Stablecon Slices 2025 was a rare opportunity to bring together product leaders, builders, investors, and founders working to drive the real-world adoption of stablecoins. Attracting over 460 innovators in the crypto space, speakers shared key insights on navigating regulatory environments, building new stablecoin experiences, and the evolution of modern finance.
The event featured four engaging panel discussions, during which industry experts from Bridge, Paxos, the Blockchain Association, and more explored the world of stablecoins in depth.
In this recap, our team unpacks the key insights from each panel so your organization can stay up to date on this rapidly evolving ecosystem.
Panel one: The stablecoin regulatory map
The opening panel was led by Laura Sanders, Senior Counsel at the Blockchain Association, and featured Sinclair Toffa, Co-founder and CEO of MuralPay, and Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of Borderless.xyz.
The panelists discussed the regulatory environment surrounding stablecoins, region-specific challenges, and how ambiguity is potentially stifling adoption.
Calling for regulatory clarity across evolving markets
The panelists agreed that organizations are eager for clear stablecoin regulations and network-level compliance.
- Regulation is currently in a state of flux, varying by country, which presents a challenge to global compliance
- MiCA regulates stablecoins throughout the EU
- Layered regulatory frameworks are being used throughout the US that address small issuers at the state level and larger ones at the federal level
- Lehtiniitty noted that some countries, most notably in Africa and Southeast Asia, are devoid of crypto licensing frameworks
The panelists emphasized that the challenge of fragmented regulation manifests most for founders looking to introduce stablecoin solutions across different countries.
- They need to become experts on the policies of each country they transact in
- Lehtiniitty described this process as "unfeasible" and added that most regulatory obligations will need to live in the network layer to encourage increased adoption
Assembling internal talent to navigate regulatory uncertainty
Until that shift is made, the panelists agreed that assembling knowledgeable teams is crucial in navigating the evolving regulatory landscape.
- Assembling skilled teams enables:
- Interpretation of varying regulations across jurisdictions
- Implementation of robust compliance and risk management
- Early identification and resolution of regulatory shortcomings
"Our first step was finding the right people to help us define our regulatory posture, understand what this architecture looks like, and break it down so it was easily approachable," Toffa explains. "This process made ensuring compliance in the current regulatory environment that much easier."
Encouraging adoption from traditional institutions
The panelists agreed that clear regulation will not only protect users and the crypto ecosystem, but also foster mainstream adoption by risk-averse financial institutions.
- While Lehtiniitty emphasizes that crypto isn't the "Wild West" and that regulation has existed since 2013, the upcoming GENIUS Act will bring additional clarity to the world of stablecoins
Panel two: Shipping stablecoins
This panel was led by Arnaud Brousseau, Founding Engineer at Turnkey, and featured Chuk Okpalugo, Product Leader at Paxos, and Drake Evans, Co-founder and CTO of Agora.
The participants discussed the technical foundations behind stablecoin solutions, whether to build or buy infrastructure, and the trade-offs between custodial and non-custodial wallets.
The building blocks of stablecoin products
To kick things off, the panelists shared the fundamental steps behind creating stablecoin products, including:
- Establishing connections with traditional finance firms
- Defining stablecoin parameters on asset pegging and price
- Choosing which chains to support
- Implementing fiat on- and off-ramps
- Onboarding wallet infrastructure
- Integrating compliance modules for KYC/KYB
Okpalugo emphasized that while stablecoins are straightforward from a technical perspective, the infrastructure surrounding them is highly complex.
When to build or buy when creating stablecoin products?
On the topic of building vs. buying, Evans emphasized the benefits of building general blockchain and node infrastructure in-house.
- Chains have congestion, public indexes fall behind, and having that source of truth can be a strong competitive advantage
Okpalugo added that the strategic context of your specific firm heavily influences the build vs. buy argument. When determining which infrastructure to build or buy, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are your core competencies?
- What are you trying to differentiate with your solution?
- What angles do you need to own for compliance?
- What banking partnerships will you need to maintain?
- What will it take to acquire regular users?
- How long can we wait to take the product to market?
The panelists agreed that most organizations are likely to combine in-house and outsourced pieces of their infrastructure based on their answers to the above questions.
Should you offer custodial or non-custodial wallets?
Having worked with customers on both sides of the table, Okpalugo emphasizes that regulatory arbitrage makes offering custodial solutions risky, especially when entering new markets.
- Non-custodial solutions are currently operating in a grey area that lacks clear regulation
- Regulators are likely to catch up, but it won't be until after organizations have acquired millions of users
Evans added that while custodial solutions seem intimidating from a regulatory standpoint, they're arguably the most aligned with traditional finance. As more organizations look to smoothen the transition into the world of web3, custodial solutions may be the catalyst that drives adoption from the crypto-averse populace.
"The amazing thing about crypto and tools like Turnkey is that it gives you the ability to choose. If you decide, I'm okay with managing my portion of the private key and accepting the consequences of that. Or even if I'm a large institution with the resources to handle that complexity, I have the option." — Drake Evans, Co-founder and CTO of Agora
Panel three: The stablecoin economy
This panel was led by Hannah Arnold, COO at Turnkey, and featured Mike Giampapa, General Partner at Galaxy, and Greg Prisco, Co-founder of M0.
The panelists discussed how businesses are generating revenue within the stablecoin ecosystem, from issuance and distribution to emerging use cases and fee models.
Stablecoin issuance and distribution
Prisco led with the insight that leading issuers (such as Tether) are the early winners, but they're benefitting most from strong distribution networks.
- While these issuers are monoliths, the stablecoin ecosystem benefits more from a modular approach
- It's important to empower third-party partners to customize and distribute stablecoins while retaining economic upside
Giampapa added that issuance is becoming increasingly commoditized and that the NIM business model is under attack from many angles, including:
- Fluctuating interest rates
- Competition from up-and-comers (like M0)
"The issuance side of the stablecoin market is becoming commoditized, with traditional net interest margin business models facing pressure from fluctuating interest rates and a wave of new entrants; while many new issuers try to compete by offering more yield, it’s still unclear how much traction they’ll gain over time." — Mike Giampapa, General Partner at Galaxy
Driving value across the stablecoin ecosystem
The conversation then zoomed out to explore the broader stablecoin ecosystem. Giampapa said each layer has its own monetization model, from transactional fees to subscription services, and observed that we're still in the early stages of value distribution.
- Issuers hold the largest share of profits today
- Long-term value is expected to accrue across the stack, including consumer-facing apps built on stablecoin rails
Rerouting that value to end-users
Stablecoins - particularly in open, competitive environments - enable consumers to reclaim value through interest, rewards, or reduced fees.
- Prisco added that this shift could significantly disrupt traditional banking models
- Banks capturing yield on deposits will see increased competition
Finally, the panel touched on emerging business models.
- Builders within the M0 ecosystem, for example, are launching fintech-style apps that use stablecoins as embedded infrastructure to deliver better services
- The approach aims to monetize users, not the stablecoin itself, by layering services on basic banking rails
Panel four: Accelerating stablecoin infrastructure for global finance
Our concluding panel featured Bryce Ferguson, CEO at Turnkey, who interviewed Zach Abrams, CEO and Co-founder at Bridge.
Abrams offered his deep insights into the future of stablecoins and how they are poised to transform digital finance by acting as core foundational infrastructure.
- Abrams started by recounting Bridge's origins as an NFT purchasing platform
- He remarked that the early days of building Bridge shed light on the gaps within stablecoin infrastructure, which he hypothesized his company could address
"We saw that stablecoins could be this critical infrastructure to help move money across the globe, but building the solutions was very challenging," Abrams shared. We kept getting kicked in the teeth with FTX going under, Silvergate going under, and SVB going under, but our belief that stablecoins were worth investing in persisted."
How stablecoins are evolving into key financial infrastructure
Abrams explained that before stablecoins, building financial apps meant creating separate systems for each country.
- Stablecoins provide a single financial building block, enabling companies to build on one stack and serve customers across multiple geographies
- Companies like Stripe, Dollar App, and Clever are already leveraging this capability to build neobanks and financial services
One of the most compelling use cases Abrams highlighted was how large enterprises use stablecoins to simplify money movement.
- They often have to move funds through a convoluted chain of countries due to tax and corporate structure reasons
- Using stablecoins and wallet infrastructure, they could reduce this process to a minutes-long process
The proliferation of stablecoins
Regarding the proliferation of stablecoins, Abrams predicted a layered ecosystem rather than a winner-takes-all scenario.
- A few branded stablecoins (like USDC and USDT) will coexist alongside many proprietary stablecoins issued by individual platforms
- Enterprises will likely convert incoming stablecoins into their own branded coins for better control or programmability and convert back when needed
What the future holds for stablecoins
When asked what the future holds for stablecoins, Abrams predicted that the majority of money will move through stablecoin rails in the next five years. This prediction wasn't backed by any philosophical reason, but rather that it's the most financially rational approach for businesses over time.
"It's just materially cheaper to build on top of the stablecoins in the sense that you get a ledger for free, plus you're able to expand it internationally on top of the same core stack, and you get yield-bearing assets under the hood, which unlocks meaningful economic benefits." — Zach Abrams, CEO and Co-founder at Bridge
Abrams emphasized that the biggest bottleneck to faster adoption is not technical but educational.
- Many finance and engineering teams have spent years mastering fiat-based systems
- Shifting to stablecoin infrastructure requires learning new skills and changing old habits
Early on, Abrams shared that the stablecoin space was recently stagnant, but by building infrastructure and enabling new use cases, Bridge and others helped create momentum and shape the direction of the market.
Closing thoughts
Stablecon Slices 2025 revealed that stablecoins are evolving from niche assets to foundational components of modern finance. While regulatory and cross-border hurdles remain, the brightest minds in the crypto space are already devising innovative ways to overcome them and drive adoption.
If you're evaluating how to embed stablecoin payments into your product, Turnkey provides a proven foundation that teams are already using in production.
Chat with our team, or get started with Turnkey today.
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