Kevin Lehtiniitty
@KevLeht
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creating @borderlessxyz to bring banking and payments onchain. pronouns: locked/in
Austin, TX
Joined December 2009
RT @ThinkingCrypto1: 🚨 THESE 3 STABLECOIN TYPES WILL DOMINATE! Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of Borderless xyz, shares his thoughts on the top 3…
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A brief overview of the GENIUS Act that's been proposed to govern US stablecoin issuance... 1. Definition of Stablecoins ➡️ The bill categorizes stablecoins as digital assets that are: (1) fixed in value relative to a fiat currency and (2) used primarily for payment or settlement transactions. ➡️ These are not considered securities or commodities. 2. Licensing & Oversight Framework ➡️ Large issuers (over $10B): Regulated by the Federal Reserve & OCC. ➡️ Smaller issuers (under $10B): Regulated at the state level. 3. Reserve & Audit Requirements ➡️ Issuers must maintain full reserves to ensure they can meet redemption demands. ➡️ Monthly audited reports on reserve holdings must be published to ensure transparency. 4. Financial System Integration ➡️ Encourages the use of stablecoins within the U.S. financial system while ensuring they remain backed by safe and liquid assets. ➡️ Seeks to increase demand for U.S. Treasuries by requiring stablecoin issuers to hold government securities in reserve. 5. Economic & Financial Stability Goals ➡️ Aims to reduce transaction costs and increase financial inclusion by enabling greater access to digital payment systems. ➡️ Enhances the global competitiveness of the U.S. dollar by promoting stablecoin usage worldwide. ➡️ Encourages innovation in financial services while maintaining a clear legal framework to prevent risks like fraud, illicit finance, or economic instability. Why It Matters: The GENIUS Act is one of the most detailed and structured proposals for stablecoin regulation in the U.S. It balances consumer protection, financial innovation, and national economic interests while ensuring the Federal Reserve and other regulatory bodies have oversight over significant stablecoin issuers. By clarifying the rules for issuance, reserves, and audits, the bill aims to legitimize stablecoins as a mainstream financial instrument. How does GENIUS compare to previous initiatives:
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Thank you to everyone who came out to the first Stable SF meetup this week! I had a blast getting to meet everyone. Thank you to @borderlessxyz, @dfnsHQ, @amityventures, @hinkal_protocol, and @staystablexyz for picking up the bar tab and cohosting.
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Stablecoins in their current iteration are all centralized to a certain extent and susceptible to attack of that central issuer. From a regulatory standpoint, this is a “feature” as regulator has a central entity they can regulate, investigate, audit, fine, etc. From a market standpoint, this is a “bug” allowing unfriendly administrations to systematically dismantle onchain money. Thankfully, networks which are arguably more important will continue to become more decentralized. Bitcoin remains the leader here today but others like Solana are trending in the right direction and I have full conviction that more feature rich networks eventually become sufficiently decentralized. The big question is who controls the stablecoins of the future? Is it private enterprises, central banks, consortiums of issuers? Fully decentralized money needs to be decoupled from any sort of reserves of collateral of assets backing the value of the token which throws any stablecoin out the window and leaves assets with independent market prices like bitcoin. Stablecoins are “web 2.5” and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. There’s very real value for people and business around the world getting faster and cheaper access to dollars and dollar based transfers. Stablecoins are the Trojan horse that will bring the masses onchain where we can then build a more robust global financial infrastructure for the world.
Learnings from Libra/Diem as they relate to stablecoins: - Libra was a combination of a stablecoin with an inadequately decentralized governance setup—aka the Libra Association—and a high performance blockchain. - It was killed because it could be. It depended on banks that were pressured by the USG and many others to step away from the project, but also by pressuring association members by threatening them to go after their core business. - One key learning was that we arguably made a mistake conflating a new digital asset (the stablecoin) with the network. The two were needed, but arguably the most valuable component was the latter and not the former. Despite this, all the ire from governments and regulators was directed at the stablecoin asset with the view it could become a new unit of account supplanting the Fed-controlled dollar. - After that experience, I developed this unshakable conviction that the most important work I would dedicate the rest of my life to, was building the most open, and neutral money network for the internet, and the only technology that was adequate for that job, was Bitcoin. - Bitcoin is the hardest network to build on, unlike EVMs, Solana or other chains, it doesn’t have either the programmability, or the performance and cost structure to compete with closed payment systems, but it’s the one network that most closely resembles the decentralization of the internet. - At @Lightspark we worked relentlessly over the course of the last 2.5 years to close the gap and enable Bitcoin to move as fast and as cheaply as possible by making the Lightning Network better. - For a long while, I was schizophrenic about stablecoins and bringing them on Bitcoin. After all, if sats on a Bitcoin L2 are neutral TCP/IP packets for value on the internet, allowing for realtime conversion from/to users’ desired fiat currencies at the edges of the network, why would we take the risk to add a dependency on a fully centralized asset? - I’ve now come to peace with that. While stablecoins are fully centralized digital dollars, so are the ones that appear on any banking app or wallet we use. - It’s now also clear that there will be significant growth and proliferation of stablecoins as a way to increase the % of global transactions that can be digitized and dollarized, a net-positive for USD dominance, a point @DavidSacks highlighted very well as a tool to advance America’s interests. - But—and this the most important point of this long post—if we end up in a world that merely replicates the full centralization of our current financial system at both the asset and network levels, we won’t solve for the most important problem of money movement, which is providing the world with an open, neutral standard protocol for money. An internet of money. One that allows realtime global money movement at the lowest cost without massive surfaces of attacks and dependency on centralized players. The network that transports the value must remain unassailable and neutral at all cost. - To bridge that gap and turn the only network that can become the above, we’ve been working hard on extending the capabilities of Lightning with Spark (@buildonspark), which will support stablecoins in ways that Lightning cannot due to its channel-based design. - Fast and cheap Bitcoin as the neutral settlement asset and network between payment systems + support for stables for specific use cases will become the standard. This is the way, and we can’t wait to build it with all of you.
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Had a blast talking to @ThinkingCrypto1 on his Thinking Crypto Podcast about stablecoins and how everything you know about money is going to change in the next 5-10 years. Thanks for having me on! Check out the full video below:
Stablecoin Adoption is About to CHANGE EVERYTHING You Know About Money! WATCH ▶️ Kevin Lehtiniitty is the CEO of Borderless xyz which is a stablecoin payments network. We discuss the global adoption of stablecoins by institutions and retail users. Topics: - Kevin's background and building TrueUSD - Borderless xyz overview - Global Stablecoin Payments - Will Stablecoins end the need for Banks? - Integrating Celo and other blockchains - Crypto growth and adoption #interview #podcast #ceo #crypto #stablecoin #stablecoins #payments @KevLeht @borderlessxyz
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We’re going to see significant consolidation in stablecoins. This is a winner takes most market where tokens become commoditized. Those who will be able to compete will be those that own existing distribution channels to force adoption or those that use it internally.
USD0 - Usual USDA - Angle / Anzens / Astro USDB - Blast USDC - Circle USDD - Decentralized Dollar USDE - Ethena USDF - N/A USDG - Global Dollar (Anchorage, Robinhod, Galaxy), BitGo USDH - Hubble USDI - Interest Protocol USDJ - N/A USDK - N/A USDL - Paxos USDM - Mountain USDN - Noble USDO - N/A USDP - Paxos USDQ - N/A USDR - N/A USDS - Sky / MakerDAO USDT - Tether USDU - N/A USDV - Verified USDW - N/A USDX - Stable Labs USDY - Ondo USDZ - Anzen
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Calling all San Francisco stablecoin founders, builders, investors, and companies, we're bringing Stable NYC to San Francisco next week for the first ever Stable SF meetup! Come hang out with me and a bunch of awesome stablecoin folks: Cohosted by @borderlessxyz and @dfnsHQ
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Senator Lummis is an excellent choice to chair the Senate Banking digital asset subcommittee. Her track record in the digital asset space is second to none, her insights during our conversation at the Crypto Ball were spot on, and her early priorities she announced today are extremely timely: ✅ Pass legislation promoting responsible innovation and consumer protection ✅ Eradicate Operation Chokepoint 2.0 ✅ Make America the bitcoin and digital asset capital of the world Bullish on america 🇺🇸
The Senate Banking digital asset subcommittee will: ✔️ Pass legislation promoting responsible innovation and consumer protection ✔️ Eradicate Operation Chokepoint 2.0 ✔️ Make America the bitcoin and digital asset capital of the world
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No better place for weekend meetings in DC than the iconic Old Post Office, now the Waldorf.
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@ShaileeA @arca @ChrisBrummerDr @RayoCapital @K_Laurence_ @HarryAlford3 @thatgerald @trustmachinesco @LeatherBTC @GraniteBTC @ShimonLazarov Thanks for hosting!
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“The reign of terror against crypto is over. The beginning of innovation in America for crypto has just begun.” - David Sacks What a way to announce not just a change in administration but in the entire future of blockchain in America. Bullish AF 🔥 🇺🇸
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Last night at the first Stable NYC happy hour we had over 100 people show up in the freezing cold to talk about stablecoins from companies including Mastercard, Revolut, Airwallex, Brex, Privy, Coinbase, Bridge, Robinhood, BVNK, Lazer, Ondo, Mountain Protocol, Agora, Paxos, Bitgo, a16z, Dragonfly, Mural, Fireblocks, Portal, and many, many others. The genuine interest in the space is absolutely incredible. The era of stablecoins has begun 🔥. Thank you to @privy_io, especially @segall_max and @henri_stern; @staystablexyz, especially @dr3wrogers; @Lazer_HQ, especially @GSkrovina; and @dragonfly_xyz, especially @HadickM, for co-hosting alongside
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Tux Fitting ✅ Flights to DC ✅ First Crypto President ✅ Looking forward to celebrating the beginning of a new era in American blockchain innovation! 🇺🇸 See you at the Crypto Ball...
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