Traditional finance institutions should stop viewing stablecoins as a competitive threat and start treating them as core financial infrastructure, according to Przemek Kowalczyk, co-founder and CEO of Ramp Network. In his view, the shift now underway across decentralized finance is not limited to faster payments or better user interfaces. It is a broader architectural transition involving safer cross-chain interoperability, growing AI-driven automation, and the emergence of stablecoins as always-on settlement rails.
Kowalczyk’s argument begins with one of the most persistent weaknesses in crypto infrastructure: the conventional lock-and-mint bridge model. These third-party bridges became common during the early expansion of DeFi, when users needed a way to move value across an increasingly fragmented blockchain landscape. A user would lock an asset on one chain, and the bridge would mint a wrapped or synthetic version of that asset on another. While this model solved a real interoperability problem, Kowalczyk argues that it also embedded structural fragility into the system.
The Problem With Lock-and-Mint Bridges
According to Kowalczyk, the issue was never the intent behind early bridge design, but the trust assumptions it required. Lock-and-mint bridges typically concentrate large amounts of value in smart contracts or coordinated custody systems, creating what is effectively a major honeypot for attackers. Security also often depends on a relatively small validator set or a narrow coordination layer, which expands the attack surface and introduces centralization risk.
If the vault or control mechanism holding the original assets is compromised, the wrapped tokens issued on the destination chain can quickly become worthless. This vulnerability has already been demonstrated repeatedly across the crypto industry, where major bridge exploits have resulted in billions of dollars in losses over recent years. For Kowalczyk, that record makes clear that many early interoperability tools were not just imperfect, but inherently fragile by design.
He says the industry is now moving away from these older structures and toward native, swap-based cross-chain systems. Instead of locking assets and issuing synthetic representations elsewhere, native swaps allow users to exchange assets directly across chains, with settlement occurring in the destination chain’s native asset. That removes the need for wrapped tokens and reduces the trust assumptions that made earlier bridges so vulnerable.
In practical terms, this means interoperability is being rebuilt around liquidity routing and direct execution rather than synthetic asset creation. Kowalczyk suggests this is becoming the new standard because it improves security and lowers dependence on centralized points of failure.
AI Agents Are Turning DeFi Into an Automated Environment
As the underlying rails become more robust, Kowalczyk argues that the way users interact with DeFi is also changing. He points to the rise of AI agent frameworks such as Openclaw as evidence that decentralized finance is evolving from a manually operated environment into an automated one. What was once experimental is now moving closer to infrastructure.
These agents can monitor liquidity conditions, rebalance positions, adjust collateral, and route swaps with minimal or no human intervention. For advanced users, that could translate into major efficiency gains. For less experienced participants, it could reduce the complexity that has long served as a barrier to entry. Rather than forcing users to constantly watch markets, compare venues, or manually execute strategies, AI agents can increasingly handle the technical workload in the background.
Kowalczyk frames this as a shift from theory to implementation. In other words, AI in DeFi is no longer just a speculative concept; it is becoming part of the execution layer itself. That development could make decentralized financial systems more responsive, more data-driven, and potentially more accessible to mainstream users.
Still, he does not present automation as risk-free. One of the main dangers is amplification. If many AI agents rely on similar models or respond to the same signals, they may collectively intensify volatility rather than dampen it. Under those conditions, small market moves could cascade quickly across interconnected systems.
That is why Kowalczyk emphasizes the need for safeguards such as permissions, rate limits, and transparent execution logic. In his assessment, the technology is neutral; the outcome depends on how carefully it is implemented.
Stablecoins as Financial Infrastructure, Not a Rival Product
The most direct challenge to traditional finance, in Kowalczyk’s view, comes from the rapid normalization of stablecoins. Institutions that have historically earned revenue from slow, expensive, and heavily intermediated cross-border payments may see stablecoins as a threat to existing business lines. But he argues that this is the wrong framing.
Stablecoins should be understood as infrastructure. They can shorten settlement windows, operate 24/7, and move value in minutes rather than days. That capability bypasses many of the frictions embedded in correspondent banking, where transactions often pass through multiple intermediaries before final settlement is achieved. Once users become accustomed to moving funds at any hour and receiving near-immediate settlement, slower alternatives begin to look increasingly obsolete.
For that reason, Kowalczyk believes the institutions most likely to succeed will be those that adapt their operating models around stablecoin rails instead of defending legacy systems. The opportunity is not just about payments. It extends to treasury operations, liquidity management, and the redesign of cross-border financial workflows.
Dollar Dominance Remains, but Regional Stablecoins Have Room to Grow
Kowalczyk also addresses the current structure of the stablecoin market. At present, U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins dominate, reflecting the dollar’s entrenched role in global trade and reserve management. He does not suggest that this dominance is about to disappear. In fact, he expects dollar stablecoins to remain the primary instruments for global commerce.
At the same time, he argues that the future of non-dollar stablecoins should not be judged solely through the lens of direct competition with the dollar. Regional utility may be the more relevant framework. In Europe, for example, euro-denominated stablecoins could become increasingly useful for businesses seeking to reduce foreign exchange exposure and streamline internal financial operations.
That utility can span payroll, invoicing, and treasury management, especially for companies operating inside European economic flows or in markets with strong trade links to Europe. Kowalczyk’s position is that while dollar stablecoins may continue to dominate internationally, euro stablecoins could still unlock substantial growth within their own addressable markets.
Chain Abstraction and the Invisible User Experience
Looking ahead, Kowalczyk sees the convergence of native swaps, AI automation, and multi-currency stablecoin infrastructure leading toward a model of chain abstraction. In that environment, end users would no longer need to think about which blockchain they are using, where liquidity is sourced, or how routing is handled behind the scenes.
Instead, a user would specify an outcome—such as receiving a certain stablecoin on a particular network—and the infrastructure would determine the optimal path automatically. Complex communication between chains, liquidity sourcing, and settlement logic would fade into the background. The experience would become increasingly invisible, much like modern internet users rarely think about the protocols enabling a web request.
For financial services, that could be transformative. Better abstraction can improve capital efficiency, reduce operational friction, and make digital asset systems feel less technical and more outcome-oriented. But Kowalczyk’s central message is that this future only works if the architecture underneath it is sound.
In his assessment, a carefully implemented combination of native swap infrastructure, AI-driven automation, and stablecoin integration could make the global financial system more predictable, more user-directed, and more accessible than it is today. The institutions that recognize this shift early may be best positioned to benefit from it. Those that continue to treat stablecoins as an external threat, rather than a foundational layer for next-generation finance, risk falling behind.