WalletConnect Pitches Easier Crypto Acceptance as Stablecoin Payment Tools Spread

WalletConnect CEO Jess Houlgrave says cryptocurrency is becoming easier to use for everyday payments, as the company expands stablecoin tools and merchant integrations that move digital assets closer to mainstream commerce.

The Details

In a May 12 video interview published by Bloomberg Tech under the title 'Crypto Acceptance Becoming Easier: WalletConnect CEO,' Houlgrave addressed the growing accessibility of crypto in commercial settings. The Bloomberg interview adds to a series of recent public statements from Houlgrave on the company's payments strategy and its push to make digital assets practical for ordinary transactions. The interview title reflects a persistent theme in Houlgrave's public communications: that the technical and usability barriers preventing widespread crypto adoption are diminishing as the infrastructure matures.

In a March 31, 2026 interview with CCN, Houlgrave directly linked mainstream adoption to user experience simplicity. 'Crypto needs to be as easy as regular assets,' she said. She made the comment in the context of discussing mainstream crypto adoption and the barriers that remain for everyday users who encounter complex wallet setups, unfamiliar interfaces, and fragmented payment rails. Houlgrave's statement frames the company's broader product direction around reducing friction for non-technical users who want to spend or transfer digital currency without navigating the technical complexity that has historically defined the crypto user experience. The comparison to regular assets signals an ambition to make crypto transactions as straightforward as traditional banking or card payments, a benchmark that has proven difficult for the industry to meet despite years of product development.

Earlier, in a February 18, 2026 interview with The Paypers, Houlgrave described a shift in how crypto wallets and crypto payments are perceived in the broader payments industry. She said crypto wallets and crypto payments are moving from niche tools to more widely adopted solutions as payment service providers and merchants integrate digital assets into everyday commerce. That observation reflects a growing ecosystem of companies building bridges between traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain-based payment systems, with WalletConnect positioning itself as one of the connectivity layers enabling those integrations. The movement from niche to mainstream, in Houlgrave's telling, is not a future aspiration but a current transition driven by merchant demand and the willingness of payment service providers to add digital asset support alongside conventional payment methods.

The statements accompany concrete product moves that illustrate the practical application of Houlgrave's thesis. On March 31, 2026, Opera's MiniPay announced an integration with WalletConnect Pay to enable stablecoin payments at point-of-sale terminals. Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, are often used in payment applications because their price stability reduces the volatility risk that merchants face when accepting digital assets. The Opera integration means users holding stablecoins in MiniPay can attempt to spend those balances at physical retail locations using existing card terminal infrastructure rather than requiring merchants to install specialized crypto-only equipment.

In a press release announcing the partnership, Houlgrave said, 'MiniPay has built real, scaled adoption in markets where practical financial tools matter most. WalletConnect Pay is designed to put that momentum to work, connecting users to existing merchant infrastructure so stablecoin balances become something people can actually spend, not just hold.' The quote underscores WalletConnect's strategic emphasis on spendability over speculation, a message the company has repeated across multiple announcements. By describing stablecoin balances as something to be spent rather than held, Houlgrave is drawing a distinction between WalletConnect's payments-focused roadmap and the investment-oriented use cases that have dominated much of the crypto industry's public narrative.

Opera described WalletConnect Pay as connected to existing merchant payment infrastructure and providers including Ingenico. Ingenico is a long-established payment terminal manufacturer and merchant services provider, meaning the integration does not require merchants to adopt new hardware specifically for crypto transactions. Instead, WalletConnect Pay is designed to route stablecoin payments through the same terminals that already process traditional card payments. This compatibility with existing point-of-sale systems addresses one of the persistent adoption challenges in crypto payments: merchant reluctance to invest in new hardware or training for a payment method that represents a small fraction of transaction volume.

WalletConnect has also released figures on its network scale that contextualize its role in the broader crypto infrastructure landscape. The company said its network facilitated more than $400 billion in onchain activity in 2025 and connected 55.5 million users across more than 700 wallets. Its website lists the network as powered by more than 20 node operators, 700-plus wallets, 70,000-plus apps, and millions of users. The company markets itself as infrastructure for onchain connectivity and payments, distinguishing its role from individual wallet providers or exchanges by operating as a protocol layer that enables communication between wallets, applications, and payment services. The scale figures suggest WalletConnect has achieved significant distribution across the broader crypto ecosystem.

Context

WalletConnect has been broadening its payments pitch beyond wallet connectivity, including WalletConnect Pay partnerships and merchant-facing messaging around stablecoin acceptance. The available Bloomberg mirror text does not include a transcript of the interview, so the story attributes the central framing to Bloomberg's headline and to corroborating public comments from Houlgrave rather than inventing unseen details from the video.

What's Next

The integration with Opera MiniPay and partnerships with merchant infrastructure providers signal WalletConnect's continued focus on making stablecoin balances spendable at physical points of sale. The company's messaging suggests further expansion of WalletConnect Pay partnerships and merchant integrations as it pursues broader stablecoin adoption. Houlgrave's repeated public statements about making crypto as easy as regular assets indicate that usability improvements and merchant onboarding will remain central to the company's communications strategy.