Key Points from Money20/20 USA 2024 Event
The payments industry is increasingly focusing on cross-border transactions, as evidenced by the presence of major providers like Mastercard Move, Thunes, Dandelion, and Convera, and discussions about interoperability, instant payments, working capital, blockchain, and inclusion.
Pricing Opportunities for Cross-Border Payments
Current pricing opportunities for cross-border payments primarily center on leveraging emerging technologies such as tokenized bank liabilities, stablecoins, and shared ledgers. These innovations aim to reduce costs and accelerate transaction times.
Tokenization and shared ledgers are positioned to lower cross-border transaction costs by about 12.5%, potentially saving businesses over $50 billion by 2030. These innovations enable 24/7 real-time FX settlement and faster payment completions measured in minutes or seconds rather than days, addressing FX risks, settlement delays, and time zone challenges.
Stablecoins are increasingly integrated by industry leaders like Visa, which processed $225 million in cross-border transactions through its Visa Tokenized Assets Program (VTAP) in 2025. Stablecoins reduce reliance on traditional intermediaries, lower conversion costs, and speed up settlements especially in emerging markets with limited banking infrastructure. The stablecoin market itself reached $250 billion in 2025, indicating strong growth and adoption potential.
Regional infrastructure developments also create pricing opportunities by improving interoperability and settlement efficiency. North America benefits from real-time payment rails such as FedNow, which lays groundwork for future cross-border linkage. Asia-Pacific leads growth with mobile wallets (e.g., Alipay, GrabPay) and real-time payment schemes like India’s UPI and Singapore’s PayNow, fostering fast, low-cost cross-border consumer payments. Europe advances by harmonizing mechanisms under PSD3 and adopting SEPA Instant Credit Transfers and ISO 20022 standards, which enhance straight-through processing and reduce prices through faster, more reliable cross-border euro payments.
Despite these advances, industry-wide universal frameworks and standards remain a barrier to full adoption, inhibiting wider cost reductions and efficiency gains. Efforts like Project Guardian aim to develop such frameworks to enable digital economy businesses—big and small—to benefit fully from these technologies.
Crypto Makes a Comeback
Crypto is making a comeback in the industry, with a focus on the use of stablecoins for settlement and treasury solutions. Ripple and Stripe have made high-profile stablecoin announcements recently, and several payment providers discussed their use and integration of stablecoins.
Generative AI was a prominent theme at Money20/20 USA 2024, appearing frequently in marketing materials and discussions, particularly among companies providing fraud, compliance, and marketing solutions.
Key Topics in Cross-Border Payments
Interoperability, instant payments, working capital, blockchain, and inclusion are key topics in the discussion of cross-border payments.
Notable Banks at the Conference
While many banks attended the conference, fewer had booths this year, with notable exceptions being Standard Chartered and Silicon Valley Bank. Ripple and Stellar had large, attention-grabbing booths at the conference.
[1] Cross-border payments: the new frontier in the payments industry. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.kpmg.com/us/en/issuesandinsights/articlespublications/cross-border-payments-the-new-frontier-in-the-payments-industry.pdf
[2] The future of cross-border payments: opportunities and challenges. (2024). Retrieved from https://www.pwc.com/us/en/financial-services/assets/pdfs/future-of-cross-border-payments.pdf
[3] The state of stablecoins 2025. (2025). Retrieved from https://www.coinbase.com/research/uploads/pdf/the-state-of-stablecoins-2025.pdf
- In the debate on cross-border payments, technology plays a significant role, as indicated by the increasing usage of tokenized bank liabilities, stablecoins, and shared ledgers aimed at reducing costs and speeding up transactions.
- Education and self-development in the finance industry is underscored by the focus on using stablecoins for settlement and treasury solutions, as evidenced by the announcements made by Ripple and Stripe.
- The lifestyle sector is intricately linked with the payments industry, as advancements in cross-border payments, such as interoperability, instant payments, and inclusion, can influence entertainment and general news by improving global access and reducing transaction costs.
