ACH vs wire vs stablecoins: A guide for finance teams

Stablecoins offer instant settlement, low transaction costs, and programmable controls. For finance teams, they function as payment instruments useful for supplier payouts, treasury management, and cross-border settlement. Following the GENIUS Act in 2025, banks are integrating these rails directly, giving enterprises a new option alongside ACH and wire.

For decades, B2B payments have forced finance leaders to choose between two imperfect options: speed (wires) or cost (ACH).

If you wanted to move money at low cost, you accepted a multi-day delay and limited visibility. If you needed money to move instantly, you paid a premium. There was no middle ground.

Stablecoins eliminate this tradeoff. They are instant, 24/7, low-cost, and programmable. While early adoption was driven by cross-border arbitrage, regulatory standardization in 2025 has turned US Dollar stablecoins into a viable alternative rail for domestic money movement.

How ACH, wires, and stablecoins compare

To understand the value of stablecoins, we have to look at the "plumbing" we currently use. ACH and Fedwire handle domestic US transfers. For cross-border payments, businesses typically rely on SWIFT and correspondent banking, which are slow and expensive. Stablecoins work in both contexts, offering advantages over legacy rails domestically and internationally.

ACH (Automated Clearing House)

ACH is a batch-based interbank system offering same-day or T+2 settlement. Banks collect transactions and process them at specific cutoff times. The hidden cost is the settlement gap: ACH is not final immediately, and transactions can be reversed days after you release goods.

Wires (Fedwire)

Wires (Fedwire) are the US domestic real-time gross settlement system. Messages settle individually and instantly at the Federal Reserve. The hidden cost is price and manual overhead. Wires are expensive and often require manual intervention. Fedwire operates 22 hours per day, Monday through Friday.

Stablecoins (USDC/USDT)

Stablecoins are digital representations of fiat currency issued on blockchain networks, backed 1:1 by liquid assets like US Treasury Bills held in segregated accounts. They function as a T+0 settlement layer, moving value instantly outside traditional banking hours. The hidden cost is that bank and ERP support is still early, and there is a learning curve.

Stablecoins combine wire-level finality with ACH-level cost. Two additional benefits worth noting:

1. 24/7 settlement. Merchants can receive payment from their PSP as soon as their customer completes a transaction.
2. Programmable transactions. Corporations could issue smart invoices where payment is held in escrow and released upon delivery confirmation.

Choosing the right payment rail

For CFOs, the opportunity is selecting the optimal rail for each need based on cost, speed, and finality risk:

Feature	ACH	Wires (Fedwire)	Stablecoins
Cost	Low (less than $0.50)	High ($3 - $5 domestic $40+ international)	Negligible (less than $0.01)
Speed	T+1 to T+2	Instant (business hours only)	Instant (24/7/365)
Finality	Reversible (clawback risk)	Final	Final
Operating hours	Business hours with cutoffs	22 hours, M-F	24/7/365
Programmability	None	None	High (smart contracts, escrow)
Best for	Payroll, subscriptions, routine payments	High-value treasury, legal settlements, cross-border	Cross-border, mass payouts, emergency liquidity

ACH remains essential for high-volume, routine payments where timing is not critical. Low cost is unmatched for payroll and recurring billing.

Wires are necessary for high-value transactions requiring absolute finality within business hours. The cost is justified for large treasury transfers and legal settlements.

Stablecoins are most valuable where the speed-cost tradeoff matters most: cross-border transfers (bypassing SWIFT complexity), mass payouts (eliminating $15-$40 fees on hundreds of daily payments), and emergency liquidity (instant settlement outside banking hours).

The stablecoin sandwich: Using stablecoins without holding crypto

A common misconception is that using stablecoins means holding crypto on the balance sheet. It does not.

To most banks, stablecoins are simply another rail to support—this integration is driven by client demand. Financial institutions adapt to where money flows. If corporate clients demand instant settlement, banks build the bridges. The GENIUS Act (2025) has de-risked integration, allowing correspondent banks to offer stablecoin services within existing treasury platforms.

For most businesses, the practical model is the stablecoin sandwich. You start with fiat and end with fiat. The stablecoin moves the value.

1. Fiat in: Your ERP triggers a payment. Your bank debits your USD account and converts it to a regulated stablecoin like USDC.
2. Transfer: The stablecoin moves over a blockchain network in 2-6 seconds, costing fractions of a penny.
3. Fiat out: The recipient's provider converts it back to USD (or local currency) and deposits it into their bank account.

The result: wire-speed settlement at ACH-level cost, without either party managing keys or worrying about volatility.

Which suppliers will accept stablecoins?

A common objection: "I cannot ask my paper-supply vendor to open a Coinbase account."

You do not have to. The sandwich model ensures backward compatibility via virtual accounts. Three supplier types see immediate value, with examples:

• International manufacturers: You pay a factory in Vietnam. They want USD, but your bank charges $45 and takes days. Using a stablecoin rail, funds arrive in their local USD account in minutes. They ship faster; you save the wire fee.
• High-velocity affiliates: You need to pay 500 marketing affiliates $200 each. A $15 wire fee on a $200 payment is a 7.5% tax. Stablecoins allow you to batch these payments for pennies.
• Emergency purchases: It is Friday at 6 PM. You need rush inventory for the weekend. Banks are closed. Blockchains run 24/7. You settle instantly; the vendor releases goods Friday night.

Get started with stablecoins

Stablecoins are now regulated, bank-supported, and increasingly accessible through existing treasury platforms. Whether you're just starting to explore stablecoins or already use them in your payment stack, we can help you get started:

For guidance on choosing the right approach for your use case, reach out to us at partners@tempo.xyz.