**The Case for Crypto as the Payment Layer of the Future**

At a recent fintech summit, prominent crypto industry figure Ben Zhou made a compelling case for why cryptocurrency could reshape global payment infrastructure. His core thesis: traditional payment systems are simply too slow and friction-filled for a world that operates 24/7. Cryptocurrency, by contrast, enables synchronous payments around the clock—no settlement delays, no regional banking hours constraints.

**Why Vendors Are Demanding Real-Time Settlements**

The shift toward real-time settlement isn't just a preference anymore; it's becoming a business imperative. Merchants increasingly understand that instant fund confirmation reduces capital lock-up, improves cash flow, and eliminates reconciliation headaches. Ben Zhou highlighted this trend as one of the most underrated drivers of crypto adoption in payments infrastructure. On-chain transactions offer what traditional rails cannot: transparency at every step of the transaction journey.

**The Security Challenge No One Talks About**

The crypto payment space faces a unique adversarial pressure: attackers can move assets across chains faster than institutional tracking mechanisms can respond. This became painfully apparent during a high-profile security incident earlier in 2025, which Ben Zhou characterized as an "ultimate operational stress test." The incident revealed a critical gap: individual organizations cannot adequately defend against sophisticated, multi-chain attack vectors alone.

**Why Industry Collaboration is Non-Negotiable**

Rather than treating this as a competitive threat, Ben Zhou advocated for a different approach: cross-exchange intelligence sharing and coordinated response protocols. Faster information dissemination between platforms means faster threat detection. When one exchange spots suspicious cross-chain movement patterns, all participants benefit from that signal. This collective defense model could significantly raise the cost and complexity of attacks, making the entire ecosystem more resilient.

**The Bigger Picture**

As crypto payments scale globally, three factors will determine success: speed (cryptographically enabled 24/7 settlement), accessibility (removing geographic banking barriers), and security (collaborative threat intelligence). Ben Zhou's takeaway: the future isn't about individual platforms winning—it's about the entire infrastructure becoming so robust that payments simply disappear into the background of commerce.