4 min read
Money is moving faster than it used to. What once took hours or days is increasingly expected to happen in seconds, whether it’s paying a supplier, moving funds between accounts, or settling a transaction at checkout.
In Canada, that shift is about to accelerate. The introduction of the Real-Time Rail (RTR) will bring instant, 24/7 payments into the core of the country’s financial infrastructure, changing how money moves domestically and raising expectations across the board.
At the same time, stablecoins have gained traction as a parallel innovation. They offer a different model for moving value—one that operates globally, settles continuously, and is not tied to traditional banking hours or systems.
These two developments are often framed as competing approaches to modern payments. In practice, they are solving different problems. Real-time rails are reshaping how money moves within countries. Stablecoins are expanding how it can move across them.
Understanding where each fits and how they may work together is becoming an important part of how businesses think about their payment strategy.
Real-Time Payments Are Becoming the Backbone of Domestic Money Movement
In markets where real-time payments have taken hold—like Brazil and India—they’ve moved beyond innovation and have become critical payments infrastructure.
Fast facts on those real-time rails:
- “In 2023, instant payments expedited over 37 billion transactions and now represents more than 36% of Brazil’s electronic payments. Brazil is fast-tracking financial digitization and inclusion with over 150 million active users on PIX.” [Source]
- “By far the world’s largest real-time player, India dominates the global real-time payments space with almost 130 billion real-time payments made in 2023. To put this in context, that’s more than the rest of the world’s top 10 real-time payment markets combined and 49% of total global real-time transactions.” [Source]
Canada is heading in that direction with the introduction of the Real-Time Rail (RTR). Once live, RTR will allow payments to clear and settle instantly, 24/7, 365 days a year. Funds move in seconds, with confirmation and finality built in.
This shift will fundamentally change how businesses operate. Instead of working around cut-off times and settlement delays, money moves when it needs to, cash flow becomes visible in real time, and payments stop being something you plan around and start becoming something that just… happens.
Stablecoins Solve a Different Problem: Global, Always-On Liquidity
Stablecoins come from a different place entirely. These digital assets are pegged to fiat currencies, most often the U.S. dollar, and are designed to move value quickly and continuously across borders (no banking hours or geographic constraints).
That makes them powerful in cross-border scenarios. Where traditional rails can still be slow and layered with intermediaries, stablecoins offer a more direct path. Funds move faster, with fewer steps in between.
But speed isn’t the whole story.
Using stablecoins in everyday transactions still isn’t seamless. In most cases, funds need to be converted back into local currency and routed through domestic payment systems to complete a purchase or settle with a merchant. That extra step adds friction, both operationally and from a regulatory standpoint.
So while stablecoins excel at moving value globally, they’re not yet universally embedded in the systems that support day-to-day payments.
Stablecoins vs. RTR: Where Each One Wins
Real-time rails and stablecoins are often grouped into the same conversation, but they’re solving different problems. The distinction becomes clearer when you look at how they perform in practice:
Domestic payments
RTR is purpose-built for this. It’s integrated into the banking system, regulated, and designed to handle everyday transactions at scale. For most businesses operating within Canada, it will remove friction without changing how payments are managed.
Cross-border movement
This is where stablecoins stand out. They allow funds to move across markets without relying on traditional correspondent banking networks, reducing delays and intermediaries in the process.
Speed and availability
Both operate in real time, but in different contexts. RTR enables instant domestic settlement, while stablecoins extend that capability globally with continuous, always-on movement.
Trust and regulation
RTR operates within established financial frameworks, which brings clarity and confidence for businesses. Stablecoins are moving in that direction, but regulatory environments are still evolving and vary by region.
As Tiff Macklen, Governor of the Bank of Canada said in a December 2025 speech:
“It is important for Canada to have its own regulatory framework for stablecoins. In the federal budget last month, the government announced it will do just that, with the Bank of Canada as the regulator.”
Integration into everyday use
RTR is built directly into existing payment workflows. Stablecoins still require a bridge back into fiat systems for most day-to-day transactions, which adds complexity.
Will RTR Reduce the Need for Stablecoins in Canada?
For domestic payments, the short answer is yes.
RTR is designed to solve many of the same problems stablecoins aim to address, but within a regulated, bank-integrated environment. It removes delays, enables real-time settlement, and operates continuously. For most Canadian businesses moving funds within the country, it will cover the majority of use cases.
That shift matters because it reduces the incentive to look for alternative rails for domestic transactions. When speed, availability, and reliability are built directly into the financial system, the need to route around it becomes less compelling.
But that doesn’t make stablecoins irrelevant.
Their value shows up in scenarios where domestic infrastructure reaches its limits. Cross-border payments are the most obvious example. Moving money between countries still involves multiple intermediaries, varying regulations, and added complexity around currency conversion. Stablecoins offer a way to move value across those boundaries more directly.
They also introduce flexibility in how businesses manage liquidity. Holding and moving funds in a digital, dollar-denominated format can be useful in multi-currency environments or for organizations operating across markets.
Where They Work Together—and What This Means for Businesses
Real-time rails and stablecoins aren’t competing systems. They’re complementary. RTR is designed to handle domestic payments quickly and reliably. Stablecoins extend that capability across borders, where traditional infrastructure still introduces delays and complexity.
In practice, that can look like funds moving internationally via stablecoin, then settling locally through the RTR. The transaction feels instant end-to-end, even though multiple systems are working behind the scenes.
For businesses, the implication is that you don’t need to bet on one model, but you do need a payment setup that can support both—domestically and across borders—without adding friction.
Build a Payments Strategy that Keeps Up
As payment infrastructure evolves, the focus is shifting from speed alone to flexibility and integration. Explore how Digital Commerce Payments can help you modernize your payments stack today.