YZi Labs and Jinsha River Ventures lead the investment. AllScale aims to build a self-hosted digital bank for global super individuals.
In October of this year, Silicon Valley's barometer a16z released the annual report "Crypto Status 2025: The Year Cryptocurrency Goes Mainstream."
One data point in the report is enough to keep all traditional payment giants up at night: in the past 12 months, the total on-chain transaction volume of stablecoins has reached a staggering $46 trillion, a 106% year-over-year surge. Even after removing fake volume, the real transaction volume is still as high as $9 trillion.
We need to look at this number in a larger context to understand its astounding nature.
$46 trillion is nearly three times the annual processing volume of the global payment empire Visa; it almost matches the ACH clearing network that underpins the entire U.S. banking system. In places unseen by most, the stablecoin, a silent behemoth that has lurked for years, has finally let out a roar that sends tremors through the old world.
At this moment, over 1% of circulating dollars are racing day and night in code form on the digital highway of the blockchain. And the issuers of those stablecoins, holding tightly to U.S. Treasury bonds, wield a scale even larger than that of Germany and Japan, making them the 17th-largest "super buyer" on the U.S. debt list.
However, this grand narrative has nothing to do with the other half of the world. This roar does not reach the ears of the 1.4 billion unbanked globally, nor does it reach the desks of the "super individuals" ushered in by the AI wave.
What we see is a huge, absurd commercial fault line.
On one side, AI has given individuals unprecedented productivity, enabling them to write code, do design work, and create tangible value globally like an army, making them the most active "capillary" of the new era of globalization; on the other side, there is still the arrogant, cumbersome, and biased traditional cross-border payment system.
When a young person in Nairobi uses AI to help Silicon Valley write code, they find that they cannot find a frictionless, global way to put their rewards in their pocket.
Traditional FinTech still serves the top 1% elite of the pyramid, while native Crypto tools please the other 1% of geeks. And the 98% in the middle, those lightweight operators struggling to survive in the gaps of globalization, are actually in a financial services no-man's land.
It is in this delicate time window that YZi Labs quietly made a move, leading a $5 million investment in a startup called AllScale.
This company has grand ambitions, claiming to become a "self-custodial stablecoin digital bank." But in a world where giants like Stripe and Airwallex have long been sharpening their knives, and where wallets like Metamask have become standard, what makes AllScale stand out to impress top VCs who have seen it all?
AllScale: Becoming the World's "Alipay"
If we were to define AllScale in one sentence, it would be more like a "global version of Alipay." However, unlike Alipay, at AllScale, the money always stays in your own account.
AllScale positions itself as the "world's first self-custodial stablecoin digital bank." This is not just a technical definition but a precise business solution aimed at the current global pain points in payments. It seeks to penetrate four business scenarios that have long been separated by the walls of traditional finance.
The first to be reimagined is the payroll challenge in global collaboration.
For Web3 projects and DAO organizations distributed around the world, payroll is often an administrative nightmare. Sending salaries to contributors in dozens of countries not only requires enduring the inefficiency of traditional bank wire transfers but also facing potential KYC/AML compliance interceptions at any time.
AllScale provides a simple solution: allowing project teams to batch pay stablecoins to global addresses through a single interface. Funds arrive within minutes, with costs almost negligible. It reduces the friction of cross-border collaboration to zero for the first time.
Next, it directly targets the most painful point for Chinese teams going global and cross-border sellers: receiving payments.
The fees for traditional international remittances have long hovered between 2%-6%, and for cross-border payments involving exotic currencies, the costs soar to over 10%. Even worse, through traditional bank settlements, funds need to "wander" for a long 2-5 business days.
AllScale enables funds to "return home" within minutes. More importantly, it addresses the ban anxiety brought by giants like Stripe and Airwallex. On traditional platforms, the high account opening thresholds, complex audits, and sudden freezes loom over every seller like the Sword of Damocles.
However, AllScale's self-custody model allows funds to go directly into user-controlled wallets. The platform cannot freeze or misappropriate funds. For merchants selling on Amazon, Shopify, or through independent stores, this is not only an efficiency improvement but also a return of business sovereignty.
On the other side of the world, AllScale is addressing the survival needs of millions of freelance workers in emerging markets.
In Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, countless young people provide services to the world through Upwork and Fiverr, but they are often also part of the global army of 1.4 billion unbanked individuals.
How to Convert Digital Labor into Bread and Milk? The collaboration between AllScale and Africa's largest freelancer community Skill Afrika is precisely to bridge this "last mile." After a developer in Nigeria completes a project for a U.S. client, they can receive USDT/USDC through AllScale within minutes and immediately exchange it for Naira on the local P2P market. This is not just payment but survival.
Lastly, the most imaginative scenario is how it precisely positions itself at the intersection of the AI era's super-individual and social e-commerce.
By 2025, AI has atomized productivity. A designer can serve 10 global clients simultaneously using Midjourney and Stable Diffusion; a developer can single-handedly maintain complex software using GitHub Copilot. The industrial-era payment system cannot adapt to this new paradigm of "solo operations, global payments."
More interestingly, AllScale astutely captures the "Biolink Economy" on social media platforms like Telegram and WhatsApp. An increasing number of creators and small businesses showcase their business through personal profile links, allowing users to make payments flexibly using stablecoins. This "social-as-storefront, chat-as-transaction" model is becoming the most dynamic commercial form in emerging markets.
To unlock these four doors, AllScale has designed a combination of punches.
AllScale Pay is its vanguard, responsible for handling core USDT/USDC payments, generating professional invoices with a single click, and supporting team accounts for collaboration.
Its self-hosted wallet is a solid shield, innovatively employing Passkey (fingerprint/face ID) technology, allowing users to fully control their private keys while bidding farewell to the mnemonic seed nightmare.
At the infrastructure level, it demonstrates strong compatibility. AllScale has integrated 10 mainstream public chains, including ETH, APT, and SOL.
This is fundamentally an "experience equality." AllScale wraps the intimidating blockchain technology in an interface that is familiar and easy to use for the average person, returning global payments to what they should be: simple, immediate, and entirely under your control.
The Sole Intersection of Three Major Trends
The birth of AllScale is the spark created by the collision of three major historical trends in recent years.
The first wave was the Stablecoin's journey from the 'fringe' to the 'mainstream'.
For a long time, Stablecoins were merely chips for the cryptocurrency gamblers. But in 2025, the situation completely reversed. When on-chain settlement volume historically surpassed Visa, it was no longer just a simple medium of exchange but had evolved into a new type of payment infrastructure recognized by a global regulatory framework.
From the advancement of legislation in the U.S. Congress to regulatory sandboxes in Hong Kong and Singapore, red lights turned green. As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. PayPal personally entered the scene to issue Stablecoins, and Fintech behemoth Stripe went as far as to acquire the crypto payment company Bridge for a whopping $1.1 billion in February 2025. Just 3 months after the acquisition, Stripe rapidly launched Stablecoin payments, with transaction volumes skyrocketing by 30% monthly, indicating the market's insatiable demand.
The second wave is the awakening of the PayFi narrative.
In the summer of 2024, Lily Liu, Chair of the Solana Foundation, introduced a new concept—PayFi (Payment Finance). She believed that the gateway for the next billion users to enter the crypto world is not the enigmatic DeFi but the everyday payment systems we all use.
The core logic of PayFi is to elevate payments from a simple endpoint action to a programmable starting point service. On platforms like AllScale, funds should not remain static numbers. An in-transit payment can seamlessly participate in low-risk financial protocols. The idea of "making money generate value in the moment of its flow" is opening up new profit avenues for the ancient remittance industry.
The third and most tumultuous wave is the infrastructure gap triggered by the AI economy.
The super-individuals mentioned earlier are experiencing explosive growth at a rate of 60% annually. While the global supply side has transitioned into the 'individual entrepreneur 2.0' era due to AI, the infrastructure on the receiving end is still stuck in the industrial age perception of "must be a big company."
This significant mismatch between supply and payment has left a considerable market void.
When that young person in Nairobi delivers code or design using AI, their most crucial need is not a complex DeFi protocol with a 20% APY but a tool that allows them to securely, inexpensively, and swiftly receive $2000 USDC.
2025 saw the confluence of these three major waves—regulatory relaxation, financial paradigm shift, AI productivity explosion. AllScale is strategically positioned at this convergence point to ride the wave.
How to Align the Concepts of "Self-Custody" and "Seamlessness" in Handshake?
The technical architecture of AllScale is fundamentally challenging a long-standing paradox in the financial world: ultimate security (self-custody) often means ultimate hassle, while ultimate convenience (centralization) is usually accompanied by asset risk.
To reconcile this contradiction, AllScale has undertaken a deep "subtraction" and "addition" in its product philosophy.
Its sharpest weapon is replacing mnemonic phrases with Passkey technology.
The biggest hurdle of traditional crypto wallets lies in that daunting mnemonic phrase. It serves as both the final line of asset security and the abyss that keeps 99% of ordinary people out.
AllScale has chosen a more intuitive solution: introducing Passkey. When users register, they only need to use their phone's fingerprint or facial recognition to generate a unique on-chain address. The private key is encrypted and stored in the device's secure chip, never touched by the system, and users do not need to back it up. For outsiders, the whole process is as natural as using a fingerprint to log in to a shopping app.
In its multi-chain strategy, AllScale demonstrates a strong spirit of pragmatism.
It does not align with any grand narrative of public chains but, like a savvy trader, dynamically selects the optimal channels based on latency, fees, and stability, currently focusing on BNB Chain and some efficient Layer 2 networks.
More importantly, it addresses a highly inhumane pain point: Gas fees. In traditional on-chain interactions, to send out USDT, users' accounts must hold the native token as a miner fee. This logic of "want to spend fiat, but first need to deposit some gold" is a significant stumbling block to the mainstream adoption of crypto payments.
AllScale completely smooths this edge through a payment delegation mechanism. Regardless of the chain, the platform automatically pays the native token, and users are completely unaware of this.
Furthermore, AllScale has built a unique dual-layer structure of "on-chain funds + off-chain services."
All fund flows occur on-chain, publicly, transparently, and tamper-proof. However, off-chain, it provides a set of SaaS services tailored for lightweight businesses: one-click invoice generation, simple customer management, and multi-member permission settings.
Particularly noteworthy is its smart contact system. It allows users to link that long, complex 0x address to a real identity. This design propels it beyond a mere "wallet" into a true "global financial hub."
Finally, addressing the compliance risk that merchants fear most, AllScale has also built a firewall.
The idea is that the blockchain is responsible for verifiability, while risk management is responsible for predictability. In addition to basic security, AllScale is about to launch the KYT (Know Your Transaction) feature. This system can real-time screen suspicious transactions involving money laundering or flagged "blacklisted" addresses, helping businesses effectively avoid receiving high-risk funds. At the same time, it supports one-click export of cross-chain fund traceability proof.
This means that while users enjoy the freedom brought by decentralization, they no longer have to worry about financial audits and fund compliance. AllScale uses technological means to ensure that "freedom" is no longer synonymous with "risk."
Team, Capital, and Competition
If the track determines how high a company can soar, then the team determines how far it can go, especially in the minefield-filled industry of finance.
The founding team of AllScale can be described as a group of "bomb defusal experts" walking the tightrope between compliance and technology.
Their resumes themselves represent a rare combination of abilities: among the core members, there are compliance veterans who have previously been in charge of Square's crypto business under Jack Dorsey (TBD project), as well as the stablecoin banking lead from the established exchange Kraken. This means that from the first line of code written, the word "compliance" was etched into the product's DNA.
On the product and tech side, the team has built a dual barrier of "hardcore technology + ultimate experience." Senior architects from AWS and IBM have built bank-level foundational security and high-concurrency capabilities for AllScale; while core members from TikTok and Capital One have perfectly integrated consumer-level internet experience with the rigorous logic of financial products.
Having a great product is one thing, but being able to sell it globally is another.
In terms of market expansion, AllScale has demonstrated a strong tactical acumen. The team has brought together seasoned global marketing operatives who are well-versed in HP's channel sales expansion strategies, knowing how to quickly penetrate the market through partners on the B side; while also possessing the DNA of Dell's direct sales model, enabling them to reach global C-end users directly with high efficiency.
The smell of capital is often the best endorsement of a team's capabilities. In the just-announced $5 million seed round financing, AllScale completed a remarkable capital composition.
The lead investor lineup is nothing short of luxurious, with not only YZi Labs, but also the presence of Golden Sand River Ventures and Generative Ventures. This dual blessing of "veteran USD funds + native crypto capital" is sufficient to prove mainstream capital market's recognition of the narrative of the "Stablecoin Bank."
Of particular note in the list of co-investors is the entry of MinBank International, which has created significant room for imagination for AllScale to tap into traditional financial resources in the future.
Further worth mentioning is that even before this round of financing, AllScale had already received early support from industry veterans such as Amber Group, KuCoin Ventures, and Draper Dragon. From the early bet of crypto-native capital to the current entry of mainstream venture capital institutions, AllScale has clearly become the "chosen one" in the eyes of capital who understands both Crypto and Finance.
The rationale behind YZi Labs and Golden Sand River Ventures' heavy investment is very clear: the first half of Stablecoin payment is a grassroots technological competition, while the second half is undoubtedly a systemic battle of "compliance + infrastructure." What they are betting on is whether AllScale can become the "water seller" that quenches the thirst of gold diggers.
With the money and people in place, AllScale is beginning to weave a vast ecosystem.
It is not only the official partner of BNB Chain but also demonstrates a strong level of integration at the infrastructure level: custody with Cobo, compliance through Persona, fiat on/off-ramp integration with MoonPay, Onramper, and Transak. This dense network of partnerships enables AllScale to quickly build a complete payment loop within the crevices of giants like Stripe.
It has chosen a difficult but correct path: lighter and more open compared to traditional FinTech because it is self-custodial; more user-friendly and approachable compared to native crypto wallets because it eliminates technical barriers.
Of course, the road ahead is not without challenges. The regulatory landscape of stablecoins globally remains shrouded in mist, and finding that delicate balance point between embracing regulation and upholding decentralized ideals will continue to test the team's wisdom. Additionally, the acquisition and education costs of users in emerging markets remain high. How to transform a technically advanced tool into a product that local users are willing to accept, love, and rely on is the ultimate common challenge for all international projects.
Going back to the $46 trillion mentioned at the beginning of the article.
We are at a major turning point. AI is restructuring the global labor landscape, making productivity more fragmented and globalized than ever before. Meanwhile, the rise of PayFi is reshaping the way money flows.
The story of AllScale is essentially a product of the convergence of these two forces. It seeks to use a more equitable and efficient tool to bridge the vast gap between developed countries and emerging markets, as well as between industry giants and individuals.
Whether this story will ultimately play out depends on whether young people in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia will indeed use it to receive their first "global paycheck" in life.
AllScale has keenly seized the gap of the times, but the process of filling that gap is bound to be fraught with peril. Before the industry giants fully awaken, it must run fast enough. After all, in the ancient and cruel battlefield of payments, there is no such thing as an "experiment," as the market only believes in the ultimate winner.
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