Obita co-founder and CEO Zhang Dayong said at an event in Hong Kong on Aug. 29 that artificial intelligence is shrinking tasks such as contract writing, coding, and business decision-making to seconds or less, while traditional cross-border payments can still take anywhere from T+1 to T+7. He said the efficiency gap between the two is large enough to force a rethink of payment infrastructure. Zhang added that blockchain and compliant stablecoins can cut out multiple intermediary banks in conventional cross-border payment flows and move funds closer to real-time settlement. He also said on-chain stablecoin transaction volume had reached about $33 trillion in 2025, but only a small share of that activity is tied to the real economy. In his view, the next stage will depend on solving compliance, security, and enterprise adoption issues so that stablecoins can move into cross-border trade in a meaningful way.