Episode summary
Stablecoins Are Quietly Changing How the World Sends Money
Wall Street Week
· · Hosts: Chrystia Freeland, David Westin
Summary
Stablecoins are presented as a practical payment rail rather than a crypto curiosity, with the clearest use case being cross-border remittances. The host highlights the scale of money sent home by overseas Filipinos and the promise that stablecoins can make those transfers faster and cheaper while hiding blockchain complexity from users. But the discussion also emphasizes that the market is still small compared with the broader payments system, even if volumes are growing quickly.
An executive from Coins.ph argues that stablecoins can cut remittance costs from 2% to 4% toward 0.5%, and possibly even 20 to 30 bps, which would leave more money in workers’ pockets. A payment-industry guest adds that most current stablecoin volume is still crypto-related, not real-world payments, though he says real payments using stablecoins probably doubled over the last year and remain concentrated in cross-border flows, especially from Asia.
The episode frames regulation as the key to scaling. Speakers point to Singapore and Japan as early models and say the U.S. GENIUS Act could accelerate adoption once it takes effect. The broader conclusion is that stablecoins are likely to fit into the existing banking system as a faster settlement layer, not replace banks outright.
Key takeaways
- The host says Filipinos abroad sent $35 billion home in 2025, making remittances a major stablecoin use case.
- A Coins.ph executive says stablecoins could reduce remittance fees from 2% to 4% toward 0.5%, and possibly 20 to 30 bps.
- A McKinsey guest says most headline stablecoin volume is crypto-related, while real payments are still only about a billion or two a day.
- The guest says stablecoin circulation doubled from around $150 billion to $300 billion, signaling rapid growth despite a small base.
- Speakers argue that regulatory clarity, including the GENIUS Act, is likely to unlock bank participation and broader adoption.
Notable quotes
“-In 5 years or 10 years, the overwhelming majority of the payments that happen in the world just by sheer number of payments are happening via stablecoins”
“By using stablecoins we can lower that cost to anywhere between, you know, 0.5% or 50 bips”
“99% of that is crypto-related, not the sort of payments we think about, which is company to company or even paying remittances person to person”
“-The vast majority is cross-border. It's interesting, we've been looking at the geographic source of those payments”
“-The Genius Act will come into force by the end of the year, and other regulations, I expect, will follow”
How the episode opens
-In 5 years or 10 years, the overwhelming majority of the payments that happen in the world just by sheer number of payments are happening via stablecoins. It can be fundamental to changing not just the financial system, but the way the broader economic system works. Westin: And as of last year, the stablecoin subset of crypto now has the regulatory backing of the U.S.
-This could be perhaps the greatest revolution in financial technology since the birth of the Internet itself. A lot of people are saying that. I don't know.
What do you guys think? Yes? Westin: The answer to President Trump's question may lie in the wallets of people around the world who simply want to send money across national borders.
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the total amount of money sent using stablecoins will reach over 56 trillion dollars by 2030. But however big it ultimately gets, it's starting small, with many people sending just a few hundred dollars at a time, people like Hanna Nicole Daanoy. -I have been living in New York for 8 years, and I am a restaurant manager.
I send money home to the Philippines, I'd say about like between $500 to $1,000 a month. I prefer sending money home through apps like WorldRemit or Remitly. Westin: Daanoy is one of two million Filipinos living abroad.
Together, they sent 35 billion dollars back to the Philippines in 2025, equal to over 7% of the country's GDP. For Wei Zhou, the CEO of Philippine-based Coins.ph, this is stablecoins' biggest opportunity. -Ten years ago, the cost of remittance for every dollar was 8%.
With technology, with better connectivity and banking rails, that cost went down to like 2% to 4%. By using stablecoins we can lower that cost to anywhere between, you know, 0.5% or 50 bips.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- stablecoins
- cross-border payments
- remittances
- blockchain payments
- genius act
Watch the episode
Watch “Stablecoins Are Quietly Changing How the World Sends Money” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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