Written by: Shao Jiadian
People who make cryptocurrency payments are all asking the same question:
“Which road really can make money?”
I've heard many industry stories, but there are really not many that can make money in practice.
Today I want to strip away all the “mysticism” outside and just talk about reality:
Currently, there are really only three profitable directions in crypto payments: channels, compliance, and high-risk services. Other directions are basically powered by love.
By understanding these three categories, you basically know where the money flows in this industry, where the barriers are, and how you should enter the market.
Channel: The Forever First Source of Profit (and it will get more expensive)
If you strip the business models of all cryptocurrency payment institutions down to the bone, only one question remains:
Who can send money to its destination the fastest, most securely, and with the least hassle?
If you can do this, you can collect fees, earn a spread, and gain stickiness.
(1) U ↔ Fiat currency deposits / withdrawals
This is the “vascular system” of the entire industry. All Web3 projects, gaming companies, cross-border trade, and e-commerce cannot bypass this matter.
Why make money?
High demand
High frequency
Cost controllable
Spread + Fees have room
Transaction fees ranging from 0.3% to 2% are acceptable to some buyers.
Future regulation will only become stricter, which means:
Channels will become more expensive, and fewer people will be able to do it.
(2) Enterprise cross-border payment (wages, supply chain, global settlement)
Clear trend: Companies no longer want to distinguish between “fiat currency vs stablecoin”; they just want something that is usable, cheap, and fast.
More and more companies will:
Pay global freelancers with USDT
Pay suppliers with USDC
Even use stablecoins for partial settlement.
Enterprises do not care about whether it is on the chain or not, they only care about “speed, stability, and compliance.”
Being able to help businesses handle cross-border wages and cross-border settlements is itself a very profitable business.
(3) Bank-grade on-chain payments (Tokenized deposits / Stablecoin corporate settlement)
Citibank, HSBC, and Standard Chartered have all issued their own on-chain “deposit tokens.”
This indicates a reality:
Bank-level cross-border payments are also starting to migrate onto the blockchain. Seeing banks issuing coins is a signal that the industry is entering a mature phase.
The profit margins for large-scale cross-border B2B transactions are much more stable than those in the retail sector. This area is set to explode in the future, as it truly addresses the old issues of “large-scale cross-border payments”: slow, expensive, and opaque.
Compliance: It may seem abstract, but this is the “real moat” of crypto payments.
The further you go, the more obvious it becomes: you will find that in the cryptocurrency payment industry, what is most valuable in cryptocurrency payments is not “technology,” but “compliance capabilities.”
Many companies do not want to spend a year and a half applying for a license themselves, nor do they want to bear the risk of being rejected, so they choose:
“Rent” other people's licenses, structures, KYC systems, and risk control systems.
This is “License as a Service.”
Common compliance capabilities available for rent include:
U.S. MSB
Hong Kong VA1 Token Brokerage Interface (omnibus)
Singapore MPI+DPT
EU CASP
Cayman VASP
UAE's Virtual Asset Light License
Hong Kong /MSO's fiat gateway (not touching U)
The logic of demand is simple: rather than spending a year applying for a license, it's better to integrate in a month.
The profit structure of this type of service is stable in the long term:
Fixed monthly fee + per usage fee.
Essentially, it is a subscription service that sells “compliance capabilities.”
Risk: Highest profit, but not everyone dares to do it.
As long as it is a service that “banks do not like to do but the market needs very much,” the profit is very high. This type of business generally starts with a handling fee of 3%-10%, but you have to bear all the responsibilities for KYC, risk control, chargebacks, and being “greeted” by banks.
For example:
NFT and blockchain game project payments
Hashrate Project
High-risk content website
Cross-border e-commerce in certain countries
Node Staking / Mining Business
Game Recharge
AI Content Charging Platform
Fees range from 3% to 10%.
The reason is simple:
Regular institutions do not dare to act, while those who do can reap the premium.
However, this type of business faces very high risks in terms of control and compliance, and it is easy to fail without experience.
The three most certain growth tracks in the next three years
I summarize the most obvious trends in the industry into three sentences:
- Enterprise-level stablecoin cross-border payments will become the next hundred billion market.
USDC/EURC/ tokenized deposits have exploded this year.
Citibank, Standard Chartered, and HSBC have announced their entry.
Whoever can help businesses streamline cross-border settlement with stablecoins will be able to seize the biggest slice of the pie over the next three years.
- On-chain payroll (Crypto Payroll) moves from the edge to the mainstream
Traditional payroll does not handle cross-border + stablecoins well.
Web3 project teams and AI companies are recruiting globally, turning on-chain salaries into everyday system requirements.
This will eventually run out a “Deel on-chain compensation version.”
- The combination of license + structure + interface services will continue to be strong.
The previous model of “each finding their own suppliers” is disappearing.
Now companies are more willing to directly purchase: structural design, compliance system, KYC/AML, complete document package, and also a runnable channel (MSB, VA1, MPI, CASP, etc.)
Companies are willing to pay for this overall solution of “from design to implementation.” This is a direction for long-term stability and continuous payment growth.
How should the bosses get involved?
In a nutshell:
Choose the category you can handle, don't try to take on all three.
If you have channel resources → create a channel
If you have entities and risk control capabilities in various places → sell compliantly
If you have scenarios and merchants → Make high-risk payments
If you have nothing → Start with “Helping enterprises run stablecoin payments”
This industry makes money not through gimmicks, but through solid execution capabilities.
What services can I offer if you are ready to enter cryptocurrency payments?
Many bosses will ask a question when they see this:
“So what can you help me with specifically for crypto payments?”
Let me summarize the core services we have been providing for many years in Web3, payment, U Card, and stablecoin projects, which are all “practical and usable things”:
(1) Help you design a “regulatory compliant” business model
Can your business operate?
Which links cannot be touched
How to design to avoid crossing the red line
How to get the bank to accept your structure
How to connect with brokers, PSP, VATP
(2) Help you set up a cross-border structure (Hong Kong / Singapore / BVI / Cayman / EU)
Should I apply for a license? What license should I apply for?
Where is the main body located? How to layer it?
How to isolate risks and smooth the capital chain?
How can the structure simultaneously meet commercial and regulatory needs?
(3) Help you complete the entire set of compliance documents.
including but not limited to:
User Agreement
Merchant Agreement
Privacy Policy
AML/KYC Policy
Risk Control System
Internal control system
Cooperation Agreement for Issuing Cards / Acquiring / Channels
The full set of documents required for bank / broker / platform integration.
These are the keys to whether a business can operate smoothly.
(4) Help you truly connect with banks, brokerages, VATP, and channel providers.
Not conceptual, but practical:
How to open a bank with MSB?
How does Hong Kong MSO handle payment reception?
Can VA1 enable the omnibus mode for you?
How to go through the proper channels for entering and exiting stablecoins?
How to achieve compliance for USDC to fiat currency?
(5) Help you design stablecoin payment / on-chain salary solutions
Including:
How to pay global employees with USDC
How to enable enterprises to settle with stablecoins “without crossing the line”
How to integrate on-chain payments into your actual business scenarios
In a nutshell:
If you want to make payments, I can help you streamline the entire process from “business design → compliance structure → documentation system → banking channel” until it can truly go live and operate.
