GenAI and Payments: The Bridges to A Better Tomorrow. Asia Real-Time Payment Use Booms and Stablecoins are in Troubled Water
Meanwhile, vulnerable economies, home to 1/4 of the world's population, are going backward.
Artwork of the day: Detail from, “The Water-Lily Pond,” Claude Monet, 1899
It wasn't actually a painting that Monet deemed his ‘greatest work of art’ but the beautiful gardens he created at his home in Giverny. In his later years, it became his sole subject.
The bridge, which Monet designed himself, shows the influence of Japanese art on his work. This is one of 18 canvases of this view in differing light conditions that Monet started in the summer of 1899, the same year he started painting Waterloo and Charing Cross bridges.
Surrounded by luxuriant foliage, the bridge is seen here from the pond itself, among an artful arrangement of reeds and willow leaves.
Why today’s stories matter:
Monet’s Japanese influenced bridge is a perfect metaphor for today’s articles which I’ve grouped into two categories: GenAI and Payments. I see both topics as bridges to a better tomorrow, even if their implementation won’t always be easy.
GenAI and blockchain: So what do you do with GenAI? Easy: Connect it to the blockchain, another tech with its fair share of hype! Does this sound like doubling down on hype? It does, but there is a lesson. GenAI doesn’t change the plumbing that carries payment; it only makes it more accessible.
GenAI and Asset Managers: Here again, we see Asset Managers asking what to do with GenAI. For asset managers, the answer is even more absurd than the one given by blockchain above. They want to use this tech to close an eight percent gap in profitability. I wish them good luck!
GenAI and Professional Services: Here, it's not what we do with GenAI but whether they even want it. 52% of professionals are not fans of GenAI, and many are downright fearful.
Fast and Furious Real-Time Payment in Asia: Like Monet’s Japanese-inspired bridge, the digital euro is borrowing QR codes from Asia as another import. Cross-border QR payments are taking off in Asia, and the story isn’t just about technology but also about government cooperation.
Stablecoin Volumes are a Lie: There, I said it. I like stablecoins, but the volumes touted by crypto fans are inflated by 90%! If you're stunned, you should be! This doesn’t mean stablecoins are bad, but they are nowhere near as popular as advertised. With volume down by 90%, the percentage of illicit transactions they carry jumped by around 100 to 2%.
The Great Reversal: Vulnerable Economies Are Going Backwards: This is a short piece I wrote after the World Bank showed how vulnerable economies aren’t just stalled by going backward. This matters to us all.
🔵 GENAI: What do we do with it?
GenAI and Payments: No New Plumbing But Lots of Personalization
This is a great report from Visa that shows how GenAI is going to impact the payment business by making payments easier and more personal than ever before. That is fundamentally good and a fabulous use for GenAI. I want to highlight what is not in Visa’s report: GenAI's impact on the financial plumbing behind the payment system.
Asset Management Looks to AI to Fix its Profitability Problem
Asset management has a profitability problem that it has high hopes AI will fix. That’s a tall order for a new technology like AI to fix, and I hope asset managers have a “Plan B." So here’s the problem. While assets under management globally are up 12%, the industry is being dragged down by a revenue increase of 0.02%, with costs rising 4.3%. Add the…
Generative AI and Professional Services: Balancing Hesitation and Anticipation
GenAI isn’t just coming for finance; legal, tax, accounting, risk, fraud, and government are also being hit, and the transition will not be smooth. Reuters found that the dominant sentiment surrounding GenAI from these professional services remains hesitant and fearful (52%), followed by optimism and excitement at 44%!
🔵 PAYMENTS: Asia Goes Real Time & The Stablecoin Lie
Fast and Furious: Asia's Real-Time Cross-Border Payment Boom
Real-time cross-border payments in Asia are booming and will show the world what the future will look like. Instant payment QR code digital wallets launched domestically are at the root of this revolution, along with two key components: new technology that links domestic real-time payment systems across borders and cooperative government policies.
Bots Drive 90% of Stablecoin Transactions, Crypto Lies Once Again
SEE THE FULL 🔥MUST READ🔥 Visa Allium Stablecoin dashboard: HERE See Visa’s commentary: Here Brace for impact as an analysis of stablecoin volumes by Visa and Allium Labs showed that “adjusted on-chain stablecoin volume for the last 30 days is $265B instead of $2.65T.”
🔵The Great Reversal: Vulnerable Economies Are Going Backwards And This Matters.
If you read nothing else, check out the Overview on Pages 3-6, which shows how bad it is, and the Conclusions on Page 89.
"Despite their high potential to advance global prosperity, one-half of the world’s 75 most vulnerable countries are facing a widening income gap with the wealthiest economies for the first time in this century."
The World Bank report shows that poor countries in the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) are actually going backward.
COVID-19's effects, war, high interest rates, geopolitical tensions, and trade fragmentation are hastening the slide.
These countries are home to a quarter of humanity—1.9 billion people.
While we all remain fixated on GenAI's great promise of productivity advances for the developed world, or in my case CBDC, a quarter of the world's population is sliding backward.
This matters to us all because stability is born of "collective prosperity."
These nations can contribute to this prosperity as they boast younger populations and are rich in natural resources and solar energy, which are crucial to our future.
While these nations and their difficulties aren't top of the news, their growth is important to us all.
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