The hypothesis for stablecoins is simple: payments — the movement of financial value from one account to another — is broken in ways that open, decentralised ledgers can fix. Most people who interact with modern payment systems would agree that we are further ahead technologically than they reflect. Most notably, we can send messages to one another in milliseconds regardless of location and volume. Still, it often takes hours or even days to move money across countries despite message transmission being a significant part of digital payments. Stablecoins are a bet that blockchain technology with tokens that can be sent peer-to-peer can remedy payments. This article explores that bet, specifically for fiat-pegged stablecoins (simply ‘stablecoins’ moving forward) in cross-border payments.

Communities are inherently valuable. They bring together members’ resources, skills, knowledge, and experiences to create value for members and other people who engage with them. From crowd-sourcing advice to supporting non-profit causes and even reality show favourites, communities have historically been used to accomplish and advance all kinds of goals. For instance, in many African societies, community-based initiatives like cooperative societies are an age-long vehicle for enabling millions of unbanked people to access credit and other financial services.

To understand Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and why it exists, it’s essential first to understand the purpose of “Traditional Finance” (TradFi), particularly as it relates to the capital market. This is necessary because, for the most part, the capital market is what DeFi disrupts today.

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A couple of days ago, I was talking to someone about how fascinating I find decentralized wallets. This article is my attempt at explaining cryptocurrency wallets so you get a sense of what goes on under the hood; and how to think about them in the new decentralised world.

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are the new wave in the cryptocurrency space. Over the last few months, they have opened up new channels for digital creators to monetize their work.