Latin America moved $1.5T onchain in three years. Most of it in stablecoins. Today we published the State of Stablecoins in Latin America. The finding: adoption is structural, not speculative. And the companies driving it are homegrown.

As vaults take over finance, Vault Summit took over the NYSE. We connected the world's largest institutions with the teams building the future of finance onchain. Special thanks to our host @Morpho, co-host @SPGlobal, and Title sponsors @gauntlet_xyz, @FordefiHQ, and @Visa. Next stop, Singapore.

A global payments network processing transactions across more than 200 countries and territories is now looking at onchain lending. @wex, Senior Director at Visa Crypto Labs at @Visa, joins the fireside Onchain Lending: A Global Payments Network's Perspective at Vault Summit NYC. June 5, New York · nyc.vaultsummit.xyz

Stablecoin settlement is already live inside card networks. The economics for acquirers, PSPs and merchants are changing. The unsolved layer is merchant-side: refunds, disputes, chargebacks, fraud handling. Cross-border and remittance operators are deploying differently again. Whether the acceptance layer consolidates or fragments further is still open. On stage: @BrianButler111, @0xPolygon Malcolm Clarke, @WesternUnion Pete Wexler, @Visa @ahmedzifzaf, Global Payments June 4, NYC · stablesummit.xyz

One of the most interesting insights from @nlevine19, Partner at @a16z was that Agentic Commerce may not begin with consumers buying everyday products. The first major use case could be developers and one-person companies using AI agents to access tools, APIs, and datasets on demand without going through sales calls, enterprise contracts, or long procurement cycles. Instead of negotiating annual agreements, an agent can identify the right provider, complete a one-time payment, and instantly use the service. Traditional enterprises will likely adopt more slowly because procurement and approval processes remain complex. The bigger opportunity may come from small AI-native teams that can build products over a weekend and pay only for the infrastructure they need. In this model, commerce becomes embedded directly into workflows, and the buyer is increasingly an AI agent optimizing for outcomes rather than a human clicking through checkout.

What if card networks could do instant settlement onchain in stables to merchant endpoints 🤔

🚨 BREAKING: Kraken acquires Reap for $600M. Stripe bought Bridge for $1.1B. Mastercard bought BVNK for $1.8B. Now Kraken buys Reap for $600M. $3.5B in stablecoin infrastructure M&A in 14 months. Every category of payments company is racing to own stablecoin rails before they become as foundational as card networks. Reap is Hong Kong-based, founded in 2018, already profitable. They issue Visa corporate cards funded by stablecoins, run cross-border settlement, and serve 22,000 businesses across Asia. ---- To me it looks like Kraken paid for distribution and licenses in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mexico. Not for technology they could build in-house. Stablecoins and payments aren't cyclical unlike crypto trading. In a bear market Spot trading margins are collapsing. Every cycle, the spread gets thinner. Exchanges that thrive need recurring revenue from services, not transaction fees from speculation. --- Kraken has now spent roughly $2.7B on acquisitions. - NinjaTrader ($1.5B for derivatives). - Bitnomial ($550M for options). Backed (tokenized equities). And now Reap for stablecoin-powered B2B payments. That looks like a company assembling the pieces of a diversified financial services firm ahead of an IPO. The stablecoin infrastructure land grab is accelerating because B2B stablecoin payment volumes went from under $100M/month in early 2023 to over $3B/month by 2025. A 30x increase in two years. Processors want it (Stripe). Card networks want it (Mastercard). And now exchanges want it too (Kraken). The acquirers keep paying premium prices for the same thing: multi-jurisdictional licenses and live enterprise clients. The regulated plumbing. The stablecoin stack is consolidating fast. And the companies buying it are the ones who understand that the money is in moving money, not trading it.

The most important takeaway here: The Stablecoin-linked card market is much larger than you think it is

Nook sitting in the stack as the earning app that connects you to the highest number of onchain earning sources Thanks @a16zcrypto