Stablecoins have their ‘permission slip.’ Now comes the hard part.
Executives from MoonPay, Ripple and Paxos said at Consensus Miami 2026 that regulation has accelerated stablecoin adoption, but infrastructure, privacy and distribution remain major hurdles.
What to know:
- MoonPay’s Richard Harrison said the GENIUS Act gave firms a “permission slip” to enter stablecoins.
- Ripple’s Jack McDonald said institutional adoption depends on regulation, trusted partners and clear utility beyond market cap.
- Paxos’ Brent Perrault said privacy and infrastructure must improve before stablecoins can fully support mainstream payments.
“What GENIUS brought us was clarity,” Harrison said. “It was like a permission slip for companies to enter into stablecoins.”
Harrison said stablecoins are also a natural evolution of payments, where speed and convenience have long been limited by legacy rails. Cross-border transfers can still take days and remittances can carry steep fees, he said, while stablecoins allow near-instant, one-to-one value transfer.
Still, Harrison said stablecoins represent only a small share of global remittances today and may reach roughly 10% within five years. Business-to-business payments are already a clear use case, he said, but consumer adoption remains harder.
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president of stablecoins, said institutional customers require regulated products, strong counterparties and trusted custody arrangements before moving meaningful volume on chain.
