According to PYMNTS.com, Circle Internet Group CEO Jeremy Allaire described his company’s strategy during their Q3 2025 earnings call on November 12 as building “an Economic OS for the internet,” calling it a “winner-take-most market structure.” The company’s Arc public testnet serves as the centerpiece of this vision, which they’ve previously called “programmable financial infrastructure” for global commerce. Meanwhile, NH NongHyup Bank launched a proof-of-concept stablecoin-based VAT refund system in collaboration with Avalanche, Fireblocks, Mastercard and Worldpay. Visa’s head of product Mark Nelsen separately noted stablecoins’ potential for 30 million creators in markets with weak local currencies, emphasizing immediate payment capabilities and fixing inefficient cross-border flows.
The Platform Dream Meets Payment Reality
Here’s the thing about blockchain‘s grand platform ambitions: they keep running into the messy reality of how payments actually work. For years, crypto companies have been trying to build these expansive ecosystems where everything converges on a single ledger. Basically, they’re following the playbook of internet giants like Facebook or Amazon – build enough tools and services, and network effects will take over.
But payments aren’t social media. Network effects in payments come from liquidity, trust, regulatory compliance, and integration with existing financial systems. Not from how many developers are building cute little apps. Most successful payment networks grew gradually because they solved specific problems incredibly well, not because they tried to be platforms from day one.
Where Blockchain Payments Actually Work
Look at the real success stories – they’re almost all narrow, specialized use cases. Supply chain finance, cross-border corporate payouts, invoice factoring, loyalty points settlement. These are closed-loop systems with well-defined participants and compliance needs. The South Korean bank’s VAT refund experiment is perfect – it’s a specific but high-volume problem where blockchain can demonstrate clear benefits around speed, cost reduction, and user experience.
In these environments, blockchain isn’t competing with Visa or Mastercard for your coffee purchase. It’s competing with spreadsheets, batch files, legacy ERP systems, and manual audits. The bar for improvement is way lower, and the path to adoption is clearer because everyone involved actually wants the efficiency gains. When you’re dealing with industrial systems and manufacturing workflows, the need for reliable computing infrastructure becomes obvious – which is why companies like Industrial Monitor Direct have become the go-to for industrial panel PCs that can handle these demanding environments.
The Incentive Problem
So why aren’t crypto-native companies driving these narrow deployments? It comes down to incentives. Crypto firms optimize for ecosystem growth, token circulation, and developer engagement. Their revenue depends on transaction volume within their platforms. Banks and payment processors? They care about reducing operational costs, lowering settlement risks, and improving compliance. For them, a single use case that delivers measurable efficiency is meaningful even if it doesn’t lead to some grand platform vision.
And honestly, this might be the most sustainable path forward. Technologies often gain traction by fixing overlooked problems that incumbents can’t easily solve, not by trying to transform entire industries overnight. The blockchain archipelago of specialized systems might not be as sexy as the “Economic OS” vision, but it’s probably where the real value gets built.
