Welcome to our first issue of Building the Future! As a reminder, this series will explore how blockchain tech is disrupting finance, AI, and more — and most importantly, why it actually matters — in understandable terms!

Today, we’ll look at how the world of money is going through a major shift due to crypto and its underlying technology.

The term “Web3” has become cliché in our industry. People throw it around as a synonym for “crypto” without really considering what it means. But the context that it’s lacked for years will soon be apparent. 

To understand what it’s supposed to mean, we can use “Web1” and “Web2” as references. In a nutshell:

The implications of Web3 are practically infinite. Data ownership and security will be redefined. Financial markets will be transformed. AI/ML development will be collaborative and incentivized. The list goes on.

While we’ll touch on all these points many times in the future, today we want to narrow our focus to the financial side of Web3. 

Before we get there, though, it’s crucial to understand why Web3 can’t exist on any other type of network. 

When it comes to understanding why blockchains matter, there are three vital properties to know: permissionlessness, composability, and programmability. These are inherent traits of blockchains that enable Web3 to flourish, and each one plays a distinct role in flattening the world of money.

Blockchains are permissionless by nature, which means anyone in the world can access them by default. This is the most fundamentally unique feature of blockchains; it distinguishes them from existing centralized and closed networks while also enabling collaboration (via composability) and customization (via programmability) from anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Composability enhances permissionlessness by enabling collaborative activity. Not only can anyone access a blockchain network, but they can also collaborate to build applications on top of them, as well as integrate new products into existing applications. 

Essentially, blockchains serve as a global “sandbox” where features, products, and apps can all be connected, creating an unprecedented ability to scale innovation and discover new synergies.

Programmability brings an element of customization to blockchains. Since smart contracts are programmable, applications and products can be tailored to fit specific use cases. 

It’s also important to note that programmability can override permissionlessness. For example, many enterprise-related blockchains require certain compliance measures that limit who has access to certain features and applications within the network. 

Together, these traits naturally foster opportunities for collaboration, customization, and innovation that are absent from legacy systems. 

Users can put their money to use in more ways than ever. By accessing fully open applications, anyone can borrow against their assets, earn yield on institutional-grade strategies, send money across the world, and much more – all in a matter of minutes.

Developers can innovate like never before. Anyone can build unique products from scratch and integrate them with existing applications to maximize UX and minimize barriers to liquidity. If a developer sees an opportunity to “add” a new feature to an existing app, they can build it and integrate it directly. For these reasons, DeFi products have come to be known as Money Legos.

Just as Web2 flattened the world of communication, Web3 is flattening the world of money. This transformation will specifically have a major impact on payment networks and capital markets. 

Blockchains’ impact on payment networks can be broken down into 3 categories: cross-border payments (such as remittances), neobanks, and commercial payments. 

Of all the innovations that have come out of Web3, stablecoins have found the strongest product market fit. Just 5 years after their “breakout” moment in 2020 alongside the emergence of DeFi applications, stablecoins already account for 3% of global remittance payments.

There’s a good reason for this: when it comes to sending money, stablecoins are much more efficient than sending fiat currency via legacy systems.

First, they leverage the permissionlessness of blockchains. Anyone with an internet connection can own them; there are no requirements to open an account or provide any documentation.

Second, the rapid settlement times of blockchains allow instant withdrawals. No more T+1 or T+3 wait times – even the slowest blockchains settle transactions in a matter of minutes!

Third, newer blockchains have virtually no transaction fees. In summary, stablecoins are more accessible, faster, and cheaper to send than any other form of value in the world.

While Neobanks predate the emergence of Web3, its arrival has given them a brand new relevance. 

With cryptocurrencies such as stablecoins, not only do users benefit from the above advantages (access, speed, and cost), but onchain neobanks can also connect them to the expanding world of DeFi, where they can trade, earn yield, borrow, and access a growing selection of traditional assets.

Recently, several large neobanks have become more active in the Web3 space. A prime example is Revolut; founded in 2015, Revolut was among the first neobanks to integrate digital asset services when they launched crypto trading in 2017. Now, they’re one of the largest Web2/Web3 hybrid platforms in the world with over 65 million users, markets for over 100 cryptocurrencies, staking, and tokenized assets. More recently, SoFi became the first US national bank offering crypto when they launched trading for over 25 assets.

Many Web3-native organizations are also entering the neobank landscape, creating a bridge between traditional financial services and decentralized applications.

Fiat24 offers Swiss IBAN accounts where users can exchange between fiat currencies (USD, EUR, CHF, and RMB) and stablecoins, as well as spend their funds at no cost (other than blockchain-incurred transaction fees) via the Arbitrum network. 

Ether.fi connects to traditional banks to turn fiat into crypto, while also giving digital asset holders access to DeFi yield sources via staking. Additionally, users can earn crypto rewards as well as promotions, travel deals, and more via their credit card.

A more comprehensive list of neobanks, both traditional and Web3-focused, can be found here.

The world’s largest payment infrastructure providers are also realizing the benefits of stablecoins – specifically, Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, and Stripe. While these companies have been aware of stablecoins and the underlying blockchain technology for years, each one has cited increasing demand from customers as a key reason for their increased adoption. 

Visa launched USDC stablecoin settlement in the US, enabling 24/7 settlement and automated treasury operations for banks.

MasterCard joined Paxos’ Global Dollar Network to enable stablecoin activity across its network.

In August 2023, PayPal became the first major fintech company to launch a stablecoin with PYUSD; its supply currently sits at nearly $4B.

Stripe was arguably the most active fintech company in terms of crypto integrations throughout 2025. Over the course of the year, they enabled stablecoin accounts in 101 countries, acquired Bridge to enable businesses to create their own stablecoins, and announced the development of the Tempo L1 blockchain alongside Paradigm.

With the world’s largest infrastructure providers integrating onchain payment rails, the next phase of stablecoin-based commerce innovation has emerged in the form of AI. 

At the intersection of AI and Web3 payments sits the x402 payment standard, which aims to become the new payment standard of the internet. Developed by Coinbase and Cloudflare, x402 uses blockchain-based AI agents as foundational participants in the Web3 economy. Specifically, agents can automatically gain access to internet-native services such as data, API access, content, and much more. 

Within the world of commerce, x402 is already making waves among major infrastructure providers. 

Google integrated x402 into its own Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) as the native rails for stablecoin payments. 

Visa is collaborating with Coinbase to incorporate x402, unlocking agentic payments for billions of people worldwide.

AWS and Anthropic were listed as collaborators in developing x402, which means we could soon see:

Ultimately, x402 can play a major role in making Web3 a more efficient system than Web2. By adding an economic layer to the internet, its infrastructure can facilitate automated payments for data and services as-needed. While x402 was just released last May, it’s already facilitating millions of transactions per day!

Like payment networks, capital markets are a clear example of centralized systems with massive opportunities to benefit from becoming open and permissionless. 

For the general public, current access to financial markets (outside of crypto, domestic stocks, and forex) is highly limited. However, in a world capital markets lived on blockchain-based networks, they’d benefit from greater accessibility, higher liquidity, and the absence of geographical and economic barriers. And new participants in these markets would benefit from unprecedented asset selection and exposure to new markets, geographies, and yield opportunities.

Right now, dozens of blockchain-native projects are teaming up with legacy financial institutions to make this theoretical world a reality.

Securitize offers infrastructure to tokenize real world assets (RWAs) from traditional markets. Specifically, this process integrates them with blockchains, offering a “digital” version of the security. Using the composability trait of blockchains, these tokenized assets can then be used within the broader DeFi universe, contributing to yield-generating strategies as well as diversification of treasuries, funds, and individual portfolios. To-date, Securitize has tokenized over $3B worth of RWAs, including:

While Securitize primarily offers infrastructure, many projects are building apps to directly connect users with illiquid asset classes.

Centrifuge and Maple Finance currently manage over $5B worth of private credit, offering their associated yield to users via specialized stablecoins.

Jarsy and PreStocks offer widespread access to invest in the largest and most popular private companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceX, and more. This is accomplished via tokenized shares which are backed by the equity of each company.

Another key capability of digital assets is their ability to be “fractionalized” due to blockchains’ inherent programmability. This means that any large and illiquid asset – such as a stake in a private company or an office building – can become investable to the general public once it’s tokenized. This further improves potential liquidity conditions and accessibility.

Ultimately, tokenized capital markets flattens the world of money by connecting investors and asset issuers in ways that have never been possible, creating demand discovery and new opportunities for all parties involved. 

Over the course of 2026 and beyond, the internet will continue to distinguish itself as it enters its next phase: Web3. 

Central to Web3 is the “flattening” of money; by leveraging certain blockchain properties such as permissionlessness, composability, and programmability, the payment networks and capital markets of tomorrow will be much more efficient than their predecessors. 

In future issues, we’ll dive into many of the core topics mentioned in this newsletter – agentic payments, stablecoins (and their novel yield integrations), capital markets (including new asset classes enabled by Web3), and much more. Until then, thanks for reading!