Stablecoin payments are fast, but local-currency settlement remains a bottleneck: Gravity Team CEO

Stablecoins can cross borders within seconds, but converting them into spendable local currency remains a slower and more fragmented process, Gravity Team CEO Mārtiņš Beņķītis told crypto.news as the firm launched its institutional OTC desk. Summary Stablecoin transfers do not remove the need for local liquidity, banking access, and payout infrastructure. Gravity Team says traditional settlement can tie up 20% to 40% of monthly payment flows. Stripe and Mastercard have expanded their stablecoin infrastructure through major acquisitions. Gravity Team launched an OTC desk offering T+0 fiat settlement in more than 20 currencies. Stablecoin payments depend on two types of liquidity Mārtiņš Beņķītis, co-founder and CEO of emerging-markets liquidity provider Gravity Team, told crypto.news that stablecoin infrastructure has become a liquidity issue because the same tokens perform different jobs across trading and payments. Market makers hold stablecoins to quote buy and sell prices, move inventory between exchanges, and respond to changes in trading activity. Payment companies, by contrast, use stablecoins to fund a conversion before releasing local currency to the recipient. Trading inve...