From Stablecoins to the Future of Crypto: A Discussion with Nine Blocks Capital Management Co-Founder Henri Arslanian

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The crypto industry is having a glow-up moment, as the latest round of legislation and regulation, such as the upcoming Clarity Act, is turning cryptocurrencies from a fringe asset class into a must-own asset class for all investors. At Consensus 2026 in Miami Beach, BeInCrypto met up with Henri Arslanian, Co-founder of Nine Blocks Capital Management. Henri has been an early investor in the crypto space, and firsthand witness to the massive changes in crypto over the years. The Focus on Stablecoins In recent weeks, news broke that the U.S. Senate would move on the Clarity Act. This legislation would create the regulatory rails that will allow adoption by large financial institutions. At its core, the legislation focuses on stablecoins. This provides an onramp from physical dollars to a digital token backed by, and pegged at a value of one dollar. According to Henri: “I’ve been surprised to see how the conversation is dominated this year at Consensus on the topic of stablecoins. It seems like we’re going to get some kind of passage this time as opposed to last year when the Clarity Act was coming up. I think the crypto industry is getting a crash course on the role of lobbying and lobbyists and PACs. You know, in part, thanks to this Clarity Act discussions, negotiations going on. Whether it’s going to move forward or not, I don’t know. However, I think for a lot of these institutional large players, they’re moving ahead, regardless of the Clarity Act.” The Rise of Crypto Payments Companies have embraced crypto payments for their fast settlement times and lower fees compared to legacy systems such as banks and credit card providers. The latest iteration of payments? Agentic payments, or payments made by AI programs without any human input. Many of these payments are routed through crypto programs. But even as payments via cryptos rise, it raises with them significant questions that remain to be addressed. “If we’re using agentic payments, how are we going to do KYC on these agentic payments? How are we going to do trade surveillance to ensure there’s no market manipulation, watch trading or insider trading going on? Ultimately, they have agentic payments on it. And then the broader financial crime compliance topics on these topics. I think there’s a lot of these, yes, agentic payments are very sexy.” Crypto Mainstream Remains A Distant Goal Cryptocurrencies have been around since 2009. That’s still in its infancy compared to stocks or bonds, which have been around for hundreds of years, or gold and real estate, which have been around for thousands of years. Currently, only a small percentage of the population is actively involved in the space. And with many new crypto tools being developed into mainstream banking platforms, much of crypto’s success is happening away from the eyes of everyday investors. Henri has identified the three biggest challenges facing crypto today: “First is crypto markets. If there’s not much interest towards Bitcoin, altcoins in general, there’s a lot of interest. Second is some of the external factors. Consider all the hacks that we’ve had in DeFi in North Korea. These obviously, if anybody was hesitant, then they’d definitely become hesitant in entering the space. And third is continuous element, which is a lack of education in the space. We’re at a crypto conference, but if I go outside and ask people, you know, what do you think of crypto? I don’t think that the perception is that good.” Crypto’s Institutional Moment One of the biggest observations of this year’s Consensus conference was the overlap between major banking institutions and the crypto space. Much of the technopunk vibe is gone, replaced with a convergence between the existing banking system and the 21st century tools developed in the crypto market. Henri, a veteran of the Consensus conference, has noted the shift: “I’ve had the privilege of speaking at every consensus since the first one, but one in Toronto. I’ve been to all of them in the U.S. and in Asia. And this is by far the consensus that I found has the most institutional presence, actually. Not only in terms of attendees, but also in terms of content and speakers. Which is good or bad. I would argue it’s good on the long term, but obviously causes some numerous issues. I mean, those institutions include the big banks. I know like JP Morgan’s had like a booth here.” The Crypto Winter While some had hoped that Bitcoin would break its four-year price cycle last year, that didn’t happen. Prices peaked around $120,000, and promptly fell by nearly 50% within a few months. But a crypto winter isn’t just about price action. It’s about what it means for sentiment in the space: “I’ve been in the space since 2013. So, I’ve seen these ups and downs. The industry goes up and down. Every time there’s a cleanup. My biggest fear now is if the bear market continues. Are we going to lose a lot of new talent that came to the space? Because, frankly, they have to pay their bills. They have expenses. And the crypto market is in a difficult position right now.” While prices have turned higher off their lows, it will take some more time to confirm that the worst of the related selloff is over. While still a crypto winter, it has been an active one in terms of the projects being built out, and the conference between tradfi and crypto. As Henri notes, there are a lot of challenges in crypto right now… but with it, a lot of opportunities.

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