SoFi tie-up shows stablecoins can provide alternative blockchain settlement rail

SoFi now settles its Mastercard transactions in its own stablecoin, and Visa’s settlement pilot was running at a US$7 billion annualised rate by April. Gravity Team Co-Founder and CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis told Cointelegraph he wouldn’t call it disintermediation at this stage, as banks and card networks still manage the transaction. As for businesses, he said, “They’ll care that settlement is available when they need it and that the money arrives.”