DePay is a settlement mechanism designed to let stablecoins be spent directly from a self-custody wallet at the point of sale, without first moving funds into a custodial account. In this model, the user authorizes a single payment request in their wallet, and the system coordinates on-chain settlement while delivering a conventional merchant payout experience. Oobit is one example of a payments product built around this “wallet-native” approach, positioning DePay as the layer that bridges blockchain assets to everyday commerce.
A DePay transaction begins when a user connects a compatible wallet and selects a spending asset (often a stablecoin such as USDT or USDC). At checkout, the user receives a signing request that specifies the amount, the destination, and the relevant transaction parameters. This signature functions as the user’s explicit authorization to move value from the wallet for that purchase, preserving self-custody by keeping the private keys under the user’s control throughout the process.
After the user signs, DePay executes settlement on-chain, moving the stablecoin amount required for the payment. The merchant, however, typically does not receive stablecoins; instead, the merchant is paid in local currency through established card acceptance infrastructure (often described as “Visa rails” in card-based implementations). This creates a two-sided experience: wallet-native crypto settlement for the payer, and familiar fiat settlement and reconciliation for the merchant, including standard receipts and charge processing consistent with card-present or online card transactions.
Wallet-native stablecoin payments generally involve conversion and routing steps that are abstracted away from the checkout experience. Systems built on DePay commonly present a pre-authorization view of the effective exchange rate, expected network costs, and the final merchant payout amount, aligning the on-chain transfer with the off-chain settlement obligations. Some implementations also use gas abstraction to reduce or eliminate the need for the user to hold a separate network token for transaction fees, making stablecoin spending resemble conventional tap-to-pay or one-click online checkout flows.