Crypto’s Trillion-Dollar Opportunity: Scaling B2B Payments On-Chain

Traditional B2B payments are slow, expensive, and built on outdated infrastructure. 

Businesses pay a transaction fee “tax” every time they want to move their own money, while payment processors, banks, and legacy AR/AP platforms extract value at every step.

Blockchain fixes this. 

At On-Chain B2B Payments Day last month, industry leaders from Deloitte, PayPal, and Anchorage Digital joined Bitwave for a powerhouse discussion on how to scale crypto payments, drive vendor adoption, and tackle the real-world challenges of moving enterprise payments on-chain.

The session featured Smitha Purohit (PayPal), Rob Massey (Deloitte), and Sergio Mello (Anchorage Digital). It was moderated by Bitwave CEO and Co-founder Pat White. 

Here’s what they had to say.

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Scaling On-Chain B2B Payments: The Biggest Challenges

Crypto payments aren’t just about sending money from Point A to Point B. That’s the easy part. The real challenge is scaling crypto payments for global business operations.

• Enterprise payments are complex: Payments don’t happen in a vacuum. Businesses need treasury management, reconciliation, accounting, tax compliance, and reporting. And they need it all integrated with existing financial systems.
• Different businesses, different needs: A Fortune 500 company doesn’t handle payments the same way as a small business. So, scaling crypto payments means solving for every type of business, across every market, in every country.
• Vendor adoption is still a bottleneck: Even when businesses want to pay in crypto, their vendors may not be ready to accept it. Vendor onboarding and end-to-end usability are key to making this shift happen at scale.
• Security & compliance remain top priorities: The recent Bybit hack reminded everyone why enterprise-grade security, risk management, and compliance controls must be built into crypto payments from Day One.

For crypto payments to go mainstream, we need more than just faster rails. We need a full financial system built around them. Bitwave is leading the payment disruption.

Why the Future of B2B Payments is On-Chain

For almost two decades, crypto has been distracted by NFTs, DeFi, and memecoins. But B2B payments are the real trillion-dollar use case for digital assets. 

Why? Because crypto payments deliver real-world utility and cost-savings. Even businesses that have no interest today in holding crypto on their balance sheet are starting to explore on-chain payments for their incredible benefits: 

• Near-Instant Settlement: No more waiting days (or weeks) for cross-border payments to clear. With stablecoins, settlement happens in seconds.
• Lower Costs: Legacy payment processors take 3%+ fees (or more for international transactions). With blockchain, businesses can send payments for a fraction of a penny.
• Programmability Built-In: On-chain payment triggers can be automated to increase back-office efficiency and reduce risk.

With Bitwave, businesses can integrate on-chain payments directly with their ERP, automate AP/AR workflows with batch invoice capabilities, and enable real-time reconciliation.

So, how do we actually scale this trillion-dollar opportunity?

Vendor Adoption & Compliance: Enabling the Next Era of Payment

Stablecoins Are Leading the Charge

Stablecoins already settle $30 trillion in transactions each year. But we’re just getting started.

• The future of FX is on-chain: Will we see stablecoins for every currency, with instant on-chain forex swaps? Or will the USD become the dominant on-chain payment currency? The industry is still figuring this out.
• Yield-bearing stablecoins: These could disrupt traditional banking by allowing businesses to earn yield on their funds instantly—without banks keeping the interest.
• Regulation is key: One of the biggest roadblocks? Regulatory clarity. The industry needs clear guidance so businesses can confidently adopt stablecoin payments.

Winning Over Vendors

A major challenge in crypto payments is vendor adoption, with most global businesses still operating in a “fiat-first” world.

• Cross-border payments are the “killer payment opportunity”: In countries like Kenya, businesses pay up to 4% just to receive an international wire. Crypto payments eliminate these costs.
• On-ramps and off-ramps matter: Businesses won’t switch to stablecoins if they can’t easily convert in and out of fiat currency. The interoperable infrastructure to seamlessly transition between crypto and fiat is still being built.
• The full financial stack needs to be crypto-ready: It’s not enough for vendors to accept stablecoins. Accounting systems, tax software, and financial reporting tools need to natively support crypto payments. Bitwave solves these challenges for businesses with audit-ready reporting and compliance. 

Tax Compliance & Risk: Regulations Are Not Always Clear

Crypto payments are powerful. But they come with new compliance requirements that can vary wildly by region. And these regulations are constantly changing. 

• Some laws are active, but not enforced: IRS Section 6050I (Form 8300) requires businesses receiving $10K+ in crypto payments to report it, KYC the payor, and submit a form to the government – but this law does not yet have an effective date yet. (Welcome to crypto confusion!)
• State laws vary on paying employees in crypto: Some states explicitly prohibit payroll in crypto, while others have legal gray areas. Businesses must understand the local regulations before adopting on-chain payroll.

So, how should businesses prepare? 

Regardless of what regulations are available or enforceable, security must come first. With billions at stake, finance leaders must use regulated, audited, and licensed custody solutions to secure digital assets.

Infrastructure is improving fast and enterprise adoption is accelerating.

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On-Chain B2B Payments are Scaling

The trillion-dollar opportunity is here. Businesses are already adopting stablecoins, moving funds on-chain, and cutting out middlemen.

Here’s what industry leaders expect in the coming years:

• Smart contract-powered payments: Imagine automatic invoice enforcement, where payments are programmatically adjusted based on real-time contract terms. Pay early? Get a discount. Pay late? Auto-enforce penalties.
• Micropayments will reshape business models: Subscription-based companies could shift to usage-based billing, with payments as small as fractions-of-a-cent becoming viable.
• Banks and payment processors will have to evolve—or be disrupted: Companies that profit from transaction fees and float on customer funds will face massive pressure as crypto eliminates their rent-seeking business model.
• On-Chain FX Markets: The future of foreign exchange is instant, on-chain, and automated. 

The only question is: Is your business ready to move faster, pay less, and take control of its payments? Bitwave is here to help you get started.

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Meet the Bitwave Payment Network

Ready to stop paying for payments? The Bitwave Payment Network is an ecosystem connecting businesses, vendors, and technology partners to power fast, low-cost, and programmable payments on-chain.

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We’re disrupting the payment economy by connecting businesses that want to pay and get paid in crypto—and technology partners making it all happen.

✔️ Vendors & Payers: Companies like Coinbase are already moving millions in vendor payments using Bitwave. Join our network to access the same enterprise-grade money movement systems trusted by global finance leaders.
✔️ Technology Partners: Exchanges, stablecoins, custodians, and more create a fully integrated ecosystem.

Stop letting banks and SaaS platforms extract value from your transactions.

→ Sign up for early access to the network