Stablecoins hit $46T in annual volume and banks are responding by putting their own money onchain. The real battle isn't between public and private rails. It's about who controls the bridges between them.
In the global payment system, small senders pay the highest percentage in fees. A mother in Lagos loses 8% sending $10 for school lunch, while a bank wiring $10 million pays less than 0.1%. Stablecoins may finally level the playing field.
In 2017, blockchain was supposed to destroy banks. By 2025, JPMorgan runs $1B daily onchain, BlackRock tokenizes treasuries, and Circle IPOs at $20B. The irony is sharp, but the lesson is clearer: the revolution didn't fail, we just misunderstood what people actually needed.
