US Dollar Stablecoins: The Future of Money or a Threat?
Seven disruptive techs to bet on, remember the house always wins.
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:
The Future of Money is Here: And it’s US Dollars
How Stablecoins Challenge Financial Sovereignty
Seven Disruptive Techs To Bet On (The House Always Wins)
Bonus Read: Strategy is Crucial when 80% of AI Projects Fail
🏝️ This shorter-than-normal newsletter is a holiday edition. I’m scuba diving in Indonesia and will be writing regularly starting this coming Wednesday. In the meantime, expect typos!
Premium subscribers will still get six great additional reads!
Happy Sunday!
Today’s art is a photograph of a juvenile triggerfish I took in Indonesia. Juveniles live at depths of 800 meters and rise to 10 meters only at night. As they grow larger, they reside on shallow reefs.
A crucial aspect of this story is that triggerfish exhibit different behaviors as juveniles than as adults, much like stablecoins.
Stablecoins are still new, and their behavior at launch may differ from what we get as they mature.
For now, stablecoins are seen as the “future of money,” as shown in our first article; however, as they mature, they will likely threaten digital sovereignty if they allow users to sidestep local taxes and dollarize economies.
Like the trigger fish, we can expect stablecoins to behave differently during their lifecycle, and I predict that a few of the more mature behaviors may not be viewed favorably.
Finally, I have a great read for you, featuring a report that promises to help readers develop an effective AI strategy. When 80% of AI projects fail, having a strategy is crucial. Failure can lead to a better understanding of how AI should be implemented, or it can be a waste of money. Strategy separates the two.
Thanks once again for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you taking the time to open your inbox for me!
Rich
PS
Thanks for sharing with your friends! It’s a great way to say thanks.
The Future of Money is Here: And its US Dollars
Stablecoins are not a takeover of the financial system by crypto, but the opposite.
Coinbase declares that the future of money is here, and it’s crypto, but it isn’t valued in Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin; but old-fashioned US dollars.
Read on to see why crypto is being taken over by US AML/KYC…
How Stablecoins Challenge Financial Sovereignty
Will stablecoins create a two-tier cash transfer system?
The growing $225 billion stablecoin market impacts the financial sovereignty of European and other nations and may push them to dollarize.
See why there is a real risk that stablecoins will create a two-tier cash transfer system.
Seven Disruptive Techs To Bet On (The House Always Wins)
KPMG asks executives to make "bold, informed bets," which is easier said than done!
KPMG mirrors other recent reports by consultants by telling executives that now is the time for “bold informed bets,” because KPMG is like a casino, where the house always wins!
That's not an exaggeration. Recent studies have shown that Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG generated $77.8 billion in revenue from AI advisory services…..
See why, like a casino, they never lose.
Bonus Read
Strategy is Crucial when 80% of AI Projects Fail
This is a read on AI strategy that is worthy of your precious weekend time!
AI isn't another IT project. It is innovation, and an 80% fail rate is the norm for most innovation projects.
Sound severe? It is, and that's why AI implementation, while necessary, isn't for the faint of heart!
Your strategy will determine whether your failures move you further along in the right direction or are a waste of time and money.
From the author:
"The way we work is undergoing a fundamental shift, driven by AI but centred on people. Unlocking AI’s potential requires more than just adopting technology; it demands deliberate strategic planning.
This playbook is designed to be your guide in building that winning strategy. Moving beyond theory, it offers insights that address common adoption challenges and reveal why AI projects often fail.
You’ll learn the core principles for AI transformation, focusing on a problem-first approach, identifying high-value use cases through experimentation, and effectively measuring ROI.“
Hot Topics for Premium Subscribers only
Imagine having someone combing through thousands of articles, over 50 RSS feeds, and 25 meticulously crafted Google searches—all to handpick the absolute best reports, just for you.
Each week, I distill this ocean of information into five concise, high-value reports, sharing the most essential knowledge you need to stay ahead.
But that’s not all. I also collect additional exclusive, hard-to-find gems, which I put in the section below—all in PDF format with my brief expert commentary.
To download them, no corporate email is required, no searching, and no links to other places are required. With a paid subscription, these insights are just a click away.
Here’s what you’re missing out on this week in the Premium Subscriber-only section below:
Building Enterprise AI Agents
In 22 pages, this comprehensive resource will better equip you to understand and build AI agents. Whether it will go as far as giving you “confidence to deploy AI agents into production, is worthy of debate! Still, it’s a great read on a critical topic!
AI Agents: Legal Challenges of Automation
This is designed as counterpoint to our first article on building AI Agents. Building Agents is all well and good but there are serious legal issues to be considered every time someone declares: “We need to build an agent for that!”
Agentic AI Is Already Changing the Workforce
Harvard Business Review with a short carousel on how Agentic AI is changing the workforce. The carousel is short but introduces the seven key learnings to guide to help leaders in designing, test, and scaling their human-Al labor strategy.
And that’s just three of five reports. You’re also missing the infamous Chart of the Day, which today covers Asia’s astounding contribution to world economic growth.
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