The Coming Super Fluidity of Currency and Commerce
For decades, we’ve lived in a world where money, despite being digital, moves like molasses. Payments crawl through clearing houses. Royalties trickle in on net‑30, net‑60, even net‑90 terms. Corporations sit on idle cash, simply waiting for systems to catch up. But a tectonic shift is underway. Blockchain technologies and the rise of global stablecoins are about to accelerate the velocity of capital beyond anything our current infrastructure was built to handle. I call this super fluidity of capital a state where currency and commerce move instantly anywhere in the world, and with minimal friction.
This isn’t just about royalty infrastructure or payments modernization. Super fluidity will ripple across the macroeconomic sphere. Banks, brokerages, credit card companies who were once the gatekeepers of capital movement are being disintermediated at a pace reminiscent of the web 1.0 and mobile revolutions. They will need to rethink strategies to stay relevant in a world where a payment, trade, or settlement no longer takes hours or days but is completed in seconds.
At the same time, the blockchain and crypto industry must mature. Mass consumer use cases must lead us forward, not arcane protocols or defi schemes. UX must reach consumer‑grade elegance. As with most foundational technologies, over time the vocabulary itself i.e. “blockchain,” or “crypto”, will fade into the background, becoming just another component of the invisible infrastructure that drives tech. Just as we no longer talk about HTTP or TCP/IP in daily commerce, these terms will become the realm of insiders and engineers, while the benefits permeate everyday life.
A Global Shift Already in Motion
Look no further than the moves of traditional exchanges. The New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange are both exploring or rolling out 24‑hour trading, in part to accommodate crypto and digital asset classes. This isn’t simply a concession to investor demand; it’s an acknowledgment that capital is no longer tied to local business hours or national borders. A superfluid marketplace, powered by stablecoins and decentralized rails, does not sleep.
At the core of this transformation are stablecoins, digitally native currencies designed to hold steady value. When a few dominant stablecoins achieve global penetration, capital ceases to care about local jurisdictions. It becomes liquid, portable, and interoperable across borders. That is when super fluidity takes hold.
Three Effects of the Super Fluidity of Commerce
1. Adoption of Core Stablecoins Within Local Economies
Imagine a country like Argentina, Vietnam, or Turkey, places where local currencies are subject to instability or massive inflation. What happens when merchants, suppliers, and consumers quietly converge on two to four globally trusted stablecoins as the de facto medium of exchange? Overnight, the local currency’s dominance erodes. Transactions are priced in a dollar‑pegged token rather than Pesos or Dong.
The effects will be profound. On one hand, individuals and businesses gain access to a stable store of value, insulating themselves from domestic monetary policy swings. On the other, governments may lose levers of economic control, creating unforeseen regulatory and political tensions. It’s a double‑edged sword: a stabilizing influence on household purchasing power, yet potentially destabilizing to traditional fiscal systems.
2. Instantaneous Payments Transforming Business Flows
Today’s payments, invoices, and settlements often run on net‑30 or net‑60 terms because that’s how long it takes intermediaries to move and reconcile funds. But in a superfluid system, those timelines compress to seconds. A music label could push a payment directly to an artist the moment a stream is logged. A supplier could receive funds as soon as goods are scanned at a dock.
The behavioral consequences will be far‑reaching. When money arrives instantly, cash flow management changes fundamentally. Individuals may spend more freely, confident in a continuous income stream. Corporations may move away from hoarding cash and toward dynamic allocation, because idle capital is no longer needed as a buffer. Accounting departments will shift from batch reconciliation to real‑time dashboards, reshaping everything from treasury operations to investor relations.
3. Reordering of Power in the Global Financial System
Super fluidity goes beyond the acceleration of capital flows, it redistributes influence. Banks and brokerages that once thrived on float and settlement fees will need to reinvent themselves as value‑add service providers, or risk irrelevance. Credit card networks, which built empires on interchange fees, may find themselves bypassed by direct wallet‑to‑wallet stablecoin transactions.
New players will also emerge. Protocols and platforms that master consumer‑grade UX and seamless integration will become the new default rails. Countries and corporations alike will need to rethink monetary strategy when citizens and employees hold wealth in non‑sovereign digital assets. And as global liquidity deepens, political leverage may shift from those who control the issuance of money to those who control the flow of it.
A Future Hidden in Plain Sight
For those of us who’ve watched technological waves before, whether it was web 1.0, mobile, or cloud, the pattern looks familiar. The early days are messy, hype‑driven, and speculative. But eventually, the infrastructure solidifies, the bad actors are filtered out, and the real use cases emerge. We are entering that next phase for blockchain and stablecoins. Words like “crypto,” and “blockchain” will become as invisible as “internet protocol” is today, even as they power the very fabric of our economic lives.
Banks and financial incumbents have a narrow window to adapt. Brokerages must rethink their models. Payment networks need to re‑envision their value beyond simple transaction routing. And the builders in blockchain must recognize that technology alone is not enough; the UX, the trust frameworks, and the consumer‑facing applications are what will drive adoption.
The New Normal
Super fluidity of currency and commerce is not a distant dream, it’s already happening. Stablecoins are accelerating capital flows through dissolving borders, all the while reshaping the cadence of payments. Global trading floors are embracing nonstop markets. Individuals and corporations alike will soon experience a world where money moves as fast as information.
This will have stabilizing effects in some regions, destabilizing ones in others, but ultimately there is going to be a reordering of power across the financial and political landscape because of it. How we work, live, save, and spend will be transformed. Super fluidity goes far beyond a financial upgrade, it’s a fundamental rewiring of global commerce that will ripple across every spectrum of our lives.
