BridgerPay CEO Ran Cohen says stablecoin payments bypass consumer checkout, running through B2B and settlement rails instead. Mastercard's BVNK deal and $33T volume support the infrastructure thesis. July 2026 GENIUS Act rules and AI-agent payments are the next catalysts.
Stablecoin payments are running through global settlement and B2B rails, not consumer checkout pages, BridgerPay co-founder Ran Cohen said in an interview. The claim matters because stablecoin transaction volume crossed $33 trillion in 2025 – a number that has fueled expectations of a consumer payments revolution.
Cohen's view runs against the assumption that the surge will push "pay with USDC" buttons into mainstream e-commerce. Mastercard's $1.8 billion BVNK deal, announced in March, has reframed the race as a contest over invisible plumbing.
"The demand and implementation is infrastructure-led, not checkout-led," Cohen said. He pointed to cross-border settlement, B2B payouts, treasury, and liquidity management as the dominant use cases.
Pain points sharpen in emerging markets, Cohen added, where local holidays and weekends slow SWIFT funding. Stablecoins reduce fees, settle near-instantly, and free up working capital across time zones.
Consumer checkout exists, Cohen said, mostly inside crypto-native businesses, trading platforms, gaming, creator ecosystems, and select cross-border verticals. Part of the reason is dispute resolution. Cards work because consumers understand chargebacks, refunds, and credit protections that stablecoins do not yet offer in any standardised form.
For Mastercard (MA), the strategy hinges on invisible plumbing, not checkout buttons – a transition that carries its own execution risk. (Alpha Score 59/100, label Moderate, sector Financials.)
If Cohen is correct, the firms betting on consumer stablecoin checkout face a longer timeline and lower near-term volume. Exposed groups include:
No major stablecoin issuer has disclosed the split between B2B and consumer checkout flows. That lack of transparency is itself a risk for investors making sector bets.
The GENIUS Act rollout is reshaping merchant conversations. The Treasury, OCC, and FDIC have all issued rulemaking in early 2026, with final guidelines expected by July. Cohen said the clarity is helping. Operational complexity remains around state versus federal regimes, foreign issuers, and cross-border treatment of reserves.
"No single provider is perfect, not in cards, not in APMs, and not in stablecoins," Cohen said. He said merchants want optionality across Circle, Tether, PayPal, banks, and regional providers as the stack matures.
The table shows that PYUSD is most vulnerable if consumer checkout stalls. USDC and Mastercard have B2B hedges.
Cohen flagged AI-agent payments as the next structural shift. Coinbase's x402 protocol has processed more than 165 million agent transactions and roughly $50 million in cumulative volume.
"Machine-initiated payments can occur 24/7, be high-frequency, low-value, usage-based, and API-driven," Cohen said. He said those economics do not fit card rails and will default to stablecoin settlement governed by programmable rules. The orchestration layer, in his view, must evolve from routing a checkout payment to governing economic activity between humans, agents, merchants, and rails.
Practical rule: If AI agents generate the majority of stablecoin payments by 2027, checkout is irrelevant. The infrastructure thesis wins by default.
Confirmation:
Weakening:
Cohen does not expect stablecoins to become the default consumer checkout method within 18 months. He does expect growth across settlement, treasury, B2B payouts, cross-border corridors, marketplaces, and agentic commerce. Stablecoins, he said, are an addition to the payment stack, not a replacement for it.
Bottom line for traders: stablecoin payments are infrastructure-first. Consumer checkout is a secondary bet with a longer timeline and higher execution risk. Investors should watch July 2026 regulatory finalisation, AI-agent volume trends, and any shift in how merchants position stablecoins – behind the checkout or on it.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.