STABLECOINS WERE SUPPOSED TO CUT OUT THE MIDDLEMEN

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, and Stripe are absorbing stablecoin rails rather than being disintermediated, since settlement is only one part of a payment alongside identity, fraud, disputes, and the customer relationship. Visa's stablecoin settlement volume surpassed a $20 billion annualized run rate in September 2026, over 15x year-over-year, while issuers still depend on Visa for network acceptance. Mastercard's new Wallet Pay lets wallets like Alipay+, CRED, and Mercado Pago extend cross-border through its network, and Coinbase's Moov deal lets 1,000+ community banks add stablecoin capability without leaving their bank relationship. Stripe, having acquired Bridge and Privy and co-incubated the Tempo L1 with Paradigm, is positioning to control which rail a transaction routes through as cards, banks, and stablecoins converge.