Mike Derham, former partner at Novam Portam in New York: “The two core challenges of stablecoins are adoption and the value of the underlying currency. On both dimensions, Latin America remains more attractive than the United States. Digital financial success isn’t driven by perfect programming, but rather by user adoption. Sustainable customer acquisition cost is the deciding factor. In the United States, Tether aims to compete with Zelle and Venmo, but those payment rails already face competition, from no less than the Federal Reserve and its Fednow service. But despite official backing, no one uses Fednow because major banks haven’t adopted it, and it isn’t being marketed. Tether would face similar challenges convincing Americans to switch. Stablecoins are also only as strong as their underlying currencies. The dollar’s once unchallenged strength faces questions…”