Stablecoins face their biggest hurdle in international trade not on the technical side, but in the lack of clear and consistent regulation, according to Juan Marchetti, director of the Trade in Services and Investment Division at the World Trade Organization. Speaking in Geneva at the launch of a WTO research report on stablecoins and trade, Marchetti said fragmented rules remain the main barrier to broader adoption.
Citing an October 2025 report from the Financial Stability Board, he said only 11 of 28 surveyed jurisdictions had completed stablecoin regulatory frameworks, or roughly 39%. The WTO report also said stablecoins currently account for just 3% of total global international payments.
At the same time, the report pointed to fast growth in cross-border use. Stablecoin cross-border payment volume rose 35-fold between 2020 and mid-2024. The WTO said the technology could help address five long-standing trade finance pain points: high costs, slow processing, limited access, weak transparency and foreign exchange conversion.
Stablecoins are being held back in international trade by regulatory gaps and fragmented rules rather than technical limits, according to Cointelegraph, citing Juan Marchetti, director of the Trade in Services and Investment Division at the World Trade Organization.
Marchetti made the remarks in Geneva while attending the launch of a WTO research report on stablecoins and trade. He said the main obstacle to wider use of stablecoins in global trade is not the technology itself, but the absence of complete regulatory frameworks across jurisdictions.
He cited an October 2025 report from the Financial Stability Board, which found that only 11 of 28 surveyed jurisdictions had finalized stablecoin regulatory frameworks. That works out to about 39%.
The WTO report said stablecoins currently make up 3% of total global international payments. Even so, cross-border stablecoin payment volume grew 35-fold from 2020 to mid-2024.
The report also said stablecoins could ease five major pain points in trade finance: high costs, slow speeds, limited access, weak transparency and foreign exchange conversion.
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