How Stablecoins become money: Stablecoin Dispatch Volume 4 (17/06/25)

Aloha!

It’s 5 days to the official start date for summer. As you know, it is a season filled with tech conferences, beachside fun, and complaints that tourists are overwhelming our city because we haven't built new hotels and attractions.

This week’s highlight is an essay from Sam Broner, a partner at A16Z crypto. Now, A16Z crypto kind of has a bad rep from the previous web3 bull run, and all of Chris Dixon’s predictions didn’t make any sense that did not come true. Regardless, this is a well-thought-out essay that explains some of the intricacies of stablecoins, including fiat-stablecoin conversions and vice versa. It also presents significant opportunities and challenges in this space.

This essay is best read while sipping a pina colada in Nice the South of France.

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This week’s news

World’s largest clearing house explores Stablecoins

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which handles stock clearing and settlement in the US, is evaluating the issuance of a USD stablecoin to facilitate efficient stock trades, clearance, and settlement. The DTCC processes $2 quadrillion annually. I don’t know how many zeroes that is, but I am dizzy.

My take: If you have a large enough payments network, along with enough transactions within that network to make stablecoins self-sufficient, and if you can manage the hassle of stablecoin transactions on your own, why not launch one? This is the logic behind PayPal, Ripple, Paxos,and other stablecoins.

Time will tell whether this is a smart strategy or not. As we know, stables are not necessarily fungible between one another.

Noah raises $22M from LocalGlobe and others

Founded by Adyen’s former EVP of Global Sales, Noah is an on-ramp and off-ramp for Stablecoins. The startup says it can convert funds between fiat and stablecoins across 50 currencies and 70 countries in real-time.

This fundraising round was led by one of Europe’s most prominent IYKYK VC firms, LocalGlobe, supported by Felix Capital, FJ Labs, and angels from Palantir and Adyen.

My take: This is a huge value proposition, and they have a really cool website. Also, I can’t shake the brand name. In Hebrew Mythology, Noah saved us from a flood. Is this a prediction of what’s to come because there are several dozen players in this space?

OpenTrade raises $7M

OpenTrade lets fintechs (or whomever) launch interest-bearing stablecoin assets within their application. The startup powers these services for fintechs in Latin America, has an AUM of $47 million, and processed $200 million last year. It’s best to think of OpenTrade as a DriveWealth for stablecoins.

This round was led by Notion Capital and Mercury Fund, with participation from A16Z crypto, Albion VC, and CMCC Capital. The company has raised over $11M in the last 6 months.

My prediction: Drivewealth will either compete heavily in this space or acquire OpenTrade.

Stuff you should read

Stablecoins may be nasty, but for Americans, they’re also cheap.

Billions to Trillions: Stablecoin Use-Cases Poised to Expand the Market. New report by the Global Dollar Network and The Block.

Where do Stablecoins fit in the Merchant-Issuer-Acquirer stack?

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