The original text is sourced from Aptos Labs and published with permission from Movemaker.

TL;DR: Aptos is rapidly becoming the fastest and most scalable infrastructure in the global on-chain payment space, driving the large-scale implementation of stablecoin payments in real scenarios.

Every year, over $190 trillion in funds circulate across borders, but the financial infrastructure behind it was born before the internet era. It is not hard to imagine that these traditional systems operate slowly, are costly, and are constrained by outdated networks and complex intermediaries. It is as inefficient as watching high-definition videos over dial-up internet. In a world where content, communication, and computation can be transmitted instantly and without borders, cross-border remittances still take days to arrive. Although the scale is enormous (the value involved in global financial markets far exceeds $270 trillion), its foundation is overburdened and precarious.

However, this situation is about to change.

Stablecoins: A Better Paradigm for Currency Payments

Stablecoins are digital assets pegged to fiat currencies and have rapidly evolved into financial tools in the real world. Today, the total market capitalization of stablecoins has reached $250 billion, accounting for about 60% of the total on-chain transaction volume. In 2024, the total on-chain stablecoin transaction volume is expected to be around $24 trillion, with approximately $7.6 trillion used for payments.

Stablecoins possess characteristics such as programmability, composability, and always-on availability, allowing currency to flow quickly, safely, and flexibly across networks. However, to truly unleash their potential, stablecoins need a modern blockchain that matches their design philosophy: high throughput, low fees, and optimized for real application scenarios.

Aptos: A Blockchain Born for Payments

The Aptos network is known for its high performance and ultra-low latency, making it the ideal infrastructure for a new era of on-chain payments. The Aptos network can confirm transactions in less than 1 second, with future scalability to hundreds of thousands of transactions per second. Transaction fees are almost negligible, averaging just $0.00055, making micropayments not just a concept but a viable reality.

Aptos's smart contracts make funds 'programmable', allowing developers to integrate stablecoins into applications, automate workflows, and even collaborate efficiently with other on-chain services. In short, Aptos is a blockchain built for 'internet-scale capital flows'.

This vision is beginning to take shape: Aptos is one of the few blockchains natively supporting the three major dollar stablecoins. Months after its launch, the circulation of stablecoins on Aptos has exceeded $1.3 billion, with current monthly stablecoin transaction volumes surpassing $30 billion. These figures are comparable to the most active blockchains in the cryptocurrency space and are still growing rapidly.

Real-world payment scenarios are already occurring on Aptos.

As more and more developers and businesses choose Aptos to build applications, real-world payment use cases are continuously emerging—thanks to Aptos's speed, scalability, and programmability:

  • Cross-border Transfers: Achieve cross-border remittances in seconds without intermediaries or delays.

  • Global Payroll: Instant payments with extremely low costs.

  • Merchant Payments: Eliminate 3% credit card fees, with no waiting period.

  • Financial Institutions: Complete millions of payments on-chain in one go, settling in seconds (rather than days).

  • Content and Creator Economy: Support for millisecond-level micropayments, adaptable to content, gaming, and IoT scenarios.

Unlike traditional financial channels, Aptos features borderless, always-on, and programmable characteristics, providing developers and institutions with a new foundation for financial innovation.

A New Chapter in Finance

This is not only a breakthrough in blockchain technology but also signifies a new upgrade in payment standards. The combination of stablecoins and high-performance blockchains like Aptos means that the flow of funds will be as free and efficient as the dissemination of information.

Driven by continuous innovation in the Aptos ecosystem, the network is gradually becoming an important cornerstone in the on-chain payment space with the strongest performance, highest security, and most developer-friendly features. Developers, entrepreneurs, and financial institutions are leveraging Aptos's capabilities to build the future of payments.

A borderless, always-on financial network is no longer a distant future—it is happening now on Aptos.