In a previous article, we explored how tokenization is redefining economic potential by laying the foundation for new economic systems, with tokens representing the ingredients of economic activity that can be composable across systems at a global scale.

As this incredibly exciting macro idea plays out over the coming decades, I’m also really excited about its microeconomic counterpart: how company building changes in a world with new economic primitives, driven by blockchain (and AI) advances.

This change is already being felt in tangible ways, especially with the increasing adoption of stablecoins as one of the new foundational economic primitives.

New possibilities, same objectives

The core goals of a business have remained the same since the beginning: to achieve the highest ROI on money and time. No business has ever said - or will say, all else being equal - “I want to be less efficient” or “I want to make less money”. Anchoring on these user invariants, and continuously recognizing that technology exists to address these needs, is key to avoiding the trap of building solutions in search of problems.

One of the many exciting aspects of stablecoins is their potential to help businesses improve on both goals. Being able to move money on-chain reduces the sticker price of moving money, while efficient pooling of liquidity with increased accessibility lowers exchange rates. Being able to move money faster and keep funds in stable currencies streamlines working capital and cashflow management, and smart contracts can reduce the operational overhead of managing finances. This is why stablecoins truly are a new economic primitive - they enable a wholesale upgrade.

A similar observation could be made about the latest developments in AI. With the rise of agentic workflows, MCP servers, and use-case-specific models, there are significant potential savings savings for businesses, especially at scale. The convergence of these financial and AI developments, termed agentic commerce—promises to fundamentally change how the global economy functions.

How stablecoins change company building

If you are a business today, you can benefit from stablecoin developments regarding treasury and financial management - and that alone is already quite a significant advantage. However, the benefits are not just limited to financial operations. In a world where money can be sent from anywhere, 24/7, the approach to company growth and development can be fundamentally different.

One example of this is companies going global much more quickly. Products that previously couldn’t be offered in many parts of the world due to the difficulties of collecting payments are no longer constrained - companies can quickly expand to many markets as they focus on the same target user across different geographies. Supply chain configurations that previously were too painful due to money movement limitations are now viable, enabling markets to connect more seamlessly and integrate more deeply. Internally, teams can expand globally with far fewer obstacles, with headaches around remote worker payroll and international team expense management greatly reduced.

Another example is how companies harness the power of compounding technological development. With the ability to program 24/7 money movement through smart contracts and to support other blockchain-native applications like NFTs and real-world-asset tokenization, stablecoins incentivize the use of composable technology stacks and digitized operations. Much of blockchain technology (and really general software) is open source today, and companies continuously contribute and improve these open standards (such as Coinbase recently launching x402, which leverages the long existent HTTP 402 code).

This compounding effect encourages businesses to become more technologically savvy and invest in strong development teams early. Doing so allows them to leverage ever-improving technology stacks, participate in robust development ecosystems (often supported by communities such as blockchain foundations), and grow alongside these evolving platforms—rather than in silos.

Building for companies building differently

At Reap, we’re proud support businesses and platforms that have adopted stablecoins as a core part of how they are building their businesses. In a world where speed is of ever increasing importance to succeed and the market environment is constantly evolving, a critical ingredient of our own development process has been close and continuous engagement with our clients. Through constant education, feedback, and developing “design partners” for new features, we ensure we have a continuous stream of high fidelity feedback that we can act on quickly.

Speed only gets you so far if it isn’t paired with reliability. This encompasses not only system uptime and strong global customer support, but also recognizing the importance of regulation and strong partnerships. Investing in deep relationships and connectivity across the entire fund flow, and gaining more control by being a licensed player, is part of our commitment to that reliability.

Speed and reliability are a strong pairing, but not enough. In this very dynamic space, positioning for the future is a continuous necessity. As new primitives and economic systems emerge, their second- and third-order effects are far-reaching, opening up opportunities in unexpected places. Building a platform of composable products, enabling clients and partners to easily adopt new functionalities, and making bold bets anchored on first principles thinking is essential. That way, when the adoption window for new solutions opens wide amongst a target user segment or a new market, we and our clients are ready.