Avalanche forms payments alliance with VanEck

Avalanche has launched the Avalanche Payments Collective, bringing together 28 financial and technology groups including VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Anchorage Digital and Paxos in a push to build blockchain-based infrastructure for global payments, treasury management and settlement.

The initiative, unveiled on Thursday, is designed to consolidate a payments ecosystem around Avalanche’s blockchain network, covering stablecoins, custody, foreign exchange, card issuance, business payments, asset management, global payouts and on-chain settlement. The group says its participating firms support payment flows across more than 150 countries, 96 currencies and about 22 billion payout endpoints.

The launch comes as digital asset networks seek a larger role in mainstream payments after years in which blockchain use was dominated by trading, decentralised finance and token issuance. The collective is being positioned as a practical network for companies that want round-the-clock settlement, programmable treasury tools and cross-border payment rails without relying solely on traditional correspondent banking systems.

VanEck’s participation adds a traditional asset-management presence to the group. The New York-based firm has expanded its digital asset business through exchange-traded products and tokenised investment initiatives, while Franklin Templeton has also developed tokenised fund products. Their presence alongside stablecoin issuers, custodians and payments firms reflects the broader convergence between capital markets and blockchain infrastructure.

Avalanche, developed by Ava Labs, has promoted its network as a platform for custom blockchains and institutional applications. Its strategy has increasingly focused on enterprise-grade use cases, including tokenised assets, settlement layers and financial-market infrastructure. The Payments Collective extends that push into commercial payments, where scale, compliance and interoperability are viewed as more important than speculative activity.

The timing is significant. Stablecoins have moved closer to regulated finance after the passage of new rules in major jurisdictions, including the United States and the European Union. Policy clarity has encouraged banks, fintech companies and asset managers to examine whether stablecoins can lower settlement costs, reduce delays and improve liquidity management in cross-border transactions.

The United States has introduced a federal framework for payment stablecoins, requiring reserve backing and public disclosures, while Europe’s MiCA regime has already set rules for crypto-asset service providers and stablecoin issuers. The Bank of England has also softened parts of its proposed framework for sterling-backed stablecoins, signalling a more measured approach as it balances innovation with financial stability.

For businesses, the case for blockchain payments rests on speed and reach. Conventional cross-border payment systems can involve multiple intermediaries, time-zone delays, reconciliation costs and settlement risk. Stablecoin-based payments promise faster transfer of value, especially for firms operating across emerging-market corridors, global contractor networks and digital commerce platforms.

Yet the model faces important constraints. Stablecoins remain a small share of overall payment flows, and many corporate users are still testing rather than deploying them at scale. Questions remain over legal finality, consumer protection, sanctions compliance, dispute resolution and the ability of blockchain networks to handle institutional volumes under stress.

Regulators have also warned that stablecoins may create risks if redemption surges force issuers to sell reserve assets quickly or if users treat private digital tokens as equivalent to bank money without comparable safeguards. The durability of any payments network will depend not only on blockchain performance but also on reserve quality, custody standards, anti-money-laundering controls and operational resilience.

Avalanche’s collective appears designed to address those concerns by assembling firms across the payments stack rather than relying on a single application. Custody providers can handle safekeeping, stablecoin issuers can provide settlement assets, foreign-exchange and payout firms can connect local markets, and asset managers can support tokenised treasury products.

The grouping also reflects a shift in blockchain competition. Networks are no longer competing only on transaction speed or developer incentives; they are increasingly judged by the institutional partnerships they can attract and the regulated use cases they can support. Ethereum, Solana, Polygon and several bank-led tokenisation platforms are also competing for a place in the emerging infrastructure for digital money and tokenised assets.