Stablecoins are rapidly moving out of the crypto trading world and into TradFi infrastructure. In fact, banks and payment companies now account for more digital asset volume on Fireblocks than crypto firms do. And we are seeing this play out in real time. Just recently, Fiserv is launching its new digital asset platform with Rapyd, using Fireblocks to power its secure infrastructure as well as its tokenization layer. Well, joining us live here at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss how institutions are reshaping global payments is Michael Shaulov, CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, a platform that has created more than 750 million wallets globally. Great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Thanks for having me, Arumi.
Well, first and foremost, we are heading into the end of 2026. So, when it comes to the role of stablecoins, we know that the data out there speaks volumes. So, tell us what's happening and its role right now when it comes to TradFi.
Yeah, I think this year we've actually seen quite a big push of stablecoins going from a fairly esoteric asset class and probably rare a few years back to something that is being adopted heavily by all the fintechs, all the payment companies, and now we're also seeing banks and some of the largest custodians basically adopting it. Mostly, I would say, for cross-border, but we're also starting to see it for domestic usage.
Yeah, and I think the data is key here. So, when we're talking about cross-border payments as well as volume, give us a sense of where we are right now.
Yeah, so most of the volume right now that we see on stablecoins is actually cross-border, and we see this being basically compounding by about 15 to 20% per quarter, which is huge. Most of it is around corridors between the United States, Europe, to emerging markets like LatAm or Southeast Asia. And we're seeing both stablecoins being used for remittance, but also for business-to-business payments.
Mhm. And I think this real-world adoption is key when we're talking about the space. And there has been a lot of traditional finance looking at this as a commercial opportunity. But where do you see this heading as we head into 2027?
So, I think that we've kind of crossed the chasm in terms of fintech and payment companies adopting it. Pretty much every household name in fintech or payments is already in the game. Talking about companies like MoneyGram, like Western Union, like Checkout, Stripe, etc., right? They all have meaningfully adopted stablecoins. And what we're now seeing is banks coming into this asset class, into this payment network. So, I think 2027 will be mostly adoption by banks, banks setting up the infrastructure and starting to mobilize there.
Mhm. And of course, you and I are here on Wall Street. We're here at the New York Stock Exchange. And I understand that based on your conversations with executives, stakeholders out there, what are they saying about stablecoins?
So, I think they're very interested in, I would say, almost three aspects here. The first one is the speed, right? That you can leverage those stablecoins and how quickly they settle. And then the fact that it's 24/7. So, it has actually not only huge implications to payments, but huge implications to capital markets and the way that you can turn trading into 24/7. Something which we've clearly seen in the crypto space, it's now coming into traditional assets. And by the way, it's kind of correlated with some of the facts that we've seen that a lot of the trading has moved to some of those DeFi platforms, even on oil contracts. So, we're seeing a lot of interest in that, in collateral mobility. And then lastly, the last point is basically the programmability of that capability.
Yeah, and I do want to expand on the programmability that you just mentioned. So, what are the implications as we move forward?
Yeah, so I think that there are a lot of implications for collateral mobility and for trading, where some of the basic functionalities, like the ability to make sure the transactions are coordinated between parties, are extremely important in trade settlement, extremely important in trade finance, where we are able to do things like real-time repos. All those things, they do require programmability if you don't want a centralized counterparty operating it, or you don't want people basically sitting in front of a desk and clicking buttons 24/7. So, once you basically have this asset class, stablecoins or any other tokenized payment on blockchain, that you can embed the logic into it, it becomes extremely powerful to revolutionize the way that we think about the logic that money, the logic that trading, the logic that finance basically operates accordingly.
