Case Study
How Airtm and Bridge Are Scaling Stablecoin Payouts With Stellar
Industry
Fintech
Location
Latin America
Use cases
Stellar for PaymentsProducts and tools used
Stellar USDC and EURCCross-border payments
Stablecoins
Intro
Who is Airtm?
Airtm is a global payments platform trusted by 2.5 million users to move money across borders. While it began as a remittance solution, Airtm has evolved to support global organizations in paying freelance and remote workers — particularly in regions where inflation and limited financial infrastructure make payroll challenging and costly. By offering a fast, affordable, and secure way to send payments, Airtm helps companies meet payroll demands while ensuring employees get paid on time and keep more of what they earn.
In 2024, Airtm processed $1.2 billion in total stablecoin transaction volume. Since launching payouts through Bridge (a Stripe company) on the Stellar network in March 2024, nearly half of Airtm’s total enterprise payout volume has flowed through this integration. With stablecoin adoption accelerating, Bridge-powered transactions are expected to continue growing throughout 2025.
Challenge
Global Payroll in Developing Regions
Global companies are increasingly tapping into remote, freelance talent to drive growth, but traditional payment methods are not built for today’s workforce. They’re slow, costly, and in some markets, non-existent.
High Transaction Costs
Cross-border fees often exceed 5-10% of the transaction value, eating into company margins.
Delayed Settlements
Payroll transfers can take several days to clear, leaving workers waiting and causing operational challenges for companies.
Infrastructure Gaps
In many emerging markets, limited banking infrastructure makes last-mile delivery to end-users slow, unreliable, or impossible.
Currency Devaluation
Inflation and swings in exchange rates can shrink workers’ earnings before funds even arrive.
Cross-border payments are broken — slow, expensive, and inaccessible. This partnership proves there’s a better way. We’re proud to enable global payouts that work at scale, in real-time.
Zach Abrams, CEO, Bridge
Stablecoin-Based Payouts
Solution
Airtm saw an opportunity to provide a better solution: digital dollar payouts that are universally accessible and easily convertible into local currency. By integrating Bridge’s Stablecoin Orchestration API, Airtm streamlines cross-border payments and enables enterprises to distribute payouts through two flexible options: 1st party payouts and 3rd party payouts.
1st Party Payouts
Direct Integration with Airtm
3rd Party Payouts
End User Supported Payouts
This collaboration delivers a real, working solution to one of the hardest problems in global finance: real-time payouts to workers navigating currency instability. We’re not just testing an idea, we’re processing millions of payouts at scale and transforming how businesses support workers across the Global South.
Rubén Galindo Steckel, CEO, Airtm
Results Mar 2024 - Mar 2025
Global Impact at Scale
150+
countries supported
250K+
recipients
1.3M
transactions
~50%
of payouts in 2024 flowed through Bridge
20-25%
average cost savings
These numbers demonstrate that stablecoin payouts aren’t just viable – they are working at scale, serving hundreds of thousands of people daily and helping drive operational efficiencies across a range of industries including, AI tech, business process outsourcing, freelancer marketplaces, customer support, and market research.
At Sapien, we believe that the people powering AI deserve to be paid fairly, quickly, and without friction. By partnering with Airtm, we’re ensuring that our contributors—no matter where they are in the world—get paid faster and with fewer barriers. This is a crucial step in our mission to build a more inclusive and efficient future for AI-driven work.
Rowan Stone, CEO, Sapien , Enterprise Airtm Customer
Conclusion
Global Payroll is ready to evolve
Global enterprises face growing pressure to cut costs, move faster, and reach new markets. At the same time, demand for stablecoins is rising – providing workers with faster, more stable access to their earnings. With the Stellar network and partners like Airtm and Bridge, businesses can:
- Expand into new geographies without relying on traditional financial rails
- Improve worker satisfaction with faster, inflation-resistant payouts
- Significantly lower cross-border payout costs
Get Started
Modernize your global payroll
Get in touch to see how Stellar enables faster, more transparent, and cost-effective payments.
Airtm
Airtm helps people, businesses, and marketplaces manage their money across borders throughout the Global South. Founded in 2015 to protect citizens in unstable Latin American economies from currency devaluation by offering a digital wallet, Airtm has expanded to support enterprises with digital asset custody, liquidity management, and cross-border payments. The global payments platform has served over 2.5 million users, making international transactions simple, predictable, and reliable by connecting businesses and marketplaces with the growing digital economy.
Bridge, a Stripe company
Bridge is an entirely new payments platform, built with stablecoins, to simplify global money movement. Bridge offers stablecoin orchestration and issuance as a service. Orchestration provides a Stripe-like experience enabling developers to easily convert between any two dollar formats (fiat, USDC, USDP, USDT, etc.). Issuance gives developers the ability to convert any of these dollars into a stablecoin they can program and benefit from. With Bridge's Orchestration and Issuance APIs, companies and teams can easily offer digital dollar-based services to their consumers or businesses.