Payments & Financial Infrastructure Advisory
Helping businesses and public agencies modernize how they move money — cutting cost and friction, and improving the experience for customers and constituents.
Independent, technology-agnostic advisory on payments and financial infrastructure, grounded in your actual numbers.
Modernizing how you move money.
The way organizations move money is being rebuilt. Modern payment technology can settle faster, cost a fraction of legacy networks, cut errors, and give teams far better control and visibility than the systems most run today. The same upgrades that remade consumer payments have reached businesses and the public sector alike.
Keystone helps leaders find where real cost savings and better outcomes are achievable, and works alongside them to design and implement the path forward. We start from your actual numbers and the outcomes you're after — so the right answer is the one that genuinely fits: modernize what you have, replace it, or build something new.
We pair the rigor of public accounting and management consulting with firsthand experience across modern payments and financial infrastructure — translating a complex landscape into practical decisions and measurable results.
Strip cost and complexity out of how funds move.
Money that arrives sooner, with fewer failures and delays.
Cleaner data, stronger oversight, a better experience for customers and constituents.
Practical, high-impact work across the systems that move money — for businesses and public institutions.
Move money faster and cheaper on modern rails — without adding risk.
Pay employees, vendors, claimants, and recipients faster and more reliably.
Sharper card programs and vendor terms — better fees, better protections.
Instant settlement and lower-cost cross-border money movement.
Pressure-test legacy contracts to surface real savings and better terms.
Independent evaluation of regulated digital dollars and new rails — what's real, what fits, what to skip.
Payment technology is evolving faster than at any point in decades. For any organization that moves money at scale — a business or a government — evaluating whether it can be cheaper, faster, and more reliable isn't chasing hype; it's basic stewardship. Standing still is itself a decision, and often an expensive one.
Stablecoins are one example of how far the frontier has moved. The private sector is already live: Western Union now settles on its own regulated stablecoin, and PayPal's PYUSD circulates across 70+ markets. In the public sector, the federal GENIUS Act set a national standard in July 2025 — and states like Wyoming and Florida are already building on it. The same shift is unfolding across instant rails, real-time payments, and programmable money.
There are incremental payment upgrades, and there are structural ones. The pace of change rewards organizations that explore early and design carefully.
| ACH | Card / Interchange | Stablecoins | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settlement | 1–2 business days | T+1 to T+2 | Seconds |
| Availability | Banking hours | Business days | 24/7/365 |
| Cost per transaction | $0.26–$0.50 | 1.5%–3.5% of amount | Under $0.01 |
| Spending controls | None | None | Programmable |
One illustrative comparison. Representative ranges from published pricing; figures vary by provider, volume, and transaction size. "Stablecoin" refers to a fully-reserved, regulated stablecoin; the figure shown reflects the network transfer fee, with conversion to and from bank money priced separately.
Early movers — private and public
Launched USDPT, its own regulated dollar stablecoin, in May 2026 — issued through federally chartered Anchorage Digital Bank and used to settle transfers with its global agents in real time, around the clock.
Why it matters: the oldest name in money movement rebuilt its settlement layer — because the economics were too large to ignore.
PYUSD, PayPal’s fully-reserved dollar stablecoin, now circulates at roughly $2.7 billion and reaches 70+ markets — embedded in checkout, payouts, and cross-border transfers.
Why it matters: for millions of users, stablecoin rails are already invisible infrastructure — not a crypto product.
Issued FRNT, the first U.S. state-issued digital dollar, fully reserved and managed by Franklin Templeton. Interest on the reserves funds the state’s School Foundation Program.
Why it matters: early proof a state can capture new value from how it holds and moves funds — without a new tax.
In June 2026 became the first state to sign a dedicated stablecoin framework: licensing issuers under a GENIUS-aligned law (HB 175) and launching a live pilot (SB 1568) to accept stablecoins for state fees.
Why it matters: a state moved from studying the technology to operating with it — inside its own finance department.
They’re not alone: Stripe acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, Visa settles card volume in USDC, and Fiserv is building a bank-grade stablecoin with the Bank of North Dakota. These are early examples, not endorsements of any one path — our role is to help you weigh the options on the merits: cost, speed, control, and risk.
Fluent in the rules your payments touch — money transmission and card-network rules, banking and Treasury regulation, GASB for public entities, and emerging digital-asset policy, including the federal GENIUS Act.
A clear, low-risk path — sized to your team, whether you run one program or a portfolio.
We map your current payment flows, costs, and contracts — and what they cost you today.
We model the savings and outcomes against your actual numbers, not a generic benchmark.
One clear, defensible path — modernize, replace, or build — with the trade-offs laid out.
We stay through execution, working alongside your team to put the plan into practice.
We work with organizations that move money at scale, across the private and public sectors:
Clear analysis and a recommendation you can defend — grounded in your numbers, not someone else's playbook.
We start from your goals and lay out the alternatives, so the recommendation is one you can stand behind.
Every recommendation starts from your actual costs and contracts — not a generic benchmark.
We don't stop at the strategy. We work alongside your team to put it into practice.
Our assessment maps your payment flows, benchmarks cost and friction against modern options, and surfaces the highest-impact opportunities for your organization — complimentary, confidential, and with no decision required.
info@keystonedigitalstrategy.comPrefer a brief intro call? Mention it in your note and we'll find a time.