Crypto meets everyday payments with WalletConnect Pay

In this interview, Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect, explores how crypto wallets and crypto payments are moving from niche tools to widely adopted solutions as PSPs and merchants integrate digital assets into everyday commerce.

Drawing on real-world merchant experiences and evolving customer expectations, the article examines how solutions like WalletConnect Pay simplify crypto acceptance at scale, connecting multiple wallets and assets optimally within current checkout systems. 

From your perspective, how are DeFi and crypto payment methods shaping the fintech landscape today? What drives merchants’ and consumers’ interest in accepting and using crypto payments?

The data tells a clear story - crypto is being spent, and stablecoins are emerging as the preferred settlement method.

With payments surging over 70% year-to-date to exceed USD 10 billion in real-world settlements, stablecoins processed an estimated USD 33 trillion in transaction volume in 2025. They now account for over 35% of all crypto payment transactions, and crypto card payments alone process approximately USD 18 billion annually.

Over 700 million people globally held crypto as of 2025 - a massive addressable consumer base. More than 15,000 businesses worldwide now accept crypto payments, up approximately 49% year-over-year. 72% of merchants accepting crypto reported that their crypto sales increased over the past year.

The main challenge that users, merchants, and PSPs face is fragmentation. Traditional payments are fragmented by region and rail, and crypto adds to this with inherent fragmentation across wallets, chains, and assets. Supporting crypto payments today forces PSPs and merchants to navigate unnecessary complexity, just as customer demand accelerates.

That’s where WalletConnect Pay comes in. It's an end-to-end crypto and stablecoin payment method that integrates directly into existing PSP stacks, enabling crypto payments without disrupting how payments operate today, while staying future-proofed as the ecosystem evolves.

Using stablecoins as a payment method, and especially WalletConnect Pay, brings meaningful benefits to both merchants and end users.

With WalletConnect Pay, users are able to pay with the crypto wallet that they already trust. There are no new accounts or new apps to deal with. WalletConnect Pay supports a wide range of assets behind the scenes, so the checkout experience feels simple and familiar, whether you're shopping online or in-store. And every purchase earns 2% cashback in $WCT, with additional rewards from loyalty partners across the network.

WalletConnect Pay helps merchants reach a global audience of crypto-native customers through the world's largest wallet network, over 500 million users across 700+ wallets, without changing their existing payment setup. Crypto and stablecoin payments can be up to 5x cheaper than traditional card transactions, and settlement is faster, meaning quicker access to funds and improved cash flow.

Despite the potential, real-world use cases for merchants are still limited.  The story of the 94° Coffee Shop provides one concrete example. What motivated this merchant to explore crypto payments, and what lessons can others learn?

94° sits in a neighbourhood popular with international visitors, digital nomads, and crypto-savvy locals. The owner saw an opportunity and wanted to try something new. What surprised them was how eager customers were to actually use it. More and more transactions started coming through crypto payments, with customers actively choosing to pay with their wallets instead of pulling out a card. When given the option, it's remarkable how many people prefer to pay in crypto.

The key was simplicity. Both customers and the merchant found the process optimal—no steep learning curve, no clunky UX, no technical headaches. Customers opened their wallets, paid, and left with their coffee. The merchant received settlement without needing to become a blockchain expert. Crypto payments simply worked like any other payment method, without trade-offs.

This experience highlights the broader benefits WalletConnect Pay delivers to merchants. Settlement times drop from days to minutes, improving cash flow. Transaction fees are significantly lower than traditional card networks, especially for cross-border payments where interchange fees and currency conversion costs typically eat into margins.

 

'The data tells a clear story - crypto is being spent, and stablecoins are emerging as the preferred settlement method.'

 

From a merchant’s point of view, are crypto wallets an essential part of payments, or more of a nice-to-have today? What would need to change for them to become truly essential?

For most merchants, crypto payments remain optional. Traditional rails like cards and digital wallets still dominate. However, for merchants serving cross-border customers, younger demographics, or crypto-native communities, crypto payments already deliver measurable value through lower fees than international card transactions, faster settlement than traditional cross-border transfers, and access to customers who actively prefer spending crypto.

In certain segments and geographies, traditional payment methods face significant limitations. Markets with low card penetration, high-value transactions, or higher-risk sectors like gaming often struggle with low card approval rates, raised fraud levels, and transaction values that necessitate alternative payment methods beyond cards.

The 88% of merchants reporting increased revenue after enabling crypto payments suggest this is more than just a trend. The merchants who integrate crypto payments today aren't just future-proofing; they're capturing market share while the competitive advantage still exists.

When it comes to customers, what defines a good crypto payment experience? How important are familiarity, trust, and wallet choice in driving adoption?

We have spent a lot of time speaking to merchants, customers, and payment companies about the most important factors for adoption. Customers don't want to think about gas fees, network congestion, or which chain their crypto is on. They want to select an amount, confirm, and move on. The best crypto payment experiences abstract away the technical complexity entirely. When a customer can pay from their existing wallet using the same interface they already trust, whether that's MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, or any other, they're far more likely to complete the transaction.

This is why crypto payments matter. Customers already know how to use their wallets. Forcing them to create new accounts, move funds to unfamiliar platforms, or learn new interfaces creates abandonment.

In the future, more neo-banks and banks are going to be issuing stablecoin wallets that sit alongside people’s bank accounts. We are also bringing those wallets onto the WalletConnect network so that it becomes easy to pay with crypto from your everyday bank. 

WalletConnect Pay supports payments across the most widely adopted wallet network precisely because choice matters. We want to enable customers to pay from their wallet -  whatever wallet that happens to be.

UX fragmentation across wallets, assets, and regions has long been a challenge. How can solutions like WalletConnect Pay help make crypto payments feel closer to a traditional checkout experience?

If the experience isn't optimal, customers default to cards, even if they'd prefer to spend crypto. WalletConnect Pay allows merchants and PSPs to meet users where they are - regardless of which wallet or asset they’d like to use or which region they’re in.

For wallets: Like we’ve mentioned above, we don't lock customers into specific wallets. WalletConnect Pay connects to the largest wallet network globally - MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Trust Wallet, Ledger, Rainbow, and hundreds more. It's like accepting Visa, Mastercard, and Amex instead of forcing everyone to use one card. Customers use the wallet they already have. 

Solving for various chains: Multi-chain, multi-asset payments are messy. WalletConnect Pay handles that complexity in the background. Customers pick what they want to spend, and WalletConnect takes care of routing it. Merchants get settled in whatever currency they want - USDC, fiat, whichever they prefer - without touching blockchain infrastructure.

Then, it’s important to create one, single checkout flow: Traditional payments work because they're predictable: tap, authenticate, done. WalletConnect Pay brings that to crypto with the below flow:

1. Merchant shows WalletConnect Pay at checkout
2. Customer connects wallet (one tap)
3. Customer confirms (in their familiar wallet)
4. Done!

Looking ahead, how do you see the balance evolving between domestic adoption, pan-regional initiatives, and global players in the crypto payments ecosystem?

Ten years ago, people assumed global payment giants would swallow everything. That didn't happen. Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate China. UPI transformed India. PIX revolutionised Brazil. Local and regional innovation thrived because payments are contextual.

Crypto payments will follow a similar path. Domestic solutions will own the last mile with merchant relationships, consumer trust, and regulatory compliance. Regional initiatives will create zones of optimal interoperability.

The ecosystem evolves when a customer in Germany can pay a merchant in Indonesia using their preferred wallet and asset, settled instantly, with both sides barely noticing the complexity underneath. That requires all three layers working together - which is what we’re building for at WalletConnect.

 

About Jess Houlgrave

 

Jess Houlgrave is the CEO of WalletConnect, the infrastructure for crypto payments. Previously, she led Crypto at Checkout.com, a global fintech company. Jess was also a member of the Bank of England CBDC Engagement Forum and a member of the UK Finance New Digital Money Steering Group, Innovate Finance Fintech Strategy Group, and Department for International Trade Fintech Group.

 

 

About WalletConnect

WalletConnect: WalletConnect, founded in 2018, is the infrastructure for the financial internet, enabling seamless, encrypted connections between wallets and applications across ecosystems including Ethereum, Solana, Bitcoin, and TON. WalletConnect is used by traditional enterprises, custodians, institutions, and onchain applications and wallets and has powered over $400 billion in transaction volume in 2025.

WalletConnect Pay: WalletConnect Pay enables payments providers and merchants to easily and compliantly accept stablecoin and crypto payments, providing low-cost, instant settlement payments with a single integration. Built on the WalletConnect Network, which facilitated over $400bn of transactions in 2025, WalletConnect Pay makes crypto payments available to over 500 million end users via its connectivity with any crypto wallet on any chain. Ingenico is the first major payments leader to integrate WalletConnect Pay.