Odaily News During the Davos Forum, stablecoins became a hot topic. Industry insiders generally believe that stablecoins have the potential to reshape the global payment system, but their potential risks should not be overlooked. Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder and CEO of Circle, stated that under regulatory frameworks such as those in the United States and the European Union, payment stablecoins are clearly defined as "cash instruments" for payment and settlement. Therefore, issuers are not allowed to pay interest to holders, and he personally supports this design. Regarding the practice of some stablecoin projects subsidizing users in the form of "rewards," Jeremy Allaire believes that the banking industry's concerns about "deposits being drained and credit drying up" are overblown. He pointed out that the rise of money market funds in history did not cause substantial damage to the banking credit system. Furthermore, Jeremy Allaire introduced the concept of the "New Physics of Money," arguing that stablecoins significantly enhance the efficiency of capital flow and the velocity of money. In the future, society may only need a smaller monetary base to support large-scale economic activities. He also predicted that in the next 3 to 5 years, billions of AI agents will participate in the operation of the economic system. (Caixin)
Odaily News At a time when AI has almost "dominated the screens" of the entire World Economic Forum 2026 Annual Meeting, virtual currencies, once highly popular in Davos, have also returned to the spotlight. Representatives from traditional banks and regulatory agencies, along with crypto industry leaders, engaged in a head-on, in-depth debate on whether tokenization is on the eve of an explosion, how digital currencies are reshaping sovereign boundaries, and the foundational trust of the financial system:
1. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, pointed out that tokenization solves the efficiency challenges of the financial system, enabling real-time settlement and reducing costs, but its most core power lies in the "democratization of investment access."
2. Valérie Urbain, CEO of Euroclear, views tokenization as an "evolution of financial markets and securities" that could allow issuers to shorten issuance cycles, reduce issuance costs, and also help markets "reach a broader range of investors," playing a role in "financial inclusion."
3. François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France, believes that increasing investment opportunities must be accompanied by a simultaneous improvement in financial literacy; otherwise, tokenization could evolve into a disaster.
4. Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered Bank, stated frankly that while achieving tokenization for the vast majority of transactions by 2028 might be slightly optimistic, the direction that "the vast majority of assets will ultimately be settled digitally" is already irreversible.
5. Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, quoted former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, saying that governments will not relinquish control over the money supply. Ripple's current strategy leans more towards building bridges between traditional finance and decentralized finance, rather than challenging sovereignty itself. (Caixin)
Odaily News: Binance founder CZ stated in an interview with CNBC at Davos, "Being pardoned by Trump three months ago, the past three months have felt even more free. I think it's more of a psychological change. It's like a heavy burden has finally been lifted. I was actually free before too, but I carried the identity of a felon. But now I am a truly free person." CZ also revealed that his pardon application was submitted through his lawyer, and the entire process was a "black box" to him. To this day, he is unclear about the specific decision-making mechanism and has never met privately with Trump, having only seen him "from a distance" at the Davos Forum.
Odaily News According to market news: Binance founder CZ predicted in an interview with CNBC at Davos that Bitcoin will enter a super cycle this year.
Odaily According to CoinTelegraph, against the backdrop of the Davos WEF dominated by the "Greenland deadlock," cryptocurrency has resurfaced as a secondary yet influential topic. In his speech at Davos, Donald Trump spent several minutes reiterating his goal of making the US the "global crypto capital" and publicly endorsed crypto-friendly legislation. He expressed hope to sign the crypto market structure bill (CLARITY Act) soon, with his stance appearing more a matter of timing than direction. In contrast to the US position, the European Central Bank's stance was evident. During a crypto-themed roundtable, the Governor of the Bank of France criticized private currencies and yield-bearing stablecoins, emphasizing the necessity of CBDCs and warning that private currencies could threaten financial stability and sovereignty. Overall, Davos 2026 has reinforced the policy presence of stablecoins and tokenization, but the divergence in regulatory philosophies between the US and Europe remains pronounced. In the short term, the advancement of related legislation and regulation will continue to be constrained by their respective domestic policies.
Odaily News According to reports, the American Bankers Association has listed "preventing stablecoins from generating yield" as its top lobbying goal for 2026. The association believes that interest-bearing stablecoins will become an alternative to bank deposits, potentially leading to the outflow of trillions of dollars from the traditional banking system. This could weaken banks' lending capacity and jeopardize their core role in the financial system.
In response, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire refuted this at the Davos Forum, calling the concern that stablecoin yields would affect bank deposits "completely absurd." He pointed out that yields can enhance user engagement and that stablecoins will become a necessary payment system for AI agents to conduct large-scale transactions in the future. Opponents argue that this move aims to protect bank interests, restricts fintech innovation, and puts the US dollar at a disadvantage in its competition with China's digital yuan. (Cryptopolitan)
During the 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, CertiK founder Gu Ronghui revealed in an exclusive interview with CBS in Davos that, as the world's largest Web3 security company, CertiK is actively advancing its IPO plan, striving to become the "first stock of Web3 infrastructure."
In the interview, Gu Ronghui also unveiled CertiK's core technology at the security level—the Spoq engine deeply integrated with AI. By combining AI with the formal verification system, this engine has significantly improved the scalability and execution efficiency of formal verification.
It is reported that this cutting-edge achievement by CertiK has been validated by top global academic conferences such as OSDI 2023 and ASPLOS 2026. By transforming top-tier academic research into productivity tools, CertiK is providing mathematical-level security guarantees for global institutional clients.
Odaily News Circle founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire, during an interview with Squawk Box at Davos, discussed stablecoins, stating that a 40% compound annual growth rate is a quite reasonable benchmark.
Odaily News CZ stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the banking, securities, and regulatory sectors are highly developed and mature, but the crypto industry is different. Currently, each country's approach to crypto regulation varies significantly. For example, Binance holds licenses in about 22 or 23 countries worldwide, but most countries do not have a licensing system. The United States is developing rapidly in this area, but it is still a work in progress. Countries like the UAE, Bahrain, and Pakistan have also adopted relatively forward-looking regulatory frameworks and are willing to engage in dialogue with industry participants.
However, there are some differences in regulatory policies among countries, especially concerning capital controls, such as issues related to money laundering. Tax systems also vary from country to country. Therefore, it is currently unfeasible for the crypto industry to establish a global regulatory body, as each country has different considerations.
Odaily News CZ stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that faster, lower-cost technology itself does not create risks; it merely exposes problems more quickly. The root cause of risks faced by banks lies in the systemic design of the "fractional reserve system." Taking Binance as an example, during the crypto crash in December 2023, Binance faced a peak of $7 billion in asset withdrawals in a single day and cumulatively processed $14 billion in withdrawal requests that week, all without any issues. Any bank operating under a fractional reserve system would struggle to remain stable when handling liquidity pressures of such magnitude.
Odaily News CZ stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the demand for physical banks will significantly decrease over the next 10 years. With the development of technologies like blockchain and KYC, the need for users to visit physical bank branches is declining. While banks will not disappear, the scale of their branch networks will be substantially reduced. Additionally, he expressed skepticism towards using Bitcoin directly for payments, noting that despite years of industry investment in this area, the failure rate in innovative fields is extremely high. Changpeng Zhao believes that Meme tokens are similar to previous trends like NFTs and the Metaverse, carrying extremely high risks and being highly speculative in value. While projects with cultural value, such as Dogecoin, may persist long-term, most Meme tokens will not endure.
Odaily News CZ stated during a panel discussion titled "A New Era for Finance" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, "The overall scale of trading platforms is already larger than last year. Currently, the crypto industry has two mature sectors: trading platforms and stablecoins. Looking ahead, I am optimistic about three new directions:
First, tokenization is a very important direction. By tokenizing certain assets, governments can actually address financial issues more efficiently, enhance the operational efficiency of the financial system, and thereby promote the development of related industries and trading markets.
Second is payments. In the past, we also experimented with crypto payments, but frankly, not many people actually used them. However, a trend is now emerging: traditional payment methods are integrating with crypto technology. For example, users complete payments using cards like Visa or Mastercard, funds are deducted from their accounts, merchants receive fiat currency, while settlement and bridging are handled via stablecoins and blockchain in the background. This model is gradually being implemented and will certainly develop in the future.
The third direction is artificial intelligence (AI). He believes that the "native currency" for AI Agents should naturally be cryptocurrency, and blockchain is currently the most suitable native technological interface for AI Agents to use. Today's AI is not yet a true Agent; they cannot buy flight tickets, book restaurants, or directly complete payments for you. But once AI truly possesses the capability to act and transact, cryptocurrency will become its most natural and native method for payment and settlement.
Odaily News At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and French Central Bank Governor François Villeroy de Galhau engaged in a heated debate over issues such as whether stablecoins should pay yields to holders and the monetary attributes of Bitcoin.
A roundtable discussion originally themed "Does Tokenization Represent the Future?" shifted its focus to stablecoin yield mechanisms, the positioning of Bitcoin, and the legislative progress of the U.S. Senate's crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act. Armstrong argued that allowing stablecoins to offer yields to users helps enhance consumer returns and international competitiveness. He pointed out that if regulated stablecoins in the U.S. were prohibited from paying yields, it might inadvertently benefit offshore products.
Villeroy de Galhau took the opposing stance, arguing that private stablecoins with yield-bearing attributes could pose systemic risks to the traditional banking system and financial stability. He explicitly stated that a digital euro should not use yield as a competitive tool, with its core objective being to maintain the stability of the financial system.
On the issue of U.S. legislation, Armstrong emphasized that the CLARITY Act is not stalled but is in a phase of negotiation and strategic maneuvering. He explained that Coinbase's recent withdrawal of support was to oppose the banking industry's attempts to restrict crypto industry competition through lobbying. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted that the so-called "level playing field" should apply both ways, with crypto companies and banks both adhering to equivalent regulatory standards.
When the discussion turned to Bitcoin, Armstrong introduced the concept of the "Bitcoin Standard," suggesting it could serve as a long-term option against fiat currency depreciation. Villeroy opposed this view, emphasizing that monetary policy falls within the realm of national sovereignty and warning that private currencies could potentially undermine sovereignty. Armstrong promptly responded by stating that Bitcoin has no single issuer and its degree of decentralization is even higher than that of central banking systems.
Despite the clear disagreements, participants generally agreed that future crypto innovation and regulation will need to find a path of coexistence through ongoing negotiation and interaction. (Coindesk)
Odaily News According to reports, U.S. President Trump stated at Davos that he is committed to ensuring the United States maintains its position as the "global cryptocurrency capital" to unlock the innovative potential in savings and financing. Last year, he signed the landmark GENIUS Act. Currently, Congress is actively formulating cryptocurrency market structure legislation covering various crypto assets including Bitcoin. He hopes to sign this bill soon, opening new development pathways for the American people.
