Regulated Payment Rails Meet 10,000 TPS
Zero Hash, the stablecoin infrastructure provider valued at $1.5 billion, has integrated with Monad to bring regulated USDC payment capabilities to one of the fastest EVM-compatible blockchains in production. The integration, announced by Monad and first reported by The Block, extends Zero Hash's compliant payment building blocks to Monad's high-throughput network, which processes up to 10,000 transactions per second with sub-second finality.
Zero Hash provides API-first infrastructure that financial institutions embed directly into their platforms. Its client roster reads like a who's who of traditional finance entering crypto: Morgan Stanley's E*Trade uses it for retail crypto trading, Stripe built its stablecoin payment product on it, and BlackRock's $2.4 billion BUIDL tokenized treasury fund settles through it. Now that same regulated plumbing supports Monad.
The timing matters. Zero Hash currently operates across 22 blockchains, supporting seven stablecoins including USDC, USDT, RLUSD, and PYUSD. Adding Monad signals that institutional infrastructure providers are no longer content to sit on Ethereum and Solana alone. They are actively expanding to newer, faster chains where the next wave of payment applications will be built.
Why Zero Hash Chose Monad Over Dozens of Alternatives
Monad launched its mainnet in November 2025 with native USDC support from Circle on day one, including Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) v2 for seamless cross-chain transfers. The chain's architecture delivers 0.4-second block times and 0.8-second finality, performance that makes stablecoin payments feel instantaneous rather than merely fast.
For Zero Hash, the appeal is straightforward. The company processes stablecoin transactions for enterprises that demand both speed and regulatory compliance. Monad's throughput means Zero Hash clients can now route payments through a chain where settlement is nearly real-time, transaction costs are negligible, and the EVM compatibility means existing smart contracts port over without rewrites.
This also fits into a broader industry pattern. In late 2025, the Blockchain Payments Consortium launched with Monad as a founding member alongside Solana, Polygon, Stellar, TON, and Fireblocks. The consortium represents over $10 trillion in annual stablecoin volume and aims to standardize cross-chain payment protocols. Zero Hash's integration with Monad aligns with this push toward interoperable, institutional-grade payment rails.
The $1.5 Billion Infrastructure Play Behind the Integration
Zero Hash is not a small startup making speculative bets. The company raised $104 million in a Series D-2 round in September 2025 at a $1 billion valuation, led by Interactive Brokers with participation from Morgan Stanley, Apollo, SoFi, and Jump Crypto. By January 2026, CoinDesk reported the company was in talks to raise another $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation after walking away from acquisition discussions with Mastercard, which had reportedly offered up to $2 billion.
The decision to stay independent tells you something about where Zero Hash sees the market heading. Rather than becoming a Mastercard subsidiary, the company is doubling down on being the Switzerland of crypto infrastructure, serving every major financial institution that wants stablecoin capabilities without building them from scratch. Adding Monad is part of that chain-agnostic strategy.
Zero Hash now serves over 5 million users across 190 countries, powering products for clients including Franklin Templeton, DraftKings, and Interactive Brokers. The company processed over $2 billion in tokenized fund flows in a single four-month stretch in 2025, according to CoinDesk.
What This Unlocks for Monad's Ecosystem
For Monad, gaining Zero Hash support is a credibility milestone. When the infrastructure provider behind E*Trade's crypto trading and BlackRock's tokenized treasury fund adds your chain, it signals to developers and enterprises that the network is ready for serious financial applications.
Practically, the integration means any business already using Zero Hash's APIs can now offer Monad-based stablecoin payments, on/off-ramps, and settlement without additional regulatory overhead. A fintech building a stablecoin spending product could route USDC through Monad for near-instant settlement at minimal cost, using Zero Hash to handle the compliance layer.
This also strengthens Monad's position against other high-performance chains competing for payment volume. Solana already has deep Zero Hash integration and dominates in payment throughput, recently claiming the top spot among crypto payment rails with 750% growth. But Monad's EVM compatibility gives it an edge with the massive pool of Ethereum developers and existing DeFi protocols that can deploy on Monad with minimal friction.
The Stablecoin Infrastructure Arms Race Is Heating Up
Zero Hash's Monad integration is one piece of a much larger chess match playing out across crypto's payment infrastructure. Stablecoin transaction volume surpassed Visa and Mastercard combined in 2024, reaching nearly $20 trillion on-chain. Every major infrastructure provider is racing to capture a piece of that flow.
Stripe launched its x402 payment protocol on Base, enabling direct USDC charges for AI agents. BlackRock brought its BUIDL fund to Uniswap in a direct DeFi integration. And the Blockchain Payments Consortium is working to ensure these systems can talk to each other across chains.
For users holding crypto cards or spending stablecoins daily, this infrastructure buildout matters because it determines how fast, how cheap, and how reliable your payments will be. When self-custody wallets route payments through chains like Monad using regulated rails like Zero Hash, you get the best of both worlds: the speed and cost advantages of crypto with the compliance and reliability of traditional finance.
Zero Hash's 2026 Stablecoin Momentum Report, released in January, found that stablecoins are now "embedded across use cases including brokerage funding, payments, cross-border settlement, global payroll, and treasury operations." The report concluded that 2025 was the year stablecoins stopped being experimental and started becoming core financial infrastructure. Integrations like this one are how that transition plays out in practice.
FAQ
What is Zero Hash? Zero Hash is a B2B crypto and stablecoin infrastructure provider founded in 2017. It offers APIs and embeddable tools that let financial institutions provide crypto trading, stablecoin payments, custody, and tokenization. Major clients include Morgan Stanley's E*Trade, Stripe, BlackRock, and Franklin Templeton.
What does the Monad integration mean? Businesses using Zero Hash's platform can now offer Monad-based stablecoin services, including USDC payments, on/off-ramps, and settlement. This adds Monad as the 23rd blockchain supported by Zero Hash.
How fast is Monad compared to other chains? Monad processes up to 10,000 transactions per second with 0.8-second finality and 0.4-second block times. For comparison, Ethereum processes roughly 15 TPS. Monad is also fully EVM-compatible, meaning Ethereum smart contracts can run on it without modification.
Does this affect crypto card users? Indirectly, yes. As regulated infrastructure providers like Zero Hash expand to faster chains, card issuers and payment processors gain more options for routing stablecoin transactions quickly and cheaply. This could lead to faster settlement times and lower fees for crypto card payments in the future.
Overview
Zero Hash's integration with Monad extends regulated stablecoin payment infrastructure to one of the fastest EVM-compatible blockchains. The move brings Zero Hash's 23rd supported chain online and gives its enterprise clients, including E*Trade, Stripe, and BlackRock, access to Monad's 10,000 TPS throughput for USDC payments. This integration reflects a broader trend of institutional infrastructure providers expanding beyond Ethereum and Solana to newer high-performance chains. For the stablecoin payments ecosystem, it means more competition, faster settlement, and better options for businesses building real-time payment applications on-chain.
Recommended Reading
- Solana Claims the Throne as Crypto's Top Payment Rail With 750% Growth
- Stripe Launches x402 Payments on Base, Letting Developers Charge AI Agents Directly in USDC
- BlackRock Brings Its $180 Billion BUIDL Fund to Uniswap, Marking Wall Street's First Direct DeFi Integration
