Blockchain Payment Alliance Established: Giants like Solana and Polygon Join Forces to Promote Cross-Chain Payment Standardization

On November 7, 2025, several leading blockchain projects—including Solana, Fireblocks, Monad, and Polygon—announced the formation of the Blockchain Payments Consortium (BPC), aimed at establishing a universal technical framework and compliance standards for cross-chain payments.

The consortium’s members include core organizations such as Fireblocks, Polygon Labs, Mysten Labs, Monad Foundation, Solana Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, and TON Foundation. Their goal is to address the current fragmentation within the blockchain payments ecosystem. According to a joint statement, on-chain payment volume surpassed $200 trillion in 2024, exceeding the combined transaction totals of Visa and Mastercard. However, differences in technology and compliance standards across networks continue to hinder large-scale commercial adoption. This collaboration is viewed as a critical step toward integrating blockchain payments into mainstream financial infrastructure and could accelerate the adoption of stablecoins in cross-border settlement.

Background and Industry Challenges

Blockchain payments have experienced explosive growth in recent years, but interoperability issues remain a major bottleneck. Data from BPC indicates that the global on-chain payment volume reached $200 trillion in 2024, reflecting increased penetration of digital assets in financial settlements. Yet, underlying infrastructure coordination remains problematic. The consortium members highlighted in their statement, “Current payment networks are highly fragmented, with different blockchains lacking unified protocols, compliance standards, and data formats.”

This challenge is especially pronounced in cross-border payments. While stablecoins are increasingly adopted by businesses due to their fast settlement times and low costs, cross-chain transfers still face inefficiencies, high fees, and regulatory uncertainties. For example, transferring USD stablecoins between Solana and Polygon often requires multiple intermediary bridges, which can be time-consuming and pose security risks due to potential smart contract vulnerabilities.

Industry trends show that traditional financial giants are beginning to develop on-chain payment solutions. Recently, a major centralized exchange (CEX) partnered with Citibank to explore “fiat-to-on-chain stablecoin payment pathways,” and SWIFT announced plans in September to integrate blockchain ledgers into its infrastructure. U.S. regulatory efforts around stablecoins are also boosting confidence among financial institutions to adopt blockchain technology. Ran Goldi, Senior Vice President of Payments and Network at Fireblocks, commented, “Over the past 18 months, payments have become a leading application for mainstream blockchain adoption.”

Members and Synergies

BPC brings together some of the most influential organizations in the blockchain ecosystem, spanning high-performance public chains, enterprise infrastructure, and large-scale user platforms. The Solana Foundation’s high-throughput network positions it as a key player in retail payments; Polygon Labs offers Layer-2 scaling solutions to reduce transaction costs on Ethereum; Mysten Labs’ Sui blockchain focuses on high concurrency; and TON Foundation, originating from Telegram’s blockchain project, leverages its billion-user base to promote payment adoption.

Technologically, the members’ capabilities are highly complementary. Solana’s 65,000 TPS network is ideal for high-frequency, small-value payments; Stellar has long focused on cross-border remittance channels; Monad’s parallelized EVM architecture could support complex settlement logic; and Fireblocks provides institutional-grade custody, compliance frameworks, and multi-party computation (MPC) wallets.

This synergy is reflected in their roadmap. The initial phase will focus on establishing three key standards: cross-chain stablecoin transfer protocols, transaction data disclosure norms, and AML verification interfaces. Nikola Plecas, Vice President of Payments at Solana Foundation, stated, “Through BPC, we are collaborating with networks, institutions, and enterprises to build a fast, trustworthy, and scalable global payment network—laying the foundation for an inclusive digital economy.”

Potential Impact of Standardization

If BPC successfully develops universal standards for cross-chain payments, it could significantly lower barriers for financial institutions. Currently, banks supporting multi-chain stablecoin payments need to develop separate interfaces for each blockchain, which is costly and time-consuming. A unified standard could reduce development costs by over 70%. According to Boston Consulting Group, standardizing cross-chain protocols could save global enterprises over $50 billion in payment processing costs by 2026.

From a regulatory perspective, BPC’s framework might serve as a bridge connecting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and private stablecoins across different jurisdictions. The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s recent consultation on stablecoin regulation emphasized that cross-chain transactions should meet “equivalent regulatory standards.” Embedding FATF’s Travel Rule into the protocol could also help institutions comply more efficiently with reporting obligations.

Market-wise, this collaboration could reshape the competitive landscape of payments. Traditional cross-border payment providers like Ripple and SWIFT may face increased competition, while existing ecosystems such as Ethereum could accelerate their standardization efforts. Blockchain analyst Zhang Wei noted, “BPC’s strength lies in integrating technical protocols with real-world use cases. Combining Telegram’s social payment network with Fireblocks’ institutional channels could lead to the emergence of the first billion-user on-chain payment product.”

Future Outlook and Industry Evolution

The development of cross-chain payment standards is just the beginning of blockchain’s financialization journey. BPC plans to advance in three phases by 2026: first standardizing core transaction protocols, then building cross-chain data oracle networks, and finally connecting directly with traditional payment systems like FedNow. If executed smoothly, on-chain payment volume could surpass $50 trillion by 2027.

Technological innovations such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) are also likely to play a role. ZK-proofs could enable privacy-preserving cross-chain verification while satisfying regulatory transparency requirements. Mysten Labs has made progress with zkLogin identity solutions, and Polygon’s zkEVM offers a verifiable computation layer. These advancements could enable “single KYC, multi-chain access” payment experiences.

For developers, BPC standards will open new opportunities. Demand for multi-chain compatible smart contract templates, cross-chain liquidity aggregators, and compliance monitoring tools could surge. Plecas summarized, “We are building not just technical standards but the foundation for the next-generation global financial system.”

Conclusion

The formation of the Blockchain Payments Consortium marks a transition from technological exploration to standard-setting and collaborative development within the industry. As Solana, Polygon, and other major chains work together to create cross-chain frameworks, the fragmented ecosystem is poised to evolve into a unified payment network. Despite challenges in technical implementation, regulatory coordination, and profit-sharing, this partnership accelerates the path toward large-scale commercial adoption. Over the next three years, with standards in place and ecosystems expanding, we may witness on-chain payments leap from a trillion-dollar market to a mainstream financial infrastructure valued in the hundreds of trillions.