The internet made information free and global. So why is transferring funds still so difficult and costly?

The early internet promised a future where anyone could publish, build, or trade without permission. Protocols like email and the World Wide Web were open and neutral, leading to an explosion of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. But along the way, it went off course.

Today, the global financial system resembles a patchwork quilt of corporate networks: centralized, closed, and predatory. Behind every transaction lies intermediaries resembling Rube Goldberg machines—such as point-of-sale systems, payment processors, acquiring banks, issuing banks, local banks, correspondent banks, foreign exchange markets, and credit card networks. Each institution takes a cut, adding delays and imposing rules. These networks impose unnecessary taxes on business activity and stifle innovation. They turn channels that should be neutral into high-friction bottlenecks.

Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to stable assets like the US dollar, offer a way out, a reset—a way to bring the original vision of the internet into currency.