Stablecoin liquidity layer launched in Asia

Stables and Mansa said on April 15 they launched a liquidity layer for fiat-to-USDt payment routes across Asia. (markets.businessinsider.com) Stables describes itself as an application programming interface, or API, platform for moving money, with local and SWIFT transfers, virtual accounts, and real-time conversion from local currencies into USDt. Its website says the network supports 30-plus local rails and money movement in 150-plus countries. (stables.money) Mansa said it provides settlement liquidity for cross-border payments and over-the-counter transactions, and the company said this week it has processed $394 million across more than 40 currency corridors since its August 2024 launch. (markets.businessinsider.com) A liquidity layer is the cash and token inventory that lets a payment company complete a conversion without waiting for each local bank transfer to clear. In this case, the companies said Mansa will sit underneath Stables’ fiat-to-USDt corridors so fintechs and developers can settle transactions instantly. (thepaypers.com) The pitch is aimed at a regional bottleneck: Asia accounts for about 60% of global stablecoin payment flows, according to the companies, but local banking access is still patchy. Stables said its network already handles more than $1.5 billion in annualized payment volume. (financefeeds.com, cryptopolitan.com) The product is built around USDt, the dollar-pegged token issued by Tether, rather than around local bank balances held in every market. Stables says businesses can use one API to collect local currency, convert it to USDt, and move funds without stitching together separate banking providers country by country. (stables.money, markets.businessinsider.com) That approach comes as payment firms try to cut prefunding, the practice of parking cash in advance in multiple countries to keep transfers moving. Mansa says its products are designed to reduce prefunding costs and enable instant settlement for remittance and card-processing providers. (mansafinance.co, markets.businessinsider.com) Mansa has also been expanding its own balance sheet for that role. The company said this month it closed a $10 million funding round led by Tether to support liquidity for payment companies in emerging and mature markets. (mansafinance.co) The immediate test is whether fintechs in Asia will use the new routing layer instead of relying on fragmented local bank relationships and manual treasury operations. For Stables and Mansa, the bet is that faster access to USDt liquidity will make cross-border payments easier to scale across the region. (thepaypers.com, markets.businessinsider.com)