The article shows how stablecoins and public blockchains cut the unit cost of payments and compliance, driving more global adoption instead of displacing existing systems. It argues that shared ledgers collapse reconciliation and regulatory burdens, unlocking new markets and users much like cheaper steam engines boosted coal demand.

• Stablecoins/public blockchains replace costly per-jurisdiction rails with one shared ledger, letting tiny firms like Sling Money (23 employees) reach 70 countries and Stripe expand to 101 nations after buying Bridge and Privy.
• Shared ledgers eliminate reconciliation costs that currently consume $61B/year and 42% of bank C-suite time, with platforms like JPMorgan's Kinexys already settling $2B daily in seconds.
• Like M-Pesa (27%→85% financial inclusion) and UPI (18M→228B transactions in a decade), driving unit costs near zero unlocks massive demand rather than just shifting existing volume.
• As GENIUS Act and MiCA clarify rules, the 1.3 billion unbanked adults become a real market opportunity for both new entrants and incumbents.

The article critiques the prevailing notion that the speculative nature of the crypto market is beneficial for building financial infrastructure. It distinguishes between valuable innovations like Bitcoin and stablecoins and the destructive tendencies of speculative investments. The author argues that most of the crypto landscape is parasitic and undermines genuine advancements in financial technology.

• Bitcoin (long-term store of value for the wealthy) and stablecoins (dollar-denominated banking access for the global poor) are the only genuinely valuable crypto innovations
• The claim that speculative crypto manias fund useful infrastructure, like past market bubbles did, doesn't hold up—gambling and productive investment aren't meaningfully linked
• NFTs, memecoins, and most of the rest of the crypto landscape are parasitic distractions that damage the credibility of the sector's real innovations
• Optimism that today's speculative crypto frenzy will produce a more equitable financial system is largely unfounded