Stablecoins Inside the Bank Stack: Treasury, Settlement & 24/7 Money
Stablecoins are moving from pilot projects into live bank infrastructure — but the path from proof-of-concept to production is anything but simple.
Stephen Richardson, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Banking at Fireblocks, joins John Lagman of Bloomberg at REDeFiNE Tomorrow 2026 to break down where banks actually stand with stablecoins: the infrastructure decisions they have to make, why most are still in early-stage evaluation, and what a scaled operating model looks like.
They cover the real drivers — faster settlement, 24/7 treasury mobility, and cross-border payment disruption — alongside the three biggest blockers slowing adoption: organizational education, compliance and risk readiness, and legacy core banking architecture.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Introduction — John Lagman (Bloomberg) and Stephen Richardson (Fireblocks)
1:53 Where Fireblocks sits in the stablecoin stack
3:14 Why most banks are still in pilot phase
5:23 Regulatory clarity as the unlock: GENIUS Act, MiCA, CBUAE, Hong Kong, Singapore
6:02 How fintechs like Stripe are pressuring bank revenue models
8:07 What banks actually want from stablecoins: faster settlement vs. 24/7 coverage
9:43 The role of tokenized deposits vs. stablecoins in treasury
11:24 RTP, FedNow, and where each payment rail belongs
13:10 Stablecoins as open-ecosystem settlement vs. closed-loop tokenized deposits
17:12 Why implementation stalls: the three biggest blockers
19:46 Compliance, KYC/AML, and blockchain transparency as an advantage
20:17 Legacy core banking tech debt and the sidecar vs. modernization decision
23:13 How to start integrating stablecoins: product-first, then infrastructure
26:01 What signals will confirm stablecoins have moved out of innovation into production
KEY TAKEAWAYS-
Stablecoins require a fundamentally different architectural stack than private blockchain or closed-loop models most banks previously built.
The economics differ from tokenized deposits: stablecoins must stay fully reserved, while tokenized deposits can be rehypothecated — that distinction drives the strategic decision for each bank.
Three blockers slow adoption: getting the organization to understand blockchain utility, getting compliance and risk teams comfortable, and resolving legacy core banking tech debt.
The competitive threat is real: fintechs and PSPs are perfecting stablecoin-powered flows at the SME and mid-market level — businesses that are core bank revenue lines.
On-chain visibility actually strengthens AML/compliance monitoring, not weakens it.
The tipping point signal to watch: large regional and GSIB banks enabling stablecoin acceptance as a treasury function for corporate clients.
Learn more about Fireblocks for banks: https://www.fireblocks.com/industry/banks
Explore banking & tokenization resources: https://www.fireblocks.com/resource-hub/banking-tokenization
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