51 Insights – What Matters in Digital Assets How Stablecoins Are Eating Payments, with Chris Harmse, Co-founder & CBO of BVNK
Hi, it’s Marc. ✌️
“Money should travel at the speed of the internet. Stablecoins make that possible.”
— Chris Harmse, Co-founder & CBO of BVNK
BVNK, a leading stablecoin payment infrastructure provider, just hit $20 billion in annual transaction volume with 320 employees.
In May, they partnered with Worldpay, which processes $2.3 trillion annually for 1M+ merchants, to enable stablecoin payouts across 180+ countries.
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🎧 Jump to the best parts
* (08:28) → The new financial stack: Chris outlines the six core ‘payment primitives’ (send, receive, store, earn, spend, comply) driving adoption and explains how companies can now build entire neobanks on top of stablecoin rails, reaching 200 markets instantly.
* (15:13) → The three catalysts behind the 2025 Stablecoin summer: Why did the market explode this year? Chris pinpoints the trifecta of regulatory clarity, massive payment volumes, and a critical mass of global users that created the perfect storm for enterprise adoption.
* (20:41) → Competing with giants like Stripe: As big players enter, Chris explains why fragmentation creates opportunity and how BVNK’s value proposition is to abstract away all complexity, making blockchain payments as seamless as using a credit card.
* (29:15) → Regulation, regions, and the next 3 years: Why LatAm, Africa, and Southeast Asia are leading adoption from the bottom up, and why regulatory clarity has turned from headwind to tailwind for global enterprises.
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We sat down with Chris Harmse, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at BVNK, to explore the surge in demand for stablecoins for payments and their transformative impact on global finance.
Why it’s important: Stablecoins have crossed $300B in supply, putting them on par with some of the largest U.S. retail money market funds and regional banks. Initiatives like Stripe’s Open Issuance, BVNK’s WorldPay partnership and Circle’s Payment Network CPN show that money movement on blockchains is hitting mainstream.
BVNK: Founded in 2021, BVNK is a London-based fintech company that provides a full-stack stablecoin operating system for businesses, enabling them to integrate stablecoin payments and treasury solutions into their operations. It has processed $20B+ in transactions and is valued at $750M, backed by top investors and enterprise partnerships across 180+ countries.
Where to find Chris Harmse:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisharmse/
X: https://x.com/chrisharmse89
Website: https://bvnk.com/about-us
🎙️ In our conversation, we discussed:
* Why traditional payment rails are broken and fragmented
* The evolution of stablecoins from niche to enterprise-scale
* Which use cases (payouts, commerce, treasury) are scaling fastest
* How BVNK differentiates in an increasingly crowded market
* Why regulatory clarity flipped the narrative in 2025
* The WorldPay partnership and its network effects
* How emerging markets are driving adoption from the bottom up
* Where value will accrue across the payments stack (issuers vs. distributors vs. L1s)
* Navigating the complexities of KYC and compliance in a blockchain world
* Future outlook: Regulation and enterprise adoption
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My biggest takeaways from this conversation:
1. Enterprise adoption has matured
1. Enterprise adoption has matured—the conversation shifted from education to execution
The pilot phase is over. Chris argues that enterprises no longer need stablecoin 101 - they’re architecting specific use cases. The traditional financial system, with fragmented domestic schemes and SWIFT-dependent cross-border rails, can’t compete with instant, 24/7, low-cost blockchain infrastructure.
“Two to three years ago, people were thinking about pilots. That has shifted to today where they’re going live and they’re doing billions and billions of dollars of TPV.”