Two Major Ways Stablecoins Benefit Merchants
A takeaway from Solana Seeker launch.
Stablecoins are often discussed as a crypto trading tool. But their most powerful use case might be far more boring and far more important: payments.
A simple example shared by Anatoly Yakovenko, the founder of Solana, shows why.
The Seeker Phone Example
When Solana launched its Seeker phone, priced at $500 USD, buyers were given two ways to pay:
Credit card
Stablecoins
Surprisingly, about half of buyers chose stablecoins.
This wasn’t ideology.
It was economics.
Benefit #1: Lower Payment Costs
When a customer pays with a credit card, the merchant doesn’t receive the full $500.
Credit card networks and processors typically take around 2–3% in fees. On a $500 purchase, that’s roughly $10 per phone gone immediately — not because of manufacturing or logistics, but because of payment rails.
With stablecoins:
There is no card network taking a cut
Transaction fees are minimal
The merchant keeps nearly the full amount
According to Yakovenko, the savings from payment fees alone were meaningful enough that, at scale, it could cover the salary of 2–3 engineers.
Benefit #2: Instant Settlement Instead of Waiting Months
Credit card payments don’t settle instantly.
Even after a customer pays:
Funds can take 60–90 days to fully reach the merchant
Chargebacks and disputes add uncertainty
Cash flow becomes harder to manage
Stablecoin payments settle almost instantly.
The merchant receives the funds immediately, with no clawback risk built into the system. That means:
Faster reinvestment into inventory or development
Less need for working capital buffers
Lower operational stress
Time, in business, is money.
How Consumers Benefit Too
This isn’t just good for merchants.
When businesses:
Pay lower fees
Receive money faster
Reduce operational overhead
Those savings don’t disappear. Over time, they show up as:
Lower prices
Better products
Faster shipping or iteration
Consumers indirectly benefit from the same efficiencies.
Stablecoins change the economics of commerce.
The Bigger Picture
Stablecoins aren’t trying to replace banks overnight. They’re competing with legacy payment rails where those rails are slow, expensive, and outdated.
For merchants, stablecoins mean:
Lower costs
Faster cash flow
For consumers, they mean:
Potentially lower prices
More choice in how to pay
And as the Seeker phone example shows, when given the option, people will choose the system that works better — no slogans required.
The Takeaway
Stablecoins win not because they’re crypto, but because they’re better payment infrastructure.
When money moves faster and cheaper, everyone in the chain benefits.
That’s not a speculative use case.
That’s a business one.
Not Financial Advice.