As we wrap up the year, three shifts are redefining how financial services are delivered to SMEs and corporates: the rise of institutional-grade stablecoin infrastructure, an intensifying battle for ownership of the SME relationship, and early signs of consolidation across the payments landscape. Each of these trends is accelerating faster than most expected, and all have direct implications for how large platforms, banks, marketplaces, and telcos reshape their financial services strategies in 2025.
Stablecoins Go Corporate: JPMorgan Opens the Door
One of the biggest signals this month came from JPMorgan, which now lets clients swap JPM Coin (its tokenized deposit) for USDC on Base.
This is the first real bridge between bank-controlled closed systems and public blockchain rails, and it matters because JPM moves trillions per day, far more than the entire stablecoin market combined.
Suddenly, a corporate can:
- Move JPM Coin from JPM’s private network onto Base
- Swap into USDC
- Pay suppliers, settle trades, or move liquidity instantly
This is the early architecture for bank deposits ↔ stablecoins, removing correspondent banking friction and enabling true 24/7 treasury operations. Every major bank will now need a deposit-token strategy that connects to public chains, because clients will increasingly expect interoperability, not walled gardens.
The Battle for SME Ownership
A major shift is underway: the platforms that control daily SME relationships are positioning themselves to own SME financial services.
We’ve seen:
- Monzo, Revolut, N26 expanding into telco, building super-app ecosystems
- Shopify, Amazon, Mercado Libre rolling out payments, lending, banking-style accounts
- Telcos and marketplaces embedding financial products directly into merchant workflows
The question emerging: Who has the strongest right to win the SME relationship, banks, fintechs, telcos, or platform ecosystems?
Banks still own trust and regulatory depth.
Platforms, however, own the data, the distribution, and the daily engagement. a powerful combination.
2025 will be defined by whoever can best turn operational insight into financial products.
Payments Consolidation: The Early Signals
Consolidation is accelerating, not at the headline level yet, but in a way that suggests a larger wave is coming.
Recent notable deals:
- Global Payments + Worldpay – bringing acquiring and issuing tech back under one roof
- Stripe + Bridge + Orum – expanding into treasury orchestration and real-time payments
- Equals + Railsr – UK / EU consolidation to create a new scale provider
And below the surface, there’s a growing list of “canary in the coal mine” acquisitions that point to stress and scale pressure across the value chain:
- Payhawk acquiring Welfio (expense → AI accounting automation)
- Mollie picking up SMS payments startup MessageBird’s assets
- Qonto acquiring Penta (EU SME neobanks consolidating for scale)
- Weavr acquiring Comma (orchestration + account-to-account payments)
- Marqeta acquiring TPL (vertical integration to control issuing infrastructure)
Individually small, collectively important: they signal rising compliance costs, pressure on standalone BaaS models, and growing demand for full-stack platforms rather than point solutions.
Across all three themes, stablecoins, SME ownership and consolidation, the direction of travel is the same: interoperability, embedded distribution, and platforms that orchestrate rather than replace existing rails.
What to Look Out For in 2026
Heading into 2026, expect these themes to converge. Tokenized deposits and stablecoins will blur the boundaries between bank rails and blockchain rails, creating new liquidity models for corporates and potentially a dominant settlement chain. The race for SME ownership will sharpen as telcos, marketplaces, and fintechs double down on super-app strategies, pushing banks to rethink distribution. And consolidation will likely move up-market, with more issuer-processors, BaaS platforms, and regional PSPs merging to survive rising compliance and capital demands. The winners will be the players who can orchestrate across providers, markets, and technologies, offering interoperability rather than yet another silo.
By Mike Galvin Co-Founder & Chief Partnerships Officer at Toqio