--- image: "/images/notes/fresh-asphalt-needs-on-ramps.jpg" title: "Fresh Asphalt Needs On-Ramps" date: 2025-05-09 url: "https://x.com/ccatalini/status/1920867394097950887" tags: ['ai-agi', 'stablecoins-payments'] deck: "Stablecoins are laying fresh asphalt for global payments, but they need great on/off-ramps to the old highways — bank and card rails — as well as consumer safeguards." tweetCount: 3 likes: 49 reposts: 2 --- Nothing eases a moderator’s job like panelists willing to puncture buzzwords on contact. Erica Khalili, [@chrismaurice](https://x.com/chrismaurice), [@dadiomov](https://x.com/dadiomov) & [@ShanAggarwal](https://x.com/ShanAggarwal) kept the crowd engaged while deflating the fluff. Thanks [@Lead_Bank](https://x.com/Lead_Bank) [@yellowcard_app](https://x.com/yellowcard_app) [@ModernTreasury](https://x.com/ModernTreasury) [@coinbase](https://x.com/coinbase) [@stripe](https://x.com/stripe). Stablecoins are laying fresh asphalt for global payments, but they need great on/off-ramps to the old highways—bank & card rails—, as well as consumer safeguards. Training wheels for borderless, self-driving programmable money/accounts… and those wheels are coming off fast. The stablecoin killer app might not be a shiny wallet at all—it could be the plumbing. Protocols like x402 let AI agents swipe wallet balances or cards in exchange for compute, data, and whatever’s next. Money that speaks API? Now that’s interesting. [x.com](https://x.com/CoinbaseDev/status/1919784224170889696)