Ryan X Charles

Special thanks to Denise García for this FSI Brief! Are Stablecoins the future of finance or the future of crisis? The answer, it seems, is yes. 😄 The quick answer, in reality, depends on whether you are TradFi or DeFi. The longer answer, to those to understand both ways of thinking, is that it can be either. We need to work toward a solution that treats the Stablecoin universe like the Stablecoin universe, not continually trying to put Stablecoin into a pre-existing box. The FSI Brief highlights that no two regulators call Stablecoin the same thing, and that is with some justification. Within the Stablecoin universe, a "stablecoin" can be backed by one fiat currency or multiple fiat currencies, can be backed by a commodity (gold, silver, oil, etc.), or can even be back by real estate. The volatility associated with some of these assets brings question to the concept of stability. The discussion of whether yield should be allowed will intensify over time but should focus on consumer needs rather than protecting current institutions. This all brings a level of complexity to what is a relatively simple product. With humility, I believe the world needs to accept a few facts that seem hard to swallow. First, the future of finance involves digital assets of many types. We are only getting started! Second, if your regulatory toolkit only has a circle and a square, you will need to create a third shape for digital assets and not try to continuously force them all into the two shapes you have had since the beginning of time. Third, financial sector policy makers - like they encourage regulated financial institutions to do - need to think about what the consumer wants and needs, and not about how to protect their existing institutions. I am proud that UAE regulators have been given a white sheet of paper to do what is right for the financial system and for the consumer of financial services. This is the approach that is needed now, by all, more than ever. Fourth, we need to consider financial inclusion and financial literacy. It will be a disaster to include more people into the financial system, only for them to lose their money. It will also be a continuing disaster to keep people's access to financial services limited to those with exorbitant fees for poor service. Given that the future of finance involves many new products and services and more democratization of finance, policy makers need to develop a mechanism for highlighting the plethora of new (and often improving) financial products on a safety and risk spectrum. Bank for International Settlements – BIS Financial Stability Board (FSB) Financial Stability Institute Milken Institute Central Bank of The UAE Securities & Commodities Authority, Official Account هيئة الأوراق المالية والسلع، الحساب الرسمي Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) ADGM Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority [VARA] Middle East Stablecoin Association - MESA https://lnkd.in/dhPt5iKg

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Dencun went live on March 13, 2026  paving the way for a significant reduction in costs associated with transacting on Ethereum layer 2s by replacing gas-intensive calldata with lightweight Binary Large Objects (blobs) via EIP-4844. This is a structural upgrade to Ethereum's scaling story. Blobs store data off-chain and become inaccessible after three weeks, unlike call data which is stored permanently. Layer 2 rollups like Optimism, Arbitrum, and zkSync can now use EIP-4844 to batch transactions efficiently. The implications: gas costs drop 90% for L2 transactions, throughput increases to 300+ TPS, and user experience improves dramatically. This isn't hype, it's infrastructure becoming production-grade. Layer 2 blockchains become cheaper, more accessible, and more competitive with alternative L1s. The upgrade introduces modifications to the staking pool. Both could impact Ethereum's monetary policy but the net effect is positive for usability. The ecosystem grew in 2025 despite price lag because the technology was maturing. Dencun solidifies Ethereum's position as a base layer for global scaling.

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2026 is poised to be a breakout year for bringing offchain native assets on-chain - this is happening in the form of RWAs, new models for yield-bearing stable coins, and other credit-assets. Over the course of 2025 value in on-chain vaults grew from over $150M to $16B. However, there are two key issues hindering widespread insto adoption: 1) duration risk & 2) (il)liquidity risk. We've been heads down building Phoenix for the past 6+ months... and couldn't be more excited to announce the next era of tokenized risk infrastructure is here! Phoenix is live! We are super excited to bring the new & improved Cork into the wild for 2026's explosion of onchain credit assets & RWAs. And we are actively onboarding new markets and new partners. If you are building in the onchain space vaults, curation and next-gen yield assets - let's talk!

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