Rapyd’s Kristin Reischel Discusses the Future of Fiat, Stablecoins and Bitcoin at IFX

At iFX, Rapyd’s Kristin Reischel, Senior Director of Solutions Marketing, joined a panel of industry leaders for “The Money Wars: Fiat vs Stablecoins vs Bitcoin,” a discussion on one of the biggest questions in payments today: what will power the next generation of global money movement?

Moderated by Anton Golub, the panel brought together perspectives from Rapyd, Mobi, Zota and Match2Pay. The conversation covered the changing role of fiat currencies, the rise of stablecoins, Bitcoin’s place in the market and the regulatory questions shaping adoption.

The discussion did not point to a future where one form of money replaces all others. Instead, it made a more practical case: different payment rails are better suited to different moments in the payment journey.

Kristin’s comments focused on the operating reality for global businesses. Fiat still works well in many local market use cases. When a company is operating in one country, registered and licensed there, employing people there and buying and selling in the same currency, fiat systems remain familiar, trusted and widely accepted.

The challenge changes when a business starts operating across borders.

Kristin explained that stablecoins become far more useful when companies are managing multiple currencies, moving funds across jurisdictions and maintaining accounts in different markets. In those cases, stablecoins can help businesses settle faster, move value more efficiently and reduce some of the friction that comes with traditional cross border payment systems.

For trading platforms, that distinction matters. Deposits, withdrawals, settlement and liquidity directly affect the trader experience. Faster funding can help traders access accounts sooner. Faster withdrawals can help build trust. More efficient settlement can give platforms better access to working capital and more flexibility in how they manage global operations.

The panel also discussed Bitcoin’s role. While Bitcoin was originally introduced as peer to peer electronic money, the conversation largely described its current market role as closer to a store of value than a practical everyday payment method. Its volatility makes it difficult to use for transactional payments. Stablecoins, by contrast, were discussed as more practical for payment use cases because they are designed to maintain stable value while still using digital asset rails.

A recurring theme was that stablecoins are already showing value in business payments before they become mainstream for consumer retail payments. The strongest use cases discussed included treasury movement, cross border payments, settlement and bulk transfers. Consumer adoption may continue to grow as the experience becomes easier and as traditional financial players connect stablecoin balances to more familiar payment methods.

Regulation was another major focus of Kristin’s remarks. She noted that regulation is one of the biggest forces shaping how money moves today and how it will move in the future. Rather than treating regulation only as a barrier, the panel discussed its role in giving businesses and institutions more confidence to use stablecoin infrastructure at scale.

Kristin also outlined why countries may approach stablecoins in different ways. Some may view stablecoins defensively, as a way to protect monetary control when foreign currency stablecoins gain local adoption. Others may use them offensively, making their own currencies easier to use internationally. In markets with large unbanked or underbanked populations, stablecoins may also offer a faster path to digital money access than building traditional banking infrastructure from the ground up.

For Rapyd, the conversation reinforced a practical view of the future of payments. Businesses do not need to choose between fiat and stablecoins as if there can only be one winner. They need infrastructure that can support both, and help them use the right rail for the right transaction.

As trading platforms serve customers across more countries, currencies and payment preferences, that flexibility becomes increasingly important. 

The next phase of global payments will not be defined by one form of money replacing every other form. It will be defined by businesses building systems that can move value faster, more reliably and across more markets.