Lex chats with Edward Woodford - CEO of Zerohash. They discuss Zerohash’s growth, the rise of stablecoins, and the evolving fintech landscape. Edward explains how stablecoins now make up half of Zerohash’s volume, highlights regulatory shifts in the U.S. and abroad, and explores the distinction between crypto and stablecoins. The conversation covers usability challenges, emerging payment use cases, and the future of embedded finance, emphasizing the need for regulatory clarity and collaboration between fintechs and traditional financial institutions.

Notable discussion points:

1. Stablecoins Overtake Crypto in Volume: Stablecoins now make up over 50% of Zerohash’s volume, driven by regulatory clarity and real-world use cases like payments and treasury. Institutions prefer them for their centralized control and ease of integration.

2. Brokerage and Payments Are Converging: Zerohash sees strong demand across brokerage and payment rails, with banks and fintechs embedding stablecoin infrastructure. Global payouts, account funding, and subscriptions are key growth areas despite UX friction.

3. Regulatory Climate Is Rapidly Improving: U.S. policy has shifted from regulatory overreach to bipartisan support for stablecoin legislation. This change is unlocking institutional adoption, with banks now moving aggressively into crypto and digital assets.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Zerohash, MoonPay, Transak, Ramp, Stripe, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Hamilton Lane, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, SoFi, Uniswap, fintech, web3, digital assets, blockchain, tokenization, rwas, stablecoin, crypto, regulation

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TIMESTAMPS

1’51: From Crisis to Convergence: Edward Woodford on Scaling Zerohash and the Future of Embedded Crypto Infrastructure

5’06: Scaling the Pie, Not Stealing Slices: Rethinking Volume, Margins, and Meaningful Growth in Digital Asset Infrastructure

10’02: The Great Rebrand: How Stablecoins Are Shedding the 'Crypto' Label and Reshaping Digital Finance

15’22: From Overreach to Opportunity: How Regulatory Pushback in the U.S. Sparked a Global Shift Toward Stablecoin Adoption

20’31: The Semantics of Trust: Why ‘Stablecoin’ Sells and ‘Crypto’ Scares - and Why the Framing Now Matters More Than Ever

22’36: Unlocking Real Utility: Why Stablecoin Payments Are Finally Poised to Scale Across Commerce and Subscriptions

30’50: Disrupting the Rails: How Stablecoins Are Reshaping the Power Dynamics of Global Payments

34’49: The New Brokerage Mandate: Why Every Platform Is Racing to Add Crypto - and What’s Unlocking the Shift

39’03: Rewiring Financial Infrastructure: How Stablecoins and Super Apps Are Forcing Banks to Rethink Risk and Relevance

43’07: The channels used to connect with Edward & learn more about Zerohash

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Growing to $45B in volume on Zerohash crypto infra, with CEO Edward Woodford

The Fintech Blueprint