The Next Era of Financial Innovation

By Raagulan Pathy, CEO and Founder, KAST

For more than 600 years, since the Medici family revolutionized banking, the financial services industry has innovated, allowing people to protect savings, build wealth, send and receive payments, and exchange currencies.

Each new innovation, from the first paper ledgers to instant credit checks, has brought with it benefits to some and burden to others. During the Renaissance, the Medicis’ international banking network provided high value to the Vatican, European monarchs, aristocrats and, importantly, a growing cadre of international businessmen. Ultimately, with fits and starts over a few centuries, the new system of finance would undergird rapid industrialization, large-scale commerce and a transition from the oppression of feudalism to the opportunity of capitalism.

But even today, billions of consumers across the globe have either no access or limited access to the benefits of the banking system. Historically, they have been excluded on the basis of income level, nationality, geography and sometimes just rank racial discrimination. Those frozen out of major banks have been forced to cough up more cash to access basic services, from high fees for check-cashing to usurious interest rates for payday loans. They haven’t been able to capitalize on investment from their savings, and their money is often more susceptible to theft.

I often think about these people because I know what the struggle to access stable financial services feels like. I was born in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, during the civil war. Life was uncertain and chaotic. My family moved to Australia when I was a child. In contrast to Sri Lanka, Australian institutions were stable. Systems worked. There was opportunity. My family could save, plan and build. 

My childhood taught me what broken systems, limited access and financial uncertainty mean in real life. It has led me to a career trying to bring financial services to people whose lives do not fit neatly inside one country or one banking system.

Right now, the world is changing faster than creaky financial institutions that were designed to support the banking needs of an outdated era. More people than ever live, work, invest, buy and sell across borders at all hours of the day and night. For all of its innovations, banking was built for a pre-digital, single-country life that is no longer compatible with today’s global economy.  

Bankers’ hours cannot be a thing. Money cannot be motionless when the sun goes down, the weekend arrives or another holiday is added to the calendar. Settlement cycles, for the rich and the poor, should conclude in seconds, not days. There is no reason that a small businesswoman must wait anxiously for a payment to reach her overseas supplier, that a freelancer must lose disproportionate income to foreign-exchange spreads or that a family in a developing country must starve until it receives a remittance from abroad.  

The internet cracked some of the geographic barriers to the flow of information and commerce, initially and primarily for the wealthiest corporations and investors. We are living through another significant transition period, one that promises to break the dam for a much wider swath of humanity. Digital networks, AI, stablecoins, and new forms of cross-border coordination are reshaping how people work, build businesses, create wealth and participate in the global economy. 

The next chapter of financial innovation isn’t going to be about more banks or more branches. It is about meeting people and businesses where they are: mobile-first, digital, and global.

Stablecoins, digital currency designed to maintain a stable value, are a part of this transition: financial infrastructure that can move value across borders quickly, affordably and seven days a week. Settlement is instantaneous.

Originally developed as a means of trading, stable digital dollars are being used for payments, savings, payroll and cross-border settlement by individuals and businesses worldwide. Stablecoin volume is growing. It hit a record $33 trillion in 2025, exceeding Visa and Mastercard combined. Stablecoins now make up close to 60% of all real-world stablecoin payment volume in business-to-business flows, an estimated $226 billion in 2025, up 733% year on year. Cross-border B2B stablecoin flows are expected to reach $5 trillion by 2035, according to Juniper Research. 

Our own KAST data shows people are spending stablecoin on everyday things, from grocery store runs to business expenses, and this is true across regions. And we’re only at the beginning of stablecoin use. 

Governments are recognizing this too. The United States passed the Genius Act in July 2025. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, or MiCA, created a single framework across the European Union. There are other examples of governments taking stablecoins seriously in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Responsible regulatory frameworks help people trust the system. 

Two years ago, I founded KAST, a financial services platform built on stablecoin rails, to create opportunities for people that are not determined by their home country. A designer in Argentina working for a startup in the U.S. can be paid reliably in dollar-backed stablecoins. A small business in Europe with employees in multiple countries can pay them all one way, via stablecoins. A family in an emerging market that relies on income from a relative abroad can receive payment without waiting and without surrendering an excessive chunk of money to fees.

For countries facing currency volatility, stablecoins offer a more stable unit of money to earn and inject into the local economy.

To be sure, there are other critical factors to financial services needs. Reliable internet. Financial literacy. Transparent, easy-to-understand products. Protection from fraudsters. And, of course, the trust from consumers that they won’t lose their money. 

Stablecoins won’t replace banks or local currencies. But they are a piece of the puzzle. 

From the creation of early markets and trade routes, to the rise of banking systems, to the emergence of the internet, progress has often come from connecting more people to more opportunities.

When people trust where their money lives, stability unlocks opportunity. When money feels reliable, people can earn, plan, and build with confidence. Stablecoins offer that combination of access, security and opportunity that has been so elusive for so many people since the advent of the banking system.