Kofi Ndaikate has spent years at the forefront of the digital finance revolution, witnessing the slow but steady erosion of the walls between traditional fiat systems and the burgeoning world of decentralized assets. As a seasoned expert in fintech infrastructure and blockchain policy, he has become a go-to voice for understanding how global liquidity is being reshaped by programmable money. Today, we dive into the recent collaboration between Thredd and Velocity, a partnership that signals a major shift in how international card issuers and B2B platforms handle settlement. This discussion explores the integration of stablecoin rails into existing payment stacks, the reduction of capital requirements for global treasury operations, and the technical simplification that allows over 100 fintech firms to access on-chain workflows through a single, unified API.
How do you facilitate the movement between fiat currencies and stablecoins for international payouts within the current financial ecosystem?
By integrating Velocity’s specialized treasury and settlement infrastructure directly into the Thredd platform, we create a seamless bridge where fiat and digital assets coexist without friction. Clients are now able to transition between local fiat currencies and supported stablecoins, choosing to transfer value either on-chain or through linked fiat rails to fund accounts or complete settlements. This process is managed through a sophisticated orchestration layer that handles the conversion and liquidity services behind the scenes, allowing for real-time movement across a global network. For an AI-first platform like Thredd, which already processes billions of transactions annually, this means providing a programmable way for businesses to manage money across more than 50 countries. It’s about ensuring that the movement of value is as fast as the data driving the transaction, utilizing programmable wallets to ensure funds are exactly where they need to be at the moment of payout.
What are the primary strategic advantages for international card programs when they shift away from traditional correspondent banking networks toward stablecoin-based settlement?
The shift toward stablecoin rails is fundamentally an exercise in capital efficiency and the liberation of trapped liquidity. Traditionally, international card issuers have been forced to hold significant capital across multiple markets to satisfy settlement obligations, which often leads to restrictive prefunding and collateral requirements. By utilizing stablecoin infrastructure, these issuers can bypass the sluggishness of correspondent banking networks, allowing funds to move across borders and currencies with far greater agility. This reduces the financial weight of maintaining idle balances in various jurisdictions, as the programmable nature of the assets allows for “just-in-time” settlement. For global treasury operations, this means a significantly lower barrier to entry for expanding into new markets, as the reliance on fragmented local banking systems is greatly diminished.
In terms of technical implementation, how can companies adopt these blockchain-based capabilities without completely overhauling their existing payment architecture?
One of the most significant breakthroughs of this partnership is that it provides a single commercial and technical access point for holding, moving, and spending value. Thredd has combined Velocity’s stablecoin infrastructure with its existing ledger, card controls, and fraud tools, all accessible through the same API that their clients already rely on. This means that more than 100 fintech firms and digital banks can now access stablecoin-backed card programs without the need to develop their own complex on-chain workflows or specialized blockchain expertise. The goal is to provide flexibility while maintaining the rigorous operational support and reconciliation standards that sophisticated card programs expect. It allows businesses to treat stablecoins not as a separate, alien product, but as a piece of embedded infrastructure that fits perfectly within the systems they are already using for their day-to-day operations.
With major institutions like Visa, Capital One, and Circle backing the infrastructure behind these movements, what does this tell us about the institutional maturity of stablecoins?
The involvement of such heavy hitters as Visa and Capital One indicates that stablecoins have officially transitioned from speculative assets to essential components of the global payments infrastructure. It reflects a growing consensus among global CFOs and treasurers that the real opportunity lies in the programmability of the money movement rather than the underlying token itself. We are seeing these tools being used for practical B2B and B2B2B use cases, including global treasury operations and complex settlement layers that require high levels of automation. The focus has shifted toward regulatory readiness and product stability, ensuring that these digital rails can support the heavy volume of the global financial market. This institutional backing provides the necessary trust for digital banks and embedded finance providers to fully integrate these solutions into their core offerings.
What is your forecast for the evolution of B2B international payments over the next few years?
From 2026 to 2028, I expect a total convergence where the technical distinction between “crypto” and “traditional” payments effectively vanishes for the end-user. We will see the majority of mid-market B2B cross-border transfers migrate to stablecoin rails because the cost savings from reduced prefunding requirements will become an undeniable competitive advantage. AI-first processing platforms will likely begin automating the selection of settlement rails in real-time, choosing the most cost-effective path between fiat and on-chain options based on current liquidity and regulatory conditions. Ultimately, the standard for global finance will become a unified, programmable ledger system that prioritizes transparency and instant settlement, making the multi-day delays of the past a distant memory. By the end of this decade, the infrastructure we are building today will be the invisible backbone of every major global transaction.
