Speed Is the Easy Part: The Gulf's Cross-Border Settlement Problem
The G20's 2027 cross-border targets will be missed. Stablecoin rails help, but regulated fiat conversion and compliance infrastructure decide who stays in the conversation.
In a new Finextra opinion piece, Abdulaziz Kanoo, CEO and Co-Founder of ARP Digital, examines why speed alone does not solve the Gulf's cross-border settlement problem.
When a GCC business pays an overseas supplier, the instruction passes through a chain of correspondent banks, each taking a margin, applying its own FX spread, and deducting fees the sender never sees in advance. Stablecoin rails reduce the friction on the transport leg. But converting digital value into dirhams or dinars that a treasurer can reconcile, with compliance documented and a named counterparty behind each transaction, requires a different layer entirely.
The advantage, Kanoo argues, will go to providers that pair settlement speed with the licences, fiat access, and liquidity a payment needs to clear and reconcile end to end.
