October 28, 2026
As stablecoins expand rapidly into the financial mainstream, questions are proliferating about how they will, and won’t, change the world of payments. What differences lie ahead in infrastructure, market dynamics, the role of the U.S. dollar, and advancing global financial inclusion?
Today, my two wonderful guests have that conversation. Kosta Peric is Deputy Director for Inclusive Financial Systems at the Gates Foundation, and Simon Taylor is Head of Market Development at Tempo. They have each spent decades working at the intersection of technology, payments, and financial services, and they come to the stablecoin debate from different, but fascinatingly complementary, perspectives.
We start with the extraordinary progress the world has made in financial inclusion – which has been driven mainly by technology change, especially the mobile phone. Kosta describes the transformation enabled by mobile money and instant payment systems, particularly in Africa. On that continent, 40 countries now have some form of instant payment system and 23 have systems he considers inclusive under the international Level One Project principles. Yet, as he reminds us, 1.3 billion people in the world remain “unbanked,” meaning that they do not have an account that attaches them to the formal financial system, and all the doors that access opens.
This reality sets up the central question of our conversation: Where do stablecoins fit?
Kosta makes the case that low-income consumers will probably be best served by using well-designed, domestic instant payment systems. He sees stablecoins helping them indirectly, reshaping the invisible infrastructure behind their payments activities. One reason he sees consumers and small businesses using instant payment systems is that they can work on simple mobile phones, operate in local currency, connect people across providers, and offer the protections and accessibility that vulnerable consumers need. Where he sees greater potential for stablecoins is deeper in the financial system, helping connect payment networks and enable cross-border settlement.
Simon widens the aperture. He points to emerging stablecoin use cases in global payroll, cross-border commerce, treasury management, stablecoin-linked cards, and trade between countries in the Global South. His thesis is that stablecoins could increasingly become a kind of “rail between rails,” connecting national and regional payment systems without consumers even needing to know that stablecoins are involved.
That brings us to one of the thorniest issues in evolving payments – namely, sovereignty. What happens when privately issued digital currencies interact with countries that are working to strengthen their own fiat currencies, payment infrastructure, and monetary systems? And can we capture the benefits of programmable, 24/7 global money without undermining those national priorities?
Kosta and Simon explore an emerging vision for stablecoins as a network of networks, in which domestic, regional, and continental payment systems can interoperate while preserving local currencies and local control. We even venture into the intriguing possibility of a Pan-African unit of account, drawing on the history of Europe before the euro and existing African models.
This is the kind of conversation I love. It is not about whether stablecoins are “good” or “bad.” It is about starting with the problems people actually need solved, understanding what different technologies do well, and thinking creatively – with people grounded in different perspectives – about how we can combine them to build a financial system that works better for everyone.
I have a feeling Kosta, Simon, and I are going to need a Part Two.
Podcasts
We have great episodes coming up on the show, starting with another leader of the Gates Foundation – Ariadne Plaitakis, sharing insights on what it really takes to expand financial inclusion around the world. We’ll also have Melissa Koide, CEO of FinRegLab, on all the amazing work they are doing.
And AIR has now added a whole new, wonderful podcast show! Many of you have seen that our team now includes prominent U.S. regulatory attorney Jerry Buckley. Jerry has brought his popular podcast, RegFi, to AIR. If you enjoy Barefoot Innovation, you’ll definitely want to add RegFi to your listening list!
Events
AIR has some exciting events this month.
We started October in Abu Dhabi with the launch of the UAE Central Bank’s new initiative on consumer financial health. As part of it, AIR is helping organize a year-long Financial Health Innovation Challenge, with support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and EIF Innovation Hub. We’re looking for market-ready solutions that can improve financial health for individuals and small businesses in the UAE. Applications are open through November 30.
In Washington, on October 7-8, we held a TechSprint on Reframing Financial Regulation Policy. This is the second milestone in a year-long, three-part initiative we’ve undertaken with SoFi to develop practical approaches for modernizing regulation and supervision for today’s high-tech financial world.
On October 8, AIR’s Sulita Levaux joins the Center for Financial Inclusion’s Financial Inclusion Week for a virtual conversation on building gender-disaggregated data for inclusive regulation.
Later in the month, AIR’s Chief Development & Impact Officer Nat Weber and I will be at Money20/20 USA in Las Vegas.
Kosta Peric leads Inclusive Financial Systems work across Africa for the Gates Foundation. His goal:
That all 54 African countries have inclusive instant payment systems by 2030. More broadly, he is working to connect everyone else: the billion-plus adults in the world who are still still outside the formal financial system. He has recently created Wiring a Continent, a newsletter exploring Africa’s efforts to build an inclusive, connected payment system.
Kosta spent 24 years at SWIFT, connecting the world’s 12,000 largest financial institutions. As Swift’s Chief Architect, he led the design and rollout of SWIFTNet. As Head of Innovation, he also co-founded Innotribe.
Kosta chairs the Board of the Mojaloop Foundation, the leading open-source software for instant, low-cost payment systems, and previously served on the board of the Interledger Foundation. He is a member of the UN DPI Safeguards initiative and the author of The Castle and the Sandbox, on driving open innovation inside large organizations.
Simon Taylor writes Fintech Brainfood, the Sunday newsletter read by 47,000+ fintech professionals, and co-hosts the Tokenized podcast. He’s Head of Market Development at Tempo, the payments blockchain incubated by Stripe and Paradigm. Before that he co-founded 11:FS, fought fraud at Sardine, and led blockchain R&D at Barclays. He also runs Fintech Nerdcon, an annual conference for fintech nerds.
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