In 2025, USDT settlement volume between businesses crossed traditional correspondent-bank wire volume in three regions: LATAM, MENA, and Southeast Asia. The reasons are not crypto-ideological — they are operational.
Settlement time
A SWIFT wire from Mexico to UAE takes 2-4 business days, with two intermediary banks taking $25-60 each. The same value on USDT (TRC-20) settles in under 30 seconds for under $1.
Working capital
B2B suppliers no longer need to pre-fund destination accounts to bridge settlement delays. Cash sits productive until the moment of payment, then arrives final.
Compliance trajectory
Major issuers (Tether, Circle) now publish monthly attestations and freeze illicit addresses on request from law enforcement — making USDT/USDC more legible to compliance teams than many small-bank corridors.
We expect stablecoin B2B volume to overtake correspondent banking globally by 2027. Read the methodology in our 2025 settlement report.
