Reported by The Block: SINGAPORE, June 6, 2025 – Foresight Ventures, a leading crypto-focused venture capital firm bridging Eastern aand Western markets, today unveiled its latest report, "Beyond Payments: Building the Financial OS for Global Commerce." The report thoroughly analyzes how global financial infrastructures are increasingly shifting toward crypto-native financial solutions.
In 2025 – the year of stablecoins– merchants worldwide are actively exploring more efficient, cost-effective alternatives to traditional payment systems. With global crypto ownership reaching 660 million users, merchants are adapting to meet this growing demand.
The report presents a comprehensive examination of how crypto-native payment solutions are reshaping payment infrastructure, merchant acquisition models, and global business operations.
Key insights from the report include:
Over 30,000 merchants now accept crypto payments globally, driven by aggressive channel partnerships and integrations.
Traditional payment systems process trillions annually but impose billions in fees on merchants, illustrating inefficiencies in legacy rails.
Crypto payment providers often charge a flat 1% transaction fee, with instant or near-instant settlement and significantly reduced intermediary costs.
Coinbase Commerce and Binance Pay lead in crypto-native merchant payments with over $1.5 billion in payment volume.
Channel partnerships are key for scaling—Binance Pay’s integration with xMoney helped grow its merchant network from 12,000 to 32,000 in just three months.
Custodial, non-custodial, and hybrid custody models each offer distinct advantages and trade-offs in regulatory compliance, operational complexity, and merchant experience.
Stablecoin-first strategies provide critical price stability and simplify reconciliation for merchants.
Cross-product revenue streams, including treasury management and FX optimization, are becoming integral monetization strategies beyond transaction fees.
The detailed analysis highlights major inefficiencies in traditional payment systems, where multiple intermediaries drive up costs, delay settlements, and complicate global transactions. Crypto-based solutions address these issues with lower fees, faster cross-border settlements, and direct access to new customer segments.
The report outlines key custody and settlement models—custodial, non-custodial, and hybrid—each with trade-offs in compliance, complexity, onboarding, and revenue. Non-custodial setups give merchants greater transparency and direct fund control, appealing to crypto-native businesses. In contrast, custodial solutions like Binance Pay’s internal ledger offer a simplified, Web2-style experience.
A hybrid model is also gaining popularity, especially among traditional businesses, blending on-chain payments with automated fiat conversions and traditional settlement methods. Platforms such as BitPay exemplify this approach, allowing merchants to receive crypto payments seamlessly converted into fiat currencies, significantly reducing volatility risk.
Highlighting innovations in product design, the report emphasizes the importance of stablecoin-first strategies, intelligent treasury management, and gas abstraction to streamline user experiences. For instance, using stablecoins like USDC for invoicing and settlement provides merchants with price stability and minimizes operational complexity.
"Payments infrastructure is evolving rapidly, becoming far more integrated into broader financial operations. The future of global commerce is about flexible, embedded financial services that businesses can leverage to manage their treasuries, optimize FX, and seamlessly integrate with existing systems," said Alice Li, Investment Partner at Foresight Ventures.
Finally, the report notes a shift in monetization models. Beyond transaction fees, platforms are adopting cross-product revenue strategies, including embedded credit and yield-bearing treasury products. Distribution partnerships and channel strategies are also central to scaling adoption globally.
As crypto payments mature, they’re becoming more than just payment tools — they’re evolving into full-fledged financial operating systems, offering adjacent services that traditional finance cannot match.
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