What is a stablecoin?

Two dollar stablecoins carry most business flow, USDT and USDC, and each exists on several networks: Ethereum, TRON, Solana, Polygon, Base and others. The token is the same and the network is not. A USDT address on TRON and one on Ethereum look different, cost different fees to send to, and money sent to the wrong one is not easy to get back. That is why an invoice priced in a stablecoin names the network next to the amount.

What stands behind the peg is the issuer's reserve. In the United States the GENIUS Act, signed on 18 July 2025, created the first federal rules for payment stablecoins, and the White House summary says it "requires 100% reserve backing with liquid assets like U.S. dollars or short-term Treasuries". A stablecoin is still not a bank deposit: it is not insured, and its value depends on the issuer honouring redemptions and on the network running.

For a business the point is settlement. A stablecoin transfer clears in minutes, on a Sunday, for a network fee that does not grow with the amount, which is what makes it the usual choice for paying a contractor abroad or invoicing a client who holds dollars on chain. What it costs the other side to turn it into money is an off-ramp question.

The part people miss is the bookkeeping. A stablecoin is a dollar-shaped asset, not the currency your books are kept in. If your base currency is euros, 800 USDT received in March and spent in May were worth two different euro amounts, and the difference is a small realised gain or loss on a coin that never left the dollar. Income arrives on the day it lands, at that day's rate; the coin then sits in the books at that cost until it moves again.

How this shows up in Orla

Invoices, pay links and the Orla subscription itself can be paid in USDT or USDC. When a client opens a pay link on a crypto account, the wallet's stablecoin is offered first, USDT and then USDC, converted at the current rate; the network's own coin is proposed only on a chain with no stablecoin, like Bitcoin.

On an account page a stablecoin wallet's payments read as earned minus spent, never as a price move. Runway leaves crypto out, stablecoins included, because a runway priced in coins moves with the market rather than with the spending. Card top-ups take dollar stablecoins, with the fee shown before you send.

Sources, read on 26 September 2026

• The White House, Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Signs GENIUS Act into Law (July 2025): “The GENIUS Act requires 100% reserve backing with liquid assets like U.S. dollars or short-term Treasuries”