As part of ChangeNOW's long-term ecosystem collaboration with Stellar and Polygon, Faraj Abutalibov and JT joined a ChangeNOW X Space discussion on how payment infrastructure, stablecoins and tokenized assets are being used in practice.
Crypto spent years promising a new financial system. In 2026, stablecoins, treasury products and cross-border flows already handle real money movement. Businesses move treasury funds on-chain, users seek dollar exposure and fintech teams look for payment rails that settle transactions outside banking hours.
Cross-Border Payments Are The First Real Test
Payments shaped the first part of the discussion. Faraj pointed to remittances as one of the clearest examples of blockchain solving a real financial problem.
“For us [at Stellar], the main payment use case is cross-border remittances. I think that was the killer use case for stablecoins overall.”
International transfers often pass through several banks, restricted operating hours and delayed settlement. Businesses and individuals need faster routes for moving funds across markets. Stellar’s payments page focuses on international transfers, remittances, payroll, supplier invoices and treasury balances.
JT described a similar trend from Polygon's side. He pointed to remittances, B2B transfers and global settlement flows as areas with growing activity.
“From Polygon's point of view, I think there are a lot of remittance and B2B flows happening today. There is also a significant portion for cross-border flows, and I would say that is slowly starting to ramp up.”
He also highlighted the cost structure behind traditional banking transfers.
“The whole T plus one, T plus two correspondent banking, and more importantly, opaque fees, mean you don't really know how much you're paying until the money gets to the other side, because of all the different banks in between.”
The discussion kept returning to treasury operations, remittances and business transfers because these areas already carry visible friction. Users care about settlement speed, cost visibility and successful delivery before they care about the rails behind the transaction.
