OCT 12, 2025
In the trucking industry, it is standard for carriers to wait 30, 60, or even 90 days to get paid after delivering a load. This delay can be crippling for small fleets and owner-operators. Daily expenses for fuel, vehicle maintenance, insurance, and tolls cannot wait on a shipper's billing cycle. Yet under traditional terms, a trucker might deliver freight in January and not see the payment until March or later.
To bridge the gap, many small carriers turn to invoice factoring or broker quick pay programs. In fact, over 75% of small trucking companies use factoring to survive these slow payments. In invoice factoring, a third-party finance company buys the freight bill and pays the carrier a large portion immediately. This provides truckers faster cash, but at a significant cost.
Factoring companies charge fees typically ranging from 1% up to 5% of the invoice value. For small fleets with lower negotiating power, rates tend toward the high end, around 3–5% per load. Over a year, those fees add up to many thousands of dollars essentially paid just to access their own earnings faster.
For example, factoring a $2,000 freight invoice might cost about $60 in fees (a 3% cut). If a carrier hauls dozens of loads a month, they could easily be forfeiting tens of thousands annually in fees to get immediate cash.
illustrative calculation (not a forecast)
Broker quick pay programs offer another alternative, where brokers will pay a carrier's invoice within a few days in exchange for a smaller discount (often 1–2%). However, quick pay is inconsistent and limited: not all brokers offer it, the timing still varies (commonly 2–7 days post-delivery), and a fee is still deducted.
The bottom line is that the industry's standard payment terms shift the financial burden onto the carriers, typically the smallest businesses in the logistics chain. There are over 250,000 for-hire carriers in the U.S., and 96% operate six or fewer trucks (small family businesses). These are the companies least able to float months of receivables. As one trucking CFO put it, "fuel, payroll, maintenance, they dont wait."
What if instead of waiting weeks for a check, or paying a 5% fee for factoring, truckers could get paid immediately as they complete each step of a delivery? Recent developments in financial technology, specifically programmable stablecoins on blockchain, are making this possible.
A stablecoin is a digital token pegged to fiat currency (e.g. 1 token = 1 US dollar) and transacts on distributed ledgers. Because stablecoins settle near-instantly on their networks, they enable near real-time payments 24/7, in contrast to bank wires or ACH that take days and only move during banking hours.
Programmable stablecoins take this a step further: using smart contracts (self-executing code on a blockchain), payments can be automated based on predefined triggers or checkpoints. In a trucking context, a shipment's payment can be divided into milestones, for example, a portion released on pickup, another portion when crossing a border or reaching a waypoint, and the remainder on delivery confirmation.
As each checkpoint is reached (verified perhaps by GPS or IoT telemetry), the smart contract automatically releases the corresponding payout to the carrier in stablecoins. The final settlement no longer happens each month or at the end of a long billing cycle, but at each delivery event in real-time.
To make this concrete: a traditional carrier might pay a 3% factoring fee ($300 on a $10,000 invoice) and get funds in 10 days. By contrast, a blockchain solution can settle that $10k delivery in near-real-time for only a few dollars in network costs. In one documented pilot, a carrier paid about $10 total in fees, retaining 99.9% of the value instead of only ~95%.
Axle is a proposed payment platform that leverages these ideas to revolutionize how logistics firms pay and get paid. Axle uses programmable USD stablecoins to release freight payments in slices as the journey progresses, rather than in one lump sum after invoicing.
In practice, a shipper would initiate a smart contract with the full freight payment (in a dollar-pegged stablecoin) at the start of a shipment. That contract is programmed with the route's key milestones: pickup confirmed, crossed border, proof of delivery uploaded. Each time a milestone is reached, the system (using oracles connected to GPS trackers or electronic logging devices) triggers the smart contract to automatically pay the carrier a predetermined portion of the total.
Since the funds are pre-funded in the contract, the carrier does not need to worry about shipper credit risk or delays. The money is essentially sitting in escrow waiting for them as they complete the trip.
Because Axle's payments use a stablecoin (e.g. a token fully backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars in reserve), the carrier receives digital USD in their account, which can be converted to cash or kept as digital dollars. There is no cryptocurrency volatility involved, 100 stablecoin dollars will reliably redeem to $100.
Importantly, Axle's model removes the need for trust in a factoring middleman. The trust is instead placed in technology, the blockchain network and the smart contract logic, as well as in the stablecoin's issuer for redeemability. Once the contract is set up, a carrier knows the funds are reserved for them and will release automatically.
This vision isn't just theoretical. Real-life case studies show that instant, programmable payments for freight are already happening:
In May 2025, a logistics firm DX Xpress conducted a groundbreaking cross-border payment pilot between the U.S. and Mexico using a bank-backed stablecoin (Custodia Bank's Avit). Working with Vantage Bank, they routed tokenized U.S. dollars over a public blockchain within seconds and for only pennies in cost.
The CEO of DX Xpress, Antonio Bazán, explained that integrating "programmable U.S. dollar payments" into their platform allows automatic initiation of payment via smart contract upon delivery, "ultimately paying drivers for a completed route within the hour." By paying drivers faster based on GPS-tracked milestones, DX Xpress hopes to attract and retain the best drivers in a very competitive market.
A two-truck operator in New Jersey (Bulldog Industrial) who typically had to factor their invoices tried a blockchain-based settlement via TruckCoinSwap in late 2022. They found they saved about $100 on every load in fees. Over the course of a year, for a tiny fleet, that adds up to roughly $40,000 extra in take-home pay that would have otherwise been lost to factoring costs.
In the pilot transaction, Bulldog received digital tokens for their freight bill and immediately sold them for dollars, capturing $998.99 out of a $1,000 invoice (after only a $1.01 fee). Had they used a traditional factor, they might have paid around $30–$40 in fees on a $1,000 invoice.
Beyond North America, companies are beginning to adopt stablecoin payments to speed up international logistics transactions. The freight company Argo Freight has stated that by accepting digital currency payments, they can allow partners from any country to pay instantly, helping "merchandise move faster" across borders.
Implementing a solution like Axle's stablecoin-based payouts stands to benefit the logistics industry on multiple levels:
The most obvious winners are trucking companies and drivers. Instead of financing their operations on credit while waiting for receivables, they get paid right away. This improves small carriers' liquidity dramatically, reducing bankruptcies and enabling growth. It essentially gives truckers a raise by removing the hefty factoring fees that used to siphon off 3-5% of every invoice.
When payments are no longer a bottleneck, the entire supply chain can move faster. Instant payment at delivery can serve as instant confirmation, allowing the next leg of the shipment or the next load for that truck to be scheduled without delay. It reduces administrative overhead too, no more chasing invoices or spending time on collections.
Traditional financing and factoring often favor larger, established carriers with good credit. Blockchain payment systems, however, are open to any size participant with an internet connection. A small trucking startup can tap into instant payments on equal footing with a mega-carrier, because the trust is placed in the network and code, not in years of credit history.
From a macro perspective, billions of dollars are constantly in limbo in the freight sector due to slow payments. This capital is effectively trapped in accounts payable ledgers, benefiting only the payer (shippers) who get to hold cash longer. By releasing funds in real-time, that capital is put to productive use sooner by the businesses that earned it.
Blockchain transactions can increase transparency in freight payments. Every payout and milestone can be recorded immutably, providing an audit trail of who was paid, when, and for what milestone. This reduces disputes, a carrier can see that a payment was triggered and is on the way as soon as they hit a checkpoint, rather than wondering if a paper invoice is in processing.
While the benefits are compelling, adopting stablecoin payments in logistics does come with challenges that need careful consideration:
For Axle's concept to work, it must integrate with telematics and freight management systems to know when milestones are reached. This means setting up reliable IoT or GPS oracles that feed the smart contracts with real-time data. Ensuring this data feed is tamper-proof and accurate is critical, otherwise one could falsely trigger payouts.
The trucking industry can be conservative with new technology, especially anything related to payments and finance. Convincing shippers and brokers to pre-fund an escrow smart contract might be a hurdle, today they are accustomed to paying weeks after delivery, not upfront. Education and gradual adoption will be needed, perhaps starting with high-trust lanes or affiliated carriers.
Handling payments via stablecoins must navigate financial regulations. Axle would need to ensure KYC/AML compliance for all participants, just as any payment provider or factoring company does. The advantage is that bank-issued stablecoins come built-in with compliance to banking rules. There's also the matter of smart contracts possibly needing legal status.
By using stablecoins pegged to fiat, Axle avoids the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Still, participants have to trust that the stablecoin maintains its peg and solvency. To mitigate risk, Axle might use insured bank-issued tokens or fully audited stablecoins.
Any software dealing with money brings the risk of bugs or hacks. Smart contracts, once deployed, are difficult to change, and if there's a flaw, funds could be stolen or locked. Axle's contracts must be thoroughly audited and tested to ensure that payments go to the right party under the right conditions, and nowhere else.
Despite these challenges, the momentum is clearly in favor of modernizing freight payments. Regulators are gradually clarifying rules for stablecoins, banks are embracing blockchain for real-time settlement, and early adopters are reporting significant benefits in efficiency and cost.
The trucking and logistics sector is often described as the lifeblood of the economy, moving over 70% of all freight in America. Yet, its financial plumbing has lagged behind, still relying on faxed invoices, paper checks, and weeks-long payment terms that feel more 1990s than 2020s. The solution proposed by Axle, instant, programmatic stablecoin settlements, has the potential to bring logistics finance into real-time, unlocking enormous value.
If widely implemented, such systems could transform trucking economics. Small carriers would no longer be at the mercy of cash flow droughts, which means a more resilient transportation network (fewer small operators going under due to cash issues). Competition would increase, potentially lowering freight costs as inefficiencies are squeezed out.
Drivers would be happier too. Getting paid promptly is a quality-of-life improvement that could help with the driver shortage by making the profession more attractive. Indeed, companies are already using faster pay as a selling point to entice drivers, a trend likely to grow.
The disintermediation of factoring and quick-pay services could save the industry billions that are currently lost to financial fees. Those resources can be redirected to better uses: higher driver wages, truck upgrades, or simply higher margins for carrier businesses operating on thin profits.
In a way, what we're witnessing is the beginning of the end for the net-30 payment paradigm in freight. As permissionless blockchain networks demonstrate the ability to settle value in seconds at virtually no cost, it becomes harder to justify why anyone should wait months to get paid for a service already rendered.
The programmability aspect further means we can embed business logic into payments, something not possible with a paper check. For trucking, that means payments can mirror the physical progress of shipments, tightly coupling money flow with goods flow.
Of course, change wont happen overnight. But the early successes in Mexico-U.S. cross-border trucking and the pilots with small U.S. fleets show a template that others can follow. As more logistics companies experiment and share knowledge, confidence in these solutions will build.
Axle's role in this future could be as a unifying platform, one that speaks the language of trucking (integrating with load boards, dispatch systems, etc.) on one side, and the language of blockchain on the other side, abstracting away the complexity for users. By focusing on seamless user experience (e.g. a carrier just sees instant USD payment without needing crypto savvy) and strong compliance, Axle can accelerate adoption.
The endgame is a world where freight delivered, payment received becomes as instantaneous and routine as an email confirmation. In conclusion, the problem of slow payments in logistics has been well-documented for decades, but only now do we have the technology to fundamentally solve it. The combination of stablecoins for speed, smart contracts for automation, and banks for compliance is delivering a new paradigm: logistics without the lag.