American Express (Amex) is recruiting a VP of Stablecoin & Blockchain Partnerships & Strategy within its Digital Labs unit, marking a more active posture than the company signaled a year ago when the GENIUS Act was signed.
On the same day President Trump signed the stablecoin legislation in 2025, Amex CEO Stephen Squeri told investors that existing payment rails are “not broken,” pointing to rewards, dispute resolution and acceptance as advantages stablecoins cannot match. He acknowledged stablecoins as “a good alternative to ACH and swift payments and wires” and said cross border FX was not a big revenue driver.
The obvious comparison is with Visa and Mastercard. However, their business models differ from Amex more than is often appreciated. Visa and Mastercard are primarily payment networks that sit between separate issuing banks and acquiring banks and earn fees on the transaction flow. American Express is a fundamentally different business. It operates as issuer, acquirer and network in one, and its $72.2 billion in 2025 revenues reflect that. Discount revenue from merchants accounted for $37.4 billion, net interest income from lending contributed $17.4 billion, and net card fees added $10 billion. Rewards are Amex’s competitive moat, and at $18.4 billion in 2025 they represented almost 35% of all expenses.
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