Solving B2B Cross-Border Payments: A Guide to Using Blockchain & Stablecoins

The challenges of traditional cross-border payments (cost, speed, intermediaries) show up in every global operating model: supplier payouts, contractor payroll, treasury moves, and intercompany settlements. 

When funds must traverse multiple banks, time zones, currency conversions, and local rules, settlement slows down, fees stack up, and tracking becomes fragmented.

This guide breaks down how B2B cross-border payments work today, where the friction comes from, and how innovations in payments, like blockchain, DLT, real-time networks, APIs, and the Open Money Stack’s vertically integrated platform for stablecoin payments, are changing the operating assumptions for global money movement.

Use cases for B2B global transactions (supply chain, payroll, investments)

Cross-border payments are any transactions where payer and recipient are in different countries. For B2B, they typically map to a few repeatable flows:

• Buying goods and services: Paying overseas suppliers for materials, components, or finished goods; settling invoices across currencies.
• Supply chain operations: Paying for shipping, logistics, insurance, and customs-related costs across multiple jurisdictions.
• Payroll and contractor payouts: Paying remote employees, contractors, and vendor networks in local currencies (or a settlement currency).
• Investments and capital movements: Funding foreign subsidiaries, investing in overseas assets, or moving capital for M&A and strategic partnerships.
• Repatriation and treasury: Moving profits from international operations back to headquarters; managing liquidity across entities.
• Financial obligations: Loan repayments, dividends, royalties, and other contractual payments that require predictable settlement and documentation.

For enterprise teams, the operational goal is consistent: predictable settlement, clear status visibility, controlled FX exposure, and clean reconciliation.

How cross-border payments work (and where the friction comes from)

While details vary by corridor and method, a traditional cross-border payment often follows this sequence:

1. Initiation: A business sends a payment instruction via bank transfer, wire, or a specialized platform.
2. Currency conversion (if required): The payer’s provider converts funds at the prevailing exchange rate, often with a spread/markup.
3. Intermediary routing: Funds may pass through one or more correspondent/intermediary banks to reach the recipient’s bank.
4. Clearing and settlement: Banks validate details, perform risk/compliance checks, confirm available funds, and settle to the recipient.

Each additional institution can add:

• processing time and cutoffs (especially across time zones),
• incremental fees,
• more points where data formats differ, and
• reduced end-to-end tracking.

B2B cross-border payment challenges: cost, speed, intermediaries

Speed: multi-day settlement is still common

Delays are typically driven by:

• Time zone and banking hour constraints
• Manual processing and exception handling
• Compliance screening and investigation workflows

For supply chain and time-sensitive industries, settlement latency can translate into inventory delays, missed shipment windows, or strained supplier relationships.

Cost: fees are often opaque and difficult to forecast

Common cost drivers include:

• correspondent and intermediary bank charges,
• recipient bank fees,
• FX conversion spreads and markups.

This complicates forecasting and makes reconciliation harder, especially at scale across multiple corridors.

Intermediary complexity: more parties, more failure modes

When multiple banks and systems are involved, teams face:

• harder payment tracking and status resolution,
• more operational errors (misrouting, wrong account data, formatting issues),
• higher exception rates and manual repair work.

FX risk: volatility between initiation and settlement

If settlement takes days, exchange rate movement can materially impact the final received amount. Hedging tools exist, but they add cost, operational overhead, and may not be available for every corridor or counterparty.

Fraud, security, and data exposure

Cross-border flows can be attractive targets because they involve multiple handoffs, varied controls, and inconsistent data standards. Risks include phishing, account takeover, unauthorized changes to beneficiary details, and data breaches.

Limited tracking: “where is the payment?” remains a real question

Many legacy rails don’t provide real-time visibility. That uncertainty disrupts:

• supplier communications,
• project timelines,
• cash positioning decisions.

Technology incompatibility and legacy integration

Banks and enterprises often operate on different standards and message formats. Integrating modern payment workflows into legacy ERP/TMS stacks can be expensive and slow, and it can introduce reconciliation gaps.

Access constraints: banking coverage isn’t uniform

In some regions, recipients may have limited access to robust banking services, pushing businesses toward slower or less secure methods.

Growth trends shaping cross-border payments

Global B2B payments are projected to reach $124 trillion by 2028 (Juniper Research), with cross-border flows as a major driver. Several trends are pushing the market toward faster, more transparent settlement:

• Real-time payment adoption: More countries are launching or expanding real-time rails, setting new expectations for speed.
• Fintech-led infrastructure: Platforms are using APIs, automation, and programmatic controls to simplify payment operations and reporting.
• Higher compliance expectations: Regulators are increasing scrutiny; institutions need better audit trails and monitoring.
• Localized experiences: Businesses want local currency support, local payment methods, and local compliance alignment.
• Digital currencies: Stablecoins and CBDCs are being evaluated as alternative settlement mechanisms in some use cases, primarily for speed and transparency.
• Consolidation and partnerships: Banks and fintechs are combining capabilities to offer broader corridor coverage and tighter integrations.
• B2B2C operating models: Providers increasingly embed cross-border payouts into platforms that serve end users (marketplaces, payroll platforms, SaaS).

Innovations in payments (blockchain, DLT, real-time networks, APIs)

Cross-border modernization is a stack. Enterprises often combine multiple approaches depending on corridor, counterparty, and regulatory requirements.

Real-time payment networks

Domestic real-time systems (e.g., FedNow in the US, Faster Payments in the UK) reduce settlement times for eligible routes. Cross-border “real-time” is still constrained by interoperability between domestic systems, FX, and compliance processes, but expectations are shifting toward faster end-to-end execution.

API-driven payment infrastructure

APIs make cross-border payments more operationally manageable by enabling:

• automated payout initiation and approval workflows,
• standardized data exchange across systems,
• automated reconciliation and reporting,
• better visibility into payment status and exceptions.

For enterprise teams, APIs are often the difference between “payments as a manual process” and “payments as software.”

Blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT)

Blockchain-based systems can provide:

• a shared ledger for transaction state,
• stronger end-to-end transparency,
• fewer intermediaries in some models,
• faster settlement depending on the implementation.

Some networks and platforms use blockchain to reduce reconciliation overhead by making payment state and references easier to verify across participants.

Stablecoins as a settlement instrument (where appropriate)

Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to track a reference value (often a fiat currency). In cross-border contexts, they are typically evaluated for:

• faster settlement (often minutes rather than days),
• 24/7 availability (not limited to banking hours),
• programmability (policy controls, conditional releases, automated reconciliation hooks),
• auditability (clear transaction history onchain).

Important caveat for enterprise readers: stablecoins don’t eliminate compliance obligations. They change the settlement rail. AML/KYC, sanctions screening, tax, reporting, and counterparty risk management still apply.

AI and automation for routing, fraud, and risk

AI/ML is increasingly used to:

• optimize routing decisions,
• detect anomalies and fraud patterns,
• reduce manual reviews via better triage and alerting.

In practice, automation is most valuable when paired with clean data and consistent identifiers across the payment lifecycle.

Embedded finance and workflow-native payments

Embedding cross-border payments into procurement, payroll, and treasury workflows reduces operational friction. The enterprise benefit is not “new rails,” but fewer handoffs, fewer portals, and fewer manual steps.

Multicurrency wallets and accounts

Holding multiple currencies (or maintaining multicurrency accounts) can reduce conversion frequency and help manage FX exposure. This approach is often paired with netting, treasury optimization, and corridor-specific payout methods.

Cloud technology for cross-border payments: what changes in practice

Cloud adoption is less about “moving to the cloud” and more about enabling faster iteration, better resilience, and operational scale.

Key impacts include:

• Scalability: Handle volume spikes without major infrastructure buildout.
• Security capabilities: Encryption, MFA, continuous monitoring, and standardized security controls—assuming correct implementation and governance.
• Faster processing and integrations: High-availability systems and modern integration patterns reduce latency and exception rates.
• Interoperability: Easier integration across banking systems, payment networks, and compliance tooling.
• Analytics and reporting: Better monitoring, anomaly detection, and operational dashboards.
• Business continuity: Stronger disaster recovery and resilience options for critical payment operations.
• Compliance tooling: Support for data residency, audit logging, and reporting frameworks—while responsibility remains shared between provider and institution.

Regulatory and compliance complexities (AML, KYC, taxes)

Cross-border payments are ultimately constrained by regulatory requirements, not just technology. Enterprises should plan for compliance as a core design input.

Regulations: build a country-by-country obligations map

Key categories commonly include:

• AML/CTF requirements (monitoring, reporting, suspicious activity processes)
• KYC/KYB (counterparty verification and ongoing screening)
• Sanctions screening (jurisdiction- and list-specific)
• Data protection and privacy (e.g., GDPR and local equivalents)
• Recordkeeping and auditability requirements

Practical steps:

• define which entity in your flow is responsible for each control,
• standardize required payment data fields and references,
• implement monitoring and case management for exceptions.

Taxes: treat payments data as tax infrastructure

Cross-border tax complexity varies by structure and jurisdiction, but common requirements include:

• understanding tax treaties and withholding obligations,
• maintaining detailed records for audits,
• aligning with transfer pricing rules for intercompany payments,
• documenting FX rates, fees, and timing for accounting and reporting.

This is an area where better payment metadata and reconciliation materially reduce downstream risk.

This article is for general information and does not constitute legal, tax, or regulatory advice. Consult qualified professionals for your specific facts and jurisdictions.

Conclusion

Cross-border B2B payments fail in predictable ways: slow settlement, opaque fees, fragmented tracking, and heavy exception handling, largely driven by intermediaries, legacy systems, and regulatory complexity. The practical shift underway is toward programmable, API-driven infrastructure, real-time rails where available, and blockchain-based settlement using stablecoins.

For teams evaluating blockchain in payments, the enterprise question is not whether onchain rails are “better” in the abstract, but where they reduce operational risk and cost while meeting compliance requirements. Polygon’s Open Money Stack fits into that evaluation as vertically integrated, end-to-end, infrastructure for moving value with predictable settlement and transparent transaction state, especially when paired with institution-grade compliance and reporting workflows.

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