When $33 Trillion Moves On-Chain, the Conversation Changes
Gregory Cowles
Chief Strategy Officer, Co-Founder
This Post is disseminated on behalf of Intellistake Technologies Corp.
I was in New York earlier this year when one stat kept coming up in conversations around crypto and payments.
Stablecoin transaction volume reached $33 trillion in 2025, up from $19.7 trillion in 2024, as traditional firms increasingly integrated blockchain-based payment rails into live financial operations.¹ That number has a way of cutting through the noise. It’s not speculative. It’s not aspirational. It’s usage.
So before price, before cycles, before opinions, there was already proof.
Around the same time, I had the pleasure of meeting Dan Tapiero, a macro-focused investor and digital-asset fund manager known for later-stage investments in blockchain and crypto infrastructure.2
During our conversation, I spoke about how our work at Intellistake is focused on the intersection of blockchain and AI. What stood out was his response. He said that our approach is still ‘ahead of the curve’, largely because much of the market hasn’t yet caught up to what happens when blockchain and AI stop being discussed in isolation and start being built together.
That conversation led to an invitation to a private investor event hosted by 50T Funds. What stood out from the discussions surrounding that event wasn’t bold forecasts. It was how practical the focus had become.
The questions weren’t “does crypto work?”
They were “where does it already work, and where does it make sense to plug it in next?”
Payments First, Narratives Second
So when stablecoins come up now, they’re not framed as a crypto-native experiment. They’re discussed the same way any payment infrastructure is discussed. Volume. Reliability. Integration.
Tapiero summed up this shift clearly:
“There is an entire world growing up around traditional players trying to figure out how to incorporate the stablecoin rails into whatever they’re doing.”¹
That line matters because it reflects reality. Institutions aren’t trying to reinvent finance. They’re upgrading parts of it where blockchain offers clear advantages. Faster settlement. Lower friction. Fewer intermediaries.
And the scale that I think says this isn’t theoretical anymore.
Bitcoin, But Without the Theatre
Bitcoin still features in these conversations, but the framing is different.
It’s less about upside targets and more about macro positioning. Government spending. Interest rate cycles. Currency debasement across multiple regions. In that context, Bitcoin isn’t treated as a trade. It’s treated as something structural.
When recent pullbacks were mentioned, Tapiero described them simply as:
“Just a correction.”¹
You don’t have to agree with the call to understand the mindset. Once an asset has a defined role, short-term volatility stops dominating the conversation.
Where the Younger Generation Is Already Heading
But here’s the part that often gets missed.
This shift isn’t just happening in institutional rooms. We can see it already playing out in how the younger generation interacts with money day to day.
Revolut, widely recognized as the world’s most valuable fintech,3 has become the place a lot of people now start when they think about money. Especially younger users. Spending, saving, foreign exchange, and increasingly crypto all sit in the same app. Its presence as a title sponsor of the Audi Revolut Formula 1 team underlines just how mainstream the brand has become.4
But this isn’t just a product story. It’s generational. Research published by Revolut shows that Gen Z is one of the most financially engaged groups, money management is increasingly tied to overall wellbeing rather than treated as something separate.5 When that’s the case, it’s not surprising that app-based, all-in-one platforms are where financial habits start to form.
For a lot of younger users, this isn’t a shift. It’s simply how money works.
Why That Context Matters for Intellistake
This is also where the connection to Intellistake becomes more than theoretical.
Intellistake recently appointed Shailendra Sason to its advisory board. Sason was a founding member of Revolut’s crypto team and served as Product Lead, supporting product launches, international expansion, and regulatory filings during a period when Revolut scaled crypto access across multiple jurisdictions.6
That experience sits right at the intersection of what’s happening now. Consumer-facing adoption on one side. Infrastructure, regulation, and systems that have to work on the other.
And that’s the common thread running through these conversations.
A Market That’s Normalizing, Not Evangelizing
But stepping back, the bigger takeaway from New York wasn’t hype or hesitation. It was normalization.
Crypto wasn’t being discussed as a separate ecosystem. It was discussed alongside payments, settlement, and financial infrastructure more broadly. That’s reinforced by the numbers, by platforms like Revolut, and by the people being brought into companies focused on infrastructure rather than speculation.
When tens of trillions move across blockchain rails in a single year, and when younger users treat digital assets as just another financial tool, the debate changes.
Crypto stops being about convincing. It starts being about execution. That’s where the industry is now.
Disclaimer
There has been significant volatility in digital assets and their value can decline rapidly, which in turn would lead to a decline in the stock price of companies holding digital assets. Intellistake is a start-up that does not have the same access to capital as other larger more established companies.
Intellistake has just commenced operating its business and is at an early stage of development. Intellistake is entering this space by acquiring and operating blockchain validator hardware that supports AI networks and investing in AI-related digital tokens to primarily operate validator hardware.
Intellistake is reliant on Orbit AI for the financing and technical execution of the planned satellite launches. Intellistake’s involvement is limited to providing the validator and node infrastructure. The amount of any future revenues or benefits that may accrue to Intellistake has not yet been determined.
Intellistake is presently evaluating the regulatory framework for tokenization. Any tokenization will be subject to it being completed in compliance with applicable law, regulatory requirements and terms of any underlying agreements associated with the underlying assets. The actual structure of such tokenization, the assets that would be subject to tokenization, and the associated timeline, have not yet been determined. Intellistake will provide further updates as material developments related to this tokenization strategy occur.
Intellistake is developing custom AI software systems called "AI Agents" for businesses. It recently announced the development of IntelliScope, a newly designed enterprise artificial-intelligence (AI) suite that applies decentralized AI technologies to deliver transparent and verifiable corporate intelligence. IntelliScope, which is in testing, is being publicly introduced as Intellistake's enterprise AI suite, reflecting the Company's focus on advancing practical applications of decentralized AI technologies.
The IntelliScope suite is being developed as a collection of modular AI agents, each intended to address specific enterprise challenges. Development has advanced through internal closed testing, where functionality is being refined and validated. Built to leverage decentralized AI technologies developed within the ASI Alliance FET token ecosystem, IntelliScope is now preparing to move into closed beta testing with an enterprise client, a phase focused on gathering feedback to shape premium features and expand real-world use cases.
The Company intends to deliver these solutions either as one-time projects or ongoing subscription services. Revenue is expected to come from implementation fees and monthly subscription payments. The Company does not presently have any customers. Intellistake is just commencing operations. It is targeting significant growth but its business is subject to several risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; the sufficiency of cash to meet liquidity needs; legislative, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the digital currency and general securities markets; the volatility of digital currency prices and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company’s filings with applicable securities regulators. Intellistake has not yet developed or commercialized its AI solutions.
Completion of the Singularity Venture Hub (“SVH”) acquisition remains subject to completion of satisfactory due diligence, the negotiation, and execution of a definitive agreement ("Definitive Agreement") that will include representations, warranties, covenants, indemnities, termination rights, and other provisions customary for a transaction of this nature, no objection from the Canadian Securities Exchange, and shareholder approval of SVH, if required.
This report contains "forward-looking information" concerning anticipated developments and events related to the Company that may occur in the future. Forward looking information contained in this report includes, but is not limited to, all statements in respect of the Company's growth and development, the operations and business segments of the Company, support for decentralized AI and blockchain networks, the details of the collaboration with Orbit AI and its expected benefits; the Company’s contributions towards the collaboration with Orbit AI; the timelines for Orbit AI’s operation; and Intellistake’s strategy to support tokenized, decentralized AI infrastructure.
In certain cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "intends", "anticipates" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "would", or "might" suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, assumptions, intentions or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information contained in this report is based on certain assumptions regarding, among other things, the Company and Singularity Venture Hub (“SVH”) are satisfied with their respective due diligence; the Company and SVH enter into a definitive agreement for the transaction; the Company and SVH satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; the Company will continue to have access to financing until it achieves profitability; the Company is able to raise sufficient financing to complete the announced investment into Orbit AI; obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; the technology and blockchain industries in which the Company intends to focus its business in will grow at the rate and in the manner expected; the ability to attract qualified personnel; the success of market initiatives and the ability to grow brand awareness; the ability to distribute Company's services; the Company creates strategies to mitigate risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the Company and SVH remain compliant with all applicable laws and securities regulations and applicable licensing requirements; the Company engages and collaborates with local experts, as necessary, to address jurisdiction-specific matters and ensures compliance with foreign regulations to avoid penalties; the Company addresses any potential cybersecurity threats promptly and effectively; the ability of the Company to develop its technology, acquire customers and have revenue; the ability to successfully deploy the new business strategy as a result of the change of business. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, they may be incorrect.
Forward looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed by the forward-looking information. Such factors include risks related to general business, economic and social uncertainties; the Company fails to raise sufficient financing to complete the announced investment into Orbit AI; Orbit AI is unable to raise sufficient financing to complete its launch of satellites on the timelines proposed or at all; technical risks associated with Orbit AI’s planned operations; failure of the Company and SVH enter into a definitive agreement for the transaction; failure of the Company and SVH to satisfy all conditions necessary to close the proposed transaction; failure to raise the capital necessary to fund its operations; inability to create strategies to mitigate the risks associated with cryptocurrency price fluctuations; the costs of regulation in the digital asset industries increase to the extent that the Company is no longer generating sufficient returns for shareholders; failure to promptly and effectively address cybersecurity threats; insufficient resources to maintain its operations on a competitive basis; and the actual costs, timing and future plans differs expectations; legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; the inherent risks involved in the cryptocurrency and general securities markets; the Company may not be able to profitably liquidate its current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on the Company's operations; the Company's success may depend on the continued involvement of key personnel, including advisors, whose involvement cannot be guaranteed; institutional adoption of decentralized AI infrastructure remains uncertain and may not occur at the pace or scale anticipated; evolving regulatory frameworks, including those related to AI (such as Canada's proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act), may impose additional compliance burdens or restrict certain business activities; valuation figures are based on publicly available market data and internal assessments at the time of the referenced transactions and may not reflect current or future valuations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, currency fluctuations; regulatory restrictions, liability, competition, loss of key employees and other related risks and uncertainties; delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; failure to attract qualified personnel, labour disputes; and the additional risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's filings with applicable Canadian securities regulators.
Although the Company has attempted to identify factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this report. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update forward-looking information.
