In this episode, we are joined by Zach Abrams, CEO of Bridge, to unpack the infrastructure behind the next generation of global payments. Zach discusses Bridge’s mission to move stablecoins beyond mere trading use cases and into core financial services, a vision that recently led to its landmark acquisition by Stripe . He explains how stablecoins function as an innovation at every layer of the money stack, enabling payments that are fundamentally faster and cheaper than legacy systems like ACH or SEPA.

They delve into the technical "puzzle pieces" of payments, from the inefficiencies of FBO bank accounts to the "cheat code" of compounding growth in the stablecoin sector. Zach introduces the concept of Stablecoin Orchestration and details why the current USDC/USDT duopoly is unaligned with high-velocity payments due to rent-seeking burn fees and AUM-focused models . Finally, the conversation explores the future of consumer finance, where non-custodial wallets act as bank replacements and a pluralistic ecosystem of local, company-issued stablecoins challenges the dominance of the US dollar

Topics

• 00:00 Intro & Context
• 04:15 Legacy Rails vs. Stablecoin Innovation
• 09:30 The "Cash App" Hack & Payments Creativity
• 15:00 Why Bridge Joined Stripe
• 21:45 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Startup Needs
• 27:10 Stablecoin Orchestration & Issuance Explained
• 35:20 The Duopoly Problem: Why USDC/USDT Isn't Enough
• 42:15 Orthogonal Competition: The "Europe" of Stablecoins
• 49:00 Wallets as the New Primary Bank Account
• 55:30 Regrets of a "Child of the Depression" Founder

Links

• Zach Abrams on X: https://x.com/ZCAbrams
• Bridge: https://bridge.xyz
• Stripe: https://stripe.com
• Gnosis: https://gnosis.io/

Sponsors: Gnosis: Gnosis has been building core decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem since 2015. With the launch of Gnosis Pay last year, we introduced the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Start leveraging its power today at http://gnosis.io