Stablecoins: The New Digital Dollar with Blockchain and a $3.7 tn Market Potential
US Banks Big Gamble On AI is worth $97 bn and Counting
Thanks for reading the “Cashless” newsletter, an insider’s view on Asia’s fintech, CBDC, and AI for anyone striving to understand “the Asia Century.” I’m Rich Turrin, and these are my hard-hitting insights designed to educate and inform. Subscribe to get these emerging trends directly in your inbox every Sunday. Every week, I scan thousands of articles to find only the best and most valuable for you. Subscribe to get my expertly curated news straight to your inbox each week. Free is good, but paid is better.
Topics:
Stablecoins: The New Digital Dollar with a $3.7 tn Market Potential
The Future Of Tokenization: Global Takeover Or Silent Trap?
Blockchain with Atomic Settlement Safer and More Efficient for FX
US Banks Big Gamble On AI: $97 bn and Counting
OpenAI: A Practical Guide to Building AI Agents
Bonus Read: GenAI in the Enterprise: A New Way To Work
Welcome
Today’s newsletter is brought to you by blockchain! In fact, the top three stories on stablecoins, tokenization, and atomic FX settlement wouldn’t be possible without it.
That’s good news because for anyone following blockchain, the revolution always seems to be just over the next hill, or coming in a few years. That is no longer the case.
Stablecoins, not CBDC, are poised to become the digital dollar and are all run on blockchain. So, would this summer be near enough for the blockchain revolution in traditional finance to start?
I specify this summer because that is when we all hope US stablecoin legislation will be passed and US dollar stablecoins will be “normalized.”
The second article on tokenization is also brought to you by blockchain, and it is one of the few that asks some very hard questions about tokenization. The most important being: “What could go wrong?” I love tokenization and see it as the future, but its fate as a disruptor is not yet sealed.
Finally, our trio of blockchain articles concludes with the BIS’s use of “atomic settlement” on blockchain to make foreign exchange (FX) markets safer and more efficient.
If you’ve been on the fence about blockchain or are tired of waiting, it’s time to reconsider because the revolution promised for so long is finally here.
Speaking of revolutions, who can argue that US banks’ gambling $97bn by 2030 on AI isn’t a revolution? While banks are placing an excellent bet, there is no guarantee that they will see a return on their investment. The problem isn’t just the technology but their competition.
And the object of Banks’ AI desires is Agentic AI. An AI that will do things for us, and who better to cover this topic than our friends at OpenAI, who wrote a beautiful paper outlining how we can join this “new era of workflow automation”
Our bonus read is another paper by OpenAI that outlines the necessary approach to implementing AI within enterprises. AI should be viewed as a new paradigm for work.
Thanks once again for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you opening your inbox for me!
Rich
PS
I wrote last week that this week’s newsletter would be shorter, but I was off by a week! Next week will be shorter due to my holiday in Yunnan, one of China’s most beautiful provinces. I’m writing from Yunnan now, and the spring wildflowers inspired me to use VanGogh’s Irises.
PPS
Thanks for sharing with your friends! It’s a great way to say thanks.
Stablecoins: The New Digital Dollar with a $3.7 tn Market Potential
In the most important read of your month, Citi examines the new digital dollar, and it isn’t a central bank digital currency (CBDC), but rather stablecoins run on blockchain.
There is only one reason why we are at this “ChatGPT moment” for stablecoins, and that is that the Trump Administration is pushing them as the new digital dollar, and bringing regulatory clarity, through the forthcoming GENIUS Act, which will legitimize some, but not all, dollar-based stablecoins.
Make no doubt about it, the US chose this path because…. read on for the answer…
The Future Of Tokenization: Global Takeover Or Silent Trap?
Interest in tokenization does not guarantee success; deep secondary markets do.
Baker McKenzie and Deutsche Bank released a comprehensive report on tokenization, examining two potential outcomes: a “Global Takeover” and a “Silent Trap.”
Finally, a paper on tokenization that goes beyond the incessant drone of proclamations about the trillion-dollar potential market value!
Read why the authors rightly declare that “tokenization’s future trajectory is malleable.”
Blockchain with Atomic Settlement Safer and More Efficient for FX
Blockchain (DLT) shows it can make wholesale FX transactions faster and cheaper
The BIS’s Project Meridian demonstrates how atomic settlement of wholesale foreign exchange (FX) transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a winning proposition for all users.
The project had a dream team of users with the BIS Innovation Hub, Bank of England, Bank of France, Bank of Italy, Deutsche Bundesbank, and the European Central Bank all joining in to see what DLT can do.
See what blockchain or it’s more private cousin DLT can do for FX with the dream team.
US Banks Big Gamble On AI: $97 bn and Counting
While it seems like a safe bet, no one knows how this will play out.
US banks are leading the world in AI investment, with investments projected to exceed $97 billion by 2027, and this white paper lays out how AI is a good bet but not guaranteed.
While AI use cases are well understood, what is less understood is how the competitive landscape between traditional banks and fintech like Chime and SoFi will play out.
Read why this is the most interesting “wild card” for AI in banks
Bonus Read
OpenAI: GenAI in the Enterprise: A New Way To Work
OpenAI with a read on AI in the enterprise that lays out the change in thinking required to make it pay out.
OpenAI started our GenAI revolution and rightly claims that it is delivering significant, measurable improvements to companies in workplace performance, automating routine operations, and powering products.
The key to achieving these benefits is to realize that AI requires a paradigm change and is not the same as simply bolting AI onto existing systems like a new cloud app:
"The most successful companies are often those who treat it as a new paradigm. This leads to an experimental mindset and an iterative approach that gets to value faster and with greater buy-in from users and stakeholders."
Hot Topics for Premium Subscribers only
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XXX: Building Trusted AI in the Enterprise
This is a direct follow-up on our OpenAI report on AI in the enterprise by an unnamed competitor of OpenAI. I thought it fair to get both points of view!
AI Agent Governance Field Guide
If you thought GenAI presented new risks, than AI Agents increase those risks by an order of magnitude. That’s why this “field guide” is an important addition to everyone’s library.
Cornerstone Advisors: What’s going on in banking 2025.
This is a great report, and one that I’m happy to share with premium subscribers, but not with the general public. It comes to me from the authors, and I cannot openly publish it, but can share it with a more “refined” and limited group!
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