If you’ve been watching the intersection of macroeconomic uncertainty and digital assets, you’ve probably noticed something interesting. Stablecoins keep showing up in places that have traditionally been reserved for prominent players in TradFi. That includes capital markets, U.S. Treasury bills, and cross-border money flows. What used to be a crypto curiosity is now sitting alongside the safest financial instruments in the world.

Often called crypto’s “killer app,” stablecoins began as a tool for crypto traders. But they’ve since evolved into something far more powerful: the quiet backbone powering a new era of global money movement.

The current narrative claims that tokenization will solve many financial problems, which may or may not be true. Stablecoins cause net new money issuance, just like banks. The current stablecoin trajectory poses significant questions about how they interface with the traditional fractional reserve banking system — where banks keep only a fraction of deposits as reserves while lending out the rest, effectively creating net new money.

Money matters, that much is clear. However, its characteristics and essence are distinct subjects, essential for anyone interested in material welfare or the financial system. As such, a historical exploration is both necessary and revealing, not only for understanding money’s role in the past and present but, more importantly, for shaping how we think about it in the future.

Money, mortgages, savings, and transactions: These things matter to all of us. Yet, most of us never stop to ask: Is the system underpinning these things even sound? Given the clear instability, they probably should. 

A deep dive on how to think about stablecoins and use cases.

Stablecoins + AI agents are transforming finance by enabling always on autonomous systems that are redefining how value moves on the internet.

Exploring stablecoins as banks and the benefit of a multi-stablecoin ecosystem for consumers

Perena's mission and vision : infrastructure for stablecoins.