Sit

Capital markets are in flux. As evolving monetary policy casts a spotlight on a fragmented global economy, the stability of infrastructure for borderless transactions with digital assets stands out as a superior alternative to the traditional system.

Blockchain is a viable solution to many of today’s financial challenges. Uniquely, its clearest beneficiaries are two distinctly different groups: financial institutions and the 1.4 billion people who are unbanked. The former gains next-generation speed and scalability while the latter benefits from newfound accessibility and equity.

Our charge as builders of this industry, if we want to actualize blockchain’s full potential, is to account for the needs of both.

While the financially marginalized have long sought solutions in bleeding-edge tech, the legacy world is just beginning to get the appeal. “We have to be thinking about how we leverage [blockchain] in our environment,” said Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson recently, discussing how costs in asset management are up 80% in the last decade, while revenues are down 15%.

Franklin Templeton’s breakthrough illustrates this institutional awakening. Their first-ever tokenized money market fund reduces transaction costs from $1 to less than a penny – for an institution managing $1.7 trillion, the efficiency gains are transformative. But this institutional adoption does more than cut costs; it validates the infrastructure that can serve both boardrooms and the billions still excluded from traditional finance.

The same blockchain rails enabling Franklin Templeton’s efficiency gains can deliver $50 remittances from Dubai to the Philippines in seconds rather than several business days. The technology removes friction, whether you’re settling $100 million in tokenized assets or sending $100 to family abroad.

Major institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity and JPMorgan are proving blockchain’s institutional viability at unprecedented scale. Aid organizations, such as the United Nations Refugee Agency, are simultaneously demonstrating its humanitarian potential, distributing assistance directly to those in need without traditional intermediaries. These parallel developments reflect blockchain’s unique capacity to serve both efficiency and equity.

The institutional momentum creates crucial infrastructure benefits for everyone. When major financial players invest in blockchain networks, they strengthen the rails that underbanked populations can also access. When regulatory frameworks emerge to support institutional adoption, they create legal clarity that benefits all users.

Consider the numbers that drive both institutional interest and human need. Global transaction banking generates nearly $1.4 trillion in annual revenue, yet operational inefficiencies cost an estimated 8-10% of that revenue. For institutions, blockchain technology offers clear solutions to these challenges.

For the unbanked, the stakes are different but equally compelling. Remittances – which exceeded $900 billion globally in 2024 – carry average fees of 6.62% worldwide, with some corridors reaching 10% or more. Working families lose billions annually to these costs. When a domestic worker sends $500 home, losing $50 to fees represents not inefficiency but genuine hardship.

The convergence becomes clear: the same technology solving institutional inefficiencies can address human exclusion from the financial system. Blockchain networks processing transactions for fractions of a penny with 3-5 second settlement times serve both institutional treasuries and individual remittances equally well.

Real-world stress tests prove blockchain’s dual utility. In Argentina, where inflation reached 236.7% by late 2024, both institutions and individuals are embracing digital assets out of necessity. Data shows 61.8% of Argentina’s crypto transactions now involve stablecoins — not as speculation, but as economic survival tools preserving purchasing power against peso devaluation.

This crisis-driven adoption reveals blockchain’s fundamental value proposition: removing dependence on fragile intermediaries and national monetary systems. Whether you’re a fund manager hedging institutional exposure or a family protecting savings, the infrastructure provides the same essential service: stable, borderless value transfer.

The infrastructure exists. Modern blockchain networks have processed tens of billions of operations, serving millions of accounts worldwide. The technology handles institutional scale while remaining accessible to individual users.

But actualizing blockchain’s full potential requires intentional design for both audiences. This means building interfaces sophisticated enough for institutional treasury management yet simple enough for first-time users. It means creating compliance frameworks that satisfy regulatory requirements while preserving accessibility for underserved populations.

Success requires partnerships spanning both worlds – working with established financial institutions to build robust infrastructure while partnering with mobile money operators, community organizations, and fintech companies serving underbanked populations. The goal isn’t choosing between efficiency and equity, but achieving both simultaneously.

Blockchain’s unique promise lies precisely in its ability to serve these seemingly different constituencies with the same fundamental infrastructure. The networks enabling pension funds to tokenize assets can help farmers access credit. The rails facilitating institutional settlement can deliver humanitarian aid directly to refugees.

As builders, our responsibility extends beyond technological capability to purposeful implementation. We must ensure that institutional adoption strengthens rather than supplants financial inclusion efforts. We must design systems that leverage institutional resources to extend access rather than create new barriers.

The infrastructure for borderless, frictionless value transfer is ready. The regulatory frameworks are evolving. The institutional adoption is accelerating. Our success will be measured not just by efficiency gains in existing systems, but by how many people we bring into economic participation for the first time.

The choice we make today determines whether blockchain becomes another tool serving the already-served or the bridge finally connecting everyone to the global economy. Both institutions and the unbanked are counting on us to get this right.

Source link

There’s nothing I value more in a game than focus – a game with a clear vision that knows exactly what it aims to be – and Is This Seat Taken from Poti Poti Studio is a fantastic example of that. If a game is a meal, this game is popcorn: light, easy to eat, and a perfectly portioned snack. Is This Seat Taken takes a beautifully simple premise – sitting people in chairs – and iterates on it in consistently creative and exciting ways. Thanks to its cute aesthetics and clever puzzle design, it’s an experience I’d even recommend to people who don’t usually play games.

In Is This Seat Taken, your goal is to drag people (represented as anthropomorphic shapes) into their preferred seats in different environments. Each person has specific preferences about the placement of their seats or their proximity to other people, so it gets complicated quickly. On a bus, for example, some people might prefer window or aisle seats, while others want to sit at the back or the front.

To make matters more complex, some riders are kids who want to sit with their parents, extroverts who want to sit by someone who can hold a conversation, or people with bags they want on the seat next to them. The sheer variety of desires presented across the game’s 30 levels was surprising, and I always looked forward to seeing what new preferences would arise in the next areas.

Buses and trains are straightforward seating environments, but others introduce additional wrinkles to the formula. At the sports game, fans of opposing teams don’t want to sit next to each other, and some want to stand rather than sit, blocking the view of those behind them. At a concert, some might want to sit or dance while others need to play on stage as a member of the band. And the airport has you check each person’s flight to see if they should be in line to board or seated at the gate.

All these variables are arranged in a wonderfully paced sequence, where you never stay in one locale too long, and there are very few repeat environments. Whenever you get comfortable, you’re introduced to something exciting and fresh, making it an incredibly engaging puzzle game. Complete every level in a city without messing up a seating request to unlock bonus levels, like a wedding or a beach, that each showcase level-specific mechanics.

The whole journey is presented through a loose story starring Nat, a rhombus who wants to be an actor, on their journey through several cities around the world. Much like the puzzles, it’s all about Nat trying to fit in, and I found it charming and effective; just present enough to be a pleasant throughline, but not so distracting that I felt the need to skip through dialogue.

With my 100-percent playthrough clocking in at about five hours, Is This Seat Taken is a satisfying snack of a game. Complete with a chill soundtrack and a cute art style, it felt like a breath of fresh air. While I played it on PC, it would feel right at home on the go on its other platforms, Switch and mobile. It’s an easy recommendation for anyone even slightly interested in puzzle games.

Source link

Blockchain’s Biggest Beneficiaries Sit at Both Ends of the Financial Spectrum

Is This Seat Taken? Review – Good Sit