Nium CEO sees stablecoins as a tool for trapped corporate cash

Nium founder and CEO Prajit Nanu told PYMNTS that stablecoins’ strongest enterprise use case may be in corporate treasury, where global companies often lack a current view of usable dollar liquidity across legal entities and markets. Nium, a cross-border payments company, keeps hundreds of bank accounts in about 65 to 70 countries, and Nanu said even it does not have a continuous view of all its dollar cash.

The issue is operational as much as financial. Multinationals hold money across subsidiaries, local bank accounts, payroll accounts, tax obligations, supplier flows and regulatory requirements. On a consolidated basis, a company may appear well funded, while individual entities still need pre-positioned cash because treasurers cannot be certain when funds will arrive or how exchange rates may move before settlement.

Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS, described the problem in a “Summer School” discussion with Nanu as “trapped dollars.” Nanu said that idle liquidity creates an economic cost that companies often do not explicitly record.

Stablecoins as settlement infrastructure

Nanu argued that stablecoins should be assessed less as a consumer payment product and more as a settlement layer between corporate entities. “Where we see a significant amount of opportunity is stablecoin not as a payments value, but as a settlement value,” he told PYMNTS.

In that model, a company could use a dollar-backed stablecoin to represent value temporarily while leaving local operating cash available where it is needed. Nanu gave the example of a business that collects Brazilian reais during the day, moves value into a dollar-backed stablecoin after hours, and converts back into reais before operations resume.

The mechanism would allow a treasury team to see and use dollar-equivalent liquidity across entities more quickly, according to Nanu. It could also reduce the need to leave large balances idle in pre-funded accounts for payroll, supplier payments or statutory obligations, though adoption would depend on cost, regulation, safety and operational certainty.

Treasurers want defined outcomes

Nanu said stablecoin providers must hide the technical complexity from corporate users. A treasurer should not need to select a blockchain, manage token balances or calculate variable network fees to move value between entities, he said.

“The treasurers really care about: Is my money safe? Is this in a regulated setup? Is this fast? Is this low cost? What’s the yield?” Nanu told PYMNTS. He said providers risk losing corporate buyers if they frame the discussion around gas fees, token mechanics or competing chains.

Webster said the certainty promised by stablecoins still comes with uncertainty for executives considering adoption. Nanu agreed that CFOs and treasurers face personal and professional risk if a new infrastructure choice fails.

Banks remain central to corporate trust

The approach resembles multicurrency notional pooling, a banking service that lets companies manage balances across currencies and accounts without moving each balance physically. Nanu said existing pooling services work best in major currencies and developed markets, while coverage in emerging markets can be less consistent.

According to Nanu, banks retain important advantages in corporate finance, including regulation, client relationships, deposit funding and institutional trust. He positioned Nium as a partner to banks rather than a replacement, saying infrastructure providers can supply local connectivity, software and settlement capabilities that would be costly for each bank to build independently.

“We are the FinTech that helps banks compete with FinTechs,” Nanu told PYMNTS.

This story draws on original reporting from PYMNTS.