In this episode of Stableminded, This Week in Fintech's stablecoin-focused series, Drew Rogers sits down with Eric Barbier, Founder and CEO of Triple-A, a regulated crypto payment infrastructure company that enables businesses to accept, process, and manage cryptocurrency payments without ever holding digital assets on their balance sheets.

Eric brings extensive experience in global payments, having previously founded Thunes, a company that connected mobile money wallets across emerging markets and served major remittance companies like Western Union and Remitly. His firsthand experience with the challenges of pre-funding accounts across multiple currencies and dealing with payment fraud laid the groundwork for Triple-A's mission.

Founded five years ago, Triple-A has strategically pursued a regulated-first approach, securing licenses in the US, Europe, and Singapore. The company has grown to serve over 20,000 customers across 120+ countries, processing payments for enterprise merchants like Farfetch and Razer while expanding into B2B treasury management solutions.

During the conversation, Eric reveals a critical insight about global finance: while Americans take USD access for granted, approximately two-thirds of the planet cannot hold US dollars. Even when businesses in emerging markets receive USD wire transfers, banks force-convert funds to local currencies—often unstable and inflationary—creating significant barriers to international commerce.

Eric explains how Triple-A is tackling the traditional challenges of crypto payments through technical innovations including real-time transaction detection in the mempool, direct integrations with exchanges like Coinbase and Crypto.com, and enhanced metadata that provides better transaction information than traditional payment systems. These advancements result in merchants seeing 30% higher basket sizes compared to traditional payment methods.

Most fascinating is Triple-A's growing adoption among non-crypto businesses, with Eric sharing examples like a Hong Kong mobile phone exporter and Vietnamese buyer using stablecoins for cross-border trade without any blockchain knowledge—simply because it solves real financial problems they face.

Looking forward, Triple-A continues expanding geographically with offices in Singapore, the US, Europe, Dubai, and Hong Kong. As Eric puts it, "The future is bright. I think everything, all the stars are aligned" for stablecoins to serve as powerful tools for financial inclusion rather than mere speculation vehicles.

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 YouTube below, or Spotify!