The World Trade Organization released its "Stablecoins and Global Trade" report on Monday in Geneva, saying stablecoins currently account for just 3% of international trade settlement. The report says the biggest brake on adoption is not a technical shortfall, but fragmented regulation across countries.
WTO says the bottleneck is regulation, not technology
Juan Marchetti, director of the WTO's Division on Trade in Services and Investment, said during the report launch: "The bottleneck is not in technology, but in regulation, in the lack of establishing a regulatory framework."
Citing findings from a Financial Stability Board report dated October 2025, the WTO said the FSB surveyed 28 jurisdictions and found that only 11, or 39%, had completed stablecoin regulatory frameworks. That leaves 61% of surveyed jurisdictions without finalized legislation, creating uncertainty for cross-border stablecoin settlement.
The report also said that even with regulation still incomplete, stablecoin use in cross-border payments grew 35-fold between 2020 and mid-2024. In the WTO's reading, demand is already there, while the regulatory side is lagging behind.
Five trade pain points the report says stablecoins could address
The WTO listed five areas where stablecoins could help in cross-border trade:
- High costs: traditional wire transfers often pass through multiple correspondent banks, with fees reaching 5% to 8%.
- Slow processing: settlement through the SWIFT system can take 2 to 5 business days.
- Limited access: small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging markets often struggle to obtain cross-border banking services.
- Low transparency: funds can become untraceable for days during the transfer chain, leaving both senders and recipients without clear visibility.
- Foreign-exchange restrictions: strict exchange-rate controls in some countries push businesses toward informal channels.
Developing economies could benefit most, yet face the widest regulatory gap
The report singles out remittances as one of the areas where developing economies stand to gain the most from stablecoins. More than $600 billion is sent back to home countries each year by overseas workers through traditional channels, with average fees ranging from 5% to 7%.
Marchetti said: "The contribution of stablecoins to trade will depend on regulatory convergence, system interoperability, and surrounding financial infrastructure, especially in developing economies that stand to benefit the most."
The report points to a clear mismatch: the countries that most need lower-cost remittance tools are often the ones furthest behind on regulation. Under that condition, the WTO's vision of stablecoins reshaping cross-border payments remains difficult to put into practice.
Payment companies are already moving
At the same time the WTO released its report, major payment firms were pushing forward with stablecoin-related efforts.
- Mastercard: In August, it partnered with stablecoin coordination network Borderless to test identity verification for cross-border stablecoin transfers. In June, it said it was expanding settlement capabilities to include intraday, weekend, and holiday settlement, while adding a stablecoin settlement option.
- Western Union: In August, it partnered with stablecoin infrastructure provider Rain to launch a digital wallet and Visa-branded card, allowing users to hold and spend dollar-backed stablecoins in 37 markets, with a year-end target of expanding to more than 60 markets.
Those moves line up with the WTO's central point: industry activity is already advancing, while regulation remains the missing piece for broader stablecoin use in cross-border payments.