Payments Performance

How to measure whether stablecoin routing is working.

Key Metrics

Metric	Formula	What It Reveals
All-in Cost per Corridor	(Fees + FX spread + float cost) ÷ Volume	True friction by route
Settlement Velocity	Time from intent to final cash	Working capital trapped
EBITDA Lift	Savings ÷ Prior EBITDA	Real business impact
Early-Pay Capture Rate	Discounts captured ÷ Discounts available	Velocity monetization
Routing Optimization	Optimal path chosen ÷ Total payments	AI/routing effectiveness

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Scoring Framework

Corridor Maturity Score

Score	Off-Ramp Cost	Infrastructure	Example Corridors
5	<0.5%	Mature	Mexico, EU
4	0.5-1.0%	Growing	China, major APAC
3	1.0-1.5%	Developing	Vietnam, Thailand
2	1.5-2.5%	Emerging	Philippines, Indonesia
1	>2.5%	Frontier	Nigeria, Argentina

Implementation Readiness Score

Dimension	Weight	Score (1-5)	Evidence
Cross-border volume	25%		Annual $ through SWIFT
Corridor concentration	20%		% through top 3 corridors
ERP integration ease	20%		API availability, IT bandwidth
CFO buy-in	20%		Mandate for treasury ops
Regulatory comfort	15%		Jurisdiction, compliance team

Threshold: Score >3.5 = green light for pilot.

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Diagnostic Framework

Cost Decomposition

For each corridor, decompose the all-in cost:

Component	Traditional	Stablecoin	Delta
Wire fees	$40	$0	-$40
FX spread	2.5%	0%	-2.5%
Off-ramp	N/A	0.8%	+0.8%
Lifting fees	$20	$0	-$20
All-in	~3.0%	~0.8%	-2.2%

Velocity Decomposition

Stage	Traditional	Stablecoin	Delta
Bank processing	1 day	0	-1 day
SWIFT messaging	1 day	0	-1 day
Correspondent hops	1-2 days	0	-1-2 days
Off-ramp to bank	N/A	<1 day	+<1 day
Total	3-5 days	<1 day	-2-4 days

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Performance Benchmarks

By Company Size

Annual Cross-Border Volume	Expected Savings	EBITDA Lift
$10M	$150-200K	10-15%
$30M	$450-600K	13-19%
$100M	$1.5-2M	8-12%
$500M+	$7.5-10M	5-8%

Note: EBITDA lift % decreases at scale because baseline EBITDA is higher, but absolute savings increase.

By Corridor

Corridor	Traditional Cost	Stablecoin Cost	Savings
US → Mexico	2.5-3.0%	0.5-0.8%	~2%
US → China	3.0-3.5%	0.8-1.2%	~2%
US → Vietnam	3.5-4.0%	1.0-1.5%	~2.5%
US → India	3.0-3.5%	1.0-1.5%	~2%
US → Nigeria	4.0-5.0%	2.0-3.0%	~2%

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KPI Dashboard

Leading Indicators

Metric	Target	Red Flag
Off-ramp onboarding time	<2 weeks	>4 weeks
Corridor pricing stability	<10% variance	>25% variance
Supplier acceptance rate	>80%	<50%
ERP integration timeline	<30 days	>90 days

Lagging Indicators

Metric	Target	Red Flag
All-in cost reduction	>50% vs baseline	<30% vs baseline
Settlement time	<24 hours	>48 hours
Early-pay capture rate	>70%	<40%
EBITDA lift	10-20%	<5%

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Measurement Protocol

Phase 1: Baseline (Week 1-2)

1. Pull 12 months of SWIFT/wire data
2. Decompose cost by corridor
3. Map settlement timelines
4. Calculate working capital trapped
5. Identify early-pay discount opportunities missed

Phase 2: Pilot (Week 3-10)

1. Select highest-volume mature corridor
2. Route 10-20% of volume through stablecoin rails
3. Measure all-in cost (fees + FX + off-ramp)
4. Measure settlement velocity
5. Track any operational friction

Phase 3: Scale (Month 3+)

1. Expand to additional corridors by maturity score
2. Implement routing optimization (choose rail per payment)
3. Build treasury dashboard for CFO visibility
4. Document EBITDA impact for board reporting

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Principles → Performance Mapping

Principle	Performance Metric
Behavior resists change	Consumer checkout conversion (expect 0)
Money is a message	Routing optimization rate, path cost
Friction compounds	All-in cost per corridor, EBITDA lift
Working capital has velocity	Days to settle, early-pay capture rate
Infrastructure commoditizes	Value layer position, defensibility

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Context

• Principles — Why these metrics matter
• Protocols — How to achieve these metrics
• Performance Framework — Broader measurement philosophy