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Early Warning Services LLC announced early Friday its Zelle payments network will expand internationally by using stablecoins for cross-border transactions.
Many details of the new initiative, such as expected volumes and fees, were not immediately available, but the move is aimed at offering faster international payments capability “to Zelle customers sending money to and from the United States, building on what we have learned from the market, our users, and our network banks and credit unions,” said Early Warning chief executive Cameron Fowler in a statement announcing the initiative. Zelle is known as a peer-to-peer payments service.
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Early Warning is owned by Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Truist, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, all of which support the international initiative, Early Warning said in its announcement. The company adds the move “is designed to expand on the success of Zelle in U.S. payments while addressing one of the most persistent challenges in global money movement: sending money safely and conveniently across borders.”
Early Warning says the new service will be available to all financial institutions participating in the Zelle network. More than 2,300 banks and credit unions use Zelle. Details regarding costs, fees, and start date could not be immediately determined.
Experts who follow stablecoins say Early Warning’s cross-border move is not entirely unexpected, given Zelle’s domestic growth since its launch in 2017. The network processed more than $1 trillion in 2024 on some 3.6 billion transactions, with 151 million enrolled consumer and small-business accounts. Early Warning also operates the Paze online checkout platform.
Some experts at least are not surprised by the move to take Zelle into cross-border payments, given Early Warning’s links to multiple financial institutions, including some of the country’s largest banks. “I predicted they would be a good candidate for this,” says Aaron McPherson, principal at AFM Consulting, a payments advisory. “This needs to be done in collaboration rather than each [bank] on its own.”
Stablecoins, which are blockchain-generated cryptocurrencies, may be particularly well-suited to the complexities of cross-border transactions, McPherson adds, particularly given the regulatory clarity introduced by initiatives such ss the GENIUS Act, a set of U.S. stablecoin rules signed into law in July. “Regulatory changes have increased tolerance of crypto. There’s been a sea change,” he says. “The new [Trump] administration is bullish on crypto, and that’s given banks a lot of pressure” to get involved.
Another advantage lies in the nature of stablecoins, which reflect the value of the fiat currency they represent, McPherson points out. “You don’t have the problem of stablecoins not being accepted in some jurisdictions,” he says. “It’s like traditional money, you know it’s legal tender.”
Early Warning did not immediately announce its expected costs tied to cross-border transactions on Zelle, but McPherson says that can be managed. “It’s primarily a speed and transfer play” to begin with, he notes, and “an opportunity to re-invent cross-border payments for a new age.”
