StraitsX Head of Commercial Jason Tay hops on a quick but jam packed conversation with On Call host Paulo on the ways stablecoins are becoming more global, more accessible, and more integral to payment experiences, not just for Web3 wallet holders but more importantly for companies like StraitsX, your chicken rice aunties (among hundreds of thousands other SMEs and more traditional businesses globally).

This On Call with Insignia episode is part of a series featuring speakers from the NOVA 2025: SG60 Edition event co-hosted by Smobler, the New York Stock Exchange, Gemini, Nifty Gateway Studio, and Skadden.

Timestamps

(00:28) Stablecoins Going Global;

(02:02) Technology is Experience;

(04:41) Bringing Web3 to Chicken Rice Aunties;

(07:44) Blind Leadership Questions;

About Jason Tay

Jason Tay is a digital assets and fintech professional and thought leader whose career started in corporate investment banking at JP Morgan and SGCIB. In 2019, he joined MDAQ and later became the Head of Business Development and Government Relations. In 2024, he joined StraitsX as their Head of Commercial, leading the firm’s P&L and Revenue generating functions, overseeing Marketing, Onboarding and Strategy business units, as well as launching new chain partnerships and go-to-market strategies for wider adoption of the companies’ web3 payment infrastructure.

About StraitsX

StraitsX is the stablecoin-native settlement layer driving global finance, and a Major Payment Institution licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. As the issuer of XUSD and XSGD stablecoins, StraitsX leverages the power of blockchain and stablecoin technology to drive payments interoperability while offering innovative tools for fund management, stablecoin integration, and cross-border transactions. Partnering with leading financial institutions, global liquidity providers, and payment technology partners, StraitsX delivers cutting-edge payment solutions in a highly regulated and reliable environment, bridging the gap between traditional finance and the digital economy. StraitsX is part of Fazz Financial Group, a leading ecosystem of financial services in Southeast Asia.

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Directed by Paulo Joquiño

Produced by Paulo Joquiño

The content of this podcast is for informational purposes only, should not be taken as legal, tax, or business advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security, and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Insignia Ventures⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ fund. Any and all opinions shared in this episode are solely personal thoughts and reflections of the guest and the host.

Stablecoins Going Global

Paulo: The podcast’s theme is SG60, celebrating 60 years of Singapore. What role do you see StraitsX playing in this? StraitsX comes from Singapore and has been trying to drive the adoption and distribution of stablecoins, especially XUSD, beyond Singapore and throughout Southeast Asia through various partnerships. How do you see the role you guys are playing, especially with other global players in this space? How do you see these markets driving stablecoin adoption or more efficient payments broadly speaking?

Jason: I think the most important thing to understand is that stablecoins today are in a different chapter and have a different profile than stablecoins five years ago. We saw Circle going for an IPO. We saw the likes of StraitsX getting licenses from the Central Bank of Singapore to issue Singapore stablecoins. We see Hong Kong pushing through their stablecoin bill, and we see the US with its own regulations.

What that tells the macro industries is that this is becoming more and more mainstream. The important thing about understanding that fact is that you have institutional banks and top global MNCs coming in to say, “Now there is a lot more legitimacy, and I’m not going to be dealing with stablecoins as though it’s something that I need to hide under my blanket or under my bed.” It is something that’s real, and with governments giving the thumbs up, it is pushing that wave of new adoption because there’s trust. The background of money is trust. So stablecoins are a store of value that relies heavily on the element of trust. As that carries on and proliferates, you’ll see a lot more of that moving beyond just Singapore into the world.

Technology is Experience

Paulo: I think one thing that our CEO, Tianwei Liu, always likes to say is, your mother or your grandmother doesn’t really know or care about stablecoins as long as they’re able to pay efficiently and get their money transferred cheaply and efficiently. That’s all they care about, right? How do you see that particular sentiment or that particular user dynamic with this technology evolving? Do you think that will remain true in the years to come?

Jason: I’ll give you an analogy. Not everyone who goes to a David Copperfield magic show wants to know how the magic is done, right? They just want to be wowed by the effects, the fireworks, and think, “Wow, that was such a well-done magic trick.”

I think today, in the world of Web3 and stablecoin adoption, if you were to come into the scene as a new player and you’re not really changing the norm—you’re not faster, cheaper, quicker—a lot of times, there isn’t really a real incentive for mainstream users to say, “Why should I try that technology?” You would try it if it’s faster and cheaper. In the same way people use EV cars, it’s meant to be faster, cheaper, and quicker. And maybe less damaging to the environment as a big plus point.

The same thing exists in the world of payments, especially the ones that StraitsX powers. The whole idea is to do it in a way that’s almost invisible to the human eye, if not a better experience, so that the user experience is great. And once the user experience gains a great amount of traction, the next thing that will happen is people will adopt it because it’s mainstream.

If you think about it, the whole idea of getting a Grab car—seeing a car that doesn’t belong to you, driven by a stranger—if you told my parents when they were my age that this was going to happen, they would tell you that this is impossible. This is bonkers. But today, that’s what happened with the adoption of technology, and now it’s a very common thing to say, “Let’s get a Grab from point A to point B.” So I believe in the same regard, once you get the user experience in a format that people are willing to come in and enjoy the process and they see the benefits, the technology doesn’t have to be explained. Technology is experience.

Paulo: “Technology is experience.” Great one-liner.

Bringing Web3 to Chicken Rice Aunties

Paulo: How is StraitsX building the infrastructure and the rails for the future of payments? What do you think this means for builders out there who are on the application layer side? What role will StraitsX play in this larger ecosystem? How are you guys connecting with Web3 companies and businesses?

Jason: A lot of times, Web3 companies have a very good idea, but the idea doesn’t flow because the user experience is not good. One example I’m referring to is companies that want to enable their users to be able to spend the stablecoins that are in their wallet. It’s a great concept, right? You have exchanges with their own wallets, and a lot of these companies want to give their users a chance to spend and pay for daily expenses.

And you look at Visa as one of the world’s biggest brands to allow you to do that. What we at StraitsX really believe very strongly is that we can help. We issue Visa-sponsored cards that plug into the infrastructure that is Web3-centric, but the user experience is traditional. So that’s a very important way to ensure that Web3 is in sync with Web2. And then we are able to transcend beyond just the paradigm of Web3, but into your mom, my mom, your grandma, my grandma, and your children in the years to come. So that I think is a very important part where we are working with a lot of companies that are trying to bridge that gap.

I think one of the biggest things that we have also done is to partner with very traditional but very well-known Web2 companies.

And one of them happens to be Grab, and also with Alipay. The idea was to allow Chinese tourists coming to Singapore—250,000 tourists come to Singapore every month—to be able to scan and pay at our Singapore QR points. To be able to buy chicken rice with a Chinese wallet, an Alipay wallet, and all the other Alipay-enabled wallets in Asia alone, it brings so much joy to the chicken rice auntie, right? Because now she gets the money right away, in Singapore dollars.

And I think that’s not just about the flow of money, which is important, but the experience again. If you are a Chinese tourist, you want the Singapore experience. You want to eat your chicken rice, your curry puff, your bubble tea, right? And that’s how we enable that. We are empowering the entire experience, and we’re going to be doing more with more channels, more countries, more currencies.

Paulo: I already pay in SG here through the GCash-Alipay bridge. It’ll be interesting to have more of those powered by stablecoin. On that note, let’s move into the fun part.

Blind Leadership Questions

Paulo: So the first one: “The one thing you have had to let go of as a leader.”

Jason: My youth.

Paulo: Perfect. I think we can go to the next one. “One leader you have learned the most from.”

Jason: I would say if you look at this industry as a whole, how business is being done in the real world, it dawns upon me that sometimes doing business is not so much about who you are or what you say, but the feeling that you are actually able to transcend. And one leader that I think has made this statement, which is, “People only care about what you know when they know how much you care.” People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. That’s by Theodore Roosevelt, a president from the US. And he may not be a business leader, but if you apply that to work today, it’s true.

Paulo: Technology is experience, as you mentioned.

Jason: Exactly. Experience. And the important thing is if you don’t care about the person on the other end, what makes you think they should care about you?