A neobank does not need a crypto feature to improve its cross-border payments, and it does not need to rule crypto out to make better decisions about them. What it needs is a clearly defined payment outcome for a specific customer segment and corridor, then an honest comparison of the rails that could deliver that outcome. The policy evidence supports that infrastructure-first approach. It does not support a blanket rule against crypto products, and it does not establish that stablecoins are automatically the better rail.
A feature and a rail are different decisions
A customer-facing crypto feature is a product: a wallet, a buy button, a balance held in a token. A rail is the infrastructure that moves value between institutions, covering messaging, settlement, liquidity and the compliance checks that sit beneath the app. A customer can receive a stablecoin-based transfer without ever seeing a token, and a crypto feature can sit on top of rails that are no better than a conventional wire. Keeping the two apart lets a product team ask which one is actually causing a problem.
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Starting from the rail rather than the feature also means starting from the payment itself. Customers judge cross-border payments on a few visible things: when the money arrives, what it costs including the exchange rate, whether the fee is disclosed before they send, and what happens when the transfer fails. A team that begins with a single corridor, such as one sending country to one receiving country, can define those outcomes and measure its current performance against them. Only then does it make sense to ask which rail could do better.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWhat the evidence supports, and what it does not
Four publications anchor the argument. Each is an international policy document or a central bank study, not an approval for any particular neobank, and none ranks rails for a specific corridor.
#1 Best Overall
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- Financial Stability Board (FSB), final report, 12 December 2024. Cross-border payment services operate under varied legal, regulatory and supervisory regimes. The report states: “Inconsistencies in the legal, regulatory, or supervisory regimes applied to banks and non-banks that provide cross-border payment services can be an obstacle towards achieving cheaper, faster and easily accessible cross-border payments.” Its recommendations cover risk assessment, proportional and coordinated oversight, fraud, cyber and third-party risk, resilience and financial crime, consumer protection, licensing, and oversight of agents and intermediaries.
- Bank for International Settlements, Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (BIS CPMI), 31 October 2023. Stablecoin arrangements are presented as one possible future scenario among several for cross-border payments. They must be evaluated against regulatory differences and potential drawbacks, and potential benefits should not override the principle “same business, same risks or risk profile, same regulatory outcome.”
- Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), media release and study, 23 April 2024. Interlinking fast payment systems across countries could improve speed and transparency, but the gains depend on governance, scheme rules, processing capabilities, and how legal and regulatory differences are managed.
Two limits matter for any product decision. First, these materials describe potential and design challenges; none guarantees that a given service will be available in a given corridor. Second, they are dated 2023 and 2024. Before relying on them in 2026, check whether the relevant bodies have published later updates.
The three rails, side by side
The comparison below uses the same six axes for every option. Where the cited sources do not establish a value, the cell says so rather than guessing.
Rank #2
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| Axis | Stablecoin arrangements | Linked fast payment systems | Existing cross-border arrangements |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-visible speed and transparency | Not ranked against other rails for any corridor in the cited sources | Could improve speed and transparency (RBA, 23 April 2024); gains not guaranteed | Processing can be slower where regimes are inconsistent (FSB, 12 December 2024) |
| End-to-end cost | Not established as cheaper end to end; no corridor-level evidence in the cited sources | Not quantified in the cited sources | Cost can rise where regimes are inconsistent (FSB, 12 December 2024) |
| Operational resilience and third-party risk | Adds issuer, custodian and network dependencies that the FSB’s third-party risk recommendations cover | Not stated in the cited sources | Not stated in the cited sources; partner dependencies fall under the same FSB recommendations |
| Consumer protection and financial-crime controls | Must meet the FSB’s consumer protection and financial-crime recommendations | Not stated in the cited sources | Covered by the FSB’s consumer protection recommendations |
| Regulatory and licensing fit | Must be evaluated against regulatory differences in each jurisdiction (BIS CPMI, 31 October 2023) | Legal and regulatory differences between linked systems must be managed (RBA, 23 April 2024) | Compliance can become complex where regimes differ (FSB, 12 December 2024) |
| Governance, scheme rules and processing capability | Depends on each arrangement’s own governance; not stated for any specific arrangement in the cited sources | Requires aligned governance, scheme rules and processing capability (RBA, 23 April 2024) | Not stated in the cited sources |
Each rail, examined on its own terms
Stablecoin arrangements: one scenario among several
The BIS CPMI treats stablecoin arrangements as a possible future for cross-border payments, not a settled one. For a neobank, that means the question is never whether a stablecoin rail is modern. It is whether the specific arrangement, issuer, custodian and off-ramp can meet the customer outcome in the corridor you serve. The regulatory and operational conditions have to be checked first: whether the issuer and any intermediary are licensed for the activity in each jurisdiction, how customer value is safeguarded and reconciled, and whether funds can be converted into local currency at the receiving end on terms you can disclose. Where those answers are unclear, the rail is not yet a comparison candidate.
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The RBA study is the clearest official example of a non-crypto alternative. Linking domestic fast payment systems across borders is framed as a route to faster and more transparent payments, and the RBA describes it as a study of potential rather than a finished service. Brad Jones, Assistant Governor (Financial System) at the RBA, put the policy position this way: “Cross-border payments are vital in an interconnected world. Further efforts are needed to make them faster, cheaper and more transparent. This study marks an important step toward understanding the potential for linking fast payment systems to drive improvements in these areas.” (RBA media release, 23 April 2024.)
Rank #3
- Proven security at scale: Over 9 years and millions of cards issued with no known remote hacks, while military‑grade EAL6+ security keeps your private keys locked inside the chip. Your cryptocurrencies stay strongly protected from online attackers.
- Tap once to manage your entire crypto wallet across 90 blockchains - no USB cables or Bluetooth, no batteries, no setup. Access 14,100+ coins & tokens, DeFi, NFTs, and staking instantly from your phone
- Smart backup: Use your second Tangem Wallet as your Backup keys with end‑to‑end encryption; no more papers, pictures. If one card is lost, the remaining can still restore full access, with an optional seed phrase available for advanced users.
- Engineered to last up to 25 years: Waterproof (IP69K), shockproof and tested for extreme temperatures from −25°C to 50°C. A durable cold wallet with long‑term protection and independently audited security.
- Trusted by 6 million users worldwide (4.9 App Store, 4.8 Google Play) - buy, sell, swap, stake, and spend cryptocurrency directly. The secure offline storage wallet designed for how people actually use crypto wallets
Linked systems also require coordination. Governance has to be agreed between operators, scheme rules must line up, processing capabilities on both sides must be in place, and legal differences must be handled. A neobank cannot connect to a linked system on its own; it depends on whether the relevant domestic systems and their participants offer access. Check that before modelling any benefit.
Existing cross-border arrangements: the baseline every alternative must beat
Your current partner-bank, correspondent or agent arrangements are the baseline. Any alternative should be judged against measured performance on that baseline, not against an idealised version of the new rail. The FSB’s recommendations on oversight of agents and intermediaries apply to these existing partners as much as to any new one, so they belong in the same review.
Rank #4
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A comparison method you can run
- Fix one customer segment and one corridor. Specify the sending country, receiving country, currency pair and the customer type. A rail comparison without these is not meaningful.
- Define the outcome target. Set the measures the customer sees: time until the recipient has funds, total cost including exchange-rate margin and intermediary fees, the failure or return rate, and the messages shown at each step.
- Measure the baseline from your own records. Pull actual performance for the current rail over a defined period, such as the last 90 days, and record the figures with that period attached.
- Map licensing for each entity and partner. Confirm which entity would hold or move customer funds, which activities that entity is authorised for in each jurisdiction, and which safeguarding rules apply.
- Get partner terms in writing. For each candidate rail, obtain confirmed access, pricing, settlement timing, liquidity arrangements and a statement of who bears the loss when a transfer fails.
- Score each candidate on the six axes. Record unknowns as unknowns. Do not fill a gap with an assumed saving.
- Pilot only with a rollback path and a pre-agreed stop condition. Decide in advance what result would end the pilot.
Checklist before committing to a rail
- Licensing: Each entity that holds or moves customer money is authorised for that activity in every jurisdiction involved.
- Safeguarding: You can state how customer funds are held and reconciled, and what happens to them if a partner fails.
- Partner access: Access is confirmed in writing, not inferred from a partner’s marketing or a general regulatory statement.
- Corridor economics: End-to-end cost is measured from your own transactions, including the exchange rate, rather than assumed from the rail’s design.
- Disclosure: Fees and expected arrival times are shown to the customer before they confirm a payment.
- Financial-crime controls: Sanctions and anti-money-laundering screening covers the specific risks of the rail, not only the bank’s general process.
- Exit: You know how to reroute a corridor if a rail becomes unavailable, and what the customer is told when that happens.
Partner categories for operator teams
Operators evaluating outside help should look at three categories: cross-border payment infrastructure providers, fast-payment connectivity services, and compliance services that support them. The policy sources make these categories relevant, but they do not endorse any individual provider. Select within a category using the seven checks above, and ask each provider to show evidence for the corridor you serve.
Quick Recap
Best Value
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When the answer changes
- If your current arrangements already meet the outcome target in the corridor, the case for a new rail weakens and the work shifts to improving disclosure and cost control.
- If a linked fast payment connection already exists between your corridor’s systems and you can access it, examine it before any stablecoin option, because its governance and licensing questions may be easier to answer.
- If the regimes on either side differ sharply, any new rail needs legal work before operational testing begins.
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