Payoneer CEO: Stablecoins Aren't Ready Until Cash-Out Works

Why Caplan Argues Stablecoin Speed Is Not Enough

Payoneer CEO John Caplan used a rare public appearance during Nuvei's roughly $2.75 billion take-private to challenge the idea that stablecoins are ready to replace traditional cross-border payment systems. He said the technology has not solved the hardest part: what happens after funds arrive. The transfer itself may be fast, but if recipients cannot convert tokens into money they can spend or put to work locally, the speed has limited value.

Caplan put the point bluntly: 'You cannot buy orange juice in Pakistan with USDC.' He argued that the power of cross-border stablecoins is not in sending but in receiving. Payoneer's customer base is largely exporters and online sellers who sit below the threshold served by multinational banks, or operate in countries where compliance costs have pushed banks out. That is why Payoneer has staff on the ground in places like Lahore, Pakistan.

Payoneer built its stablecoin offering with Bridge, Stripe's infrastructure company, rather than from scratch. Caplan cited roughly 17,000 sign-ups on the product waitlist, saying he was rounding from memory. Demand is strongest in markets with high currency volatility, where businesses often use dollar-linked tokens as a dollar account rather than a trading wallet, according to Caplan and Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan. Payoneer has also applied for a national bank license that could allow it to issue its own token.

Yet Caplan believes hype still runs ahead of practical utility. Even though stablecoin volumes already rival traditional systems such as ACH, moving money in a nanosecond does not matter if the funds cannot be used easily. He compared the gap to Meta's smart glasses: interesting, but not something most people actually want. For Payoneer, the commercial stakes matter because it earns meaningful revenue from interest on client balances; if those balances move into third-party stablecoins, the yield may shift to the issuer, which is why the bank license and own token become strategically important.

Payoneer's Stablecoin Push and the Revenue Trade-Off

Where Caplan's last-mile argument leaves stablecoin issuers

Caplan's position is that stablecoin adoption is constrained at the off-ramp, not the on-chain transfer. His examples name a real usability gap: a dollar-linked token cannot be spent at a Pakistani supermarket. That does not dismiss stablecoins; it relocates the competitive battleground from transfer speed to local conversion, custody and trust. For issuers and wallets, the winners are likely to be those that can connect the on-chain balance to usable fiat in each market, a problem Bitget Wallet's Alvin Kan and TransFi CEO Raj Kamal described in similar terms.

The revenue problem inside Payoneer's stablecoin push

There is a clear internal tension. Payoneer derives an important share of revenue from interest on the billions of dollars customers hold in accounts. If customers move funds into stablecoins issued by third parties, the yield stays with the token issuer, and Payoneer loses that income. Caplan frames the national bank license as a way to resolve this: it would allow Payoneer to issue its own token and retain part of the economics. Until that approval arrives, Payoneer's stablecoin product partly competes with its own existing balance-based revenue model.

Why physical presence still matters

Payoneer's two million customers across 190 countries are not primarily large multinationals; Caplan says many are exporters below the threshold global banks choose to serve. In some countries, banks have exited because compliance is too costly. That explains why Payoneer invests in local staff in markets like Lahore. The goal is to provide the last-mile distribution and trust layer that stablecoin technology alone cannot create. This is the strategic logic behind the Bridge partnership: to be in the market quickly rather than building infrastructure in isolation.

Trust, tariffs and the broader industry shift

Caplan argues that international payment clients care more about security and trust than price, an argument he supports with his own experience: after Stripe stopped operating in the Caribbean, a replacement processor held his clients' money. On tariffs, he says customers reacted by diversifying supply chains and distribution, which in his view made their businesses stronger. He also expects AI to narrow cost and capability gaps between firms in places like Bangladesh and those in Chicago or London, and predicts consolidation as Revolut, Nubank and similar players force legacy banks to innovate.

Practical Signals for Payments Firms, Investors and Exporters

For payments companies, investors and exporters, three specific signals follow from Caplan's framing:

• Track the last-mile conversion offer, not the stablecoin announcement. Payoneer's stablecoin product is built with Bridge, and the waitlist cited is about 17,000; the commercial test is whether those users can convert balances into spendable local currency without costly workarounds.
• Watch the national bank license and the Nuvei take-private completion. Caplan says a bank license could let Payoneer issue its own token and retain interest income that would otherwise go to a third-party issuer. The $2.75 billion Nuvei deal makes these milestones operational, not hypothetical.
• For exporters and online sellers in volatile-currency markets, demand the off-ramp before shifting balances. Caplan and Bitget Wallet's Alvin Kan describe stablecoin balances being used as dollar accounts; that only works where local conversion, custody and trust are already in place.