The David Rubenstein Show Jeremy Allaire
Mar 12, 2026
Jeremy Allaire, co-founder and CEO of Circle, a serial tech entrepreneur who built ColdFusion and Brightcove and now leads the USDC stablecoin network. He discusses Circle’s IPO and long-term mission. Conversation covers how stablecoins ease cross-border payments, competition and regulation, the future of internet-native financial utilities, and AI’s impact on labor and cryptography risks.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Frame Crypto As Internet Money Protocols
- Startups should explain how new internet protocols for money mirror earlier web/email protocols to convey the long-term potential of blockchain money.
- Allaire used this framing in 2013 to attract investors before stablecoins existed.
What A Regulated Stablecoin Actually Is
- A US-defined payment stablecoin is a blockchain-issued digital dollar fully backed one-for-one by high-quality liquid assets like U.S. Treasury bills and cash.
- Issuing dollars on a blockchain makes them usable on the internet as a general-purpose digital money with stability ensured by reserves.
Stablecoins As Bank Substitutes In Fragile Markets
- Stablecoins can substitute for banking where banks are slow, costly, or unreliable, enabling instant peer-to-peer dollar transactions via mobile phones.
- Allaire cited Turkey's strong demand for USDC as businesses transact directly with low cost and safety because reserves are held in ultra-safe instruments.