On this episode, Marieke Flament joins us to discuss why we’re living through a new Bretton Woods moment – except this time, it’s happening behind keyboards instead of in meeting rooms.
Marieke shares her journey from LVMH to Circle, scaling Mettle inside NatWest during COVID, growing NEAR Protocol from 50,000 to 14 million monthly active users, and now advising on digital assets while co-authoring the Euro Stable Watch newsletter.
Her main argument: We’re not just seeing incremental change in how money moves. We’re watching the rails of the future being built, and most governments are asleep at the wheel.
What you’ll learn:
– Why 99% of stablecoins being in USD should worry European policymakers
– The new stack of money: wholesale CBDCs, tokenized deposits, and retail stablecoins
– How AI agents will need wallets and why they’ll use stablecoin rails
– What Amazon launching its own stablecoin could mean for national currencies
– Why doing innovation inside large banks is incredibly difficult (and how Mettle got it right)
– The shape of companies is changing – billion dollar valuations with 20 people
Key insights:
– Stablecoins aren’t for crypto trading anymore – 50% of Fireblocks’ stablecoin volume comes from non-crypto use cases
– If your currency isn’t on the rails of the future (blockchain), your future won’t exist on those rails
– The threat isn’t that we need stablecoins for daily groceries, it’s that they’ll permeate the entire system before we realize it
– Companies built with AI today look completely different. Teams of 2 doing the work of 20
– Retail CBDCs are the wrong path (surveillance concerns), but wholesale CBDCs make complete sense
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction and Marieke’s unconventional career path
03:38 – The 2015 decision to join Circle when crypto meant “drug dealers”
08:02 – Why the Bitcoin white paper was a sliding door moment
10:07 – How things have changed – from doors slammed to massive appetite
12:42 – The new Bretton Woods moment happening behind keyboards
14:33 – Why Europe needs to wake up about stablecoins
17:40 – AI agents, micro-transactions, and the future rails of money
18:40 – CBDCs vs stablecoins – the new stack of money explained
24:04 – Why the Amazon stablecoin scenario should concern governments
27:35 – Building innovation inside NatWest during COVID
31:47 – What angel investors look for and advice for founders in 2025
35:25 – How the shape of companies is changing with AI
Connect with Marieke:
Newsletter – https://www.eurostablewatch.com/
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariekeflament/
Connect with Griffin:
Website – https://griffin.com
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/griffin-bank
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