About This Episode
In this episode of the Leaders in Payments and Fintech podcast, host Mark Beresford sits down with Diederick Langstraat and Thibault Pelé from Worldline, alongside Samee Zafar, CEO of Edgar, Dunn & Company, to explore the emerging world of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). They discuss how stablecoins differ from volatile cryptocurrencies and traditional payment rails, and examine real-world use cases from cross-border payments to tokenized assets.
The conversation covers blockchain's role in enabling native interoperability between payment systems, the regulatory frameworks shaping adoption like Europe's MiCA, and whether stablecoins offer genuine advantages over existing instant payment networks. They also explore emerging applications in gaming micropayments, social commerce, and agentic commerce.
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Episode Links
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diederick-langstraat-212861/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thibaultpele/
Website: https://worldline.com/
Guest Bio
Diederick Langstraat has over 25 years in the financial industry and technology, beginning in cash and advancing to electronic payments. This background gives him a broad understanding of payments developments, and he is now immersed in the latest advances in payment rails.As a member of Worldline’s business development team, he brings a passion for market infrastructures, digital currencies, and stablecoins, with a clear focus on what drives change and how Worldline supports these transitions.
Thibault Pelé is Head of Digital Currencies for Worldline, leading strategic initiatives across stablecoins and central bank digital currencies. He contributed to notorious projects and working group with banks, regulators, and fintechs on emerging payment rails. Thibault combines deep technical knowledge with strong product and business expertise, and also lectures at a prominentFrench school on the future of payments.
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This article is part of Leaders in Payments & Fintech, a podcast and newsletter brought to you by EDC. Join us and follow Leaders in Payments & Fintech today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for conversations with today’s global leaders in payments and Fintech.
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Mark is a Director in the London office and heads up the Retailer & Hospitality Payments Practice for EDC. He has over 25 years of experience of consulting strategy in the payments and fintech industries. Mark works with leading global merchants, and payment suppliers to retailers and hospitality merchants, to develop omnichannel acceptance strategies. He uses the 360° Payment Diagnostic methodology developed by EDC to identify cost efficiencies and new growth opportunities for retailers and hospitality merchants by defining an appropriate mix of payment methods, acceptance channels, innovative consumer touchpoints, and optimizing Payment Service Providers and acquiring relationships. Outside the payments and fintech industry Mark is a passionate snowboarder.
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