On November 2, a figure made headlines at Hong Kong FinTech Week: RedCoin, the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin launched by HSBC on October 23, had gained 50,000 users in just about 10 days. It can be transferred directly through PayMe and used to pay at merchants. It sounds like stablecoins have moved one step closer to everyday spending.

But my first reaction to the news wasn’t excitement. Instead, I found myself asking one more question: can I actually spend it in situations that matter to me? I have stablecoins sitting in my wallet too, and when I really want to spend them, the obstacle has never been whether I have any—it’s whether I can spend them where I need to pay, in the way I want to pay.

A while ago, I wanted to use stablecoins to pay an overseas expense directly. It was only after going through the process that I realized a successful on-chain transfer is just the first step. Some services only work within their own apps, with no way to transfer funds to an external wallet. Some merchants only accept payments on specific networks, so choosing the wrong one means starting over. And some payment routes may look like they use dollar stablecoins, but the funds take a detour during settlement. Once fees and exchange rates are factored in, the amount you actually receive can be different from what you expected. The money is right there in your account, yet spending it still involves detours. That's the most frustrating part.

That's why, when I read news about stablecoin payments now, I break the question of whether they “work” down into three parts.

First, can the funds leave the ecosystem? Products like RedCoin, which are built into banking apps, can get off the ground quickly and offer practical merchant coverage. But for now, they can mainly be used within their own system and can't be transferred to external wallets. That's not a flaw; it's a boundary. You need to check whether your stablecoins can only be spent in a particular app or can actually be taken elsewhere.

Second, what do merchants accept, and what currency are transactions ultimately settled in? Some partnerships simply say they “support wallet payments” without clarifying which merchants will be included initially, which regions they cover, or whether merchants receive stablecoins or local currency. The Airtm and BVNK partnership announced on October 29 is similar: the idea is to connect wallet funds to participating merchants, but details about the initial merchants and countries, as well as fees, haven't been provided. Without those details, ordinary users shouldn't assume they can “pay anywhere in the world.”

Third, and perhaps easiest to overlook, the true cost of a card isn't determined by its advertised fee rate. The BIN, settlement channel, and exchange rate all affect the final cost. The same purchase can produce a different bill depending on where the card was issued, which settlement channel was used, and when the currency was exchanged. What I do now is compare a few cards side by side in PayAll: which stablecoins they support, which settlement route they use, and how the final amount is calculated. Then I decide which card to use for the payment, instead of topping up first and hoping for the best.

This approach has saved me not just a one-time fee, but the time spent repeatedly learning by trial and error. I used to transfer first, pay next, and only then discover something was wrong. Now I check the boundaries before taking action. Real progress in stablecoin payments isn't about adding yet another currency; it's about making every step predictable. Once you know whether you can transfer the funds out, what merchants accept, and how settlement is calculated, spending becomes smooth.

So I understand the phrase “you can spend stablecoins now” differently than I used to. It doesn't just mean having coins in your wallet; it means there's no break in the path from holding the money to spending it. The 50,000 users mentioned in the news show that the demand is real. But for each of us, the more important question is about our own transaction: can you spend the money where you want to, in a way you can clearly understand? Ask that first, then talk about convenience—that way, you won't get your hopes up for nothing.

The author is affiliated with the products mentioned in this article. The above is a personal account and does not constitute investment or financial advice.