Crypto payment workflows are increasingly shifting from “availability at checkout” to the operational details that determine whether transactions actually complete and repeat, according to Pavel Kashuba, a strategic leader at Coinspaid Solutions, speaking at Stablecon USA 2026 in Washington, D.C.
Kashuba said that while survey results suggest meaningful merchant interest in accepting digital assets, real-world usage remains constrained by settlement, network, and custody design—factors that directly affect cost, speed, refunds, and who bears responsibility after each payment.
Key takeaways
- Observed adoption remains limited: A survey cited by Kashuba found 39% of surveyed US merchants accept crypto at checkout, but crypto accounts for a smaller share of sales among those merchants, underscoring a gap between visibility and usage.
- Catalyst is operational design: Kashuba argued that four decisions—checkout placement, currency and network coverage, settlement design, and custody—largely determine whether customers complete transactions and return.
- Settlement drives merchant economics: Data presented at the event indicated that more than 70% of businesses settle crypto payments in fiat, which affects how merchants handle treasury and operational risk.
- Next phase depends on execution: Kashuba said autonomous or “agentic” commerce will still require clear payment options, reliable settlement, and defined custody responsibilities.
What drove the focus on “real adoption”
Kashuba’s central argument was that acceptance at checkout is an incomplete metric. He pointed to Harris Poll survey findings prepared for the National Cryptocurrency Association, which reported that 39% of surveyed US merchants accept crypto at checkout. However, among merchants that accept crypto, crypto represented 26% of total sales, according to the session materials.
He also cited an NCA study indicating that 26.8 million Americans use crypto to shop and pay—described as equivalent to 40% of US crypto holders. The implication, Kashuba suggested, is not that demand is absent, but that payment design choices influence whether the use case becomes habitual rather than occasional.
Stablecoin activity shows the scale gap in payments
Kashuba framed the issue within the stablecoin ecosystem, where usage appears far larger in transfer activity than in retail settlement. He referenced a McKinsey analysis conducted with Artemis estimating annual stablecoin activity at up to $35 trillion, while the session materials stated stablecoin payments were about $390 billion based on December 2025 activity.
On that basis, Kashuba highlighted that payment use is roughly 1% of total stablecoin volume in the figures presented—an outcome he connected to the practical conditions required for each transaction, rather than to a lack of token or network availability.
Four operational decisions determine whether payments stick
At Stablecon USA 2026, Kashuba organized the path to routine crypto payments around four operational decisions that merchants, banks, and payment service providers must address:
- Placement: Whether customers see a crypto payment option during checkout.
- Currency and network coverage: Which networks and currencies are supported, shaping transaction cost and processing time.
- Settlement design: How merchants receive funds and the form those funds take after transfer.
- Custody: Who controls the assets and bears operational responsibility throughout the payment lifecycle.
The session emphasized that these choices are not interchangeable. Kashuba argued that payment infrastructure value depends on converting market interest into completed transactions and repeat behavior—outcomes determined by how the checkout and back-end processes function together.
Settlement and custody shape the merchant operating model
Settlement approach was a key focus. Kashuba presented figures indicating that more than 70% of businesses settle crypto payments in fiat. Under such setups, merchants can receive automatic conversion into US dollars or euros, reducing the need to hold crypto on their balance sheet.
He noted that settlement is typically handled by regulated entities or licensed banking partners, with availability varying by jurisdiction. Blockchain transfer mechanics also affect chargeback dynamics: transfers operate outside card chargeback processes, while refunds remain a separate merchant-controlled process.
Custody, Kashuba said, carries wider operational consequences because it determines both control and accountability. He also addressed how responsibilities can be partitioned between financial institutions and payment infrastructure providers: institutions operate under their own regulatory frameworks and retain control over transaction signing, while infrastructure providers deploy and maintain underlying technology. The overall point was that control, security, compliance, and operational capacity should be designed as one system rather than treated as independent components.
Implications for agentic commerce
Kashuba closed by applying the same operational framework to agentic payments—use cases where AI systems can complete purchases on behalf of users. He pointed to Amazon’s “Buy for Me” and Google’s “Universal Cart” as examples of platforms enabling AI-assisted purchasing. He also noted that the x402 protocol has recorded more than 100 million transactions on Base, as stated during the session.
Even with autonomous commerce, the session materials argued that payment acceptance still needs to be visible to the system that initiates payment, supported by suitable network coverage, backed by reliable settlement, and paired with clearly assigned custody responsibilities.
Investors watching digital asset payments may want to track how payment providers translate checkout acceptance into completed, repeatable merchant performance—particularly settlement and custody configurations that can determine total economics and operational risk. The next signals are likely to come from merchant and payment-provider rollouts, as well as ongoing regulatory clarity that influences which partners can provide fiat settlement and custody services.
