BlockRiver Blog | Thunes Connects Stablecoins to 11,500 Banks Through Existing Swift: EMI Infrastructure Decisions Just Got Simpler

The strategic calculus around digital asset settlement just shifted. On March 17, Thunes announced that any of the 11,500 institutions on the Swift network can now send payments to more than 500 million stablecoin wallets worldwide without building new infrastructure or obtaining crypto custody licenses. The Singapore-based payments network is routing stablecoin payouts through existing Swift connectivity, the same messaging layer banks and financial institutions already use for correspondent banking.

This matters because the primary objection EMIs have raised against stablecoin settlement, that it requires becoming a licensed crypto custodian or rebuilding payment rails, no longer holds. Thunes is handling the fiat-to-stablecoin conversion through its SmartX Treasury System and managing compliance through its Fortress Compliance Platform. The sending institution initiates a standard Swift message; the recipient receives USDC or USDT in their wallet. The complexity sits with Thunes, not with the EMI.

The announcement arrives amid an accelerating consolidation of stablecoin infrastructure by major payment networks. Yesterday, Mastercard confirmed its $1.8 billion acquisition of BVNK, a London-based stablecoin infrastructure firm. The deal, Mastercard's largest digital asset acquisition, will connect on-chain stablecoin rails to its existing network for cross-border remittances, business payments, and payouts. Jorn Lambert, Mastercard's chief product officer, framed the rationale directly: building equivalent capability internally "would require quite a bit of time," while acquisition allows Mastercard to "get to market much faster."

The same day, PayPal expanded access to its PYUSD stablecoin to 70 markets worldwide, up from just the US and UK. The expansion targets regions with high remittance costs and currency volatility, precisely the corridors where stablecoin rails offer the clearest settlement advantages over traditional methods.

These moves are not isolated experiments. Stripe completed its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge in February 2025, explicitly to build stablecoin infrastructure into its cross-border payments stack. The regulatory environment has shifted to accommodate this convergence: in the US, the GENIUS Act signed into law in July 2025 established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, removing the securities law ambiguity that previously complicated institutional adoption. In Europe, MiCA's stablecoin provisions have been enforceable since June 2024, providing a harmonized licensing regime across 27 member states.

The market data reflects this mainstreaming. Stablecoin transaction volumes reached $33 trillion in 2025, a 72% increase from the prior year. Market capitalization crossed $300 billion. More significantly, the composition of that activity has shifted, stablecoins are now integrated into operational infrastructure at Visa, Stripe, and Shopify, not just held as trading collateral on crypto exchanges.

For EMIs competing for institutional clients and cross-border remittance flows, this changes the competitive math. The fiat-only ceiling that previously protected market position is now a constraint. Competitors offering hybrid fiat-stablecoin settlement can serve institutional clients who want optionality, the ability to settle in whatever form suits the recipient, whether that's a bank account, mobile wallet, or stablecoin wallet. Every month an EMI delays addressing this capability gap, institutional clients with cross-border settlement needs have more reasons to look elsewhere.

The structural shift is that stablecoin rails are no longer additive infrastructure requiring specialized licenses and separate compliance frameworks. They are becoming another destination type within existing payment networks, accessible through the same Swift messages, API calls, and integration patterns EMIs already support. Thunes has made this explicit by embedding stablecoin payouts alongside its existing Pay-to-Bank and Pay-to-Wallet solutions, all accessible through the same connectivity.

This does not mean stablecoin settlement is risk-free or that every EMI should move immediately. Regulatory clarity varies by jurisdiction. Liquidity management for fiat-to-stablecoin conversion requires operational attention. Client demand in specific corridors may not yet justify integration costs. But the strategic question has changed. The relevant evaluation is no longer whether stablecoin capability requires a multi-year transformation program with custody licenses and blockchain engineering talent. It is whether the vendor integration cost and ongoing operational overhead are justified by client retention and competitive positioning.

Mastercard is paying $1.8 billion to answer that question for itself. Stripe paid $1.1 billion. PayPal has invested substantially in PYUSD's 70-market rollout. These are not speculative bets on future utility, they are infrastructure investments predicated on current institutional demand that these firms see in their own payment flows.

The Thunes announcement crystallizes the choice facing EMI payment infrastructure leaders. Stablecoin settlement is available now, through existing correspondent banking connections, without custody transformation. The delay that once seemed prudent, waiting for regulatory clarity, for client demand to materialize, for the technology to mature, increasingly looks like competitive drift. The question is no longer whether to build the capability, but how quickly a vendor integration can be executed and what it costs to wait.