In this episode of Stableminded, This Week in Fintech’s stablecoin-focused series, Drew Rogers sits down with Berhan Kongel, co-founder and CEO of Keyrails, a stablecoin-first payment infrastructure company bridging fragmented financial systems in emerging markets with the high-speed rails of the global economy.

Berhan brings over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and operator in fintech. Before Keyrails, he co-founded Arf, a short-term stablecoin lender that became a key liquidity provider for cross-border financial institutions. He’s been building with stablecoins since before USDC existed—and knows the infrastructure issues from the inside out.

Keyrails’ mission is to enable faster, cheaper, and more scalable cross-border payments, especially from emerging markets like Nigeria, Kenya, and Turkey. Their infrastructure is designed not just to receive payments in these markets, but to help merchants and businesses originate outbound USD flows—something most global rails are not built for.

During the conversation, Berhan explains how Keyrails built a system that combines stablecoin settlement with bank-grade SWIFT routing, enabling overnight cross-border payments without pre-funded accounts. By integrating stablecoins into the core of the architecture, Keyrails reduces the need for trapped liquidity and unlocks new routes into places where traditional banking systems often say no.

Berhan also introduces one of the most compelling metaphors of the season: stablecoins as the “quantum form” of the dollar—liquid, omnipresent, and only settling into fiat at the moment of transaction. It’s this model that allows Keyrails to operate efficiently across dozens of countries, helping exporters in Nigeria pay suppliers in China in under 24 hours—at a quarter of the traditional cost.

Looking ahead, Keyrails is exploring new use cases for stablecoins beyond cross-border payments—including local infrastructure inside the U.S. Through a partnership with Anchorage, the team is building a new stablecoin-native framework for domestic payments that could fundamentally rewire how ACH and Fedwire payments work.

Thank you to Dfns for sponsoring this season of Stableminded.

Dfns is the wallet infrastructure platform securing over $1 billion monthly, with zero hacks, and trusted by 130+ global fintechs, banks, and enterprises. From Fidelity to Coinbase, top players rely on Dfns to manage digital assets with unmatched security and seamless API integrations.

🎧 Watch the full episode on Spotify and YouTube below!