Fintech powerhouse Stripe is secretly building a high-performance blockchain called ‘Tempo’, and Circle just announced its own stablecoin-centric chain, ‘Arc’. Stablecoins promise to make cryptocurrencies mainstream by delivering faster, cheaper, more interconnected global payments. Paradoxically, the same move could undercut what the technology set out to achieve. Worse, market concentration may rise if a few players use stablecoins to reach previously unimaginable scale. With the US’s Genius Act now law, the next 12–18 months will most likely determine the outcome. We’ve seen this before with the internet. Even ... (full story)