DeFi Achieves Real-World Impact: Falcon Finance Connects Onchain Assets to a Worldwide Network of Over 50 Million Merchants

Falcon Finance, an innovative platform offering universal collateralization for onchain liquidity and yield, has joined forces with AEON Pay to bring its synthetic dollar (USDf) and governance token (FF) to more than 50 million merchants worldwide, as stated in a

. Through AEON's payment ecosystem, this partnership allows users to utilize USDf and FF for daily purchases—both online and in physical stores—using the AEON Pay Telegram App. By integrating with wallets such as Binance Wallet, Bitget, and OKX, the initiative enhances accessibility and aims to connect onchain assets with everyday commerce. The service, which launched in Southeast Asia, has now expanded to Nigeria, Mexico, Brazil, and Georgia, with ambitions to further grow in rapidly developing markets across Africa and Latin America.

This alliance represents a major milestone for decentralized finance (DeFi), as Falcon Finance's yield-generating stable liquidity now becomes available to a vast network of merchants. Andrei Grachev, Founding Partner at

, highlighted the project's mission to make onchain assets "practical and valuable in daily life," supporting the company's goal of building a universal collateralization layer that merges DeFi with traditional financial systems. AEON Pay, recognized as a Most Valuable Builder on Chain, utilizes QR code and bank transfer solutions to enable smooth transactions across top Web3 platforms.

In other developments, Ant Group, the fintech powerhouse co-founded by Jack Ma, is strengthening its footprint in Latin America through a strategic investment in R2, a lending infrastructure provider, according to a

. The collaboration is designed to improve credit access for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by integrating Ant International's AI-powered risk evaluation with R2's embedded lending platform, as detailed in a . R2, which operates in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, has already assisted over 100,000 SMEs through revenue-based financing. This partnership comes at a time when venture capital investment in Latin America is at a seven-year low, presenting opportunities for Asian companies to serve underserved markets.

Through its investment, Ant International gains access to R2's global credit engine, which streamlines the underwriting process and lowers credit expenses. Roger Larach, R2's CEO, described the alliance as a move toward creating an "invisible bank" that embeds financial services into technology platforms such as Rappi and InDrive. By automating repayments as a share of sales, R2's approach has cut delinquency rates by up to 40% compared to conventional loans, according to industry reports. Earlier this year, Ant International also introduced SME working-capital solutions in Brazil, positioning the region as a potential global center for fintech innovation.

This expansion is part of a larger trend of Asian fintech companies seeking to replicate their success in emerging markets. Ant Group's efforts to secure stablecoin licenses in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg further demonstrate its commitment to integrating digital assets into international payments, as noted in the Coinotag analysis. Experts point out that Latin America's low banking penetration and increasing adoption of digital payments make it a promising landscape for fintech innovation, according to a

.