How Businesses Can Convert Expenses into Revenue with Stablecoins, According to Paxos Labs Co-Founder

The $300 billion stablecoin market has evolved beyond its initial purpose of facilitating faster global transactions, with companies now exploring ways to utilize them. This shift is driving a new wave of adoption, according to Paxos Labs co-founder Chunda McCain, who believes the industry is transitioning from basic infrastructure to practical business applications. In a recent interview with CoinDesk, McCain stated, 'The initial step was obtaining a stablecoin, and now the question is: what's next?' Paxos Labs, a subsidiary of Paxos, the digital asset firm behind popular stablecoins such as PayPal's PYUSD and the Global Dollar (USDG), has secured $12 million in strategic funding to develop a 'financial utility stack' that enables companies to integrate digital assets into their products through a single integration. The newly launched Amplify Suite offers three primary tools: Earn, which provides yield on digital assets; Borrow, which facilitates lending against them; and Mint, which supports the creation of branded stablecoins. 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 have not generated significant returns on their own, according to McCain. However, the opportunity lies in how these assets are utilized. Payments are a prime example, as merchants typically incur 2% to 3% in fees, while stablecoin-based payments can reduce these costs and even generate yield on balances held on the blockchain. This enables companies to 'turn what has always been a cost into revenue,' McCain said. Some innovative use cases sit at the intersection of payments and credit. Payment providers already track merchant revenues and cash flow, positioning them to underwrite loans, McCain argued. This could allow merchants to access financing based on real-time performance, earn yield on incoming payments, and settle transactions instantly across borders. Although these models are still in their early stages, the building blocks are starting to come together, he said. 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 reshape margins, unlock credit, and change how money moves globally, especially where traditional systems are costly or slow. 'It might sound boring, but this is the math,' McCain said.