#9: Nubank Steps Into Stablecoin Payments: A First Look at the Future of Retail Finance

Nubank, Latin America’s biggest digital bank, is making waves again. The Brazilian fintech giant, known for bringing modern banking to millions who had previously been underserved, now plans to test dollar stablecoin payments via credit cards. At Meridian 2025, Vice Chairman Roberto Campos Neto made it clear: blockchain and stablecoins are not just “crypto trends” — they are reshaping finance, especially in emerging markets.

Who Is Nubank?

Founded in 2013, Nubank has grown into the largest digital bank in Latin America, with over 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Its appeal lies in low-cost, tech-driven banking that bypasses traditional inefficiencies. The bank already dipped into crypto by offering trading services and custody solutions, and now it’s eyeing the next frontier: stablecoin-powered payments.

Nubank’s Involvement in Crypto & Stablecoins

Nubank’s crypto journey started with offering Bitcoin and Ethereum trading directly in its app. More recently, the bank broadened into digital asset custody and educational content to onboard retail users. The new stablecoin pilot marks its first real attempt to integrate blockchain into payment rails, rather than just offering crypto as an investment product.

Why Nubank Believes Stablecoins Are Relevant

Campos Neto outlined three reasons why stablecoins matter for the future of finance:

1. Dollar access in economies with restricted or unstable local currencies.

2. Borderless usability, allowing consumers and businesses to transact globally with less friction.

3. Integration potential with tokenized deposits and AI-driven ecosystems, blending old and new finance.

On top of that, stablecoin rails are often cheaper to operate than traditional credit card networks, which means lower costs for merchants and potentially better pricing for consumers. For Nubank, this isn’t just about crypto enthusiasm — it’s about building a seamless, cost-efficient financial system that works for users in markets where financial infrastructure often fails.

Stablecoin Use Cases & Nubank’s Angle

Stablecoins are widely discussed as game changers for:

• Cross-border payments 🌍

• Everyday retail payments 🛒

• Store of value in unstable economies 💵

• Collateral for DeFi and tokenized finance 🔗

Nubank’s pilot explicitly addresses the retail payments angle — bringing stablecoins directly into credit card transactions. But it also indirectly supports the store of value use case, since Latin American customers can hold exposure to dollar-backed assets instead of volatile local currencies. And if stablecoin rails prove more efficient, Nubank could offer cheaper transactions than legacy card infrastructure, a major advantage in cost-sensitive markets.

A First Mover?

This move positions Nubank as one of the first major retail banks worldwide to explore stablecoins not just as an asset, but as infrastructure for payments. While fintechs like PayPal have issued their own stablecoins (PYUSD), and Visa/Mastercard have tested stablecoin settlement, Nubank is unique: it’s testing direct consumer payment flows in a region where stablecoins could have life-changing impact — and potentially at lower operating costs than existing card networks.

Comparable Pilots in the Industry

• PayPal (PYUSD): launched its own USD stablecoin in 2023, but still focused mainly on transfers and crypto rails, not credit card integration.

• Visa & Mastercard: experimenting with stablecoin settlement for merchant payments.

• Revolut: offering crypto trading and wallets, but not yet stablecoin-based payment rails.

Nubank’s credit card pilot seems to go a step further by linking stablecoins directly with mass-market payment instruments, while also hinting at the potential for cheaper rails than the Visa/Mastercard duopoly.

Closing Thoughts

Nubank’s stablecoin experiment may turn out to be a watershed moment for finance in emerging markets. By merging traditional credit card rails with blockchain-backed dollars, the bank is testing whether stablecoins can shift from store-of-value assets to everyday money.

If successful, it could spark a trend: banks in volatile-currency regions moving faster than U.S. or European incumbents. After all, where the need is greatest, innovation often accelerates.

The open questions remain:

👉 Will stablecoin payments prove scalable beyond pilots?

👉 Will cost advantages over traditional payment rails drive mainstream adoption?

👉 And if Latin American banks normalize dollar-backed stablecoin payments, how long before others follow suit — or regulators push back?

Either way, Nubank just signaled that the race to bring stablecoins to the masses — at potentially lower costs than ever before — has officially begun.

Thanks for reading in 🤍

// Kai