Crypto exec: My daughter may never need a bank account

Adrian Cachinero believes his 18-month-old daughter may grow up never opening a bank account. The Steakhouse Financial co-founder said in an interview at a London event that his firm is building products for that generation.

"I think she might never need to open a bank account in her life," Cachinero said. "We're building products for that generation."

Steakhouse runs more than $4 billion in blockchain-based vaults. These smart contracts let users deposit stablecoins, earn yield, and keep control of their assets rather than handing them to a bank.

Cachinero said banks will not disappear. People who grow up digital-first will expect payments and savings to work online, he said.

"I might be the last generation that remembers life before the internet," he said. "For the generations that followed, the internet is just a fact of life."

Evidence of the shift is mounting. Visa's stablecoin tracker recorded $6.6 billion in volume across 132.4 million retail-sized transactions (those worth less than $250) in the latest 30-day period. Visa, Mastercard, and over 140 firms have joined the Open USD stablecoin initiative, as AlphaScala reported. Standard Chartered expects stablecoin circulation to rise roughly sevenfold to about $2 trillion by 2028. Agent-led purchases could climb from 1% of e-commerce in 2025 to 12% in 2029. Neobanks now capture nearly 40% of new banking accounts globally, with over 1.4 billion users.

Naveen Mallela, Standard Chartered's global head of payments, expects the traditional account-based model to shift. He said people will eventually use a wallet tied to their identity instead of separate bank and brokerage accounts.

"Rather than having bank accounts with individual banks or having separate brokerage accounts, you would have a wallet where you'll have cash, tokenized deposits, stablecoins, tokenized money market funds, crypto and funds, all in one app, one wallet," Mallela said. He clarified this was his personal opinion, not a formal bank position.

Mallela's forecast does not remove banks from the system. The wallet could hold deposits and tokens issued by several banks, which would continue providing the money, infrastructure, and controls behind the services.

Stablecoins and bank-issued tokenized deposits will serve different markets, Mallela said. Stablecoins may handle more retail payments and remittances. Tokenized deposits could account for more value in wholesale and institutional payments.

Most cross-border payments still move from one bank account to another. Stablecoins can transfer value between wallets around the clock, Mallela said. Users can face delays when money must reach a bank account.

Binance is seeing part of the shift among its customers. The exchange said it did not have data on whether its average user is getting younger. "I think a lot of our users are younger," Shunyet Jan, Binance's head of exchange and trading, said. "Especially in emerging markets, they definitely are younger."

Jan said Binance wants to expand beyond crypto trading into payments and other financial services through a super app that lets customers hold different assets and use them from one place.

Banks, fintech companies, and crypto firms are already moving into each other's businesses. They have added crypto trading, while exchanges offer debit cards, payment services, and tokenized assets.

"You could see how everyone is moving onto each other's turf," Jan said. "All of us are seeing the value of a super app where you could do everything together in one place."

Jan said many Binance employees, including himself, keep most of their assets on the exchange. "I could make payments, I could use my debit card to spend whatever I need wherever I want," he said.

Eneko Knorr, co-founder and CEO of Dubai-based stablecoin company Stabolut, said the line between banks and crypto companies is becoming harder to see.

"Today, you see regular banks offering crypto, and crypto platforms offering real bank accounts and normal banking services," Knorr said. "Of course, the world still runs on regular money, so we all have to make a standard bank transfer to pay rent or the utility bills."

Knorr said younger customers may choose an app that combines stablecoins with daily banking services.

Rohan Misra, head of the Gulf Cooperation Council region and CEO of AMINA Bank ADGM, said stablecoins are increasingly used for payments and settlement but still need regulated banking infrastructure.

"The wallet alone isn't the bank account," Misra said. "The regulated infrastructure around it is."

Misra questioned whether self-custody of private keys would become the default.

"Self-custody means if someone accesses your private key, your assets are gone with no recourse, no recovery and no insurance," he said. "That's cash under a mattress."

The forecasts point to a change in how financial services reach customers, rather than the end of banks. Crypto companies are adding accounts and cards. Banks are testing tokenized deposits and blockchain payments.

Steakhouse already operates mainly with stablecoins, Cachinero said. The company maintains a bank account but uses it sparingly.

"I think the defining moment for most people might well be something simple like a payment transfer," he said.

Stablecoin transfers settle in minutes and can be tracked on a blockchain. Bank transfer times vary by country, payment system, and provider. Some settle within seconds, while some cross-border payments involving several banks take longer.

"I really think that stablecoins will be a similar means of exchange for people that are digitally native," Cachinero said. "For them, the internet is just a fact of life."

CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June. Spot volume climbed 15.3% to $1.11 trillion. Real-world asset perpetual volumes surged to a record $311 billion.