The money moved. Good luck getting it back. Stablecoins can settle millions in seconds, but a wrong wallet, fraud or failed redemption can leave businesses without a clear path to recovery.

Instant settlement doesn’t mean instant cash. Stablecoins move 24/7, but banks and currency markets don’t. That mismatch can turn a lightning-fast payment into a liquidity headache for global treasurers.

The next payments gold rush is fixing what stablecoins break. As transaction costs fall, banks and FinTechs have a new opportunity to sell what blockchains can’t guarantee: recoverability, dispute resolution and protection when payments go wrong.

A company sends half a million dollars to an overseas supplier using stablecoins. The transaction settles in seconds, the blockchain confirms delivery, and the payment provider reports success.

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Then the supplier says the money never arrived. The transaction may be technically complete. The commercial obligation is not.

A new report published Monday (Oct. 12) by the Financial Stability Board (FSB), ahead of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting Thursday (Oct. 15), suggests that the infrastructure for moving digital money is advancing faster than the mechanisms for managing its cross-border vulnerabilities

That distinction is emerging as one of the more consequential unresolved questions in cross-border payments. Stablecoins promise to remove the delays, intermediary costs and operating-hour restrictions associated with traditional international transfers. But in doing so, they can also shift responsibility for payment errors, liquidity shortfalls and disputes toward the businesses using them.

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