Why Kraken Joined Global Dollar Network vs Building a Stablecoin

Season 5 of Stableminded explores Global Dollar Network, a revolutionary stablecoin model where $USDG shares rewards earned from reserves. Every platform needs a stablecoin strategy, but building one from scratch means navigating regulation, fragmented liquidity, and complex economics. Global Dollar Network changes this entirely with an open network that rewards enterprises who help grow adoption for USDG, a regulated stablecoin. This differs from the legacy model where the issuer keeps all of the yield for themselves.

In this episode, Mark Greenberg, VP of Consumer Products at Kraken, and Adrian Wyland, Head of Strategic Partnerships, reveal how Kraken's "all assets are money"philosophy led them to build Krak - a P2P payments app where users save in Bitcoin, spend tokenized S&P 500, and send money globally between 160 countries using blockchain rails. But they hit a fundamental problem: "Stablecoin issuers make a whack load of money and give exactly 0 back to users. That sucks for end users."

This led to "long debates"internally between building their own stablecoin or joining a network. Mark and Adrian break down why the Global Dollar Network approach helped unlock their vision and what the network gives them they couldn't build alone.

What You'll Learn:
- Why traditional stablecoins push users back to fiat (and cost them money)
- How Kraken built a 14-year reputation as crypto's most trusted platform
- The "all assets are money"philosophy behind Krak's banking replacement
- Technical vision for stablecoin abstraction and interoperability
- Why network models beat centralized stablecoin monopolies
- How Global Dollar Network distributes yield to actual users

Key Timestamps:
00:00 - The fundamental flaw in today's stablecoins
02:17 - Mark's background and Kraken's 14-year journey
09:05 - Why traditional banking "sucks"and crypto's solution
12:16 - Kraken's platform evolution: exchange to financial ecosystem
20:45 - USDG and Global Dollar Network's yield-sharing model
28:25 - Technical infrastructure: stablecoin abstraction and interoperability
35:18 - The future of consumer vs pro trading preferences
42:07 - Why stablecoins will replace wire transfers (like checks disappeared)

Partners include some of the world's leading enterprises like Robinhood, Kraken, OKX, Paxos and others. USDG is issued by Paxos Digital Singapore, which is a Major Payments Institution supervised by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. USDG is also issued by Paxos Issuance Europe under the supervision of FIN FSA and in compliance with MiCA.

Follow the Conversation on X (formerly twitter):
Mark Greenberg: @marklg
Adrian Wyland: @adrian_wyland
Kraken: @krakenfx
Krak: @Krak
Global Dollar Network: @global_dollar

Season 5 of Stableminded is powered by Global Dollar Network.

Learn more at: https://globaldollar.com/global-dollar
Download Krak: https://www.kraken.com/krak

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