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Crypto News: BlackRock's new bitcoin income fund offers cash flow alongside BTC exposure. BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer Rick Rieder says 'I think Bitcoin is ultimately going considerably higher'. Ripple invests in Flutterwave, pushing its stablecoin and XRP Ledger into payments across Africa. Squid adds Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin for cross-chain swaps.Brought to you by
Chris Giancarlo, former CFTC Chairman, author of Crypto Dad: The Fight for the Future of Money, and Senior Strategic Advisor at Patomak Global Partners, joined me to discuss the latest developments in crypto in the U.S.Topics: - Clarity Act and crypto legislation - CFTC & SEC rulemaking - Prediction markets - TradFi embracing Crypto - Stablecoins vs CBDC privacy Brought to you by
Tether's USDT has been delisted by major crypto exchanges (including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com) specifically for users in the European Economic Area. This occurred because Tether chose not to pursue registration under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Meanwhile, WalletConnect is empowering the stablecoin ecosystem for millions of merchant around the world. ~This episode is sponsored by Tangem~ Tangem ➜ https://bit.ly/TangemPBN Use Code: "PBN" for Additional Discounts! GUEST: Jess Houlgrave - CEO WalletConnect Follow Wallet Connect on X ➜ https://x.com/WalletConnect 00:10 Sponsor Tangem 01:10 WalletConnect growth: Ingenico rollout progress 03:00 When Verifone or PAX? 05:00 Is Toast Toast? 07:30 Tether Delisted 09:45 Would WalletConnect take over non-compliant use cases of Tether? 11:00 Innovation in the EU 12:45 Saving USDT Utility? 14:15 Business model 17:00 Merchant fees 19:00 Tap-to-pay 21:20 Private transactions impossible? 23:30 CLARITY odds 25:40 WalletConnect fail? 26:15 User-friendy? 26:45 Transaction fees 27:00 Stablecoin threat 29:00 Credit card rewards 29:45 Stablecoin growth vs self-custody growth 30:40 $WCT utility 31:30 Agentic payments 32:30 Netflix login soon? #Crypto #XRP #Ethereum ~Tether Mass Delistings? + Stablecoin Catalysts Coming!
Eric Brown leads Developer Relations at BASE, Coinbase's L2. So when he says the chain sees over $4 trillion in monthly stablecoin payments and 25+ local stablecoins now circulate worldwide, it's worth interrogating closely.Jamie Crypto sits down with Eric at Consensus 2026 for a full read on what's actually shipping on BASE in 2026 — X402 as the default agent-payment rail, sub-cent fees and 5,000 TPS bursts, the Azul upgrade, the AI red team / blue team security flip, and why seven-plus local stablecoins are getting real point-of-sale adoption in South America while the U.S. lags.We cover:- The $4T monthly stablecoin payments figure (Eric's claim)- X402 and ~2M agent transactions in 30 days on BASE- 400M gas per block, sub-tenth-of-a-cent fees, 5,000 TPS bursts- DeFi security after a brutal month of hacks — AI's role on both sides- Why the agentic cohort is "completely unbanked already"- Morpho, 4% USDC yields, and what makes an onchain app stickyFilmed at Consensus 2026.Host: Jamie Redman
Nik Bhatia is an author of two economics books, a visiting fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and the founder of The Bitcoin Layer. In Nik's first appearance on the podcast, he discusses his niche in the Bitcoin community, the role of Bitcoin as a transaction asset, the threat or lack thereof of quantum computing on Bitcoin, his issues with the current eurodollar market, his new proposal to use stablecoins as statecraft, and much more. Watch the full length video on our new YouTube Channel! Check out the transcript for this week's episode, now with links. Recorded on May 5th, 2026 Subscribe to David's Substack: Macroeconomic Policy Nexus Follow David on X: @DavidBeckworth Follow Nik X: @Timevalueofbtc Follow the show on X: @Macro_Musings Check out our Macro Musings merch! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:49 - Nik's Career and Background 00:12:32 - Crypto Assets for Transactions 00:18:28 - Quantum Computing and Bitcoin 00:24:08 - Stablecoins as Statecraft 00:58:36 - Outro
GFTN's Pat Patel on building Point Zero Forum, the future of stablecoins and agentic AI, and why coexistence beats winner-takes-all in the next wave of digital money.
In this episode Amanda and I discuss Michael Saylor's Strategy Bitcoin lie, Jim Cramer SpaceX IPO vs Bitcoin, MasterCard AI Agent stablecoin payments, CME crypto index futures, new legislation to establish the Federal Cryptocurrency Theft Task Force, and much more.Brought to you by
How Michael Clarke Went From Math Teacher to Building Escrow Tech for Africa | Trust Lock PayHow Michael Clarke Went From Math Teacher to Building Escrow Tech for Africa | TrustLock PayMichael Clarke | Founder, Dada Inc. (subsidiary: ASICS) | Creator of TrustLock PayLinkedIn: Michael Clarke (search Dada Inc. / TrustLock Pay)Email: mclarke@dadainc.comConnect & Inquire: mclarke@dadainc.com"Sending money on blind trust and gambling is not the way to go." — Michael ClarkeWhat happens when a Jamaican-born math teacher in Broward County decides to solve one of the biggest problems in African trade? On this episode of Diversified Game, Kellen Coleman sits down with Michael Clarke, physics graduate, decade-plus math educator, and founder of Dada Inc., builder of TrustLock Pay, an AI and blockchain escrow platform built to let strangers do cross-border business without getting scammed.Michael breaks down his journey from the crypto space in 2021 to buying land in Rwanda, why he pivoted from a "cool app" to solving a real trust gap, and how he uses AI, smart contracts, and stablecoins to hold funds like escrow until both sides deliver. We get into why he chose Kenya over Jamaica, teaching kids to build apps, the future of math in the AI era, and his plan to partner with governments to make this the gold standard.No surface-level hype. Real builders, real problems, real solutions.Learn the mindset and moves that lead to real results. Please visit my website to get more information: http://diversifiedgame.com/
Knowledge Project: Read the notes at at podcastnotes.org. Don't forget to subscribe for free to our newsletter, the top 10 ideas of the week, every Monday --------- Bill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber's hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking. In this episode, Bill shares the mental models he returns to most, including systems thinking, second- and third-order effects, and the importance of understanding both the bedrock of your field and the bleeding edge. He explains what separates great founders, why storytelling and product instincts matter, how he uses AI across different models, and what he sees coming in open source, China, stablecoins, tokenization, payments, and venture capital. ------ Timestamps: (00:00) Key Mental Models (02:02) Investing Journey and Key Players (05:21) Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry (08:50) Obsessive Learning in Founders (10:04) The Silent Edge (11:44) Surprising AI Use (13:13) The Future of AI Models (14:17) Global AI Regulation (18:12) Impacts of AI on Investing (19:53) Are There Limitations on Training AI Models? (23:04) Would You Sit in the Back Seat While Your Tesla Drives? (24:15) Non-Consensus Opinions (24:53) Are We Overfunding this Buildout? (29:40) The Role of Retail Investors and Tokenization (34:26) What is a Stablecoin? (37:58) Competitive Mode: Visa and Mastercard (39:55) AI and Debt Analysis (45:05) The Craft of Storytelling and Writing (48:07) Founder Advantage: Product Instinct (50:12) Real World Lessons from Working With Uber (52:10) Inside Benchmark's Success (59:42) What is Success for You? ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: https://x.com/shaneparrish Insta: https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/ Follow Bill Gurley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ X: https://x.com/bgurley?lang=en Check out Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. https://coinshares.com/ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/ +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crypto News: Michael Saylor lies saying Strategy never said it would sell its Bitcoin. Visa says it has moved $7B annually in stablecoins through its network. Stellar Development Foundation has unveiled a quantum preparedness plan to migrate all XLM accounts to quantum-resistant signatures by end of 2027. Ripple and Bitso expand their partnership, bringing Bitso's MXN-backed stablecoin MXNB to the XRP Ledger. Brought to you by
Matt and Doug discuss SpaceX's IPO jumping from 135 to about 171 a share and compare the frenzy to the dotcom era, noting its importance for broader market sentiment and Elon Musk's reported trillionaire status. They mention reading Peter Thiel's Zero to One, then pivot to extreme bearish sentiment in gold miners (a bullish index falling from 100 in January to 0 on June 10) and argue this may be a buying opportunity, alongside unloved oil despite ongoing Strait of Hormuz disruptions and prices around $80 WTI/$84 Brent. They cover rising inflation (CPI 4.2%), skepticism about official numbers, and expectations for new Fed chair Kevin Warsh. Subscriber questions include Costa Rica as a destination, tokenized gold's practicality and redeemability, whether to short markets, Ebola risk to Ivanhoe Mines, China's reduced oil imports, distrust of Howard Lutnick/Trump-linked trading dynamics, and whether humanoid robotics could extend the AI bull run. 00:00 SpaceX IPO Buzz 01:46 Thiel Book Talk 04:29 Trillion Dollar Math 06:24 Gold Miners Capitulation 09:26 Inflation Fed Outlook 12:47 Paper Fantasy Economy 16:07 Costa Rica Expat Reality 18:38 Central America Picks 20:17 Tokenized Gold Idea 21:07 Tokenized Gold Doubts 21:39 Swiss Gold Token Update 23:43 Shorting Market Timing 25:33 Ivanhoe Ebola Risk 28:36 Oil Prices and China 34:56 Stablecoins and Power Players 37:51 Epstein Files Speculation 39:04 Robots and AI Bubble 41:18 Trump Tweets and Markets 44:13 Weekend Sign Off
Any donation is greatly appreciated! 47e6GvjL4in5Zy5vVHMb9PQtGXQAcFvWSCQn2fuwDYZoZRk3oFjefr51WBNDGG9EjF1YDavg7pwGDFSAVWC5K42CBcLLv5U OR DONATE HERE: https://www.monerotalk.live/donate TODAY'S SHOW: Douglas Tuman speaks with Paul Sztorc of LayerTwo Labs about the current state of Bitcoin, the future of sidechains, privacy technologies, Monero's growing real-world relevance, and his efforts to launch a new Bitcoin fork featuring native sidechain functionality. The discussion explores Bitcoin maximalism, network effects, privacy tradeoffs, Zcash vs. Monero, decentralized naming systems, and whether Bitcoin's culture is preventing meaningful innovation. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00:00) Introduction, Sponsors & Pre-Show Discussion (00:08:41) Paul's Bitcoin Origins, Silk Road & Discovering Crypto (00:17:06) Drivechains Explained & Why Paul Is Forking Bitcoin (00:31:32) One Coin vs. Many Coins, Network Effects & Privacy (00:43:10) Bitcoin Culture, Maximalism & Why BTC May Be Stagnating (00:57:36) Monero vs. Zcash, Privacy Adoption & Real-World Usage (01:06:59) Namecoin, BitNames & Decentralized Identity Systems (01:17:11) Prediction Markets, Stablecoins & Future Sidechains (01:26:31) Launch Plans for eCash/ZSide & Adoption Challenges (01:38:13) Closing Thoughts & Final Remarks GUEST LINKS: https://x.com/Truthcoin Purchase Cafe & tip the farmers w/ XMR! https://gratuitas.org/ SPONSORS: Cakewallet.com, the first open-source Monero wallet for iOS. You can even exchange between XMR, BTC, LTC & more in the app! Monero.com by Cake Wallet - ONLY Monero wallet (https://monero.com/) StealthEX, an instant exchange. Go to (https://stealthex.io) to instantly exchange between Monero and 450 plus assets, w/o having to create an account or register & with no limits. WEBSITE: https://www.monerotopia.com CONTACT: monerotalk@protonmail.com ODYSEE: https://odysee.com/@MoneroTalk:8 TWITTER: https://twitter.com/monerotalk FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MoneroTalk HOST: https://twitter.com/douglastuman INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/monerotalk TELEGRAM: https://t.me/monerotopia MATRIX: https://matrix.to/#/%23monerotopia%3Amonero.social MASTODON: @Monerotalk@mastodon.social MONERO.TOWN: https://monero.town/u/monerotalkAny donation is greatly appreciated!Any donation is greatly appreciated!
Brad Spies runs Consensus, the 11-year-old big-tent crypto conference operated by CoinDesk. On day three of Consensus Miami 2026 he sits down with David Sencil to walk through what's actually different this year: 15,000 attendees, JP Morgan, Fidelity, Schwab, DTCC and Swift on the sponsor list, and 1,200 "normie businesses" reached out to about stablecoin onboarding.He's also candid about the Gensler-era detour to Toronto, the 2022 Austin apex (Method Man, Red Man, Disclosure, Celsius the day after), and his own crypto origin story: he bought his first Bitcoin in 2013 and sold it almost immediately. "I kick myself to this day."We cover:- Why JP Morgan, Fidelity, and Swift all bought booths this year- The institutional pipeline built behind closed doors over four years- Stablecoin workshops, normie-business onboarding, and the hackathon stack- Where Consensus goes after Miami 2027 and New York- Why "most every bank account will come with a wallet address"Filmed at Consensus 2026 in Miami.Host: David Sencil
Crypto has been walled off from the real economy for years — that's changing. Sonal Chokshi and Robert Hackett sit down with Eddy Lazzarin, a16z crypto's newest General Partner, to break down why crypto is entering a completely different phase and what gets built once the rules finally catch up to the technology. The discussion spans: - what the CLARITY Act actually does and why it changes the design space for crypto founders - the difference between a network token and a security, and why it needs to be written into law - why stablecoins are crypto's first real killer app and how the rest of the economy is reconfiguring around them - how tokens let builders decouple pricing from growth in a way stocks never could - why 97.8% of the value created in capitalism leaks out, and what that means for anyone trying to capture any of it Highlights: 00:00 Intro 01:25 What it means to be a GP 02:00 Consensus vs. non-consensus bets 04:27 Network tokens and the CLARITY Act 09:35 Revenue, value capture, and network-token business models 21:18 Stablecoins as crypto's first killer app 28:52 Engineer-philosopher mindset 39:04 Intellectual influences 52:40 Eddy's path to crypto 1:03:15 The exuberant adoption phase of AI 1:14:38 Being "pro–AI psychosis" Follow: Eddy Lazzarin: https://twitter.com/eddylazzarin Sonal Chokshi: https://twitter.com/smc90 Robert Hackett: https://twitter.com/rhackett Follow a16z crypto: X: https://twitter.com/a16zcrypto LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/a16zcrypto/posts/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@a16zcrypto Subscribe for more industry reports, trend updates, news analysis, builder guides, and other resources: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ As always, none of the following should be taken as investment, business, legal, or tax advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What's really happening in Iran? The European Central Bank is going to suffocate the economy. The future of money and Ai. Global inflation rips higher. The Bank of Canada is stuck in an uncomfortable dilemma. Start an investment portfolio that's built to perform with Neighbourhood Holdings! For Mortgage Brokers: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehour-brokersFor Investors and Advisors: https://www.neighbourhood.com/looniehourJoin Seeking Alpha Premium And Get 25% Off Today!: https://link.seekingalpha.com/52636H6/4G6SHH/✉️ Media & Real Estate Inquiries: steve@stevesaretsky.comStay up to date with our information -
Crypto News: Jim Cramer continues being bearish on Bitcoin. BlackRock and Fidelity are quietly turning bitcoin ETFs into a two-firm market. Mastercard has launched a payment system designed for AI agents to transact autonomously, with Coinbase, Ripple ,Solana and polygon among 30+ partners already signed on.Brought to you by
Join FPC Executive Director and CEO Reed Luhtanen as he goes off the rails with Craig Ramsey from ACI Worldwide and Anthony Serio from 7T world. Anthony, Craig, and Reed talk about the upcoming resource from the FPC's Financial Inclusion Work Group, stablecoins, the imperative for financial institutions to implement send, and the group's takes on the World Cup.Follow FPC on Linkedin! https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-faster-payments-council/posts/?feedView=all
For episode 255 of the Crypto Altruists podcast, we're doing something a little different. No guest, no interview, just a conversation about something that's been on my mind: the parallels between crypto's hype cycle and the moment AI is in right now.A few years ago, we were told crypto would change everything. It would bank the unbanked, topple corrupt institutions, create generational wealth, and solve humanity's hardest problems. Some of that came true. A lot of it didn't. And along the way, the noise, the scams, and the booms and busts drove people away and bred a lasting resentment toward the entire space.But here's the hopeful part: once the hype faded and the dust settled, the real use cases quietly emerged. Stablecoins delivering aid and remittances. Transparent, on-chain philanthropy. Tokenization funding community-owned infrastructure. The "boring," behind-the-scenes applications turned out to be the ones creating impact at scale.Today, I want to make the case that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space is running almost the exact same playbook. The same totalizing promises, the same accelerationist fervor, and the same growing public backlash. This isn't an anti-AI episode, and it's not anti-crypto either. It's a pragmatic, human-centered take on managing hype, recognizing and mitigating real harms, and protecting the genuinely good stuff so it has a chance to grow. Because if there's one thing crypto taught us, it's that a technology can't thrive at scale without human buy-in.We'll also touch on what responsible development could look like, from the "do no harm" principle borrowed from the development world to the recent call from leaders within the AI industry itself, like Anthropic, for a collective pause mechanism.In today's discussion, you'll learn:
A Yen stablecoin from the mega banks? Japan's three largest banks, MUFG, Mizuho, and SMBC, are planning to jointly issue a yen-backed stablecoin by March 2027, with backing from Japan's Financial Services Agency. Yen tokens currently represent less than $50 million in a $311 billion market dominated by dollar tokens. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.
Banks have fought a comprehensive effort to ensure stablecoins cannot offer yield. But the Senate Banking Committee passed a bill that the banking industry still says falls short. Does that mean banks have lost the fight? Will a crypto market structure bill pass this year? Brendan Pedersen of Punchbowl News offers insights into the current and future state of play.
Blue Alpine Cast - Kryptowährung, News und Analysen (Bitcoin, Ethereum und co)
Jetzt bei Kraken anmelden und 30 EUR Bonus erhalten: https://bit.ly/kraken-bonusStablecoins sind ein 310-Milliarden-Markt und 2026 das Schlachtfeld der Regulierung. Ich ordne ein: Was MiCA in Europa verändert, was der US-GENIUS-Act bringt, und warum USDC zum Gewinner der Regulierung wird, während USDT verdrängt wird. Themen & Timestamps:00:00 Stablecoins, EZB und digitaler Euro01:21 Europas monetäre Souveränität02:02 EZB, Banken und private Euro-Stablecoins03:58 Trump verbietet eine US-CBDC05:18 Chinas digitaler Yuan als Warnsignal05:55 Privatsphäre bei CBDCs und Stablecoins07:03 Einfrieren, Zinsen und zentrale Kontrolle09:06 Tether, USAT und Europas Markt
Jack Chong is co-founder and CEO of Checker, a stablecoin liquidity network connecting FX banks, payments companies, and neobanks across emerging markets.He joins host Aaron Stanley to discuss why cross-border stablecoin payments are still broken, and how Checker is building the infrastructure layer to fix it.Chong's path from Hong Kong to Oxford to a language school in Jordan to building stablecoin rails in New York and Latin America is not a straight line, but it explains exactly why Checker is built the way it is: global product, local execution, regional investors with boots on the ground.In its first 12 months, the network processed over $3 billion in payment volume.Chong breaks down the Brazil-China corridor, where most cross-border business payments still run through informal brokers, and makes the case for why Brazil's VASP regulation arriving in Q4 is a pivotal moment for any institution that wants to offer stablecoin products.He also floats an intriguing idea: stablecoins as the conduit that opens the BRL carry trade, long a Wall Street macro favorite, to crypto natives and retail investors.
In this episode of Treasury Leaders, host Jan-Willem Attevelt, Co-founder of Automation Boutique, talks with Nikos Polymenakos, Director of Treasury at Delta Foods SA, about the evolving role of treasury in modern business, the lessons learned from Greece's financial crisis, and why treasury teams must move beyond operational tasks to become strategic business partners.Nikos shares how his unconventional path into finance shaped his perspective on treasury as a discipline rooted in business understanding, relationships, and creativity rather than pure mathematics. Drawing from his experience leading treasury and finance responsibilities across a decentralised FMCG group, he explains why cash flow visibility, liquidity management, and strategic forecasting are essential for sustainable growth.Whether you are focused on liquidity management, treasury transformation, forecasting, or the future of digital finance, this episode offers practical insights into how treasury leaders can create long-term strategic value for their organisations.What You'll Learn in This Episode• Why treasury teams must understand the full business, not just finance• How Greece's financial crisis reshaped treasury and liquidity management• The role of trade finance and cash flow forecasting in supporting growth• Why AI in treasury depends on strong data foundations and human judgement• How stablecoins and blockchain could reduce friction in global paymentsEpisode Breakdown with Timestamps[00:00] – Nikos' Journey into Treasury and Business Leadership[05:36] – Lessons from Greece's Financial Crisis and Liquidity Management[14:27] – Trade Finance and Unlocking Working Capital[19:14] – Implementing a Treasury Management System Across Subsidiaries[24:12] – Building a 13-Week Rolling Cash Flow Forecast[28:20] – AI in Treasury and the Importance of Clean Data[35:34] – Stablecoins, Blockchain, and the Future of Payments[48:56] – Why Treasurers Must Become Strategic LeadersFollow Our Guest Nikos Polymenakos:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikos-polymenakos-8993551b/Delta Foods: https://www.linkedin.com/company/delta-foods-sa/Follow Treasury Leaders:Website: https://corporate-treasury-101.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/treasury-leaders/Follow Our Hosts:Hussam Ali on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hussam-r-ali/Guillaume Jouvencel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaume-jouvencel/Jan-Willem Attevelt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/attevelt/Philip Costa Hibberd on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-costa-hibberd/GHA Marketing Website: https://ghapodcast.com/Automation Boutique Website: https://automationboutique.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Get $100 off any AFP product, including their CTP Exam Prep Platform, using our discount code! Find this and More on our partner's pagehttps://corporate-treasury-101.com/partners-page/
In this episode of the What the FinTech? podcast, host and FinTech Futures Managing Editor Paul Hindle is joined by Cassie Craddock, Managing Director for UK and Europe at Ripple, to explore the work Ripple is doing to transform cross-border payments through blockchain technology and stablecoins and learn more about the company's expansion plans. Paul and Cassie discuss how Ripple's recent EMI licences in the UK and Luxembourg are positioning the company for significant growth across European markets, and what these regulatory milestones mean for clients and partnerships in the region. The conversation also covers the growing role of stablecoins in cross-border transactions, examining the advantages they offer over traditional methods, and how Ripple's USD stablecoin fits into the company's broader vision. And finally, we find out what fintech buzzword Cassie wants to throw into our Fintech Jail! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT FINTECH FUTURES FinTech Futures is the #1 provider of global fintech news and intelligence. With a mission to empower the financial technology community, we bring you the latest updates and thought leadership from across the industry. From startups to established players, we cover the entire fintech ecosystem. Stay Connected with FinTech Futures: Visit our website: www.fintechfutures.com Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/fintechfutures/ Sign up to our newsletter: www.fintechfutures.com/newsletter Subscribe to our channel: www.youtube.com/@FinTechFutures
Bill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber's hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking. In this episode, Bill shares the mental models he returns to most, including systems thinking, second- and third-order effects, and the importance of understanding both the bedrock of your field and the bleeding edge. He explains what separates great founders, why storytelling and product instincts matter, how he uses AI across different models, and what he sees coming in open source, China, stablecoins, tokenization, payments, and venture capital. ------ Timestamps: (00:00) Key Mental Models (02:02) Investing Journey and Key Players (05:21) Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry (08:50) Obsessive Learning in Founders (10:04) The Silent Edge (11:44) Surprising AI Use (13:13) The Future of AI Models (14:17) Global AI Regulation (18:12) Impacts of AI on Investing (19:53) Are There Limitations on Training AI Models? (23:04) Would You Sit in the Back Seat While Your Tesla Drives? (24:15) Non-Consensus Opinions (24:53) Are We Overfunding this Buildout? (29:40) The Role of Retail Investors and Tokenization (34:26) What is a Stablecoin? (37:58) Competitive Mode: Visa and Mastercard (39:55) AI and Debt Analysis (45:05) The Craft of Storytelling and Writing (48:07) Founder Advantage: Product Instinct (50:12) Real World Lessons from Working With Uber (52:10) Inside Benchmark's Success (59:42) What is Success for You? ------ Newsletter: The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it's completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter ------ Follow Shane Parrish: X: https://x.com/shaneparrish Insta: https://www.instagram.com/farnamstreet/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/ Follow Bill Gurley LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ X: https://x.com/bgurley?lang=en Check out Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love ------ Thank you to the sponsors for this episode: +CoinShares: Delivering Reason to Digital Asset Investing. https://coinshares.com/ +Granola AI, The AI notepad for people in back-to-back meetings: https://www.granola.ai/shane Check out the Granola Notes +HeyGen is a message-first AI video platform that helps people and AI agents turn ideas into professional video in minutes. Try for free at https://www.heygen.com/ +LMNT: My go-to zero sugar electrolytes — get a free LMNT Sample Pack here: DrinkLMNT.com/TKP Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Crypto News: The crypto market has hit a local bottom with oversold conditions signaling a buy the dip opportunity for Bitcoin and Altcoins like Ethereum and XRP. MetaMask launches AI agent wallet with built-in security for crypto trades.
Connect with Early Riders // Connect with OnrampPresented collaboratively by Early Riders & Onramp Media...Final Settlement is a weekly podcast covering capital markets, dealmaking, early-stage venture, bitcoin applications and protocol development.This week Brian, Michael, and Liam cover the SpaceX IPO and the capital-rotation narrative around Bitcoin, the Bernie Sanders / David Sachs debate over government equity stakes in AI companies, the Zcash inflation bug that allowed unlimited mint for four years before Claude caught it, JPMorgan's tokenized-deposit consortium with Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase, the Stripe / Visa / MasterCard stablecoin consortium, Morgan Stanley's Galaxy partnership letting high-net-worth clients lend Bitcoin for in-kind ETF conversions, Tether's first gold-backed Visa card, the US sanctioning Iran's largest crypto exchange Nobitex, and the Polymarket MicroStrategy resolution controversy.Chapters00:00 - The State of Digital Assets01:13 - Upcoming IPOs and Market Dynamics05:54 - Contrasting Views on Investment Strategies08:19 - Long-Term Perspectives on Bitcoin14:11 - Speculation vs. Saving in Investments18:32 - Government Involvement and Market Bubbles25:22 - Zcash Inflation Bug and Crypto Vulnerabilities31:12 - Tokenization of Deposits and Future of Banking34:12 - Understanding the Future of Investment and Money35:56 - The Role of Traditional Finance in Digital Assets37:11 - Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin Lending and ETF Strategy40:54 - Market Timing and ETF Launches42:48 - The Evolution of Wealth Management and Asset Preservation44:40 - Stablecoins and 24/7 Trading in Crypto Markets49:05 - US Sanctions and the Impact on Crypto Markets52:59 - Tether's Gold-Backed Innovations55:19 - The Future of Agentic Payments and Prediction MarketsIf you found this valuable, please subscribe to Early Riders Insights for access to the best content in the ecosystem weekly.Keep up with Michael:https://x.com/MTangumahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/mtanguma/Keep up with Liam:https://x.com/Lnelson_21https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-nelson1/Keep up with Brian:https://x.com/BackslashBTChttps://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-cubellis-00b1a660/
Could AI agents soon handle purchases, manage finances, and automate entire job functions? According to Raja Rajamannar, that future may be arriving much faster than most people expect.In this episode, Jamie Redman sits down with Raja Rajamannar, Senior Fellow, Former CMCO, Mastercard and author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book Quantum Marketing, to discuss how artificial intelligence is reshaping business, consumer behavior, and the global economy.Topics covered include:• The shift from traditional marketing to Quantum Marketing• Why AI adoption is accelerating at unprecedented speed• Which industries and job roles are most vulnerable to automation• The emergence of AI agents and machine-to-machine commerce• How AI could redefine brand loyalty and consumer decision-making• The role stablecoins may play in the future of payments• Challenges surrounding regulation, privacy, and trust in AI systems• Raja's prediction for when Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could arriveAs AI continues to transform how we work, spend, and interact with technology, businesses, consumers, and policymakers are facing critical questions about what comes next.
Sam Kazemian breaks down why the Genius Act's 120-day default acceptance is the most bullish structural change for compliant stablecoins, why you can't vibe code liquidity or DeFi integrations regardless of AI, and why the stablecoin supply step function could arrive in 6 to 8 months.Sam Kazemian is Founder of Frax Finance, the protocol behind FRAX USD, a Genius-compliant decentralized stablecoin operating system.The Rollup is where the leaders of digital assets and finance converge. Live from the financial capital of the world.Timestamps00:00 Genius Act Q1 202701:28 120-Day Default Acceptance03:40 FRAX USD Genius Compliant04:07 Biggest Stablecoin On Aave08:05 Can't Vibe Code Liquidity09:06 Investable DeFi Tokens Breakdown12:42 Two Types Of Stablecoins15:20 New On-Chain Assets Coming19:15 Supply Growth Drives Buybacks23:18 Reinvest Now Burn Later27:33 Institutional Players Move Slower28:41 Stablecoin Step FunctionGuest Socials:Sam Kazemian X: https://x.com/samkazemianFrax Finance X: https://x.com/FraxFinanceFrax Finance Website: https://frax.com/Partners:Better than Banks. Transparent capital efficiency earning the highest yields in DeFi. Learn more here: https://infinifi.xyz/---Dinari - Over 230 1:1 backed tokenized stocks, ETFs & more with dividends. US-based SEC transfer agent. Available on 5+ chains & via API. https://dinari.com/---Relay is the fastest and most reliable way to swap any token on any chain. Learn more here: https://relay.link/bridge---Zama is an open source cryptography company that builds state-of-the-art Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) solutions for blockchain.Learn more here: https://www.zama.org/---Trezor is the creator of the first-ever hardware wallet. Securing crypto for 2M+ users worldwide. 100% open source. Learn more here: https://affil.trezor.io/aff_c?offer_id=133&aff_id=36664---
Blue Alpine Cast - Kryptowährung, News und Analysen (Bitcoin, Ethereum und co)
Jetzt bei Kraken anmelden und 30 EUR Bonus erhalten: https://bit.ly/kraken-bonusCBDC und der digitale Euro spalten Europas Zentralbanker. EZB-Chefin Lagarde warnt vor Stablecoins wie USDC und Tether, Themen & Timestamps:00:00 Stablecoin-Regulierung in Europa und den USA00:32 USDC, Bankenrisiken und zentrale Reserven01:09 Operation Choke Point 2.002:47 MiCA verändert Europas Stablecoin-Markt04:08 Tokenklassen und MiCA-Reservepflichten06:02 Warum USDT in Europa verdrängt wird07:01 USA, Grossbritannien und der Stablecoin-Streit09:06 Lagardes drei Hauptsorgen
Recorded in partnership with LHV Bank on their booth at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, this episode explores the technologies, regulatory shifts and business models reshaping financial services across the continent. Russell Goldsmith is joined by six industry leaders: 1/ Macs Dickinson, Director of Engineering, LHV Bank 2/ Paul Scholten, Chief Executive Officer, Buckaroo 3/ Eline Blomme, Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Acquired 4/ Scott Dawson, Director & CEO, DECTA UK 5/ Chris Corbett, Product Lead, Plaid 6/ Alexander de Ràfols, Head of Europe Product, Affirm Together, they share practical, real‑world insights from the rise of stablecoins and instant cross‑border payments to the impact of agentic AI, rebundling, and the next wave of open finance innovation. A fast‑moving, insight‑packed episode capturing the themes dominating Money20/20 Europe, from rewired infrastructure to the new competitive dynamics between banks, fintechs and platforms.
Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, joined us to discuss the growing adoption of stablecoins and tokenization on the Polygon blockchain.Topics: - Visa adds Polygon to its global stablecoin settlement program - Meta launches USDC creator payouts on Polygon - Private stablecoin payments - Future of Ethereum Layer 2s- DeFi exploits and regulation
In this episode of the Crazy Wisdom Podcast, host Stewart Alsop sits down with software engineer and entrepreneur Arowolo Muritadhor for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from agriculture and manufacturing in Nigeria to the evolving role of crypto in the country's economy. They touch on how hyperinflation, particularly the naira's dramatic drop in 2023, pushed Nigerians toward stablecoins as a practical savings tool, and how informal kiosk networks have stepped in where traditional banking infrastructure falls short. The conversation also covers the tension between government regulation and the permissionless nature of blockchain technology, comparisons between the decline of the Roman Empire and current shifts in US economic dominance, the role of mobile payments in Africa, language learning, and whether AI agents have any real utility in crypto infrastructure yet. You can connect with Arowolo on LinkedIn and X at @armolas_06.Timestamps00:00 - Host welcomes Arowolo Muritadhor, introducing topics of software engineering and animal food production in Nigeria.05:00 - Discussion shifts to manufacturing, components assembly, and China's dominance in low-cost production globally.10:00 - Conversation explores crypto adoption in Nigeria as a network state phenomenon, separating informed users from mainstream population.15:00 - Mobile payments and kiosk ATM replacements emerge as critical financial infrastructure bridging unbanked Nigerians.20:00 - Roman Empire parallels drawn to modern crypto taxation, government control, and inevitable death-and-taxes reality.25:00 - Bitcoin and Ethereum permissionless nature debated against government wallet-level censorship vulnerabilities.30:00 - AI agents examined as crypto infrastructure tools, revealing mostly trading bots rather than foundational builders.35:00 - Nigeria's 2023 naira collapse compared to Argentina's hyperinflation, driving citizens toward stablecoin dollar savings.40:00 - US Treasury history unpacked through FDR gold confiscation and Nixon ending convertibility, paralleling empire decline.45:00 - Crypto reframed as anti-bank rather than purely anti-government, enabling freedom through immutable accountability.50:00 - Transparent blockchain ledgers discussed as potential government accountability tools across democracy, republic, and oligarchy structures.Key Insights1. Nigeria has a significant divide between its northern and southern regions in terms of economic activity. The north, centered around Abuja, is more agricultural with substantial cattle production, while Lagos in the south functions as a dense urban and commercial hub. This geographic and economic split shapes how different financial tools and technologies are adopted across the country.2. China's dominance in low-cost manufacturing has made it nearly impossible for countries like Nigeria, the United States, or Argentina to compete on price alone. The more realistic path for developing economies is to import components and focus on local assembly and creativity, which is where meaningful economic participation becomes possible.3. Crypto adoption in Nigeria accelerated dramatically around 2023 when the naira experienced a sharp devaluation against the US dollar. Before that point, saving in dollars was difficult for many Nigerians, especially those without formal bank accounts, making stablecoins like USDT an attractive and practical alternative for preserving wealth.4. Informal kiosk operators in Nigeria have organically become a substitute for ATMs, giving communities access to basic financial services where traditional banking infrastructure does not reach. This grassroots financial layer is now a key entry point for integrating crypto and stablecoin payments into everyday commerce.5. Governments are increasingly trying to regulate crypto at the wallet and centralized exchange level, using tax compliance as a primary mechanism. While Bitcoin and Ethereum remain largely permissionless, the practical chokepoints for most users remain centralized platforms where identity and transactions can be monitored.6. The historical parallel between the fall of the Roman Empire and current shifts in US economic and geopolitical power offers a useful frame for understanding why crypto matters. Just as Rome debased its currency and struggled to sustain imperial costs, the US faces mounting debt and a financialized economy that may accelerate dollar instability and push more people toward alternative stores of value.7. One genuinely constructive use case for blockchain beyond speculation is immutable accountability, particularly for public institutions and prediction markets. A transparent ledger that governments or officials voluntarily adopt could create verifiable records of decisions and promises, reducing corruption and increasing trust in ways that traditional governance structures have struggled to achieve.
Blue Alpine Cast - Kryptowährung, News und Analysen (Bitcoin, Ethereum und co)
Jetzt bei Kraken anmelden und 30 EUR Bonus erhalten: https://bit.ly/kraken-bonusUSDC ist nach USDT der größte Stablecoin. Ich erkläre, wie USDC besichert ist, der Unterschied zu USDT und RLUSD, und warum die EU-Regulierung MiCA USDT von europäischen Plattformen verdrängt hat. Themen & Timestamps:00:00 USDT, USDC und der Kampf um den digitalen Euro01:21 Stablecoins: Warum sie für Krypto so wichtig sind02:59 Wie Tether den Stablecoin-Markt erfand04:08 Marktgrösse und Reserven06:01 Tether vs. Circle: Transparenz und Kontrolle07:07 USDC und Euro-C im europäischen Markt09:13 Tether-Audit und regulatorische Ambitionen10:58 USDC-Depeg und Bankenkrise
Swap now https://swap.thorchain.org/ THORChain is a decentralized crypto exchange. THORChain is the first and biggest DEX for Bitcoin. You can use any self custody wallet to swap and there's no KYC required.Timestamps:0:00 Intro0:03:00 THORChain Marketing and Protocol Update0:07:00 Zephyr Conversation Begins0:11:00 Zephyr Presentation Starts0:12:00 Supported Tokens and Where the Yield Comes From0:14:00 What Is Zephyr?0:16:00 Why Privacy Is Important and Necessary0:18:00 Stablecoin Rails Currently Have an Off Switch0:19:00 The Holy Grail of Crypto: A Decentralized Yield-Bearing Stablecoin0:20:00 LUNA Mechanics Were Bad, the Idea Was Good0:21:00 Stablecoin Reserve Mechanics0:23:00 Dr. Future Explains Overcollateralized Mechanics0:25:00 How Proof-of-Work Rewards ZRS Holders0:27:00 Proven History of Hardiness and Stability0:29:00 Community Incentives When the Zeph Price Drops0:32:00 ZSD: Zephyr Stable Dollar Explained0:38:00 ZYS: Zephyr Yield Share Explained0:45:00 How Is It Sustainable?0:48:00 Understanding the Risk Profile0:49:00 No Lock-Up Periods0:50:00 ZRS: Zephyr Reserve Breakdown1:01:00 The Four-Asset Ecosystem1:03:00 Block Reward Breakdown1:04:00 The Zephyr Flywheel Thesis1:08:00 Zephyr EVM Bridge1:13:00 Could the ERC-20 Version Be Added to THORChain?1:15:00 Audience Question: Is the ERC-20 Version Significant Enough to Scale?1:20:00 The Best of Both Worlds Partnering Together1:22:00 Where Is the Outside Money Coming From?1:23:00 How Do You Acquire Zephyr Today?1:24:00 Wallet Support1:24:00 Stablecoin Swaps Will Be Free on THORChain1:27:00 THORChain Fee Structure1:30:00 Protocol-Owned Liquidity Growth and Considerations1:38:00 Cost to Run Zephyr1:42:00 Let's Get It on THORChain!1:47:00 Stablecoin Speed and Finality1:53:00 ZephFlow.live
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and prominent AI investor, joins the Consensus mainstage for a wide-ranging conversation on where crypto, AI, and identity are headed. Hoffman argues that as agents outnumber people on the internet, crypto becomes the only viable solution for trust, provenance, and identity at scale. From his 2014 Bitcoin purchase to his recent CryptoPunk buy, Hoffman explains why the age of AI has brought him back to crypto with fresh conviction. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Reid Hoffman at Consensus Miami 2026 01:11 - What Reid Is Focused on Today 04:13 - Deepfakes, Provenance, and Crypto as Identity Infrastructure 09:00 - Stablecoins, the GENIUS Act, and Keeping Crypto Bipartisan 10:51 - The Cognitive Industrial Revolution and Working with AI 13:28 - AI in the Workforce: Superpowers, Not Layoffs 15:32 - Where Reid Is Investing: NFTs, DAOs, and Agent Identity
In this episode, PakoVM joins me as we discuss the security challenges facing Bitcoin users, from scams and self-custody risks to the trade-offs of convenience versus sovereignty. The conversation explores emerging Bitcoin protocols such as Ark and Spark, the role of Linux and open-source hardware, advancements in wallet design, privacy, inheritance planning, and whether stablecoins and Bitcoin-native financial infrastructure can accelerate global adoption.Timestamp:(00:00) – Introduction (05:24) – Navigating Scams in the Bitcoin Space(10:16) – The Rise of Linux and Desktop Alternatives(15:18) – Bitcoin Technology: Lightning, Ark, and Beyond(30:27) – Bridging Traditional Finance and Bitcoin(35:10) – Bitcoin as a Medium of Exchange vs. Store of Value(39:22) – Stablecoins and Their Role in Bitcoin Ecosystem(41:50) – Wallets and User Experience in Bitcoin Transactions(44:23) – Community Perspectives: Bitcoin Only vs. Multi-coin(46:14) – Global Perspectives on Bitcoin Adoption(50:17) – Future of Bitcoin Technology and User Adoption(01:02:18) – Privacy Solutions and User Experience in Bitcoin(01:08:21) – Closing thoughtsLinks:https://x.com/PakoVMhttps://blog.bitbox.swiss/en/transferring-bitcoin-without-actually-moving-it-explaining-how-statechains-work/https://pakovm.substack.com/p/ark-and-the-train-analogy-a-guide Stephan Livera links:Follow me on X: @stephanliveraSubscribe to the podcastSubscribe to Substack
Every day, billions of transactions settle between strangers who have no idea which bank the other uses. That lack of friction is not automatic. Nine-tenths of the money in daily circulation has been created by commercial banks, but it stays trustworthy only because central banks stand behind it, and keep the system in balance.In this week's episode Tim Phillips talks to Stephen Cecchetti (Brandeis University, CEPR) about what happens when new forms of digital money test that architecture. Cecchetti is one of the authors of the eighth Barcelona Report in The Future of Banking series, part of the Banking Initiative at IESE Business School, just published by CEPR as a free download.Will retail central bank digital currencies, tokenised deposits, and stablecoins upset the delicate balance of system that has been running for decades? Stablecoins, for example, do not create money, but they claim the status of money without the institutional guarantee that makes money trustworthy. Three jurisdictions — the US, the EU, and the UK — are each resolving the same underlying contradiction in different ways. None has fully resolved it.The research behind this episode:Niepelt, Dirk, Stephen G. Cecchetti, Hélène Rey, and Xavier Vives. 2026. Digital Money: The Future of Banking 8. London: CEPR Press. Available as a free download from CEPR.To cite this episode:Phillips, Tim, and Stephen G. Cecchetti. 2026. “The digital money supply.” VoxTalks Economics (podcast). Assign this as extra listening. The citation above is formatted and ready for a reading list or VLE.About the guestStephen Cecchetti is the Rosen Family Chair in International Finance at Brandeis University, a Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), and a Research Associate at the NBER. He was previously Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank for International Settlements, and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His research spanning monetary policy, financial stability, and banking regulation has shaped both academic and policy debate over three decades. He blogs at moneyandbanking.com.Research cited in this episodeWalter Bagehot's lender of last resort doctrine. In Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market (1873), Bagehot argued that a central bank under stress should lend freely against good collateral at a penalty rate. The prescription remains the intellectual foundation for how central banks manage runs and systemic crises. Cecchetti invokes it to make the point that no private substitute for a central bank backstop has ever proved durable, and that the doctrine is now, one hundred and fifty years on, being tested by instruments its author could not have imagined.Monetary uniformity, mobility, and elasticity. The three institutional conditions underpinning general acceptance of money, developed in analysis by the Bank for International Settlements and discussed extensively in the report. Uniformity means a pound is a pound regardless of which bank holds it. Mobility means claims move between users and institutions at low cost and settle with finality. Elasticity means the supply of money can expand when it is under stress. Together they explain why we accept a deposit at face value without doing any analysis of the bank that issued it; and together they identify exactly where new forms of digital money create institutional gaps.Silicon Valley Bank failure, March 2023. SVB's collapse illustrates both the lender of last resort functioning and the limits of no-bailout commitments. Cecchetti notes that SVB's liabilities were still trading at par on the Thursday before its Friday failure because the Federal Reserve stood behind them. He also notes that Circle, the issuer of USDC, held $3.3 billion of its reserves at SVB and was effectively bailed out in the resolution. The episode is one of two occasions in the past twenty years where money market fund-like instruments have been backstopped by the Federal Reserve under stress.Genius Act (United States). Principle-based stablecoin regulation expected to come into effect in the US around 2027. Under its provisions, only stablecoins issued by bank-affiliated issuers will have access to the Federal Reserve; only those will therefore have the institutional backing needed to function as money. Stablecoins issued by non-bank entities will not.Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA), European Union. The EU framework for crypto assets, which entered into force in 2024. For stablecoins, MiCA requires issuers to hold 30 to 60% of their reserves in bank deposits, with no provision for central bank backing. The stated rationale is to keep deposits within the banking system; Cecchetti notes this creates a different category of vulnerability and leaves the question of what happens under stress unresolved.Bank of England stablecoin proposal (United Kingdom). The Bank of England's approach differs from both US and EU frameworks by explicitly requiring large stablecoin issuers to hold significant reserve deposits at the Bank of England, making them in effect narrow banks with a direct central bank backstop. Cecchetti regards this as the most coherent of the three approaches in terms of institutional logic, though the same fundamental question applies: whether holding to that design under stress would be politically sustainable.Tether and the jurisdictional challenge. Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, is registered in El Salvador having previously operated out of the British Virgin Islands. Its tokens are held by users in multiple countries, traded on exchanges in multiple jurisdictions, and backed by US Treasury securities. Cecchetti uses this to illustrate why local regulation, however well-designed, is necessary but not sufficient; effective oversight of instruments that are genuinely global requires international standards and coordination.Fractional reserve banking and the goldsmith model. The institutional structure described in the episode has roots in mid-seventeenth century England, when goldsmiths began issuing more paper receipts than they had gold in their vaults. The goldsmiths became bankers; the paper became money; the vulnerability to runs became a structural feature of private money creation that persists today. Cecchetti uses the history to make the point that while technology changes how we store and transmit information, the underlying architecture of trust in private money is as old as Newtonian physics.More VoxTalks Economics episodesMaking banking safe, Stephen Cecchetti and Kermit Schoenholtz. Our financial system is supposed to be more resilient than before the global financial crisis, but that didn't save Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank or First Republic. So what went wrong?Related reading on VoxEUNew coins on the block: Digital currencies and the financial system. The authors of the Barcelona Report warn that “Digital money will be reliable only where sound institutions and robust technology come together.”
With US legislators mulling the Clarity Act, Europe reopening Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation for public consultation and the UK preparing its own cryptoasset regime, stablecoin policy is rapidly taking shape. Dante Disparte, Circle's chief strategy officer joins Lewis McLellan, head of content at OMFIF's Digital Monetary Institute, to break down some of the key policy debates in the stablecoin world.
Crypto News: MasterCard expands settlement to support regulated stablecoins including USDC , RLUSD and PYUSD across Ethereum, Solana, Base, Arbitrum and XRP L.edger. Payment giants Stripe, Visa, Mastercard said to be among backers of soon-to-debut stablecoin platform. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson says dapps on the chain will fail.Brought to you by
Xen Baynham-Herd, Head of Growth at Base, joined us to discuss the growing adoption of Coinbase's Base network.Topics: - Visa added Base to its global stablecoin settlement network - Tokenization and stablecoins on Base- AI Agents and Robotics on Base - Will Base launch its own native token? Brought to you by
Andrew Davies has spent more than three decades fighting financial crime, starting with sanctions screening tools for central banks in the mid-1990s and arriving at ComplyAdvantage after nearly 16 years at Fiserv. He sits at the center of one of the most consequential questions in financial services: can we finally move the needle on financial crime detection after decades of catching less than 2% of what's laundered globally? ComplyAdvantage serves more than 3,000 enterprises across 75 countries with its AI-native Mesh platform. If you want to learn more about the founding story and their early days, check out my podcast with founder Charlie Delingpole from 2019.What We CoveredWhy the industry has historically caught less than 2% of money laundered globallyHow the money laundering economy ranks as the world's third largest at an estimated $5.6 trillionThe evolution from sanctions screening to FRAML to multi-dimensional financial crime riskThe Mesh platform and what a unified financial crime system means for compliance teamsCassie, the agentic AI analyst automating customer screening investigationsHow 90% of compliance work was historically spent chasing false positivesReal-time payments compliance and the risk-based approach to payment screeningThe SEPA Instant Payments challenge and batch screening against the EU journalStablecoins, unhosted wallets, and the compliance infrastructure gapFATF's finding that stablecoins represent 84% of illicit crypto transaction volumeData sharing consortiums as the next inflection point in fighting financial crimeThe network problem at the heart of money laundering and terrorist financingKey TakeawaysThe money laundering economy is estimated at $5.6 trillion, making it the third largest in the world, above Germany, yet we detect less than 2%. Agentic AI tools like Cassie are designed to eliminate false positives so human analysts only work cases that genuinely warrant their expertise. Data sharing consortiums, where organizations contribute to shared detection models, represent the most promising path to materially improving financial crime outcomes. Stablecoins create real compliance risk at the unhosted wallet layer, the Bank of England has floated a ban, while the US is unlikely to go that route, leaving a gap.About Andrew DaviesAndrew Davies is the Global Head of Financial Crime Compliance Strategy at ComplyAdvantage. He began his career in the mid-1990s building sanctions screening tools for central banks and large financial institutions, and spent nearly 16 years at Fiserv in their financial crime division before joining ComplyAdvantage.Connect with Fintech One-on-One:Tweet me @PeterRentonConnect with me on LinkedInFind previous Fintech One-on-One episodes
The Last Trade: Chris Kuiper, VP of Research at Fidelity Digital Assets, returns to make the case that this is the worst sentiment he has seen in his decade-plus following Bitcoin even though nothing fundamental has actually broken, why Bitcoin is finally decoupling from the AI-led "everything-but-Bitcoin" rally, how Fidelity's updated "Getting Off Zero" report uses mean variance optimization to show a 90/0/10 stocks-bonds-Bitcoin allocation maximizing the Sharpe ratio at a conservative 25% Bitcoin CAGR assumption, why bondholders have spent decades underwater on a real-return basis, and why the Czech National Bank's small but symbolic Bitcoin position may be the start of central bank adoption gradually then suddenly.---
Charlie Durkin is Principal Solutions Lead at Chainlink Labs, where he works with the world's largest banks, asset managers, and market infrastructures on bringing capital markets onchain. A decade at Citigroup – five years in investment banking and debt capital markets, then five more in product management building the actual rails – gives him a grounded view of the gap between TradFi reality and crypto's promises, and what it will take to close it. Why you should listen Charlie's path from Citi's product team to Chainlink is the perfect frame for this conversation. He's lived inside the legacy plumbing of capital markets and now spends his days helping institutions migrate workflows to blockchain rails without throwing out the existing infrastructure they're built on. His explanation of Chainlink itself is refreshingly concrete: not a competing L1, but the middleware connecting blockchains to each other and to the offchain world – an oracle network at its core, expanded into a full orchestration layer via the Chainlink Runtime Environment (CRE). The "give us an API and we'll connect you securely to the blockchain ecosystem" framing is exactly how Chainlink keeps showing up in the headlines alongside DTCC, Swift, UBS, Euroclear, JPMorgan, BNY Mellon and Franklin Templeton. The tokenization discussion is where Charlie shines. The popular narrative is "tokenize everything"; his lived experience is that the interesting frontier is tokenizing cash. Stablecoins are becoming foundational market infrastructure because instant settlement is too compelling to ignore, but they don't work on a bank's balance sheet – under GENIUS Act rules, stablecoins must be backed one-for-one with HQLA, meaning banks lose the benefit of fractionalized reserves. That's why tokenized deposits are now the hottest conversation in institutional finance: same rails, same settlement story, but compatible with how banks actually run their balance sheets. Charlie also pushes back on the tokenized equities hype, arguing that "mirror tokenization" of stocks bolts complexity onto an already complex system (corporate actions, final settlement, CSD reconciliation), and that the real unlock comes only after cash is natively onchain. At that point native equity and debt issuance starts to make sense on its own terms. Andy and Charlie dig into the harder questions: where the institutional friction actually lives (legal, compliance, security, operational integration – not the business case, which everyone now buys), how procurement teams trained on on-prem-to-cloud transitions are now having to wrap their heads around decentralized infrastructure, and why Chainlink's defense-in-depth architecture – independent node operators, cryptographic consensus, geographic redundancy – is what lets GSIBs sign off on production deployments. Charlie pulls in the standards-and-scale argument with sharp historical analogies: rail gauges for industrialisation, standardised shipping containers for global trade, US GAAP for capital allocation, TCP/IP for the internet. Financial markets need standards before they can scale, and no institution wants to integrate ten different blockchains ten different ways. The hot take round delivers a multi-chain opportunist stance, a contrarian view on tokenised equity headlines, a 10-year vision in which blockchain rails disappear entirely from the user experience, and a callout to the recent DTCC Collateral AppChain announcement – built on Chainlink's CRE, slated for Q4 2026 – as the first glimpse of an onchain capital markets future that's already arriving. Supporting links Stabull Finance Chainlink Chainlink on Twitter Andy on Twitter Brave New Coin on Twitter Brave New Coin If you enjoyed the show please subscribe to the Crypto Conversation and give us a 5-star rating and a positive review in whatever podcast app you are using.
Payment giants in stablecoin? Stripe, Visa and Mastercard are close to launching a new stablecoin platform, with Coinbase considering joining. The total stablecoin market sits around $320 billion, dominated by Tether's USDT at $187 billion. CoinDesk's Uyen Truong hosts "CoinDesk Daily." - This episode was hosted by Uyen Truong. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.
Marina Azzimonti discusses how digital currency like stablecoin and physical currency like the U.S. dollar are tied together, how the demand for one affects the other, and how this relationship plays out in global financial markets. Azzimonti is a senior economist and research advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_06_03_stablecoin_dollars
Crypto News: Michael Saylor's 'Strategy' sold 32 Bitcoin worth $2.5 million. Public company Strive to increase their raise to $4.2 billion to buy more Bitcoin. CME Group has officially launched 24/7 trading for its cryptocurrency futures and options products.Brought to you by
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse speaks at Consensus. At CoinDesk's Consensus, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse joins the stage for a wide-ranging conversation on the future of crypto, regulation, and global payments. He breaks down why he believes stablecoins could reach a $3 trillion market cap by 2031 and what's driving that long-term growth. Garlinghouse also discusses the importance of regulatory clarity in the U.S., including the potential impact of the CLARITY Act on the digital asset industry. - Timecodes: 00:00 - Brad Garlinghouse at Consensus Miami 2026 04:21 - Will the CLARITY Act Pass This Year? 06:04 - Why It Matters (and XRP's Existing Legal Clarity) 10:00 - Ripple's M&A Strategy 11:48 - G Treasury: $13T in Payments, Opportunity to Move On-Chain 14:53 - IPO Plans 17:44 - Stablecoins: $3T by 2031 19:01 - XRP News and Highlights