Product Keynote: Huma Finance

At Breakpoint 2025, Huma Finance co-founder Erbil Karaman took the stage to announce the rapid growth and ambitious expansion plans for what they're calling "the first PayFi network" — a bold initiative connecting real-world payments with stablecoin liquidity that's targeting nothing less than a $30 trillion market opportunity.

Summary

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Huma Finance is positioning itself at the forefront of PayFi, a new category of blockchain-based financial infrastructure that aims to accelerate global money movement by bridging traditional payment systems with decentralized stablecoin liquidity. The concept, which Huma helped pioneer alongside Solana Foundation approximately one year ago, has since been adopted by major payment companies across the industry.

The company's approach tackles several critical pain points in global finance: the slow and expensive correspondent banking system for cross-border payments, lengthy settlement times for merchants selling internationally, and the general inefficiency of traditional payment rails. By leveraging blockchain technology and stablecoins, Huma Finance offers solutions that can dramatically reduce settlement times from days or weeks down to same-day processing.

Karaman emphasized that Huma's strategy extends beyond simply building on-chain financial solutions. The company is focused on integrating their technology into the daily operations of businesses, partnering with fintechs to embed Huma's capabilities directly into consumer-facing applications. This approach has reportedly enabled the onboarding of tens of millions of users at a time through simplified app interfaces.

The presentation underscored Huma's dominant position in certain sectors of the payment industry, particularly in replacing outdated correspondent banking infrastructure and overdraft facilities. With trade finance launching soon, the company appears poised for continued expansion across multiple verticals in the global payments landscape.

Key Points:

PayFi: A New Category in Blockchain Finance

PayFi represents a fundamental shift in how blockchain technology interfaces with traditional payment systems. Rather than operating as a separate financial layer, PayFi connects stablecoin liquidity directly to real-world payment flows, enabling faster and more efficient money movement across borders and between businesses. Huma Finance claims to be the pioneer of this category, having launched the initiative roughly a year ago in collaboration with the Solana Foundation.

The adoption of PayFi principles by major payment companies validates the concept's viability and suggests a growing recognition that blockchain-based solutions can address longstanding inefficiencies in global payments. This industry-wide embrace represents a significant win for the Solana ecosystem, which serves as the underlying infrastructure for Huma's operations.

Cross-Border Payments and Correspondent Banking Disruption

One of Huma's primary use cases involves replacing the traditional correspondent banking system that has long dominated international money transfers. Correspondent banking is notoriously slow, expensive, and opaque — often requiring multiple intermediary banks to process a single transaction, with each adding fees and delays.

Huma's solutions claim to dominate this space by offering a blockchain-based alternative that can process cross-border payments and remittances more efficiently. By eliminating intermediaries and leveraging stablecoin liquidity, the company can offer faster settlement times and potentially lower costs for businesses and consumers alike.

Merchant Settlement Solutions for E-Commerce Giants

A particularly compelling announcement involved Huma's solution for Amazon's payout partners in Asia. The e-commerce giant's marketplace operates globally, with the majority of buyers located in the United States while many sellers are based in Asian countries. Traditional payment systems meant these merchants faced extended waiting periods to receive their earnings.

Huma's intervention transforms this dynamic entirely, enabling same-day payments to merchants who previously waited much longer for their funds. This improvement in cash flow can be transformative for small and medium-sized businesses that rely on timely payment to manage inventory and operations.

Stablecoin Card Integration and Consumer Finance

Huma Finance has been an early backer of successful stablecoin card products that are experiencing rapid global adoption. These cards allow consumers to spend their stablecoin holdings in everyday transactions, bridging the gap between digital assets and traditional commerce.

The company's involvement in this space demonstrates their commitment to building comprehensive financial infrastructure that serves both institutional and retail users. As stablecoin cards continue to gain traction worldwide, Huma's early positioning could prove strategically valuable.

Embedded Finance and Fintech Partnerships

Rather than requiring users to interact directly with blockchain technology, Huma is pursuing an embedded finance strategy. By partnering with fintech companies and integrating their solutions into existing applications, Huma can reach users who may have no awareness they're utilizing blockchain infrastructure.

This approach has reportedly enabled the onboarding of tens of millions of users through partner applications. The emphasis on simplicity and seamless integration suggests Huma understands that mainstream adoption requires abstracting away blockchain complexity while delivering the benefits of decentralized finance.

Facts + Figures

• Huma Finance positions itself as "the first PayFi network" — a category connecting real-world payments with stablecoin liquidity

• The company is targeting a $30 trillion total addressable market opportunity

• The PayFi initiative was launched approximately one year ago in collaboration with the Solana Foundation

• Major payment companies have now embraced PayFi solutions following Huma's lead

• Huma claims to "dominate" the cross-border payment prefunding and remittance industry

• The company has announced a solution for Amazon's payout partners in Asia, enabling same-day merchant payments

• Trade finance is the next vertical launching "very soon"

• Huma has been an early backer of successful stablecoin card products

• The company's fintech partnerships have enabled onboarding of "tens of millions of users at a time"

• Use cases include credit cards, cross-border prefunding, remittances, merchant settlements, and trade finance

Top Quotes

• "Pay-fi connects real-world payments with stablecoin liquidity to accelerate global money movement."

• "We dominate this industry. We replace correspondent banking and overdraft facilities."

• "It used to take forever to get the payments to merchants, now with our solutions they can get paid in the same day."

• "All of this together gives us an opportunity of a $30 trillion market to go and dominate."

• "Even though we kicked off the pay-fi initiative literally about a year ago with Solana Foundation, today, all major payment companies are embracing pay-fi solutions one way or another."

• "For us, it's not enough just to build on-chain financial solutions. We need to integrate into the daily flow of a new business."

• "We are going to take over the world."

• "Let's fucking go."

Questions Answered

What is PayFi and how does it differ from traditional DeFi?

PayFi is a new category of blockchain-based financial infrastructure that specifically connects stablecoin liquidity with real-world payment flows. Unlike traditional DeFi, which often operates in a closed loop within the crypto ecosystem, PayFi is designed to integrate with and improve existing payment systems. Huma Finance pioneered this concept about a year ago with the Solana Foundation, and the approach has since been adopted by major payment companies across the industry. The key distinction is PayFi's focus on accelerating actual money movement in the real economy rather than facilitating crypto-native transactions.

How does Huma Finance help international e-commerce sellers?

Huma Finance has developed solutions specifically for merchants who sell on global platforms like Amazon. For sellers in Asia who serve primarily American buyers, the traditional payment process could take extended periods due to the complexity of cross-border fund transfers. Huma's solution enables same-day payments to these merchants, dramatically improving their cash flow and ability to operate efficiently. This represents a significant quality-of-life improvement for the millions of small and medium-sized businesses that rely on marketplace platforms for their livelihood.

What market opportunity is Huma Finance pursuing?

Huma Finance is targeting a $30 trillion total addressable market across multiple payment verticals. This massive opportunity spans credit card payments, cross-border transactions, remittances, merchant settlements, and trade finance. The company's strategy involves systematically addressing each of these use cases while leveraging blockchain technology and stablecoin liquidity to offer faster, more efficient alternatives to traditional financial infrastructure.

How does Huma Finance plan to achieve mainstream adoption?

Rather than expecting consumers and businesses to interact directly with blockchain technology, Huma pursues an embedded finance strategy. The company partners with fintech applications and integrates its solutions behind the scenes, allowing users to benefit from PayFi infrastructure through familiar app interfaces. This approach has reportedly enabled the onboarding of tens of millions of users at a time, demonstrating that abstracting away blockchain complexity is key to reaching mainstream audiences.

Why is Huma Finance building on Solana?

Huma Finance's PayFi initiative was launched in collaboration with the Solana Foundation, leveraging Solana's high-speed, low-cost blockchain infrastructure. For payment applications that require fast settlement times and high transaction throughput, Solana's technical capabilities make it an ideal foundation. The partnership has clearly been productive, with Huma achieving significant traction and industry validation within just one year of launching the PayFi concept.