Stablecoins
Stablecoins in Institutional Settlement
An assessment of where stablecoin rails materially change settlement economics, where they do not, and the controls institutions need before routing production volume through them.
24 pages · Published May 7, 2026
Overview
Stablecoin settlement is often discussed as a wholesale replacement for correspondent banking. In practice its advantage is corridor-specific and depends heavily on liquidity at both ends.
This paper looks at the corridors where settlement time and cost improve meaningfully, and at the treasury, custody and reconciliation controls required to operate them.
It also examines the operating model for running stablecoin and bank rails in parallel behind one payout interface.
Key topics
What the paper covers
Corridor Economics
Where on-chain settlement changes cost and timing, and where it does not.
Custody Models
Self-custody, partner custody and the operational risk of each.
Treasury Controls
Exposure limits, rebalancing and approval workflows.
Unified Reconciliation
Posting on-chain and bank settlement to one ledger.
Takeaways
What you'll learn
- How to evaluate a corridor for stablecoin settlement
- Which controls are non-negotiable before production volume
- How to keep reconciliation unified across rails
- What treasury needs to manage on-chain exposure
Authors
jStack Research
Financial Infrastructure Research
The jStack research group studies how payment, wallet and settlement infrastructure evolves across emerging and established markets.