Stablecoins are winning CFOs over

The following is by Mesh Head of Content, Geoffrey Lyons
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Few would peg CFOs as champions of crypto. This staid and cautious crowd tends to favor balance sheets and GAAP over bleeding-edge, disruptive tech. The numbers bear this out: Nearly 80% of finance executives say crypto is “highly speculative” and over 10% think it’s a fraud. While CFOs are slowly warming to Bitcoin, it’s safe to assume there will always be a large contingent that never does.
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Stablecoins, however, are a different story. Stablecoins are stable, and CFOs like stable. According to the latest State of Crypto report, the number of Fortune 500 executives exploring stablecoins has tripled since last year. More than 80% of SMB executives are also eyeing them to address their biggest financial pain points.

Which pain points exactly? For CFOs there are many: settlements, vendor payments, expense reimbursement. We’ve already discussed treasury management and capital flows in previous editions of the newsletter, so let’s briefly look at the use case most likely to keep finance chiefs up at night: payroll.

Paying wages in stablecoins

While CFOs may not be directly involved in routine payroll processing, they still need to maintain oversight to ensure accuracy and compliance. As any CFO will attest, this can be difficult work–companies not only need to calculate wages, they also need to comply with tax laws and labor regulations.

These last two are getting trickier as teams grow more global. Research from Santander shows that nearly a third of UK domestic businesses are exploring international expansion within three years, while over half of US businesses have similar plans. Firms are also increasingly outsourcing roles in tech, design, and research to freelancers abroad. In 2023, cross-border freelance engagements rose by 27%.
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There are two ways to pay these geographically dispersed teams: traditional payouts, which are laden with intermediaries and logistical headaches, and stablecoin payouts, which aren’t:

By any metric, stablecoin payouts are the clear winner–they offer a rare combination of speed and efficiency for compensating global teams without the friction of traditional rails.

In just the past year, this use case has evolved from an experimental concept to a viable solution for finance teams. For many CFOs, the question is no longer if stablecoin payouts make sense, but how soon they can integrate them to stay competitive.

Looking ahead

If stablecoins have so many great applications for finance departments and we have data showing that CFOs are interested, why aren’t we seeing more adoption?
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As Bridge CEO Zach Abrams recently pointed out, most organizations on the fence about stablecoins don’t need any persuading–they’re already sold. The missing piece has always been a lack of regulatory clarity.

Now, with the GENIUS Act being reconciled in the House of Representatives and a pathway to clearer regulations emerging, we should expect to see a lot more corporate buy-in.
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A recent article in CFO Dive suggests that much of this will be at the prompting of CFOs. The article quotes EY’s Paul Brody, who argues that CFOs examining the space have looked favorably on the GENIUS Act’s trajectory, and that clear stablecoin regulations will drive up the “quality of competition” in the space.

For CFOs, this “quality of competition” is almost certainly a major deciding factor. In a survey of 116 finance chiefs - most from companies with $1B+ in revenue - 60% said they’re risk-averse. When it comes to stablecoins, that risk aversion translates into a heightened focus on quality: the credibility, compliance, and operational robustness of issuers. CFOs aren’t just evaluating use cases—they’re looking closely at who’s behind the stablecoin. They want to know how it’s backed, and whether it can stand up to regulatory scrutiny and financial audits.
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As regulatory frameworks solidify and first-rate issuers step forward, the barriers to adoption are falling away. What’s left is a market driven not by speculation, but by standards. For CFOs, that shift is crucial.
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