A $309 Billion Bet Fuels 24/7 Dollar Banking Without Borders
“Stablecoins are one set of primitives on top of which you can build and then serve people in any region so it takes your audience from just being in one country to the whole world”.
Photographer: Lam Yik/BloombergThree years ago Mustafa Ismael launched Karcsham Co., a Kenya-based company that resells Starlink devices and manages subscriptions for thousands of customers across a dozen African and Latin American countries. At first he used his local bank card to pay the monthly bills. But the 5% foreign exchange fees soon began eating into his profits.
Then came Rizon, a Delaware-based neobank, that lets users pay through stablecoins, cryptocurrencies typically pegged to the US dollar. Now, with a few taps on his phone, Ismael settles his bills and transfers funds using Tether Holdings SA’s USDT and Circle Internet Group Inc.’s USDC. He pays no forex fees and can make payments 24/7.