Former Lloyd's executive questions stablecoins' lasting advantage

Alessandro Hatami, founder of Pacemakers and former COO of Lloyds Banking Group’s digital bank, questioned whether stablecoins can retain a lasting competitive advantage as crypto firms and banks increasingly converge, in a CoinDesk opinion piece. The intervention matters because stablecoins’ core value proposition—efficient settlement and dollar access outside the banking system—could erode as traditional lenders adopt tokenized deposits and similar infrastructure. Hatami’s argument shifts the debate from stablecoin growth metrics to the durability of their moat once banks close the operational gap. What to watch next is whether issuers respond with differentiated products, deeper on-chain integration, or regulatory positioning that banks cannot easily replicate.