Stablecoin issuers and fintech-linked firms are launching payment-focused blockchains to capture more of the settlement infrastructure for US dollar stablecoin transfers, according to analysis from Delphi Digital. Rather than building general-purpose layer-1 networks for token issuance and smart contracts, new chains are being designed specifically for institutional payment flows and high-throughput stablecoin settlement.
Notable projects include Tether-backed Plasma, a public L1 optimized for cross-border USDT transactions that launched on mainnet on Sept. 25, 2025 after a $24 million raise in February. A month later Circle released a public testnet for Arc, which it describes as an open L1 purpose-built for stablecoin finance. Delphi Digital says these moves illustrate a structural shift toward payment-focused networks as firms compete to control settlement rails — one of crypto’s clearest real-world use cases.
Owning those rails matters strategically, Ran Goldi, senior vice president of payments and network at custody platform Fireblocks, told Cointelegraph. Instead of relying on external networks and paying fees to ecosystems like Ethereum, companies are looking to capture more value by building or controlling the settlement layer. For payment companies, that also avoids being “taxed” for stablecoin mint-and-burn operations.
Fintechs are entering the race. Tempo said its mainnet is live and markets itself as a merchant-focused settlement layer for high-throughput stablecoin transactions; the project is incubated by Paradigm and Stripe. Stripe’s prior acquisitions — the Bridge stablecoin infrastructure startup in October 2024 for $1.1 billion, wallet infrastructure provider Privy in June 2025, and billing platform Metronome in January 2026 — position it to control issuance, wallets and billing around stablecoin payments alongside settlement infrastructure, Delphi Digital noted.
Industry figures say control of payment rails creates a new “revenue layer.” Alvin Kan, chief operating officer at Bitget Wallet, said that as protocol-level settlement costs decline, value capture shifts to the orchestration layer around the rail: compliance, FX conversion, wallet infrastructure, on- and off-ramps, local payout connectivity and merchant integration. Entities that control end-to-end payment workflows can collect fees across these touchpoints.
Irina Chuchkina, chief growth officer of Wallet in Telegram, described stablecoin payment rails as a likely defining revenue driver of the cycle, likening the opportunity to how Visa and Mastercard became indispensable by owning pipes rather than issuing currency. She added that settlement rails interoperable with agentic artificial intelligence could capture a disproportionate share of value flowing through these networks.
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