Transak’s Invisible Stablecoin Strategy for Mass Adoption

Transak, a crypto infrastructure provider backed by Tether with $40 million in total funding, is undergoing a strategic pivot from being a visible ‘buy crypto’ button to becoming an invisible backbone for financial applications. CEO Sami Start explained that the company is leaning into modular APIs as a white-labeled offering for established firms seeking to augment their existing services with stablecoins. This shift represents a fundamental change in how crypto infrastructure providers approach market penetration.

Historically known for enabling users to purchase crypto with cash through integration in major wallets and crypto apps, Transak is now rolling out use cases where its brand remains completely hidden. ‘We’re starting to roll out more white-label use cases and stablecoin use cases, where it’s about onboarding and using financial applications, rather than buying crypto to speculate,’ Start told Decrypt. This approach allows traditional financial companies to integrate stablecoin functionality without confronting users with industry terminology or branding.

At the core of Transak’s new strategy is what Start calls the ‘stablecoin sandwich’—a concept that involves handling both sides of cross-border transactions without the user ever knowing they’re interacting with blockchain technology. The process begins with Transak managing Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures for an individual purchasing a stablecoin with cash in one region, then extends to someone receiving that same token in a different region who wants to convert those funds back into cash.

‘In some cases, we may just do one side of that,’ Start noted. ‘But by making our product slightly more flexible, we just open up a much, much larger market.’ This flexibility allows Transak to serve various use cases while keeping the complex underlying technology completely hidden from end users. The approach mirrors how the California DMV’s recently sunset blockchain-based service used Avalanche without ever mentioning the layer-1 network’s name to users.

The strategy represents a significant departure from traditional crypto marketing, where companies typically want their brand front and center. As an infrastructure provider specializing in crypto payments, Transak has discovered that invisibility might be its greatest strength in driving mainstream adoption.

The timing of Transak’s strategic shift coincides with growing institutional interest in stablecoins following the passage of the GENIUS Act legislation in the U.S. Major financial institutions including Citigroup and Bank of America have expressed interest in dollar-pegged tokens, while companies like PayPal are already integrating stablecoin functionality into their platforms. PayPal’s Venmo, for instance, could eventually track users’ traditional account balances alongside holdings of PYUSD, though currently the stablecoin appears separately from ‘cash’ on the mobile app’s ‘crypto’ page.

Western Union became the latest payments giant to express interest in the technology, announcing plans to debut its own stablecoin on Solana next year. This growing institutional adoption highlights the revenue potential that stablecoins offer tech firms, as their backing assets—typically U.S. Treasuries and cash—generate low-risk returns. The third quarter demonstrated this potential clearly, with Coinbase reporting $355 million in revenue stemming from Circle’s USDC stablecoin.

As more traditional financial companies explore stablecoin integration, Transak’s white-label approach positions it as an essential infrastructure provider. By handling the complex regulatory and technical challenges while keeping the user experience simple and familiar, Transak enables companies to leverage stablecoin benefits without the operational overhead. This invisible integration strategy could ultimately prove to be the catalyst that brings stablecoins to the masses, not through consumer education, but through seamless integration into existing financial workflows.