Beyond the Gamble: How Stablecoins Are Quietly Reshaping Global Finance
Stablecoin usage in emerging markets could finally convince the world that blockchain technology has more to offer than speculative gambling.
All last week, hopes ran high among crypto speculators—particularly those holding BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and ADA—that U.S. President Trump would announce the federal government would be using taxpayer funds to buy massive quantities of these tokens.
Without going into detail, the speculators’ hopes were dashed, leaving them scrambling for new explanations as to why the fiat value of these tokens was GOING TO THE MOON. (The simultaneous explosion of a SpaceX rocket off the coast of Florida was highly symbolic.)
Curiously, these same moon-boys denounce central bank digital currencies because CBDCs conflict with the Bitcoin white paper’s decentralized ethos. They don’t see the hypocrisy of begging a government to centralize control over BTC by spending billions to acquire (and sit on) great chunks of it.
Many Western countries appear to have given up on the concept of blockchain-based utility, viewing networks solely as platforms for generating lottery tickets. But emerging markets may end up showing these supposedly more ‘developed’ countries the error of their ways.
In Western countries, stablecoins are something you trade another digital asset for on an exchange when token values crash. But in emerging markets, stablecoins are becoming the closest thing yet to blockchain’s ‘killer app.’
Bitcoin was intended as peer-to-peer electronic cash, but controversial changes to the protocol that brought us BTC left it unable to perform that role. Other tokens have tried to fill this gap but failed, usually due to the same network congestion that plagues the artificially constrained BTC.
In emerging markets, stablecoins are serving as cash that, like Satoshi intended, can be exchanged without a fee-hungry middleman. The ability to transfer funds across borders without the banks taking their cut is a definite plus when the amounts being sent are small.
This includes remittances sent by ex-pats who’ve gone abroad in search of jobs not available in their homelands. For these people, every penny counts. They can’t afford excess fees, regardless of whether they’re imposed by banks or the networks on which these stables reside.
While a few dollar-denominated stables have claimed most of the market to date, I’m excited by the recent launch of MNEE on the BSV blockchain, which offers several distinct advantages over the market leaders, including instant settlement, vastly lower fees for micropayments and NO extra gas fee.
For the record, while I support stablecoins, blockchain’s killer app will ultimately prove to be Metanet, the next evolution of the internet that will rest on a foundation of AI, the IPv6 protocol and low-fee/high-bandwidth enterprise blockchain technology.
Calvin Ayre is an internationally recognized entrepreneur, appearing on the cover of the 2006 Forbes ‘Billionaires’ issue. While Ayre has a successful track record in a number of sectors, including online gaming, real estate development and digital media, he is primarily a technology VC, investing in applications that integrate frontier technologies like IPv6, AI and enterprise blockchain.