HK Web3 Feastival Roundtable: The Present and Future of Cross-border Payments and Asset Digitalization
In comparison, KGA Managing Partner Kevin M. Goldstein, Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng, Stable CEO Brian Mehler, Akhil Devmurari, J.P. Morgan Asia Pacific (Payments Business) Fintech Industry Leader Akhil Devmurari, and Bitstamp by Robinhood President Leonard Hoh attended the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival Roundtable Discussions were held on “The Present and Future of Cross-border Payments and Asset Digitization”.
Richard Teng pointed out that the existing financial infrastructure is extremely old. Bank transfers take two to three days and are expensive. Cross-border remittance rates can be as high as 11%, while stablecoin transfers are instantaneous and extremely low in cost. He revealed that with the passage of the US Genius Act, stablecoin trading volume increased by more than 70% year on year, surpassed Visa's trading volume, and the market capitalization increased by more than 50% year on year. He also said that Binance began trading precious metals in January this year. The trading volume has surpassed many traditional commodity exchanges within three months, and has also launched products such as petrochemicals, stock tokens, and pre-IPOs. The goal is to create a multi-jurisdictional and multi-asset class trading platform that serves more than 310 million users. On the AI side, he believes that stablecoins will become the native currency of AI, and the smart payment ecosystem will be built around blockchain and AI.
Akhil Devmurari pointed out from the perspective of J.P. Morgan Chase that the Asia-Pacific region has a population of 4.8 billion and a fintech adoption rate of over 90%. Cross-border payments are the biggest pain point, and there are huge opportunities for digital currencies as alternative payment tracks. He said that J.P. Morgan's payment platform processes $12 trillion a day, and the bank focuses on the two major directions of tokenized deposits and tokenized assets, and uses blockchain technology to reduce friction. He stressed that at present, the market value of digital currencies accounts for only about 1% of total payments, and 99% are still fiat currencies. There is huge room for growth, but compliance is a key part of ecological development. He defined the relationship between traditional finance and crypto as a “co-opetition” (co-opetition), where banks need to collaborate with the industry to drive ecological growth.
Leonard Hoh said that as an exchange and infrastructure provider, Bitstamp has observed that transaction and payment counterparties are adopting a “stablecoin first” strategy. Whether it's prepayment, settlement, or credit collateral, traditional finance and cryptographic native institutions feel comfortable with this technology. He pointed out that the industry is currently facing excessive fragmentation — stablecoin issuers, layer 1, and regulatory frameworks are oversupplied compared to the market size, and exchanges need to address cross-chain and cross-border interoperability challenges. He believes that the key to unlocking the next stage lies in the development of non-US dollar stablecoins and on-chain foreign exchange markets.
From the perspective of the Layer 1 public chain, Brian Mehler pointed out that the technology itself is already working properly. Traditional cross-border payments charge about 6.5% processing fees for a $200 transaction, while the on-chain only requires 1% or less. The real problem is the fragmentation of compliance, where each country's regulatory framework is separate, so compliance elements such as permitted lists, blacklists, and travel rules must be embedded in the infrastructure layer of the chain to achieve true global interoperability. He also mentioned that PayPal has introduced PYUSD into the Stable chain, and traditional financial institutions are actively seeking an on-chain layout. Layer 1 is not meant to replace banks, but rather becomes a settlement layer.
