Why finance is rebuilding itself for an AI-driven economy

This article summarizes an episode of On Call with Insignia’s video series featuring Hassan Ahmed, country director for Coinbase Singapore.

Hassan Ahmed, country director for Coinbase Singapore/ Photo credit: Hassan Ahmed

Modern financial apps create the illusion of speed by hiding old, disconnected bank systems behind a slick interface. Hassan Ahmed, country director for Coinbase Singapore, argues that upgrading this core plumbing is key for the next era of business.

The economy is shifting toward a future where automated software agents outspend humans. This forces payment companies to build new, internet-native financial rails, while governments scramble to decide who controls these automated transactions.

The false appearance of instant digital transfers

Consumer apps hide broken foundations. Balances seem instant because developers have masked slow legacy settlement systems for years. The financial industry must replace this outdated plumbing with internet-native technology.

While apps like Venmo created a breakthrough experience for instant domestic payments, the underlying infrastructure never changed. Ahmed notes that these tools are ultimately just a “wrapper around legacy rails.”

True digital currency fixes this by automating the record-keeping that now requires thousands of bank workers. Blockchains act as the back-end plumbing, providing a “tech-enabled, internet-native ledger that didn’t really need intermediaries and that could be instant and global from day one.”

Proving demand across borders
Local bank systems hide their flaws until money crosses borders, forcing business payments into expensive delays. Ahmed notes that stablecoins designed for cross-border payouts have massive product-market fit because they solve this friction.

“The mix shift of payments flow between wires versus stablecoins is really lopsiding towards stablecoins over time,” he advises.

The hidden reason big banks adopted the technology

Banks care more about strict legal compliance than using fast technology. Transaction speed was never the main problem holding them back; the threat of government punishment was.

The recent surge in corporate adoption only happened because lawmakers finally replaced hostile enforcement with clear operational rules.

Trading hostility for operational clarity
Old banks stayed away because of unclear laws. Ahmed says that the US regulatory posture was previously “a whole regime of regulation by enforcement.”

However, recent legislative shifts have provided clear rules, prompting companies to confidently establish regional hubs and launch actual products.

“Now, like, every bank has some sort of a stablecoin program,” Ahmed observes, noting that these institutions are finally moving technology into production.

Building systems for software to buy things

Opening ways to build wealth over time

Handling the hidden dangers of growth