These are networks, and networks have network effects, meaning they get more valuable to more nodes on the network.

And we're in a situation here with stable coins where 99% of the nodes that matter are highly regulated.

I mean, it's kind of remarkable that we have trillions of dollars in monthly volume, where 99% of the participants of the network feel like they can't join the network right now.

So the big unlock is one, actual rules that protect you from an

FTX. And then number two is now you've suddenly unlocked this 99% of the world to join this

network. Here, the benefit is just so obvious that I think it's going to be clearly dominant.

Yeah. Welcome to Web 3 with A16Z. I'm Robert Hackett. Today we're taking a deep look at why stable coins have emerged as one of the most promising applications in crypto today.

And how they could reshape everything from international

remittances to point-of-sale payments. I'm joined by Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner

of A16Crypto, and author of the New York Times best-selling book, Read Rightone, and Sam Broner,

a deal partner at A16Crypto, who focuses on stablecoins. Together, we unpack the technical and regulatory foundations of stable coins.

We explore the cracks in the current payment system, and we look ahead to what becomes

possible once digital dollars go mainstream.

We also dig into why the future of money might end up looking a lot more like email or

the web than a bank.

As a reminder, none of the content should be taken as tax, business, legal, or investment advice.

Please see A16Z.com slash disclosures for more important information, including a link to a list of our investments.

The internet has done a terrific job in some respects removing intermediaries. You could look at the way that the web has challenged legacy media, how the internet and connectivity has kind of supercharged open source code, getting around proprietary software. What has taken so long for the internet to challenge payments and finance? And why is it stable coins that have emerged

as a potentially compelling solution to this? The first and biggest answer is that you need a global

system of account.

You need a way for you to track where all this money is.

Until we have blockchains where we have credible, trustless, global access to one ledger,

...