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heStreet Roundtable: Kevin Lehtiniitty on stablecoins as a real-time bridge in crypto's "infrastructure era"
Mar 11, 2026
The "growing up" of the crypto industry is no longer just a forecast. As we move through 2026, the conversation has shifted from the volatile speculation of the past to the sophisticated "plumbing" of a new global financial architecture.
To understand how the pieces of this puzzle fit together, five leaders across the ecosystem shared their insights with TheStreet Roundtable. From infrastructure architects to fund managers, they trace the path from "magic internet money" to the institutional-grade reality seen today.
The stablecoin bridge
If the exchanges are the engines, stablecoins are the fuel. For Kevin Lehtiniitty, CEO of Borderless, the real breakthrough is the "sandwich" effect of these assets.
"Stablecoins act as a real-time bridge between two real-time payment methods," Lehtiniitty says. He describes a world where a user can move money via a "stablecoin sandwich," converting local fiat to a stablecoin, settling it instantly across borders, and offramping into another local currency.
"What Borderless has built is what we call a stablecoin payments network... An on and off ramp only has to connect to one place, which is Borderless," he notes.
This process bypasses the "walled gardens" of traditional banking, where systems like European SEPA and Brazilian Pix do not communicate directly.
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