What happens when money moves 10x — or 100x — faster than it does today?
In this episode, Zach Abrams, cofounder and CEO of Bridge (now part of Stripe), lays out a bold vision for the future of money: a world where stablecoins become the dominant payment rail, most transactions happen between non-human agents, and entirely new financial infrastructure is required to keep up.
Zach explains why stablecoins are the next evolution of fintech, much like credit cards were decades ago — and why we’re still in the early innings. We dig into agentic payments, AI-to-AI commerce, micro-transactions on the open internet, and what Stripe is building by assembling stablecoin infrastructure across the stack. Along the way, we cover:
Why cards succeeded — and what stablecoins must learn from them
What breaks when the velocity of money increases 10x
Stripe’s long-term strategy behind Bridge, Privy, and Tempo
The case for open, decentralized payment infrastructure
How AI agents could drive the majority of future payments
Zach’s unconventional views on management, productivity, and product-market fit
If you’re curious about the future of payments, fintech, crypto, AI agents, or the economic foundations of the next internet, this conversation offers a look several steps ahead.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
00:36 Stablecoins: The next platform for money
01:38 Credit cards had a moral panic too
03:29 What stablecoin infrastructure still needs to be built
05:22 The use cases no one predicted
11:11 Why Stripe is building with crypto
13:08 Why payments infrastructure must stay open
15:12 Lightning round: Bad advice, great books, and deep work
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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the current or enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.
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6 trends on stablecoins and beyond to watch for this year
Various a16z crypto partners (plus a few guest contributors) observe about what’s ahead — on topics ranging from agents and AI; stablecoins, tokenization, and finance; to privacy and security; prediction markets, SNARKs, and other applications… to how we’ll build.