The U.S. stablecoin market has expanded rapidly, but adoption by businesses remains limited. For Cregis, the gap points to a problem that goes beyond the technology itself.
When Cregis founder and CEO Shawn Yan looks at the U.S. market, he sees a familiar pattern: digital assets are becoming harder for financial institutions and businesses to ignore, yet putting them to work is another matter.
Stablecoins have gained ground as a means of moving value across borders and settling transactions. But for a company’s finance team, adopting them involves more than opening a wallet. Someone has to manage access, authorize payments, reconcile transactions, and make sure the records stand up to internal reviews and external audits. Those responsibilities do not disappear when money moves on-chain.
That gap between what the technology can do and what businesses are prepared to use it for is part of the reason Cregis has entered the U.S. market, opening its first American office in Brooklyn, New York, and making its U.S. exhibition debut at Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas, held October 18–21.
For Yan, the opportunity is not simply to bring another digital asset product to the country. It is to help businesses incorporate digital assets into operations they already understand and control.
A Market Growing Faster Than Its Users
The numbers illustrate the gap. The Federal Reserve put stablecoin market capitalization at roughly $317 billion as of April 6, 2026, more than 50% above its level at the start of 2025. Yet a September 2026 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland found that only eight of 148 surveyed companies were using or planning to use stablecoins. The survey itself was conducted in September 2025, and respondents cited limited demand and satisfaction with existing payment methods among their reasons for holding back.
The findings suggest that a larger market does not automatically translate into broader business adoption. For companies handling cross-border payments, stablecoins may offer faster settlement, but the benefits have to justify the work involved in introducing a new payment method.
The U.S. regulatory landscape is also taking shape. The GENIUS Act, signed into law in July 2025, established a federal framework for payment stablecoins, giving businesses a clearer basis for evaluating their use as regulators work through implementation. But clearer rules alone will not resolve the practical questions around treasury management, transaction controls and reporting.
“I think many people still overestimate technology and underestimate operations,” Yan says.
That is the problem Cregis is looking to address in the U.S. The company sees an opportunity among financial institutions, payment providers and fintechs that want to explore digital asset settlement without building an entirely separate operating function. Its experience in Asia and the Middle East, including a customer base of around 200 long-term clients in the Middle East, more than half from foreign exchange and other traditional financial businesses, gives it a starting point. The new Brooklyn office provides a local base to develop those relationships.
The Work Behind a Digital Asset Transaction
Consider a business that needs to collect funds from an overseas customer and pay a supplier in another market. A stablecoin may offer an alternative settlement route, but the finance team still needs to know when the funds arrive, whether the payment has been authorized, and how the transaction will be recorded.
The same questions arise when a company manages multiple wallets, handles payments for clients, or gives different employees access to digital assets. Without a clear system for permissions, approvals and records, adding a new payment rail can create another set of processes for staff to manage.
This is the operational layer Cregis is built to address.
Founded in 2017, the Hong Kong-headquartered company provides infrastructure for businesses managing digital asset wallets, payments and fund flows. Its platform combines multi-party computation (MPC) wallet technology with payment rails, its payment engine, alongside tools for transaction authorization, access management, approval workflows and audit trails.
The aim is to bring these functions into a connected operating environment, rather than leave businesses to assemble separate tools for moving funds and controlling how those funds are used.
That approach reflects the customer base Cregis has developed over the past nine years. The company says it serves more than 4,000 businesses across over 50 countries and regions, with cumulative transaction volume exceeding $300 billion. Its customers include financial institutions, payment service providers, foreign exchange brokers, fintech companies and digital asset businesses.
Cregis also points to its experience in the Middle East, where it has built a base of around 200 long-term customers, more than half of them from foreign exchange and other traditional financial businesses, according to the company.
These businesses do not all have the same reasons for using digital assets. Some are looking to improve cross-border settlement; others need to manage digital asset balances as part of broader financial operations. What they share is the need to make those activities work within an established business.
Security and oversight are part of that equation. Cregis holds a Hong Kong Trust or Company Service Provider license, is registered with the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and has SOC 2 Type I, SOC 2 Type II, and ISO 27001 credentials.
Those credentials provide part of the assurance businesses look for when evaluating a provider. They do not replace a customer’s own compliance obligations, but they are relevant to the broader question of whether digital asset infrastructure can support institutional operating requirements.
From Payment Rail to Financial Infrastructure
For Shawn Yan, the value of stablecoins lies not in replacing existing payment systems, but in giving businesses another way to move money. Cross-border transactions and payments involving multiple counterparties are among the areas where the technology may offer practical advantages. Whether those benefits translate into wider adoption, however, depends on what happens around the transaction itself.
“I think many people still overestimate technology and underestimate operations,” Yan says.
A payment may settle on-chain, but a company’s finance team still needs to approve the transaction, reconcile the funds, and maintain records for reporting and audit. If those processes remain fragmented, faster settlement alone may not make much difference to the business.
That is part of the challenge as stablecoins move beyond crypto-native companies. Businesses need to manage digital assets within the financial systems and controls they already rely on, rather than build a separate set of processes around them. For infrastructure providers, that means competing not only on transaction speed and wallet functionality, but also on reliability, governance, and how well their systems fit into existing operations.
Cregis‘s U.S. expansion reflects its view that businesses will increasingly look beyond access to stablecoins and ask how they can use them in routine financial activity. The opportunity is not universal: existing payment methods will continue to serve many companies, and the case for stablecoins will depend on the costs and benefits of each operation. But for businesses with a clear need for faster or more flexible cross-border settlement, the right infrastructure could make adoption more practical.
Ultimately, stablecoins will become part of everyday business finance only if companies can use them without compromising the controls they depend on. The next stage of adoption will be shaped not just by how efficiently money moves on-chain, but by how well that movement fits into the way businesses operate.
