Bernardo Brites (Trace Finance) on Building the $10B Stablecoin Rails Connecting Brazil to the World

Brazil banned crypto players from moving big money, so this founder got a bank license instead. Now Trace Finance processes over $10B in cross-border volume and powers the top 4 global payment companies in Latin America.On this episode of The Index Podcast, Bernardo Brites, Co-Founder & CEO of Trace Finance, breaks down how stablecoins plus real bank infrastructure (not stablecoins alone) are quietly becoming the backbone of global money movement, and why the US dollar's dominance might depend on it.🎯 What we cover:💰 Trace Finance's $32M Series A led by CoinFund, with Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures and Chainlink in the mix, and what it signals about institutional conviction in stablecoin infrastructure🏦 Why "stablecoins alone don't solve cross-border payments" and what regulated bank rails add that pure crypto rails can't🇧🇷 How Brazil's PIX system works, why it's free and instant 24/7, and why it still stops dead at the border📜 Brazil's new rule classifying cross-border virtual asset flows as FX operations, and why that's a massive tailwind for licensed players like Trace🇺🇸 The GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and Bernardo's thesis that USD stablecoins are the reason the dollar's global dominance isn't fading🌎 Why Brazil was "brutality mode" for building payment rails, and why the US, Hong Kong and Singapore are next📉 The biggest fumble: building a Silicon Valley Bank competitor weeks before SVB actually collapsed🔮 Where Trace Finance is headed in the next 2 years, and why enterprises like Amazon and global PSPs are choosing bank-grade stablecoin infrastructure over building it themselves🔗 Links: The Index Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@theindexpodcast Trace Finance website: https://tracefinance.com/ Trace Finance on X: https://x.com/tracefinance Trace Finance on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tracefinance/ Bernardo Brites on X: https://x.com/bebrites Bernardo Brites on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bebrites/Show LinksThe Index X ChannelYouTube