dtcpay raises US$10M to turn stablecoins into real-world payments

Singapore’s stablecoin payments race just got a fresh injection of fuel.

dtcpay, a regulated digital payments firm headquartered in Singapore, has raised US$10 million in a Series A round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India.

The timing matters: stablecoins have moved from crypto-adjacent curiosity to a serious payments rail, but regulators are now demanding grown-up compliance, not growth hacks.

Also Read: How stablecoins are quietly reinventing the global dollar system

So what does dtcpay do, in plain English?

dtcpay sits between stablecoins (digital dollars that aim to hold a steady value) and the traditional money system. In simple terms, it lets businesses and individuals pay and get paid in stablecoins, while also converting between stablecoins and regular currencies quickly so transactions can settle in real-world contexts (think invoices, payroll, and cross-border transfers rather than speculative trading).

A key selling point is its real-time swap and settlement: the company says it can move between stablecoin and fiat flows instantly, which is the entire point of stablecoins as payments infrastructure — speed and certainty, especially across borders and outside banking hours.

Why this deal matters for dtcpay and for Singapore

For dtcpay, the funding is a vote of confidence that its compliance-heavy approach can scale. The company has been collecting licences rather than slogans, and it now claims a meaningful regulatory footprint: a Major Payment Institution licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, plus licences and registrations across markets including Hong Kong, Australia, the United States, and Canada.

Most notably, it has secured an Electronic Money Institution licence in Luxembourg, a gateway to operating regulated payment services across the European Economic Area.

That Luxembourg move turns the round from “another fintech raises money” into something sharper: a Southeast Asia-born stablecoin payments company attempting to build a regulated corridor into Europe. In this market, compliance expectations are high, and penalties for getting it wrong are real.

Also Read: How SMEs are using stablecoins to beat currency swings

Singapore’s angle is broader. The city-state has spent years marketing itself as a credible digital asset hub, but credibility is tested when products hit the messy world of payments: refunds, chargebacks, sanctions screening, fraud, consumer protection, and bank partnerships.

A locally headquartered player raising a Series A to expand regulated stablecoin payments sends a signal that Singapore’s next phase is less about exchanges and more about financial plumbing.

dtcpay also says it has partnered with Visa, offering Visa Infinite cards and corporate card programmes that settle across digital and fiat currencies. Card rails remain where most real-world spending happens; bridging stablecoin balances to card acceptance is one practical route to mainstream usage—if pricing, compliance, and user experience hold up at scale.

CEO and co-founder Alice Liu framed the bet as operational, not ideological: “faster, safer, and more cost-efficient transactions” built on what she called a compliance-first foundation.

Stablecoins in Singapore: growing up, getting regulated, attracting players

Singapore’s stablecoin scene is expanding, but it’s doing so under a watchful regulator. MAS set out a framework for single-currency stablecoins issued in Singapore—designed to impose requirements around reserve backing, redemption, disclosures, and audits.

Translation: regulators are trying to separate stablecoins that can behave like money from tokens that only behave like marketing.

There are already notable players in and around Singapore:

• StraitsX, associated with XSGD and infrastructure for tokenised payments use cases
• Paxos, which has pursued regulated stablecoin issuance and infrastructure in Singapore
• Circle, which has been building regional operations and partnerships tied to USDC
• Major exchanges and wallets with Singapore footprints that support stablecoin flows, even if they are not “payments companies” in the strict sense

Globally, stablecoins have become one of crypto’s largest “real usage” categories by value, with market capitalisation in the hundreds of billions of US dollars in recent years and transaction volumes that can reach trillions of US dollars over short periods depending on measurement method. Singapore is positioning itself as a regulated hub within that global flow, particularly for cross-border B2B payments, treasury operations, and settlement.

Why stablecoin-based payments are becoming vital, and where it’s heading

Stablecoins are gaining traction because they address long-standing payments pain points:

• Cross-border friction: Moving money internationally can be slow, opaque, and fee-heavy
• Settlement speed: Stablecoin transfers can settle 24/7, not just on bank schedules
• Programmability: Funds can be tied to conditions (escrow, automated release, on-chain reconciliation)
• Interoperability: Stablecoins can move across platforms more easily than closed-loop bank systems

The trend line is also clear: stablecoins are being pulled into the mainstream by regulation and institutions, not by memes. The next phase is likely to look less like consumers “paying with crypto” and more like stablecoins quietly powering the back end—merchant settlement, global payroll, supplier payments, and treasury management—while users keep tapping cards and bank apps on the front end.

Also Read: How stablecoins are disrupting traditional financial systems

That, in turn, raises the bar for companies like dtcpay. Winning won’t be about who shouts “mass adoption” loudest; it will hinge on licensing, liquidity, risk controls, bank relationships, and distribution. Vertex’s Genping Liu argued dtcpay is positioned for that shift, pointing to “real-world use” where stablecoin utility meets regulated finance.

The stablecoin payments story in Singapore is no longer a speculative sideshow. It’s turning into an infrastructure contest—one where the winners will look a lot like boring payments companies, except the rails underneath are new.

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