Stablecoins now move more than $15 trillion a year. One of the places that is showing up is in how money actually moves between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Joining me is Maher Ayari, CEO and Co-Founder of Sorbet. Maher, welcome to Capital Markets.
Thank you so much for having me.
You built Sorbet around your own experience getting paid as a freelancer in this region. What was actually broken about the process?
We started Sorbet from Riyadh through the Antler programme at the end of 2023. At the time, as freelancers ourselves, we saw that freelancers from Morocco all the way to Pakistan had great talent. But when it came to paying and receiving payments — either from US clients or international clients — they simply did not have the right bank accounts. The only platforms that allowed them to do that were charging considerable fees, up to 20% sometimes. And at the same time, we started seeing in other parts of the world that this new financial infrastructure was being built around stablecoins and blockchain technology. That is the reason why we decided to focus on this region — Saudi, the UAE, and Pakistan — to modernise cross-border payments.
In plain terms, when someone sends money through Sorbet, where do stablecoins actually come into it?
When you are sending dollars into Saudi or into Pakistan, you probably have a chain of correspondent banks — up to 3 or 4. They each take a cut and add time and delays. International payments sometimes arrive 3 to 5 days later and some of that money has disappeared along the way. What stablecoins do is act as a bridge between different payment rails. In our case, we receive dollars that we convert into a USD-denominated stablecoin. Then on the other side we work with local partners to off-ramp the stablecoin into local currency. The stablecoin is the bridge between the two payment rails — which results in faster and cheaper payments for the end user.
Why Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE first?
We started from Saudi from Riyadh, and this was intentional from day one. Saudi is one of the largest remittance markets — the second largest globally — with over $40 billion in outflows annually. We are also seeing the ecosystem maturing there. In the short term there are other markets with bigger pain points when it comes to cross-border payment friction. Pakistan is one of them. There are hundreds of thousands of developers, designers, and agency owners earning in dollars but when they need to receive that money into Pakistan, there is no right solution. We are talking about $3 billion in the first ten months of 2026 in terms of total IT exports. That is a big corridor coming from the US and the UAE into Pakistan.
What is the honest trade-off with a stablecoin-based rail — is there a catch consumers should know about?
There are two major trade-offs. First is regulation. Unlike fiat currencies and licensed financial institutions, this technology is still new. In markets like the US or the UAE, there are sophisticated frameworks and providers carry the right licences. In markets like Pakistan or Saudi where regulation is still being shaped, users should understand the flow of funds and who the licensed partners are — so they can rely on infrastructure that will not stop working overnight. The second trade-off is user experience. The initial promise was decentralised, instant, and very cheap payments. The reality is a little different because stablecoins still act as a bridge between existing rails — we have not completely removed the existing friction. That is actually a good thing, because we are now working on integrating this technology with the existing financial system. That is where the next level of adoption will come from.
Your customers are largely freelancers, startups, and small agencies. Does that change how you think about trust?
The reason we focused on this segment is that they are the most underserved — left out by the banking system. From a trust perspective it is actually harder. When a freelancer or a business owner is trusting you with their entire monthly income, the relationship is a lot more intimate. It demands high standards around transparency, speed, and reliability. You only get one chance at making a good impression with them.
Where does Sorbet go next?
Today the immediate use case we are solving is cross-border payment. But we want to grow into a full-fledged neobank — today you can send, receive, and hold your money with us. Soon you would also be able to spend and earn directly with us. We are also increasing our focus on B2B because it is a segment that has really suffered from cross-border payment friction and the volumes are bigger. And beyond this model, there is a lot of opportunity to work with established fintechs and financial institutions to help them get on board with this more modern payment infrastructure.
Thank you so much for being here with us.
Thank you.
