New opportunities in the cross-border payment market
The global payment scale could reach 320,000 billion USD by 2032, posing an urgent need for infrastructure innovation. As a dynamic economy , Vietnam is facing the opportunity to take advantage of blockchain (blockchain technology), stablecoin (a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain stable value by anchoring to an external reference asset) and sandbox (controlled testing mechanism) to promote cross-border payments, contributing to improving competitiveness and global financial integration.
This is the opinion of experts at the workshop “Cross-border payments: Global trends and solutions for Vietnam” organized by the Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Assets Association on September 30 in Hanoi. The workshop was attended by management agencies, financial institutions, technology corporations such as the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security , the State Securities Commission, the Government Cipher Committee, the Central Institute for Economic Management, VPBank, TPBank, Viettel, 1Matrix…
Citing data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh, Chairman of the Fintech Application Committee (Vietnam Blockchain and Digital Asset Association), said that it is estimated that the scale of global cross-border payments has reached nearly 200,000 billion USD in 2024 and could increase to 320,000 billion USD in 2032.
This figure shows that the need for cross-border transactions is becoming a huge flow, playing a core role in the international financial system. In Vietnam, the World Bank recorded an estimated remittance scale of 16-18 billion USD in 2024, equivalent to about 4% of GDP, putting Vietnam in the top 10 countries receiving the largest remittances in the world. According to Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh, this is an important resource contributing to the balance of payments and the lives of millions of households, but high fees have significantly "eroded" this cash flow. In addition, with more than 17 million international visitors to Vietnam in the 2024-2025 period and about 500,000 Vietnamese people working freelance on a global platform, there is also a need for fast, cheap, and transparent cross-border payments.
Mr. Tran Huyen Dinh emphasized that blockchain and stablecoins do not replace existing traditional payment models in cross-border payments, but can help improve payment efficiency, enhance user experience, security, reduce transaction fees, etc. In particular, with the traceability and transparency of the blockchain platform, on-chain payment channels such as stablecoins will help ensure international regulations on anti-money laundering, contribute to improving financial transparency and support Vietnam to improve international assessments on anti-money laundering, towards escaping the "gray list" of the Financial Action Task Force.
New direction for Vietnam
From the perspective of a leading stablecoin issuer in the world, Mr. Matthew Crow, Director of Development at Tether, believes that the inherent limitations of traditional cross-border payment systems in terms of cost and speed are creating room for additional tools. In that trend, stablecoins emerge as a new option, not replacing existing infrastructure but can operate in parallel to improve efficiency.
This shift is not only of global significance but is particularly relevant for developing economies, where remittances, tourism and digital employment account for a large proportion of the total, such as in Vietnam. Incorporating stablecoins into pilot models could provide additional empirical data to assess the feasibility of a more diversified payment infrastructure, thereby expanding the possibility of international financial integration.
According to Dr. Vo Tri Thanh, Deputy Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, member of the National Monetary and Financial Policy Advisory Council, macroeconomic risks are one of the management priorities of state agencies, so cross-border payments are a tightly managed channel, linked to monetary management, especially remittance management, tourism... The most important factors for the market are compliance with the law, consumer choice and dispute resolution.
Experts assess that diversifying payment channels, specifically stablecoins, may open up new opportunities, especially in improving the transparency of the payment market. However, the application of new payment channels requires special attention to the issue of custody and custody assets to ensure market stability. Mr. Do Van Thuat, Director of Blockchain Solutions and Architecture, 1Matrix Company, said that a report by the International Monetary Fund in 2025 noted that 80% of central banks in the world are researching or testing digital currencies, signaling a new race in global payment infrastructure that Vietnam needs to follow closely.
Mr. Nguyen Hai Nam, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, said that having a new payment channel is both an opportunity and a challenge. Legally, there are also bright spots in that Vietnam has initially harmonized the development of technology and innovation with traditional economic activities. The Law on Digital Technology Industry creates a legal corridor for new technology activities such as blockchain, but countries still have many different views on blockchain and stablecoin, so Vietnam needs to be cautious, consider and apply step by step.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/da-dang-hoa-cac-kenh-thanh-toan-xuyen-bien-gioi-20250930170030880.htm
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