Former Barclays Bank Crypto Head: Stablecoins Will Become the 'WhatsApp of Money', Replacing Traditional Bank Holiday Restrictions
The Rollup podcast discusses with Simon Taylor, founder of Fintech Brainfood, how banks can significantly increase revenue through stablecoins.
Simon, the former head of crypto at Barclays Bank, believes stablecoins will become the 'WhatsApp of money', replacing traditional bank holiday restrictions and serving as a superior payment track compared to existing systems.
The podcast emphasizes that distribution capability will determine winners and losers, with policies like Genius Act becoming a watershed moment. Banks are expected to achieve profitability in stablecoin operations through new models such as weekend fees and tokenized deposits.
Source: Public Information
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Simon Taylor has been observing the integration of traditional banks and crypto since he became head of Barclays' crypto business in 2015. This podcast continues his viewpoint on the 'stablecoin supercycle', having previously predicted that banks would shift from payment intermediaries to stablecoin infrastructure providers.
On the capital path, traditional banks are concentrating core systems with stablecoin issuance, custody, and settlement resources. Fintechs like Mercury, valued at $5.2 billion, exemplify new models motivated by achieving 24/7 cross-border payments and weekend fees with stablecoins, compensating for the efficiency losses of traditional SWIFT and bank holidays, while expanding revenue sources through tokenized deposits and protocols like Tempo.
Similar to JPMorgan Onyx, Societe Generale's stablecoin initiatives, and Western Union's early stablecoin attempts, banks and the stablecoin industry are transitioning from marginal experiments to mainstream payment tracks. Early compliant banks are seizing new payment entry points through distribution networks.
Essentially, this is a restructuring of the industry chain: stablecoins will shift pricing power from traditional interbank settlement networks to a bank + stablecoin hybrid track, where the mechanism relies on stablecoins providing instant, programmable, low-cost settlements. Banks leverage their regulatory licenses and customer distribution capabilities to form new moats, transforming traditional payment friction costs into new revenue sources from weekends and cross-border transactions.
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The longer the bank holidays, the more stablecoins will turn weekends into new charging times.
Distribution capability always beats technology itself; whoever controls the users controls the pricing power of stablecoins.
When traditional rails are slow and expensive, as soon as new tracks open, banks turn payments from a cost center into a profit center.