HSC Conference In Ho Chi Minh City: Why Vertical Strategy And Local Payment Rails Are The Keys To Unlocking On-Chain Finance
On August 15, HSC Conference held its latest edition in Ho Chi Minh City, bringing together senior voices from across financial institutions, technology companies, and the venture capital world to debate blockchain infrastructure, digital assets, and the future of on-chain financial markets.
One of the standout sessions was “Recipe for Launching a Successful Borderless Neobank” delivered by Harsha MV, Global Head of Marketing and Growth at OrbitX.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork with builders of exchanges, wallets, and neo-banks across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, Harsha challenged the assumption that stablecoin adoption is primarily a software problem. Instead, he identified the central paradox of digital finance today: billions hold stablecoins, yet only a narrow sliver of that value actually circulates through real-world payment rails.
The keynote mapped the strategic, regulatory, and technical ingredients required to close that gap—introducing a framework built on custody infrastructure and geography-specific “plugs,” from Vietnam’s QR-first economy to Europe’s contactless card networks, that turn static digital balances into functional, borderless money.
The Core Challenge: Ownership Without Utility
Harsha described a recurring frustration among entrepreneurs building exchanges, wallets, and neo-banks. “They have users, they have wallets, they have stable coins, but they don’t know how to make it useful,” he explained. The fundamental questions remain unanswered for millions: How can people receive salaries? How can migrant workers remit money home? How does one buy lunch? Addressing these practical gaps, he proposed, is the essential first step toward constructing a viable neo-bank.
The Architecture of a Neo-Bank: Custody and Plugs
The speaker outlined a two-part framework for building such institutions. The first component is custody—the infrastructure for receiving, holding, and transferring stablecoins across various blockchains. The second, more complex element consists of what he termed “plugs”: the connective tissue that converts digital balances into spendable value. He identified four standard plugs essential for any functional ecosystem. *Payouts* enable users to transfer stablecoin balances into third-party bank accounts. *Pay-ins* allow funds to flow back into wallets via crypto, fiat, or QR codes. *Cards* leverage existing global card networks to bridge digital assets with merchant infrastructure. Finally, *QR payments* facilitate instant settlement, an increasingly critical capability for merchants unwilling to wait days for traditional card clearing.
Geography as Strategy: Why One Size Fits None
Perhaps the most critical insight of the session was the emphasis on geographic specificity. Harsha warned that building plugs is frequently misunderstood as a software problem, when in reality it is a question of rails, compliance, and licensing—a misconception that can cost teams four to six months in every new market. He illustrated this with vivid regional contrasts. Vietnam, he noted, is a “QR-first” economy where even street vendors prefer instant QR transactions; launching a card product there would likely fail. Conversely, in the UAE and much of Europe, consumers are deeply accustomed to contactless payments, making QR solutions largely irrelevant. He further highlighted vertical opportunities: in Nigeria, a stablecoin neo-bank serving importers could eliminate the seven to twelve percent premium they currently pay to access dollars. In Brazil, a targeted service allowing parents to fund local BRL accounts for children studying abroad could dramatically simplify cross-border education payments.
A Vertical Recipe for Market Entry
Against the temptation to build universal platforms, Harsha offered a disciplined recipe: select a market, identify a specific audience within it, determine one or two inward and outward plugs that match local behavior, and launch narrowly. “If you don’t go vertical, if you don’t try to dominate one particular category in one market, one use case, you will literally fail at the end of it,” he cautioned, stressing that stablecoin-based neo-banks cannot afford to be everything to everyone.
The Infrastructure Layer
Concluding the session, Harsha positioned Obopay as the infrastructural response to these challenges. After twenty-four months of development, the firm offers a single API designed to activate market-specific plugs—ranging from named virtual IBANs and white-labeled credit cards to QR payments and multi-chain support—across more than eighty countries. To demonstrate the technology’s maturity, his team launched a live application featuring QR payments for attendees in Vietnam, inviting the audience to experience firsthand the speed of stablecoin-powered transactions. For builders seeking to transform digital assets into functional financial tools, the session offered both a strategic roadmap and a ready infrastructure partner.
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About The Author
Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in crypto, AI, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
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Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in crypto, AI, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.
