Hi stable subscribers,

I loved getting a chance last week to MC the inaugural Day Zero virtual conference, hosted by Brale and modeled after their former V-Sum series. Once in my life, I felt like there were no webinars on payments and fintech, and now I feel like we have them daily. If you missed it, the conference featured three great product demos: CoinFlow* on real-world stablecoin payments, Perena on unlocking one-sided liquidity, and Brale* on how to create your own stablecoin.

For our own conference, Stablecon, we were excited to announce this week that Fireblocks has joined us as Title Sponsor. Come see CEO Michael Shaulov discuss how Fireblocks creates the custody solutions that power the stablecoin ecosystem on May 29th.

Lastly, while not about stablecoins directly, Tom Noyes had an interesting blog this week about the difference between two models for digital identity wallets: India's UIDAS model and Europe's eIDAS model. While India's model prioritizes transparency – specifically, the government's ability to track and monitor individual transactions by acting as the centralized ID provider – Europe's prioritizes privacy by deputizing identity providers to sign verifiable credentials that wallets can hold to prove identity. Identity is the fundamental layer that payments are built on: without a good identity framework, it's very hard to build a digital payments layer that doesn't rely on archaic verification processes. The distinction is analagous to stablecoins vs. CBDCs (and vs. bank deposits) – while the underlying product looks the same, each provides a different level of oversight and control over transactions to a third-party. The big question in the US is whether regulations will protect transaction privacy, or deputize parties like banks and stablecoin issuers to monitor and report line-item transactions.

Enjoy another week of stablecoin news below.

(And find us online at @thestablecon and linkedin/stablecon)

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🚀 Product Launches

Meow launched a Solana USDC to business checking account off-ramp. (I am curious about transaction protections and reversability here.)

💸 Fundraises

Limited, a startup building premium banking services on stablecoin rails, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding.

📰 Other News

Robinhood revealed on an earnings call that they are using stablecoins from Global Dollar Network to power their weekend settlements.

Bitso launched The Push, its own startup accelerator, in Mexico City. The Push is the first startup accelerator dedicated to specifically stablecoins, crypto, and blockchain-driven companies and ideas set to impact the future of Latin America.

Artemis published data that stablecoin P2P transfer volumes exceeded $1 trillion in January for the second consecutive month.

In a House Financial Services Committee hearing entitled A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward, representatitives from Kraken, the Crypto Council for Innovation, and PayPal discussed what legislation is necessary to provide strong customer protections to stablecoines in the US to and allow the domestic ecosystem to flourish.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller gave his remarks this week, entitled Reflections on a Maturing Stablecoin Market, on his hopes "that the stablecoin market will grow or diminish on the merits of their benefits to consumers and the broader economy."

Gwera Kiwana on LinkedIn: Nothing like New York in the spring 🌱🌷 I'll be at Stablecon in May with…

Nothing like New York in the spring 🌱🌷 I'll be at Stablecon in May with my new Sling Money crew. Thankful for Nik Milanović and the team at This Week in…

LinkedInGwera Kiwana

💼 Stable Job of the Week

126,000+ Financial Engineer jobs in United States

Today's top 126,000+ Financial Engineer jobs in United States. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. New Financial Engineer jobs added daily.

💬 Posts of the Week

📖 Reads of the Week

Signals: Why Stablecoins are Here to Stay Post-Terra

A deep dive into the utility of stablecoins, which ones have industry-accepted legitimacy, and how Terra has changed public perception of these currencies.

This Week in FintechNicolas Straut

Bitcoin Reserves Won’t Secure America’s Future—Only A Platform Play Will

Instead of merely stockpiling Bitcoin, the U.S. must overhaul its financial architecture to prepare for—and ultimately succeed in—open networks.

ForbesChristian Catalini

Should the United States implement a Bitcoin strategic reserve?

Today, the real opportunity isn’t in simply stockpiling Bitcoin; it’s in willfully shaping its integration into the global financial system.

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