John Gillen speaks with WalletConnect CEO Jess Houlgrave about how banks, hedge funds, stock exchanges, and payments companies are moving onchain. She explains why DeFi still drives most activity, while institutional trading, tokenized assets, B2B payments, and real-world assets are among the fastest-growing use cases.
The discussion examines USDC and Ethereum’s current dominance, the rise of non-dollar stablecoins, and why governments view digital currencies as a matter of monetary sovereignty. Houlgrave also explains how regulatory clarity is changing institutional behavior, why Europe’s MiCA framework has shifted stablecoin usage, and why the impact of US stablecoin legislation may already be visible.
For mainstream adoption, crypto must match the simplicity consumers already expect from tap-to-pay systems. WalletConnect is working on tools including gas sponsorship, recurring payments, account abstraction, and agent-enabled wallets, while Houlgrave cautions that AI-driven commerce remains in an experimental stage.
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