In this episode, we're joined by Sergio Mello, Global Head of Stablecoin Solutions at Anchorage Digital, the only OCC-chartered crypto bank in the US. We trace his path from Web1 entrepreneurship in Italy to building institutional stablecoin infrastructure, and dig into how Anchorage built an end-to-end issuance stack now serving major players like Tether, Western Union, OSL, and Athena. We unpack the launch of USAT, Tether's US-regulated stablecoin issued alongside Cantor and Anchorage, why "good stablecoin means good dollar," and how the GENIUS Act reshaped the regulatory landscape almost overnight. We also dive deep into tokenized deposits versus stablecoins, why Sergio sees them as complementary rather than competing (tokenized deposits for staying close, stablecoins for going far), the role of correspondent banking in solving cross-border dollar access, and why market cap is a poor proxy for real stablecoin utility compared to acceptance by major payment networks. Plus: thoughts on Revolut's new EUR stablecoin, the "Money Flower" framework revisited, and Sergio's advice for any bank or fintech deciding whether to launch its own stablecoin.
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Website: https://www.anchorage.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sergiomello / https://www.linkedin.com/company/anchorage/
Chapters
00:00 Institutional Stablecoins: The Big Debate
01:16 Sergio’s Path to Digital Assets
03:38 What Institutions Need From Stablecoin Issuance
05:37 Regulation and the Institutional Adoption Wave
08:54 Tether and the Regulated U.S. Market
13:38 Why Banks Are Entering Stablecoin Issuance
16:15 Liquidity Fragmentation and Interoperability
19:41 Measuring Stablecoin Utility Beyond Market Cap
24:25 Tokenized Deposits vs. Stablecoins
35:10 Cross-Border Banking and Dollar Access
40:18 The Case for Non-U.S. Stablecoins
44:49 Remittances, Treasury, and Real-World Distribution
47:16 When Should a Bank or Fintech Launch a Stablecoin?
