Smart Rails: The Case for a Hybrid Cross-border Payments Model

Published: August 03, 2026

Banco Central do Brasil recently banned fintech and payment providers from settling overseas payments in stablecoins or crypto. Despite this localised development, stablecoin cross border payment use cases could still be a game changer for treasury teams. Jovi Overo, CEO,  ONE.io, makes the argument for balancing regulatory fragmentation with operational efficiency.

Stablecoin transaction volumes continue to rise globally, reflecting the role they’re starting to play alongside established payment systems such as Swift, SEPA and local ACH networks. At the same time, treasury teams are treating stablecoins more like practical tools for cross border payments, particularly when they need to speed up settlement, reduce liquidity friction, or gain  clearer visibility across multicurrency operations

Yet Brazil’s recent move to restrict stablecoin use for cross border payments shows just how quickly regulatory approaches are diverging. Some jurisdictions are building clear frameworks that allow stablecoin based settlement, while others are drawing much firmer lines around how digital assets can be used in international flows.

For treasury teams, that split raises a real concern because, to be honest, the horses have already bolted on this one. Treasury teams are already adapting their infrastructure to reflect the fact that different markets are taking different approaches to cross-border stablecoin use. While much of stablecoin activity still relates to trading, real payment usage is already significant, with recent analysis estimating around $390bn in annual transaction volume is tied directly to payments such as settlement, liquidity management, and remittances.

The question, however, is if more markets follow Brazil’s lead, will businesses end up redesigning liquidity and payment infrastructure around regulatory fragmentation rather than operational efficiency?

Hybrid here to stay

As the regulatory picture becomes more complex, forward-thinking businesses are moving more towards hybrid settlement models that combine fiat currencies such as USD, EUR and GBP with regulated digital assets. Stablecoins are emerging as a core element within broader cross-border workflows.

This settles whether businesses must choose between compliance and efficiency. Pragmatists are doing both by building parallel rails that treat regulatory fragmentation as another operational variable to ensure that efficiency is never sacrificed.

Operationally, treasury teams are deploying stablecoins as a utility tool to optimise working capital and unlock trapped liquidity. In the legacy correspondent banking network, cross-border value moves through a slow game of telephone across multiple intermediaries. This is a friction-heavy process that can take days and relies on settlement windows that commonly slam shut at 4pm. Digital asset rails flip this script by bundling the payment instruction and final settlement into a single real-time transaction.

More importantly, this hybrid approach injects essential operational resilience into a system where traditional networks are actively contracting. As FIs move away from complex international corridors, corporate treasurers must step in and adapt.

Data shows that stablecoin usage is heavily concentrated in emerging markets across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America when adjusted for gross domestic product. This means that businesses are made to rely on digital assets for cross-border payments and liquidity because legacy banking infrastructure remains paralysed by inertia. When a company operates internationally, having multiple settlement routes is fast becoming a basic requirement for business continuity.

A hybrid model solves this. If a specific digital asset rail faces a sudden regulatory roadblock in one jurisdiction, treasurers can instantly reroute liquidity back through traditional banking systems. Transaction visibility isn’t lost and cash flow forecasting doesn’t grind to a halt.

Practice makes perfect

While traditional finance is busy fighting compliance fires and closing corridors, forward-thinking treasury teams are quietly rewriting their playbooks. At the ground level, we can already see a shift in how enterprise teams are working.

• Flipping the switch between rails: Smart teams are building systems that let them flip easily between stablecoin networks and traditional bank rails depending on the recipient of the payment or what the local rules look like. If one route is squeezed by a sudden regulatory change, an alternative option is already live to keep payments moving.
• Balancing cash in real-time: The old way of treasury was waiting for legacy settlement windows to close, but the new way is treasurers actively shifting cash back and forth between fiat accounts and digital asset balances in real-time. And it’s this balancing act that can keep settlement speeds high while keeping the business strictly inside local legal guardrails. It means moving faster while mitigating unnecessary regulatory risk.
• Unifying fragmented infrastructure: Backup payment routes matter for business continuity, but managing a patchwork of banks, vendors, and digital wallets quickly becomes a drag. Treasurers are addressing this by moving towards unified solutions that bring fragmented multirail access into a single workflow, enabling payments to seamlessly route around banking roadblocks.

Ultimately, these shifts show that stablecoins are changing how treasury teams think about their entire backend strategy. Forward-thinking leaders are focusing on building a set-up that is flexible enough to handle whatever the market throws at it next.

Design brief

The bottom line for treasury teams is that Brazil’s decision may be an early signal of how regulators will try to balance innovation with financial oversight in cross-border payments.

The priority for businesses is therefore shifting towards building payment and liquidity models that can operate across multiple jurisdictions without requiring constant redesign as rules differ from one market to another.

As cross-border payment demand continues to grow, the organisations best placed to manage liquidity effectively will be those that can operate across both traditional banking infrastructure and regulated digital assets as part of a hybrid model.