Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned Bitcoin as a “peer-to-peer electronic cash” for direct transactions without intermediaries. Now, with corporate treasuries amassing huge Bitcoin holdings, ChangeNOW’s chief strategist argues that stablecoins, rather than hoarding by institutional investors, are realizing their original vision.
BeInCrypto sat down with ChangeNOW Chief Strategy Officer Pauline Shanguette during her recent APAC tour to discuss the company’s evolution and her contrarian perspective on competing trends in cryptocurrencies.
ChangeNOW started in 2017 as a no-account, no-questions-asked, non-custodial instant swap service. But Shangett says the company’s ambitions quickly expanded beyond retail trading.
“Our B2B platform has evolved to be more than just a cryptocurrency change,” she explains. The company developed NOWPayments for merchants, NOWNode for RPC infrastructure, and ultimately brought everything under the umbrella of NOW Solutions, a comprehensive crypto management platform for enterprises across Web2 and Web3.
As Bitcoin ETFs gain mainstream acceptance and companies like MicroStrategy accumulate large Bitcoin holdings, many companies are celebrating institutional adoption as a moment of maturity for the cryptocurrency. Shangett takes a different view.
“Currently, MicroStrategy holds over 7 percent of the Bitcoin supply,” she points out. “They are adding another middleman by selling government bonds for Bitcoin. This is not the basis of cryptocurrencies.”
She draws a clear comparison to America’s housing crisis. “In the same way that landlords are buying up real estate in large quantities and pricing it out to everyday buyers, institutions are buying Bitcoin and artificially inflating prices. When the time comes to sell, the market will not be in a good place.”
Her advice for retail traders: “Buy Bitcoin directly. Bitcoin is a great investment class. Don’t rely on a financial company to manage your assets.”
Although Shanget is skeptical about Bitcoin bonds, he is bullish on stablecoins, especially when it comes to payments and remittances.
“What ordinary people really need is to send money across borders and pay with that money wherever they can,” she says. “Transferring USDT from Dubai to Singapore takes less than 3-5 business days and is significantly cheaper than bank transfers.”
This is important for both organizations and individuals. Migrant workers sending money back home, businesses trading cross-border, and people in countries with limited banking infrastructure all benefit from stablecoin rails.
“People who are not even part of the crypto community desperately need this infrastructure,” Shanget said. “Rather than developing 50,000 stablecoins or chasing hype, projects should focus on enabling people to interact with stablecoins in a reliable way that reduces user error.”
ChangeNOW is positioned to work with neobanks, exchanges, payment systems, and crypto cards to enable seamless stablecoin payments. “Traditional off-ramps are slow and expensive. Even P2P on large exchanges like Binance is at risk of fraud. We are building an infrastructure that allows people to pay with crypto anywhere without worrying about losing their money.”
But what about government concerns? Many countries, especially those with weak currencies, are concerned that stablecoins could undermine their monetary sovereignty.
Shanget acknowledges the challenge. “That’s why so many countries are researching CBDCs. It will take some time for governments to legalize stablecoins and understand that CBDCs are not a real solution.”
She said the cryptocurrency industry is effectively self-regulating and has put in place tools to ensure funds are not contaminated or come from illicit sources. “I’m happy with what’s happening now. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
When asked which trend will prevail, stablecoins or Bitcoin government bonds, Shanget believes it will be geographically divided.
“Bitcoin government bonds are primarily located in the US and Europe,” she observes. “In Asia, people are paying more attention to stablecoins. The trend towards intercontinental payments will grow beyond just large corporations buying Bitcoin liquidity.”
She was candid about Treasury companies’ motivations: “They have a disgruntled drive for profit. Bitcoin was invented as electronic money for peer-to-peer transactions, so people could transact without governments or big corporations spying on them. I think Treasury as a trend is actively hurting this space.”
She doesn’t expect government bonds to disappear because they make up too much of the market, but she expects them to remain largely an American phenomenon. “Once this trend ends, most small government bonds will either be sold off or absorbed by larger corporations.”
ChangeNOW’s recent tour of Bali, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore wasn’t just for Token2049. The company is actively seeking partnerships across Asia.
“It’s amazing to see people and governments waking up to cryptocurrencies,” Shanget said. “It is the Asian market that will drive adoption in the coming years. There are many great projects that we are very interested in partnering with.”
She is particularly excited about South Korea’s thriving ecosystem and Japan’s recent regulatory embrace. “The Japanese government just established a crypto hub to support startups. They are ready to invest and we are ready to take advantage of it.”
As our conversation concludes, Shanget offers some parting advice that sums up her pragmatic approach to cryptocurrencies. “Stay safe, have fun, but don’t go too far. Stack up your satellites, pay with stablecoins, and everything will be fine.”
This is a vision for cryptocurrencies that emphasizes practicality over speculation, peer-to-peer trading over organized accumulation, and is essentially a return to Satoshi’s original whitepaper on which modern infrastructure was built. If ChangeNOW’s APAC expansion is successful, Shanget’s bet on payments may prove to be prescient.
