Zelle explores stablecoin rails for global money transfers

Zelle is building its international expansion on the backbone of stablecoin technology in a move to translate its domestic payment dominance into a global language of faster, cheaper cross-border transactions.

Summary

• Zelle moves to adopt stablecoin rails for faster, cheaper cross-border transfers.
• Backed by owner banks, the initiative leverages regulatory clarity and a $1 trillion annual transaction base.
• Fintech rivals like PayPal and Wise are also accelerating stablecoin strategies amid rising global adoption.

In a press release dated Oct. 24, U.S. payment network Zelle announced a new initiative by its operator, Early Warning Services, to leverage stablecoin technology for cross-border money movement.

The move, backed by the network’s owner banks, marks a strategic pivot for the primarily domestic platform, aiming to solve the persistent challenges of cost and speed in international transfers. CEO Cameron Fowler cited improved U.S. regulatory clarity as a key enabler, allowing the company to focus on innovating for the global stage.

Zelle’s trillion-dollar bet on a new financial rail

The scale of Zelle’s ambition is matched only by the network it already commands. Early Warning Services disclosed that approximately $1 trillion was transferred over its platform last year, a figure that underscores the immense, ready-made user base it could instantly deploy into the global market.

The move arrives as stablecoins solidify their role as a formidable force in global finance. According to Andreessen Horowitz, stablecoins processed $46 trillion in onchain transactions over the past year, dwarfing throughput of legacy giants like Visa.

Notably, the report notes that this surge has largely decoupled from crypto trading, signaling that these digital dollars are now being used for substantive economic purposes, powering a new, global settlement layer.

Zelle is far from alone in recognizing this potential. The landscape is rapidly shifting as legacy fintechs pivot to co-opt the technology. PayPal, a long-time Zelle competitor in the U.S., has already made significant inroads with its PYUSD stablecoin, exploring its use for cross-border settlements.

Meanwhile, London-based Wise, which processed £145 billion in cross-border payments last year, is also making its first major moves into the space. The firm recently posted a job listing for a product leader to build “wallets and/or payments solutions based on stablecoins,” a signal that it views the technology as both a critical opportunity and an existential threat to its own low-cost transfer model.