Dive Brief:

• Financial technology firm Bottomline has added stablecoin capabilities to its CFO suite, giving corporate finance teams a way to incorporate digital dollar transactions into existing payment and treasury workflows, the company said Monday.
• The new capabilities are designed to allow finance teams to send, receive and manage stablecoins while establishing approvals, controls and audit processes, according to a press release.
• “Stablecoins are becoming more relevant to corporate finance, but adoption depends on whether finance teams can manage them with the same visibility, controls, and governance they expect from existing payment methods,” Colin Swain, global head of product for corporate solutions at Bottomline, said in the release. “Bringing stablecoin into the CFO Suite gives finance teams a way to explore and use it without stepping outside the workflows they already trust.”

Dive Insight:

The move marks the latest effort by payments and financial technology providers to bring digital assets closer to mainstream business transactions.

Stablecoins are typically pegged to the value of a traditional currency like the dollar, making them less volatile than other digital currencies like Bitcoin.

Stripe, Visa, Mastercard and PayPal are among companies that have launched stablecoin-related initiatives, reflecting growing interest in digital dollars as a potential payment rail.

The push comes amid growing regulatory clarity for stablecoins in the United States.

The GENIUS Act, signed into law last year, established the first federal framework for dollar-backed payment stablecoins. Federal banking regulators have since begun developing rules to implement the law.

The digital, stable and secure nature of stablecoins makes them ideal for instantaneous, real-time, 24/7 payment settlements, Jim DeLoach, managing director for global consulting firm Protiviti, said in a March article published by Forbes.

He said CFOs should begin evaluating targeted stablecoin use cases while considering the potential risks and benefits before moving forward. 

“Digital asset opportunities are likely to materialize very quickly, so finance leaders should have in place a disciplined evaluation framework that’s ready to use when needed,” DeLoach wrote.

While stablecoins are attracting growing interest for payments and liquidity management, many corporate finance teams still lack a practical way to manage them within existing treasury and finance operations, according to Bottomline’s release.

The fintech’s new capabilities allow companies to explore stablecoin payments “within the same controls, visibility, and governance frameworks they use to run corporate finance operations,” the release said.

Last month, Bottomline announced the launch of its CFO suite, a platform designed for managing cash flow across the finance function. 

The company was acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in 2022 in a transaction valued at about $2.6 billion.