Stablecoins Take Over the Payments Conversation—And Why Retailers Are Launching Their Own | The Banking & Payments Show

Summary

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Stablecoins Take Over the Payments Conversation—And Why Retailers Are Launching Their Own

Behind the Numbers: an EMARKETER Podcast | The Banking & Payments Show
Date: September 16, 2025
Host: Rob Rubin
Guests: Tiffany Montes (Principal Banking Analyst), Grace Broadbent (Payments Analyst), Susie David Cannon (VP of Content)

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Rob Rubin and a panel of eMarketer analysts explore the surging interest in stablecoins—digital currencies pegged to assets like the US dollar. The discussion centers on why stablecoins are dominating industry conversations, how upcoming regulation and market forces are shaping their adoption, and why major retailers are considering rolling out their own. The team examines the technical, business, and consumer angles, offering lively predictions and insights for where payments might be headed.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Are Stablecoins Taking Over the Conversation?

• Political and Regulatory Catalysts

  • The renewed hype around stablecoins is tied to recent political developments. Former President Trump’s administration aggressively supported the crypto industry, issuing executive orders to promote and regulate stablecoins, likely contributing to the momentum and buzz.

    “It was really the election of Trump that really kind of started this, like, new hype cycle. [...] He signed an executive order promoting stablecoins—to call for regulation to be developed around stablecoins and to just promote development of stablecoins overall.” —Grace Broadbent [02:52]

• Distinguishing Stablecoins from Crypto

  • Analysts stress the fundamental difference between stablecoins (pegged to a stable asset, e.g., USD) and traditional cryptocurrencies (volatile and asset-independent).
  • Retailers are more comfortable with stablecoins due to their consistent value, unlike the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies.

    “We have to make the distinction between crypto and stablecoin, which is pegged to a dollar. So from a retailer perspective, it’s easier to manage and handle.” —Susie David Cannon [04:20]

2. Regulation, Risk, and the Role of Trust

• Why Regulation Matters

  • With the prospect of retailers or banks issuing stablecoins (e.g., “Amazon coin”), the question becomes: Who ensures these coins are truly backed by reserves?
  • Examples like the collapse of Terra highlight past instability and the loss of consumer funds, underlining the urgency for clear regulatory frameworks.

    “If a company issues the stablecoin they have to—the government regulatory bodies [must] make sure that there is actually proper backing to that.” —Grace Broadbent [09:09]

• Analogy with Gift Cards and Loyalty Apps

  • Retailers already hold prepaid funds via apps and gift cards, but those are dollar-based and typically lack federally insured protections if the retailer folds.
  • Stablecoin holdings present similar risks unless regulation mandates backing and guarantees.

3. Payment Rails: Why Stablecoins, and Why Now?

• Potential Advantages Over Traditional Rails

  • Stablecoins blend the best aspects of fiat and digital currencies:
    • Speed: Real-time payment settlement, 24/7 availability.
    • Low Cost: Potentially lower transaction fees vs. credit card networks.
    • Traceability: End-to-end tracking of funds.
  • These attributes are driving both financial institutions and retailers to explore implementation.

    “You get the real time payment speed, you get the availability 24/7, you get the low cost, you get the end to end traceability. All the benefits of a traditional cryptocurrency are combined within the stability of the dollar. And that’s kind of the dream of the stablecoin.” —Grace Broadbent [10:15]

• Incumbent Payment Networks’ Response

  • Visa and MasterCard are moving swiftly to integrate stablecoin tech into their infrastructure to avoid being disrupted or bypassed.

    “They’re trying to put the technology in place so they’re not pushed out of the ecosystem. Do I think they’re going to get pushed out? Absolutely not. But they’re going to have to figure out in a new world where are they going to play.” —Tiffany Montes [11:15]

4. Industry Movements: Who’s Launching What?

• Banks’ Efforts and Partnerships

  • Major banks (JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo) are reported to be working through consortiums like Early Warning Services and The Clearing House on bank-backed stablecoins.

    “It was reported in May that a consortium of the largest banks are working [...] to develop a bank-backed stablecoin.” —Grace Broadbent [12:20]

• Retailers’ Incentives

  • Large retailers—think Amazon, Walmart, Starbucks—see an opportunity to drive loyalty, reduce transaction fees, and borrow against future customer spend by issuing proprietary stablecoins.

5. Consumer Impact: What’s In It for the Average Shopper?

• Business-first Benefits

  • Retailers save on transaction fees; stablecoins could provide them with a new, interest-free cash flow from customer-prepaid balances.

    “The retailer needs this because they’re getting squeezed. There’s so much money in transaction fees. So using a stablecoin ... they’re going to save money on the transaction fees. [...] But there’s also a new cash revenue stream.” —Susie David Cannon [14:09]

• Consumer Hesitations and Required Incentives

  • Analysts agree: end consumers will need compelling incentives to load and use retailer stablecoins (e.g., rewards, discounts, instant refunds).

    “I do think consumers are going to take some convincing. [...] On the retail side they will need convincing and whether it’s Amazon—it’s part of their loyalty program to use it and you get benefits that way or other kind of discounts or rewards.” —Grace Broadbent [15:35]

  • Existing behaviors (such as topping up a Starbucks card automatically) show a foundation to build on—but broad adoption depends on showing direct consumer value.

• Barriers for Underbanked or Lower-income Consumers

  • Those living paycheck to paycheck may find little value in locking up funds, especially if there’s no credit component.

    “I don’t know that the paycheck to paycheck folks are the ones that are thinking about crypto. [...] It has to be a retailer that you frequent enough so you don’t feel like you’re leaving money on the table forever.” —Susie David Cannon [19:31]

6. The Looming Proliferation of Coins? Interoperability Fears

• Concerns Over Fragmentation

  • Analysts joke about a future with dozens or hundreds of competing retailer or bank-issued stablecoins, creating confusion and inefficiency.

    “So what, are we going to have like 32 million coins?” —Rob Rubin [14:04]

  • Parallels are drawn to today’s proliferation of loyalty programs; aggregation and agentic wallets (AI-powered finance sorting/management) may help smooth the experience.

7. What’s Next? Predictions for the Coming Year

• Expect More in Back-end Adoption First

  • The panel predicts headlines will focus on bank and infrastructure moves, with stablecoin usage ramping up first behind the scenes (improving speed and cost) before becoming commonplace in consumer-facing retail.

    “Next year, I think people will focus more on trying to solve real problems. [...] So I don’t think we’ll necessarily hear a lot about the customer facing aspect, but we’ll start to hear how it’s used in the background.” —Tiffany Montes [21:36]

• Biggest News: Major Bank Solutions Emerging

  • Expect announcements from the largest banks about their own “Zelle-like” stablecoin solutions.

    “I think the biggest headline in a year from now will probably be that the largest banks are launching some sort of their own solution.” —Grace Broadbent [22:14]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It was really the election of Trump that really kind of started this, like, new hype cycle.” —Grace Broadbent [02:52]
• “We have to make the distinction between crypto and stablecoin, which is pegged to a dollar. So from a retailer perspective, it’s easier to manage and handle.” —Susie David Cannon [04:20]
• “If a company issues the stablecoin, the government regulatory bodies [must] make sure that there is actually proper backing to that.” —Grace Broadbent [09:09]
• “Do I think [Visa and MasterCard are] going to get pushed out? Absolutely not. But they’re going to have to figure out in a new world where are they going to play.” —Tiffany Montes [11:15]
• “I do think consumers are going to take some convincing.” —Grace Broadbent [15:35]
• “So what, are we going to have like 32 million coins?” —Rob Rubin [14:04]
• “I really hope we’re not using 32 million different types of stablecoins next year.” —Grace Broadbent [22:46]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 — 02:41: Introductions and setup; why stablecoins are front-page news
• 02:52 — 04:20: The Trump administration’s role and the distinction between stablecoins and classic crypto
• 05:46 — 09:09: How regulation makes (or breaks) trust in stablecoins; parallels to loyalty apps
• 10:15 — 11:58: What stablecoins offer compared to card rails and legacy payment systems
• 12:20 — 14:09: Banks, retailer plans, and the specter of too many competing coins
• 14:09 — 17:29: Consumer benefits, real-world use cases, and barriers to mass adoption
• 20:40 — 22:51: Predictions for 2026: bank launches, agentic wallets, and stablecoin consolidation fears

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Summary Table: Stakeholder Perspectives

| Stakeholder | Why Interested in Stablecoins? | Key Challenges/Questions | |----------------|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------| | Banks | Faster, cheaper transfers; staying relevant | Regulation, interoperability | | Payment Networks (Visa/MC) | Avoid disruption; revenue retention | Integration with core business | | Retailers | Reduce fees, loyalty/float, new revenue | Convincing consumers; regulatory compliance | | Consumers | Possible rewards/instant refunds | Complexity; trust; tangible benefits |

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Final Takeaway

Stablecoins are moving out of the crypto fringe and into mainstream payments and banking conversations, propelled by regulatory momentum and industry adoption. Retailers and banks alike are exploring their own stablecoin offerings to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and build deeper consumer relationships. Yet for truly widespread use, industry players must deliver clear and compelling value to average consumers—while keeping regulation, interoperability, and trust front and center.

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Transcript

[A]

In a fast moving market, you have to know what's working. With Nielsen's Ad intel, you'll know the where's, whens and how's of advertising across industries and channels. Maximize your ROI and achieve better results. Stop guessing, start winning. Nielsen Ad intel. Hello everyone and welcome to the Banking and Payment Show, a behind the Numbers podcast from eMarketer made possible by Nielsen. Today is September 16, 2025. I'm Rob Rubin, head of business development at eMarketer and your host. Today we're diving into a topic that has come up a lot in conversations in banking, payments and retail stablecoins. Whether you think of them as the future of money, a regulatory headache, or just the next buzzword in crypto, stablecoins are being talked about all over the place, particularly on Capitol Hill, in boardrooms and across the payments industry. So to help break it all down, I'm joined by three e marketer analysts, each bringing a different perspective. First, we have Tiffany Montes, principal banking analyst. She's been following how financial institutions are grappling with the rise of digital assets. Grace Broadbent, who focuses in on payments, will help us unpack what stablecoins mean for networks, processors and the rails that keep money moving. And finally, Susie. David Cannon, VP of content who covers retail and consumer behavior, will ground us in how or if everyday people might actually use stablecoins in their day to day lives. I'm going to tell everybody who's listening that normally we're all zoomed together and today we're all sitting around the table together.

[B]

Secrets out.

[A]

So I'm really excited that we're actually looking at each other and getting to react to each other. So I'm really excited, excited about it. And it's also the only time I think in 60 episodes. Ish. I've had three guests at the same time. So let's keep it under control. How are you guys doing?

[B]

60 times to get this right in person and 60 times for you to invite Susie.

[C]

I can't even. I'm so excited to be here, I've.

[A]

Been like angling for a way to get you on.

[C]

Well, thank you for making that.

[A]

And I didn't think if you asked me six months ago if a topic like stablecoin could get Susie on a podcast, I probably would have said no.

[C]

Well, Markus in the behind the Numbers does these predictions and so I had a stablecoin one which he thought was crazy, but now he knows it was not crazy.

[A]

You're not crazy. Well, let's jump into it. Stablecoins have been coming up a lot in conversations lately. So why don't we start with the big picture? Why now? Like, what's driving all the buzz here?

[D]

It was really the election of Trump that really kind of started this, like, new hype cycle. You can say he courted the crypto industry overall aggressively during his election cycle. His own family has started their own crypto ventures. They've become heavily involved in the space. And within, I think his first month in office, he signed an executive order promoting stablecoins to call for regulation to be developed around stablecoins and to just promote development of stablecoins overall. And from there, it's really taken off.

[A]

But it feels like a leap. Right? Like we're going from something was like the Trump gold stablecoin, and even though it was a digital asset, it was like, felt like it was a collection piece. Like stablecoins were things people would collect. Like you would collect coins. It was like a new version of coin collecting, but now we're talking about payment rails.

[B]

Well, I think it's also. There's been a lot going on in the background that people just weren't talking about. Grace, remind me. I know B of A, for example, and others have probably been working in the background to build things and just not talking about it or waiting for the regulation to catch up to what they are seeing a need to be. And so now that that need is there, I think we're starting to see significant movement. And I think at that point we're going to see where novelty shakes out and where there becomes real need to solve problems with the technology.

[C]

Well, and on the retailer side, the difference is, you know, we have to make the distinction between crypto and stablecoin, which is pegged to a dollar. So from a retailer perspective, it's easier to manage and handle that and make sure that they're, you know, that they understand cash coming in and cash coming out, cash, you know, in quotes is equal and that they can keep track of it in the same way versus a crypto coin where it. It's more like a market value that changes and is so volatile. So that's helped. On the retailer side, I think mainstream to fringe piece is still a little bit of a question mark because it's so much in the headlines, tagged to so many people, that some folks might not trust as much. Right. And so there is a trust gap potentially on the consumer side, but it's.

[A]

Tagged to the dollar. But it does increase or decrease in.

[C]

Value like currency does.

[A]

Yeah, but I guess. But using A dollar, it's not as volatile and it's not as obvious when you're buying goods, whether the dollar is up or down. Like, I don't go to the groc and determine which currency I'm going to use based on my principle.

[D]

But if it's pegged correctly, like to the US Dollar, for example, you really should not notice a difference at all. Like we, as you said, we don't notice when the US dollar changes ever so slightly because of inflation or whatever.

[C]

Or your interest rate. It's not like you pay attention to your interest rate to decide where you're moving money in your bank.

[D]

And that's why, like, they are pegging them to the US dollar versus a stablecoin can technically be be pegged to any asset. It can be pegged to gold, it can be pegged to other currencies, it can be pegged to, you know, any random object at all.

[B]

Money.

[D]

Yeah. Monopoly money. But that's why it's the US dollar, because it's trying to make it be truly like a digital version of the.

[C]

US dollar, as stable as possible.

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

And the thing is like, you know, NFTs from before, everybody was talking about NFTs, but that wasn't really pegged to any money. Right. That was like a fun, like kind of how you started off. It was like a fun thing to have a digital quote, unquote asset that was more, you know, like artwork. You never know what's going to happen. So this is completely different.

[A]

So when you buy a stablecoin, do you get one coin for each dollar?

[D]

Yes. For most of them, yes.

[B]

And if you transfer them from one person to another, it still holds that value.

[A]

So then how much does stablecoin's future come down to? Regulation? Because if I'm giving a company my money and it's worth, I think it's, it's something that I can use as currency. What protects me from them not holding my money.

[C]

It's kind of like a bank. Right, right.

[A]

So what's the regulation? So if Amazon comes out with a stablecoin, who makes sure that if Amazon sells a billion dollars worth of stablecoin, is there a government regulatory body that says Amazon, you have to keep a certain amount of that available.

[C]

The experts will tell you about that piece. But on the retailer front, there are lots of loyalty apps where you load it with money. Like just think about Starbucks. You load it with money, the money just sits in their app. It's dollars. It's US dollars in America at least. And it just sits there. So if they fold or gift cards, Right. You pay money to get a gift card and so now they have an iou. If the company folds, you lose the money. So I imagine stablecoin is something similar. Yeah.

[B]

Whoever issues the stablecoin is who is the one that's guaranteeing that money.

[A]

Right.

[B]

So if you as a bank, for example, issue a stablecoin, then you are responsible for that stablecoin. If you're PayPal and you issue a stablecoin, you as PayPal are responsible for that stablecoin.

[A]

Right. But the bank issues the coin. But they also pay to an insurance fund, the fdic. They all collectively do. So that if that bank fails the government, your money is protected up to a certain point. So my point is if somebody like.

[C]

If an Amazon issues their own currency.

[A]

Or Starbucks, who's regulating that?

[C]

So I got the Genius act, right?

[D]

Yeah. So that's why they're making regulation right now and that's why it can't be mainstream yet. And the Genius act helped that. And there will be more regulation to come to make sure that if you buy a stablecoin and it say it's pegged to the US dollar, there's actually something backing that in a bank. If you remember like two years ago, there was a huge stablecoin drama. It was I think called Terra. I want to need to double check that name. But the Terra became unpegged from the dollar because the company said they had all this backing but they didn't. So it went under, caused a huge drama, caused a lot of people to lose money. But that's why regulation is now. So if a company issues the stablecoin they have to the government regulatory bodies make sure that there is actually proper backing to that.

[A]

Okay.

[D]

So that's what we're working on right now is getting that regulatory piece in place to protect consumers.

[C]

And if a retailer is issuing it, I'm sure they have to show as many assets around whatever they're issuing. Right. It's kind of like how vendors get paid. They have like a 30, 60, 90 day vendors, like clothing vendors or whatever, goods vendors. Sure. It'll be something similar to that.

[A]

Everybody feels so confident.

[C]

I mean it was my prediction, it's what landed me here. So I'm going to keep going.

[A]

It's going to have to iterate and it's going to be some scary things because we haven't thought of everything. Absolutely. I want to talk about because part of it is like why do we need this? So I want to Ask it in two different ways. First I want to ask why do we need this compared to the, the payments ecosystem that we currently have? The Rails, Visa, ach, even real time payments like, like those are all payment rails. Why do we need this one? And then what about consumers? Like I can maybe you're going to convince me why the industry needs it, but I still, I'm wondering why the consumers need it.

[D]

Really big picture it stablecoins combine like the best aspects of digital currencies and traditional fiat currencies. So on the fiat side you have, you ensure the stability all the things. On the digital currency side you get the real time payment speed, you get the availability 24, 7, you get the low cost, you get the end to end traceability. All the benefits of like a traditional cryptocurrency are combined within the stability of the dollar. And that's kind of the dream of the stablecoin.

[A]

All right, so I want to get to the consumer thing but I'm just, I'm dying to know like what is Visa and Master, what are they going to do about that?

[C]

They're freaking out probably.

[B]

Yep.

[D]

They are. Trying to become part of it is really the answer because they are probably freaking out and saying if we don't develop our own stablecoin infrastructure and become part of it, then we're going to get left behind.

[A]

Honestly, they had a good run, right?

[B]

They still do, they're doing well, but they've actually inserted themselves to Grace's point pretty quickly and they're trying to put the technology in place so they're not pushed out of the ecosystem. Do I think they're going to get pushed out of the ecosystem? Absolutely not. But they're going to have to figure out in a new world where are they going to play and how are they going to make money. But to Grace's point, this is really all about cost and speed. And that is actually, if you think about stablecoin under that context, it does solve real needs. It's just whether or not financial institutions, retailers and everyone can figure out how do you use the technology to actually solve a problem, not just say something is sexy and we should all have stablecoin and therefore we should support it.

[A]

It's funny because like maybe Visa, MasterCard, the rails sort of going off the rails right now, but it seems like maybe then the issuers get squeezed. Like the bank issuers that work with Visa and MasterCard and issue cards, are they going to issue stablecoin cards?

[B]

I think that's what they're trying to figure out.

[D]

Yeah, that's what they're figuring out right now. It was reported in May, nothing's official yet, but it was reported in May that a consortium of the largest banks, so JP Morgan, bank of America, Citi Wells, Early Warning.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Yes.

[D]

Are working with Early Warning Services and the clearinghouse to develop a bank backed stablecoin to all come together and develop one that can then be used within banks and transferred easily.

[A]

All right.

[B]

And I would also say that I've had a couple of conversations with credit unions who are also exploring issuing their own stablecoin.

[A]

Poor credit unions, right.

[B]

Yeah. But this goes back to the need like.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

What are you trying to solve by issuing a stablecoin to your member base? How big is your member base?

[A]

What is the age group of your.

[B]

Member base and not your average age? We like to use this like average age of your member. Actually the real question is how many of your consumers are over the age of 55 years old? And if you tell me it's 60% or 70%, you might want to think like you really should just be focusing on trying to get Gen Z. I don't. Stablecoin may or may not get you there. I don't know. Who knows? But so what are you trying to solve? What are you trying to get people to do? Are you trying to just get them to transfer money to each other? Because if you issue your own coin, can your coin be used to send to somebody else? If not, you're going to be stuck playing the P2P payment game or businesses.

[A]

Going to make deals. Your coins are good with me, my coins are good with you.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Well, I think the platforms will do that. Right. But if you start to buy into the Walmart or Starbucks coin, technically, at least in the immediate future, it'll just be usable there.

[B]

Yep. So that's. That becomes a challenge. Right. So what are we going to have like 32 million coins?

[A]

Let's get this. So I want to, let's jump to the why do consumers need this?

[C]

Well, I think it depends on. I know you mean, you mean end consumer, but I'm going to start with the middle person consumer, which is the retailer. Right. The retailer needs this because they're getting squeezed. There's so much money in transaction fees. So using a stablecoin, assuming that they can convince people to buy their stablecoins. Right. So let's put that aside for now. If they are able to get that going, they're going to save money on the transaction fees. Right now some of the mom and pop shops here show you like if you pick cash it's $4. If you use a credit card it's 425. I mean that's a very clear indication for a consumer to understand the savings of not using their credit card. So there's that, but there's also a new cash revenue stream. Right. Retailers are borrowing against their potential consumers by getting everybody to give them money. So they issue stablecoins. So now they have like money that's floating that they can use in a different way. Right. So there are a lot of upsides for.

[A]

I totally get it for businesses. I'm just trying to understand like why would I want to give Amazon $500 of my money in advance?

[C]

So I mean you kind of do you give them your membership fee. Right. And if you give them your membership fee up front, the hundred and whatever it is, it's cheaper than if you do monthly. So we do these kind of like things of giving money up.

[B]

Well, if you think about it, people are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars a month on at Amazon.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Even just in purchases, groceries.

[D]

I do think like we're being positive about this, but I do think consumers are going to take some convincing. Like it makes a lot of sense to use stablecoins right now for like peer to peer payments, deposits, transfers, things like that. But on the retail side they will need convincing and like whether it's Amazon, it's part of their loyalty program to use it and you get benefits that way or other kind of discounts or rewards.

[A]

I would rather buy the stablecoin at checkout. That would. So I don't want to, I don't want to give you stable. I don't want to give you $1,000. My money in advance. But when I buy something, I want the transaction to be, I buy it with my dollars, I make it Stable Coin and then I don't think you.

[C]

Would need it for that. Right. Like I think that takes away from the idea of loyalty. Let's use Starbucks because Starbucks has an app that people load money in. Yeah, but I think it's at any minute now because they had an NFT and it didn't work.

[A]

Called Starbucks.

[C]

Possibly it would be a first opportunity.

[A]

If not Taco bills.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Star Coin.

[A]

No, Starbucks.

[C]

Starbucks.

[B]

Starbucks.

[D]

Yeah, but what about the coin?

[A]

Sweet Green.

[B]

Okay, back to the consumer helping them promote their new stablecoin.

[C]

No, but I think it's ingenious and Grace is 1000% right. If you don't let the consumer understand why this is Important to them to do it. It's not going to work. So it has to be a very seamless. There are lots of vendors that are trying to help with that. Right. And the PayPals of the world that are working through it. So it has to be a seamless. At checkout. You have to give me value. Like, you have to show me that, okay, you're saving money. Starbucks by not running credit cards. What value is that transferring for me? And then Starbucks is not the right example for this. But the returns are immediate. You buy a dress, you don't love it, you return it. You have to wait for the credit card to reimburse you. There's that moment in time. And for people that are paycheck to paycheck, that could be a reason to use a stablecoin.

[A]

I don't want to take it too far, but Dunkin Doe, I did.

[B]

He's seeing your Dunkin Donuts over here. We got coffee on the table.

[D]

We're like, Starbucks, who's gonna go first?

[B]

Dunkin Doe or Starbucks?

[A]

Can't help.

[C]

Love it. You should have been in marketing.

[B]

You can contact Rob Rubin, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks for help with your marketing, your naming convention.

[C]

Well, and I mean, it is. It's all about a marketing play, too, for a retailer.

[A]

What is the story? Like, what are they gonna. What's the story for every day? Like, what is the story retailers are going to tell shoppers?

[D]

As you can tell from my cup on the table, I went to Starbucks this morning. And you. I automatically add $25 every time I go to the app. I don't think about it. It just forces me to. It says, oh, you don't have enough money on your card? Reload25, and they just capture you. I truly have never thought about it once in my life. I'm just like, yes, this is what you do at Starbucks. If you really. You get better points. And if it's like ingrained in the mobile app experience, I know I'm getting points. I'm not thinking about the $25 reload. So we're already doing it to some extent.

[C]

Yes.

[B]

Agreed.

[C]

It's just like we're moving. Instead of it being your dollars being in a fictitious app sort of thing, it's like, you've moved them through stablecoin. Now I don't understand how a consumer will decide, like, oh, I'm not putting my $25 in. I'm buying stablecoin. That piece I'm not as clear on.

[A]

What about stablecoin credit right. Like a lot of people buy groceries with credit cards because they don't have enough money to pay for their groceries these days. So are they going to buy stablecoin credit? Like are they. So you're talking about you have enough money and disposable income to be able to not even think about putting $25 on Starbucks. But that's not everyone.

[D]

Yeah, I mean I should probably think about it more.

[A]

Right. But like what are they. What about. So what about. So it's going to give great benefit to people that have the disposable income to let to float money because.

[D]

Right.

[A]

What about the people who can't right now?

[D]

Yeah, it is. There's no kind of credit alternative. It would really be a replacement to like a debit card at a retail store.

[C]

I don't know that the paycheck to paycheck folks are the ones that are thinking about crypto. Like I think they have other things to worry about and that grocery stores have high and low end consumers sort of. And so they will still be able to grab a market that makes sense for them. Grocery just might not be the right place. It has to be a retailer that you frequent enough so you don't feel like you're leaving money on the table forever and that it. If you think about back to the marketing question, you have to talk about it in terms of the benefits to you, not the features. Right. Nobody cares about the you. You retailer are going to get more money back because you're not going to pay the transaction fees or you're going to clear it faster. You have to tell the consumer you're gonna get more rewards. You're gonna get access to things that you wouldn't have otherwise.

[B]

Yeah, free shipping or whatever.

[C]

Whatever that next level of, you know, use the QR code at the store so you can pay direct without having to go through some sort of process.

[A]

Prime for your whole family, not just you.

[C]

Cora, that might be. That's how they're maybe starting it up. That's how they're teeing you up.

[A]

No, I get it. I just want to sort of close it out with this question of when we're all sitting here and we will all be sitting here in a year from now. What, what's the headline about stablecoins and payments? Did it do anything? Did. Do we have Starbucks and Dunkin Doe?

[C]

I actually think that there will be some retailers that come out with it, but from a headline perspective, I think it'll be more around. It'll be part of a wallet series. Right. And so, and we've talked about this so many different times in so many different ways. Stablecoin will be another component of the wallet and agentic solution will come and tell you like, oh, at Amazon you're better off paying with their Amazon stablecoin than your dollars. But at Starbucks you're better off putting money into the system, whatever it is. But I think it'll be an extra platform that will help. It'll be an AI, an AI extension.

[A]

There's technology now that helps banks determine what's the cheapest rail to process different things at.

[B]

Yep. Yeah. And I think that's probably where the focus will be over the next year. It's like really. So I think right now people are still trying to understand the technology and what it will mean to issue your own stablecoin and what the opportunities are. I think people are going to start to internalize it over the next year. And next year I think people will focus more on trying to solve real problems. And I think when I think about real problems, they're what Grace said earlier, it's speed and it's cost and so where can I gain the most speed and the most cost? And so I don't think we'll necessarily hear a lot about the customer facing aspect, but we'll start to hear how it's used in the background to solve payment. We'll call it payment problems.

[D]

Yeah, I agree with that. And I think the biggest headline in a year from now will probably be that the largest banks are launching some sort of their own solution.

[B]

Right.

[A]

They don't want to get Venmo'd.

[C]

Yes, I use Zelle a lot.

[A]

I mean Zelle's bank owned.

[D]

It's basically going to be a Zelle version. It's through the owners of Zelle are creating this and I think that's the direction we're headed. I don't think a year from now every single person is going to be using stablecoins everywhere. But I think the development side, there will be a lot of improvement in the next year.

[B]

I really hope we're not using 32 million different types of stablecoins next year.

[D]

Unrealistic.

[C]

Well, I mean it's like how there are so many different loyalty points. Right. Like and you, if you use the credit card on this, you might also get the record. And I think gamification is something that consumers are accustomed to and this might just be part of that as well in some ways.

[B]

Agreed.

[A]

I think we should be figuring out how we can do more of these podcasts around a table together and not on Zoom.

[B]

I agree. Let's not wait to episode 100.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I want to thank everyone for listening to the banking and payments show made possible by Nielsen. Also, thank you to our studio team team that puts these episodes together. Our next episode is on October 14th, so be sure to check it out. See you then. Bye, everybody.

[D]

Bye.

[C]

Bye.

[D]

Bye.