Much has been written about Open USD, or OUSD, the new stablecoin announced by Open Standard. Most of it seems to focus on the 140 businesses - including massive global banks and payments businesses - among them FNB, Nedbank and Absa - who have signed up as Open Standard partners. This seems to me to be missing the point. What I think is underplayed is Stripe's role and the bigger picture, and that's what I want to unpack. There are four things to think about here. First is t

Note that details above are based on websites, blockchain data and discussions with the leading projects. On chain data such as supply and holders are gameable, and in the case of holders is understated – potentially significantly – where the coin is held by customers of an exchange. Summary Stablecoins are a very significant topic in financial services globally, and South Africa is no exception. By my count, there are ten ZAR stablecoins. This includes one that is backed by

(boring pie chart) When my father dropped me off at college, just before he left for the drive home, he said to me “I wish I was where you are now, knowing what I know now”. I am sure it is a sentiment that anyone over a certain age has experienced, but it occurred to me that this is a pattern in everything, not just personal experience. Take finance. It is obvious now that financial services will be tokenised. Consumers may not see it, or even know it, but the financial prod

Tokenisation of financial assets provides a new transaction layer on top of the nation state stack layers of governance, regulation, and financial infrastructure. These layers underpin our financial and economic systems, and the implications of this technology will be felt all the way down. The Nation State Stack Paul McCartney once said that when he came up with the tune for Yesterday, he wandered round for a month wondering where he had stolen it from. I have been using the