The End of Bank Accounts: How Money Is Moving On-Chain

Nov 4, 2025

Tony McLaughlin, the founder and CEO of Ubyx, discusses the revolutionary shift from traditional banking to blockchain technology. He argues that the bank account is obsolete, suggesting that stablecoins could act as the new fiat currency. The conversation dives into blockchain as a 'who owns what' machine and how tokenization might replace conventional payment systems. Tony also highlights the implications of digital currencies for global trade, the balance between regulation and innovation, and the future of clearing systems in this new financial landscape.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Blockchain As The Who-Owns-What Machine

Blockchain is best understood as a general-purpose "who owns what" machine that can subsume special-purpose payment rails.
General-purpose tokens on public blockchains can replace ACH, SWIFT, cards and bank-account-centered models over time.

INSIGHT

Stablecoins As A New Form Factor For Fiat

Stablecoins are an application of token infrastructure and may become a new form factor for fiat money.
Tony predicts bank accounts will be replaced by tokens in wallets as the dominant money form.

INSIGHT

Tokens Are IOUs In New Clothing

Financial instruments like IOUs are technology-agnostic; tokens are simply a new substrate for ancient negotiable instruments.
CBDCs, tokenized deposits and stablecoins all represent IOUs recorded on different ledgers or issuers.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

What if the future of money isn’t about creating new currencies, but redefining what money really is?

In this episode, Arjun sits down with Tony McLaughlin, CEO and Founder of Ubyx Inc, to talk about why he believes the bank account is dead and how the next version of money could live on public blockchains.

They break down what stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and CBDCs really mean, and how they could quietly replace the systems we’ve used for decades.

🎙️ In this episode:
→ Why blockchain is simply a “who owns what” machine
→ How stablecoins could become the new form of fiat
→ Why tokenization could replace ACH, SWIFT, and cards
→ How Ubyx is building a clearing system for the age of digital money
→ How stablecoins could transform global trade and cross-border payments
→ The balance between privacy, regulation, and innovation

👉 Watch now to understand how the next phase of finance will be built on tokens, trust, and interoperability.

Couchonomics with Arjun Season 04 is brought to you by our partners:
Adyen → https://www.adyen.com/
Thunes → https://thunes.com/
Mastercard → https://mastercard.com/
E& → https://www.eand.com/
Digit9 → https://www.digitnine.com/
SC Ventures → https://scventures.io/
Hala → https://hala.com/

Chapters
00:00 Episode Teaser
02:45 What Fintech Really Built: Layers on Legacy Rails
05:30 Blockchain as the “Who Owns What” Machine
09:15 Regulation, Policy, and the Shift to Public Blockchains
11:20 Stablecoins and the Irony of Perfecting Fiat Currency
15:00 The Death of the Bank Account and Rise of Tokens
17:10 CBDCs, Tokenized Deposits, and the Ancient IOU
23:00 How Ubyx Fits into the Global Clearing Puzzle
26:20 Why Banks Will Love Stablecoins for FX Revenue
32:00 The $300B E-commerce Stablecoin Opportunity
37:00 CBDCs vs. Stablecoins: Parallel Systems, Not Rivals
39:10 How Europe Should Respond to USD Stablecoins
41:00 Turning Regulation Fear into Opportunity
45:00 Privacy, Surveillance, and Life on the Ledger
47:40 Ubyx’s Journey from White Paper to Product
50:00 Building the Mastercard of Stablecoins
53:00 Lessons from an Older Founder and What Comes Next

Our website 👉 https://bit.ly/3jk7UH0

Find us on our social media platforms:

Arjun's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjunvirsingh/
CCN LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/couchonomics-with-arjun-singh/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/couchonomics/
Twitter https://twitter.com/Arjun_Vir_Singh?s=20
TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@couchonomics

Subscribe to Arjun's LinkedIn newsletter, Couchonomics Crunch: https://bit.ly/3WI4A6E