Summary

  • Ripple's Lee Eun-jin said about $30 trillion in assets could move on-chain by 2030.
  • He said the tokenization era will require interoperability spanning traditional finance and blockchain systems so institutions and individuals can use stablecoins.
  • He emphasized that cross-border payments require cross-chain, cross-asset, cross-compliance and liquidity, as well as compliance with the existing financial system's legal and institutional requirements.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

As stablecoins gain traction in cross-border payments, interoperability spanning traditional finance and blockchain systems will be essential, Ripple said.

Lee Eun-jin, Ripple's Asia-Pacific sales director, said at a seminar held at Yeouido Post Tower on Nov. 11, titled "The Stablecoin Era: The Future of Cross-Border Payments in South Korea," that roughly $30 trillion in assets could move on-chain by 2030.

"In the tokenization era, stablecoins will be needed," Lee said. "For institutions and individuals to use stablecoins, interoperability that connects them is necessary."

Lee outlined four key elements needed to secure interoperability: cross-chain asset transfers between different blockchains; cross-asset links between assets and payment settlement; cross-compliance with regulatory requirements such as customer identification and anti-money laundering; and foreign-exchange conversion and liquidity.

Cross-border payments are one of the clearest areas where interoperability matters. Even if stablecoins are used, funds still need to be converted into local currency and backed by sufficient buy-and-sell liquidity, Lee said.

Even when remittances themselves are fast, customers may see limited benefit if foreign-exchange costs are high or local disbursement is delayed.

Lee also stressed that cross-border payments must still satisfy the legal and institutional requirements of the existing financial system.

"Using blockchain and stablecoins can help simplify parts of the transaction process and reduce processing times," he said. "But procedures such as legal transfer of rights, incident response and anti-money laundering remain important."

Lee added that the most successful infrastructure is the kind customers do not even notice.

What matters, he said, is not which blockchain or stablecoin a user relies on, but whether a transaction is completed reliably and the necessary information can be verified.

Uk Jin