Not all crypto is equally relevant at the moment to leaders outside of tech, finance or Web3. Here’s a heads up, though - amid ongoing meme-coin mania and NFT troubles with regulatory clarity, leaders should know about two more down-to-earth emerging innovations moving into mainstream finance: Stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies.

Why would governments permit stablecoins, given that they are privately issued (sort of) digital dupes of fiat? This is a question I've asked myself for a couple of years now.

It's a long answer, yet one interesting fact is that competition from stablecoins (and other privately issued digital currencies) is one of many reason governments worldwide are piloting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC).

If you aren't sure of the difference between stablecoins and central bank digital currencies, we created a simple comparison table. You can also download a PDF of this on LinkedIn.

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