The Bank Stablecoin Companies Actually Trust

Lead Co-founder and Chief Legal Officer, Erica Khalili, spoke with Stabledash from "A Very Stable Conference" in March 2026.

Erica explains why stablecoins are no longer optional for serious financial institutions. As she puts it, "if you're not thinking about it, you're being left behind." She describes the last 12 months as a period of major change, with growing regulatory clarity, broader institutional interest, and a shift toward real-world use cases that are "definitely not going away."

Erica frames Lead's approach around a "crawl walk run" strategy and a belief that stablecoins can "reinvigorate and reimagine global payments." She argues that compliance is not a constraint but a core advantage, calling "risk and compliance" a critical part of the moat. She also emphasizes that Lead is building for practical outcomes: "global money movement," "liquidity and capital efficiency," and products that are "fast, efficient, cost effective and transparent in most cases."

She also shares Lead's origin story, from a team of Square veterans to a bank built to serve companies that wanted a partner that truly understood their business. Today, Lead is helping power stablecoin infrastructure with capabilities like settling "24 by 7 with Visa and stablecoins," while positioning itself as the technology and compliance layer for the next era of financial services.