How Businesses Can Leverage Stablecoins to Transform Expenses into Revenue Streams

The $300 billion stablecoin market, initially designed for faster global transactions, is now being reevaluated by companies for its potential uses. This shift is driving a new wave of adoption, says Chunda McCain, co-founder of Paxos Labs, as the industry transitions from building basic infrastructure to focusing on practical business applications. In a recent interview with CoinDesk, McCain noted that the initial step of obtaining a stablecoin has given way to a new question: what's next? Paxos Labs, incubated under Paxos, the firm behind popular stablecoins like PayPal's PYUSD and the Global Dollar (USDG), has raised $12 million in strategic funding to develop a 'financial utility stack' that enables companies to integrate digital assets into products through a single integration. The newly launched Amplify Suite offers three primary tools: Earn, for generating yield on digital assets; Borrow, for lending against them; and Mint, for supporting branded stablecoin issuance. This allows firms to integrate tokens into their business and add capabilities over time. For years, enterprise crypto adoption has focused on 'first-touch' capabilities like trading, custody, or issuing a stablecoin, which, according to McCain, have rarely generated returns on their own. The true opportunity lies in how these assets are utilized. A clear example is payments, where merchants typically incur 2% to 3% in fees, while stablecoin rails can reduce these costs and even generate yield on on-chain balances. 'You turn what has always been a cost into revenue,' McCain explained. Novel use cases emerge at the intersection of payments and credit, where payment providers can underwrite loans based on real-time merchant performance, allowing merchants to access financing while earning yield on incoming payments and settling instantly across borders. Although these models are still in their early stages, the foundational elements are starting to come together. Not every company needs its own stablecoin to capture these benefits. While some companies, like PayPal, have launched branded tokens to control payments and margins, issuing one requires significant investment in liquidity, compliance, and distribution. 'If you just need the economics, you don’t need to build your own,' McCain said. Many firms can instead integrate existing stablecoins and still benefit from lower costs and added yield. This shift may lack the hype surrounding big firms launching their own tokens, but it has a tangible impact on how businesses operate. Stablecoins are starting to redefine margins, unlock credit, and change how money moves globally, particularly where traditional systems are costly or slow. 'It might sound boring, but this is the math,' McCain said.