Morph, an Ethereum-based payments-focused settlement layer tied to crypto exchange Bitget’s ecosystem, said it is launching a $150 million “Payment Accelerator” to bankroll startups moving real-world payment flows onto blockchains — a push that arrives as stablecoins edge closer to mainstream finance use cases such as card settlement, remittances and merchant checkout.
The program, announced in partnership with Bitget Wallet, targets companies building crypto card programs, cross-border remittance rails, and merchant payment gateways, according to Morph. Morph said the accelerator will provide a mix of grants, performance-based incentives and liquidity support, with eligibility aimed at teams that already have an MVP or live product and can report measurable transaction activity.
Morph’s bet is that stablecoins — tokens typically pegged to the dollar — are becoming a practical settlement instrument, even if much of today’s global payments stack still relies on multi-step processes that slow reconciliation and trap working capital. In a blog post outlining the initiative, Morph pointed to $27.6 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume in 2024 and framed “payments” as one of the clearest on-ramps for broader onchain adoption.
Still, headline stablecoin volume figures are contested, in part because raw onchain transfer counts can include internal transfers and automated activity. Andreessen Horowitz’s 2025 “State of Crypto” report, for example, pegged stablecoins at $46 trillion in annual transaction volume, but estimated $9 trillion on an “adjusted” basis. Separately, TRM Labs said stablecoins reached record levels in 2025, with over $4 trillion in volume between January and July and an 83% rise over the prior year window.
Distribution through Bitget Wallet, and a token-centered design
A key element of Morph’s strategy is distribution via Bitget Wallet, which the companies say provides a direct interface for consumer-facing payment applications. Bitget Wallet has positioned payments as an increasingly important use case: it reported that spending via the Bitget Wallet Card grew more than 28-fold year-on-year in 2025, alongside expansion into features such as local QR payments, bank transfers and in-app shopping.
Morph, for its part, has tied its network economics to BGB, Bitget’s token, which it describes as the gas and governance asset for its settlement layer. That design choice underscores how payment-focused chains are increasingly pairing infrastructure incentives with distribution channels — wallets, exchanges and consumer apps — rather than attempting to bootstrap adoption from developer tooling alone.
“Payments represent the largest and most immediate opportunity for onchain adoption,” Morph Chief Executive Officer Colin Goltra said in a statement shared with AlexaBlockchain.
A crowded race to make stablecoins “bank-ready”
Morph’s accelerator arrives as traditional finance and large payment firms test stablecoin settlement in production. Visa said in December it launched USDC settlement in the U.S. for issuer and acquirer partners, citing more than $3.5 billion in annualized stablecoin settlement volume and planning broader availability through 2026.
Payment incumbents and fintechs are also experimenting with stablecoins for recurring payments and cross-border commerce. Stripe said in October it introduced stablecoin payments for subscriptions, aiming to let customers pay from crypto wallets while businesses settle directly in fiat. And banks are beginning to fund infrastructure designed to move stablecoins between issuers: Barclays took a stake in stablecoin settlement startup Ubyx, Reuters reported on Jan. 7, as major institutions explore regulated forms of digital money.
Yet skeptics argue that stablecoins’ real-world payment penetration remains limited relative to their trading and DeFi footprint. J.P. Morgan, for instance, cut its aggressive projections for stablecoin market growth last year, citing what it described as low current demand tied to payments versus other uses, Reuters reported in July. That tension — between pilot programs and mass adoption — is the gap Morph says its accelerator is designed to narrow by funding teams with deployable products and measurable transaction volume.
What Morph is trying to fund
Morph said the accelerator is built around three “network verticals” where it believes onchain settlement efficiency can directly improve unit economics:
- Crypto cards and digital issuance, where settlement and reconciliation can become bottlenecks as programs scale.
- Cross-border remittance, where delays and fragmented infrastructure can increase costs and complexity.
- Merchant checkout and payment gateways, where clearing speed and programmable flows are pitched as competitive levers.
Participants will receive support “from integration into live production,” Morph said, including infrastructure access and go-to-market collaboration. Applications are open, and the company said pilot partners are already in progress.
Why Does it matter? For stablecoins, the strategic question is shifting from “can it move value cheaply?” to “can it plug into compliance-heavy payment networks without breaking user experience?” Morph and Bitget Wallet are positioning the accelerator as a way to finance that transition — subsidizing integrations, rewarding throughput, and using wallet distribution to turn infrastructure into daily usage.
Whether such programs can produce durable payment volume will depend on factors beyond chain performance: regulatory clarity around issuers and intermediaries, consumer protections, KYC/AML expectations, and the willingness of merchants and payment processors to adopt new settlement rails. Morph’s approach — paying for traction with a large incentive pool while leaning on an established wallet’s user base — is an attempt to accelerate that learning curve in the open market.
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