Stablecoins Are the Shortcut to US Dollars in Emerging Markets Currency volatility is only part of the story. @alvin_kan, COO of @BitgetWallet, explains why stablecoins have become a shortcut to US dollar access in unstable economies — and why the rise of the "borderless generation" of remote workers means stablecoin wallets aren't going anywhere, even if local currencies stabilize. Alvin breaks down how people around the world increasingly want to earn, hold, and spend in a global digital currency regardless of where they live or work.

OpenUSD's vs USDT, Bitget's 100M Users, Banks to Buy Fiserv Debit Network, Swift's Tokenized Ledger OpenUSD launched with 140 backers. @BitgetWallet crossed 100 million users. US banks are trying to buy their way around Durbin. And @Swift just went live with a blockchain-based shared ledger for tokenized bank deposits. This episode covers all four. Sam sat down with @AlvinKan, COO of Bitget Wallet, to break down OpenUSD's consortium stablecoin model, why it shifts stablecoin yield from the reserve layer to the distribution layer, and what Bitget's 100 million user milestone actually measures. We also get into why Bitget is betting on emerging markets over the US and UK, how the wallet works without a banking license, and where AI agent payments are headed. Then Otabek and Sam cover the week's biggest infrastructure news. @jpmorgan, @BankofAmerica, @WellsFargo, and @PNCBank are reportedly in informal talks to acquire Star and Accel, the debit networks owned by @Fiserv, whose stock has fallen sharply this year. The real motive is the Durbin Amendment, which caps debit interchange fees for large banks when transactions route over an outside network, but exempts banks that own the network itself. It is the same loophole logic behind @CapitalOne's acquisition of @Discover, and we discuss whether this leads to more merchant and consumer costs, and whether the payments world is fragmenting instead of consolidating around a few big rails. We also break down Swift's new blockchain-based shared ledger, now ready for initial use after nine months of development. Seventeen banks across six continents, including @ANZ_AU, @BNPParibas, @Citi, @dbsbank, @HSBC, @LloydsBank, @MUFGGroup, @StanChart, and @UBS, are piloting live transactions using tokenized bank deposits instead of stablecoins. We get into how this differs structurally from @Tether_to's USDT and @circle's USDC, why it overlaps with a separate live initiative from @Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and @NatWest_Help, whether Swift's 11,500-bank network gives it a structural edge over consortium stablecoins like OpenUSD, and why smaller emerging markets, including Central Asia, are still missing from every major cross-border rail being built right now. Subscribe for weekly conversations on payments, stablecoins, and fintech infrastructure. Leave us five stars on @ApplePodcasts and @Spotify.