true value of blockchain lies in its ability to solve the inefficiencies of 30-year-old banking rails. As the company expands its currency support and licensing, the emphasis on a single API to hide technical complexity will likely be the key to mass enterprise adoption.