Stablecoins appear easy to monetise. They are not. This note looks at the few models that can scale sustainably.
Stablecoin Monetisation Models
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DeFi’s missing primitive: Insurance
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A systematic look at the DeFi insurance landscape, its structural constraints, and the design trade-offs shaping on-chain risk markets.
Fractional Reserve Banking onchain
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Stablecoins are, in essence, the first large-scale experiment in narrow banking. Every USDC or USDT is (or supposed to be) fully backed by reserves – cash or short-term Treasuries – sitting safely off-chain. This architecture is what makes these tokens stable, but it also sterilizes capital: every dollar deposited creates no new credit, no new economic activity. In contrast, the...
Commodities onchain: gold and beyond
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Gold is going on-chain. Paxos and Tether lead today, but new platforms are building the rails that could turn commodities into the next generation of DeFi collateral.
Stablecoins are rails, not tokens
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After several years publishing as Fintech Ruminations, I am introducing a new name: Lombard Notes. The change reflects a broader focus, extending beyond fintech to the wider architecture of financial systems — from historical innovations to emerging digital markets. The content remains consistent in spirit, with only the name evolving. A few months ago, in my post Stablecoins 2.0, I suggested...
Not All Tokens Are Equal: The Legal Wrappers Behind Tokenization
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Tokenization promises “stocks on-chain,” but the legal wrapper decides what you actually hold. This post compares Robinhood, Securitize, and Backed to show how different wrappers translate into very different rights for investors.
The mechanics of a Tokenization Engine
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This post outlines the core components of a tokenization engine and highlights the legal and ecosystem factors that will shape its real-world viability, especially as traditional assets like US equities begin to move onchain.
Circle S-1 and the future of money
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Circle’s S-1 filing offers a window into the economics of the stablecoin industry.
The post dig deeper into Circle’s current success and explore if the same model can survive a changing financial topology.
The future of credit underwriting
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The process of underwriting a consumer or a small business has always been fascinating for me. I’ve always found it stimulating to determine someone’s creditworthiness using a more or less complicated formula. Money Changers by Salomon Koninck That’s why, over the last decade, I’ve consistently gravitated toward lending and credit—across different companies, geographies, and markets. In this...
Fintech applications for AI Agents
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AI Agents are set to redefine fintech by automating workflows, decision-making, and financial interactions.
This post explores how financial applications must evolve to accommodate AI Agents, focusing on agentic workflows, API optimization, human oversight, and authentication