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Democratizing Finance: How Blockchain is Leveling the Playing Field for Retail Investors

Market Movers: The Opening Bell

November 7, 2025

Video Transcript

Let's get to the big story breakdown.

Well, stablecoins, trading venues, and yield strategies are becoming popular, but to keep scaling high-speed blockchain infrastructure is needed.

And for stablecoins, this infra enables transactions that settle almost instantly.

For trading venues such as crypto and Forex markets, it allows thousands of trades per second with minimal slippage and for yield strategies such as decentralized lending, liquidity mining, or even. made a portfolio management.

The rapid transaction confirmation leads to more efficient management of assets and risks.

Joining me live here at the New York Stock Exchange is your host Vlahos, co-founder of Axelar.

Your host, glad to have you here.

Thank you so much for joining me on Friday.

Thanks so much.

Good morning.

Great to be here.

Well, first and foremost, for the viewers out there who don't understand how blockchain works, can you tell us the importance of infrastructure?

Yes, so at Axeler we're building infrastructure to connect all blockchains.

Simply put, if you think of every single blockchain as its own personal computer, Axeler is the technology of the internet, connecting blockchains and allowing the transfer of value and information across those sovereign computers.

Now the reason, as your viewers know, blockchain.

It is because it makes transfer of assets very easy.

You can send money to anywhere in the world now within a few seconds, and with Acceler we connect all those blockchains because different stable coins that are going to be launching and have been launched over the past few years typically live on different blockchains and users have their assets on all those blockchains, so you need to make it very easy.

And solve this fragmentation that is very prevalent in the blockchain ecosystem today.

Yeah, and when we're talking about blockchain in particular with stable coins, also walk us through why it's so important to have that infrastructure.

So Stablecoins, as we are seeing a trend over the last year.

Different companies are launching their own stablecoins.

I'm a big believer that this trend is going to accelerate.

Historically we've been seeing that the banks always have been taking rent for storing companies' assets.

What we're seeing in crypto today with big applications like Hyperliquid and I'm sure others like Polymarket will do the same.

Is that they're going to be launching their stablecoins, be their own banks, and not have to pay massive rent to other stablecoin providers.

As more of this infrastructure is coming on sane, I expect traditional applications that take payments to also launch their own stablecoins.

So my expectation is that there's going to be hundreds of stablecoins, one for every big application that is out there, simply because it's very expensive to rely on banks and have to pay rent.

Just to service your customers.

Well, 2025 has been the year of stable points coming to the forefront here in the US.

We had a big IPO here on the New York Stock Exchange, and when it comes to firms actually launching their own stablecoins, there's a difference between traditional finance institutions versus, say, retailers or smaller institutions actually launching their own stablecoins.

So what do you foresee when everything shakes out?

Well, it's becoming very easy to launch your own stablecoin.

Obviously we have the big circle IPO and they have the biggest stablecoin in the US, but we see platforms like Einna and there's a couple of other ones that make it very, very easy.

You can go within a day, launch your own stablecoin, and it's secured by their infrastructure, but you have full control of how you want to customize it and where the revenue flows from the cast of thea behind the stable.

And when we're thinking about use cases as well as target markets here in the US, they may not be as familiar when it comes to the retail market for stable coins, but this is an area that is expanding.

So as we head into the new year, what do you expect to see when it comes to innovations as well as growth?

Yeah, for me there's been a lot of speculation as to what will bring adoption to the crypto industry.

My personal belief is it's going to be opportunities to make money on chain.

The key use cases that have been driving crypto for the past 1015 years have been trading.

And heal.

People want to make money, you know, that's how the world works.

That's how capitalism works.

And so from our side what we're very interested in trading infrastructure, you know, there's a lot of applications that are doing very well.

From our side we're looking at yield opportunities so that as a user you can bring your assets on sale and generate yield on your assets.

So last month we launched a first of its kind product for XRP, where as a user you can earn up to 10% simply by holding your XRP and deposit it into our protocol.

But the goal is that you will be able down the line as equities and other asset classes are getting tokenized to bring your Nvidia stock or Tesla stock on the blockchain and again earn 5 to 10% a year in addition to the underlying return of the asset and You know, we can talk about the benefits of the technology all year long, but people like making money and incentives to drive the world.

So my expectation is that these kind of products are what will bring adoption.

Yeah, and while we're talking about adoption, obviously the institutional side is different from the retail side.

So for viewers out there who are watching right now and wondering the implications, the impact for the investment landscape, what will that look like for the retail investor side?

For the retail investors, I think what blockchain is doing is democratizing opportunities, right?

So you have all these yield opportunities that big institutions and traders have been taken advantage of, but with DFI you have full composability and every access on DFI is very easily accessible by everyone.

So it's leveling the playing field by effectively allowing regular users to access the institutional strategies that they've been cut off from for forever.

OK, your host, great to have you here.

Thank you so much for joining me today and thank you so much for sharing all of your insights.

Thanks so much for having me.

My pleasure.

Remy Blaire engages in a compelling discussion with Georgios Vlachos, the co-founder of Axelar, live from the New York Stock Exchange. The conversation centers around the critical role of blockchain infrastructure in the burgeoning world of stablecoins, trading venues, and yield strategies.

“As more of this infrastructure is coming on chain, I expect traditional applications that take payments to also launch their own stable coins.” – 02:26

Remy opens the episode by highlighting the increasing popularity of stablecoins and the necessity for high-speed blockchain infrastructure to support their growth. Georgios explains that Axelar is building a framework to connect various blockchains, likening each blockchain to a personal computer while Axelar serves as the internet that facilitates the transfer of value and information across these independent systems. He emphasizes the importance of this infrastructure in addressing the fragmentation prevalent in the blockchain ecosystem, particularly as more stablecoins are launched across different platforms.

As the discussion progresses, Georgios shares his insights on the trend of companies launching their own stablecoins. He believes this trend will accelerate, as businesses seek to avoid the high costs associated with traditional banking. By creating their own stablecoins, companies can act as their own banks, thus eliminating the need to pay fees to existing stablecoin providers. Georgios anticipates that hundreds of stablecoins will emerge, each tailored to specific applications, as the infrastructure for on-chain solutions continues to develop.

Remy and Georgios also explore the differences between traditional financial institutions and smaller retailers in the context of launching stablecoins. Georgios notes that the process has become remarkably straightforward, with platforms enabling users to create their own stablecoins in just a day, while maintaining control over customization and revenue flows.

Looking ahead, the conversation shifts to the potential for innovation and growth in the retail market for stablecoins. Georgios expresses his belief that the key to driving adoption in the crypto industry lies in the opportunities for users to earn money on-chain. He points out that trading and yield generation have been the primary motivators for crypto engagement over the past decade. Georgios highlights Axelar’s recent launch of a product for XRP, which allows users to earn up to 10% simply by holding and depositing their assets into the protocol. He envisions a future where tokenized equities, such as Nvidia and Tesla stocks, can also generate yield, further incentivizing user participation in blockchain technology.

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