Sep 24, 2026 · 48 min · 11 segments
Future Tech Banker is hosted by Alec Crawford, and Eric Cook. Together, they bring deep experience in AI, banking, digital strategy, risk, business development, and industry leadership. The podcast…
Alec CrawfordHost
I mean, I think, you know, I've heard a lot about your executive briefings and key findings.
Yeah, so about every quarter we publish an executive briefing based on the conversations that we're having with members and others across the industry.
And the one that we just published last week is called Strategic Planning for This Moment.
So we're heading into that time of year when leaders are starting to already think about next year and how they are going to allocate those limited resources.
So I think I'd start with something I think is going to feel very familiar to anyone who's running a bank right now.
Every quarter, so many new signals land on their desk, stable coins, AI, embedded finance, whatever it is this week or that.
And the instinct is to respond to everything, add it to the agenda, commission a study, spin up a working group.
And what ends up happening is the strategic plan gets longer and longer without anyone ever stopping to ask whether those responses actually connect to something coherent underneath.
And so what we wanted to address with this briefing was not just the signals themselves, although we did dip into three of them, What we really wanted to focus on is how to actually read them in a way that's useful and how to plug them into a coherent plan that goes beyond just a long list of items that we've got to get done in the next 12 or 18 months.
So the three signals that you're referring to, you want to break those down and give us a little overview of each of them.
But the three that we're hearing a lot, not only are we hearing a lot around the industry, but we're hearing bankers spend a lot of time and angst around.
And the first one is, you know, think about it partially as... stablecoin, but beyond that, what we're calling programmable money.
So, you know, if you look today, total stablecoin supply is sitting around $315 billion.
The real thing that we're trying to get banks to think through is, are you going to play offense or defense? Now, there's been a lot of news lately on the Clarity Act.
The idea is it'll probably get picked up on Capitol Hill again in September after the recess.
I mean, I think, you know, I've heard a lot about your executive briefings and key findings.
Yeah, so about every quarter we publish an executive briefing based on the conversations that we're having with members and others across the industry.
And the one that we just published last week is called Strategic Planning for This Moment.
So we're heading into that time of year when leaders are starting to already think about next year and how they are going to allocate those limited resources.
So I think I'd start with something I think is going to feel very familiar to anyone who's running a bank right now.
Every quarter, so many new signals land on their desk, stable coins, AI, embedded finance, whatever it is this week or that.
And the instinct is to respond to everything, add it to the agenda, commission a study, spin up a working group.
And what ends up happening is the strategic plan gets longer and longer without anyone ever stopping to ask whether those responses actually connect to something coherent underneath.
And so what we wanted to address with this briefing was not just the signals themselves, although we did dip into three of them, What we really wanted to focus on is how to actually read them in a way that's useful and how to plug them into a coherent plan that goes beyond just a long list of items that we've got to get done in the next 12 or 18 months.
So the three signals that you're referring to, you want to break those down and give us a little overview of each of them.
But the three that we're hearing a lot, not only are we hearing a lot around the industry, but we're hearing bankers spend a lot of time and angst around.
And the first one is, you know, think about it partially as... stablecoin, but beyond that, what we're calling programmable money.
So, you know, if you look today, total stablecoin supply is sitting around $315 billion.
The real thing that we're trying to get banks to think through is, are you going to play offense or defense? Now, there's been a lot of news lately on the Clarity Act.
The idea is it'll probably get picked up on Capitol Hill again in September after the recess.
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