Stablecoins, Tokenised Deposits and the Rails Bridging SME Cross-Border Payments

Quick Summary

Pratik Khowala, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard, argues SMEs do not care about the rails underneath their payments, only that money moves with speed, transparency, cost and trust. He sees stablecoins as a useful enabler for weekend and after-hours settlement, and positions Mastercard Move as the bridge that connects otherwise isolated regional payment ecosystems.

How much of SME cross-border will run on stablecoins and tokenised deposits?

Khowala reframes the premise: SMEs "don't care about rails." They want money moved with speed, transparency and cost, on a foundation of trust. He sees instant payment interlinking, stablecoins and tokenised deposits as enablers toward that goal, not the goal itself.

Where do stablecoins add the most value?

Stablecoins can help with faster settlement specifically when fiat rails cannot: on weekends, when banks are closed, stablecoins let money move near real-time, 24 by 7.

What role does Mastercard Move play across these different rails?

Regional payment ecosystems, Khowala says, work well within their own borders, citing ASEAN and Europe as examples, but they need a way to interconnect. That is where Mastercard Move becomes the bridge, bringing interoperability across otherwise siloed networks and turning something local into something global.

FF NEWS TAKE:

Khowala's "SMEs don't care about rails" line is a useful corrective in a space prone to rails-first hype: stablecoins and tokenised deposits only matter if they make speed, cost and trust better, not because they are new. Framing Mastercard Move as the connective layer between regional networks, rather than a rail itself, is a deliberate positioning move as instant payment schemes proliferate worldwide.