stable coins
By James Thorp
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Who's Using Them and Why. The appeal in emerging markets is straightforward. Stablecoins offer something local currencies…
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The Founder Gap Is a Real Problem. But here's where it gets complicated. The founders designing these protocols, writing the code,…
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The Structural Divide and What Might Change. The broader economic logic here isn't complicated. Regions with less stable financial systems…
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Stablecoins are moving fast in the developing world. Emerging markets have become the engine of real-world stablecoin use, leaning on them for remittances, everyday payments, and…
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That gap is pretty hard to ignore. On one side, you've got populations in high-inflation economies grabbing stablecoins because local banking systems either can't keep up or…
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The appeal in emerging markets is straightforward. Stablecoins offer something local currencies often can't — a reliable store of value pegged to a hard asset, usually the U.S.
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So the demand is real. It's not speculative demand from traders looking for yield. It's people using stablecoins because they solve an actual, immediate financial problem.
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But here's where it gets complicated. The founders designing these protocols, writing the code, and deciding which features matter — they're mostly not from the markets driving…
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What it means in practice, though, is that the people with the most influence over how stablecoins work probably don't have firsthand experience with the problems their biggest…
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See also: BitGo Cuts 15% of Staff as Belshe Bets Hard on AI and Stablecoins
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Emerging market users, while significant in number, often can't push back on those decisions. There's no seat at the table.
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The broader economic logic here isn't complicated. Regions with less stable financial systems naturally gravitate toward stablecoins as a workaround.
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There's no immediate sign of when or how that shifts. No major capital reallocation has been announced.
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Related: BitGo Cuts 85 Jobs After NYSE Debut, Bets Hard on AI Infrastructure
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Supporting local entrepreneurs and pulling more venture capital toward emerging market-based projects could change the dynamic.
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