Stablecoins are moving from the crypto sidelines to mainstream banking. Global payment platform Sarb has selected Movement as the exclusive stablecoin settlement layer for its new Global Self-Custody Bank — the first fully self-managed digital bank running on stablecoin rails in the MENA region. The goal: bring banking to 1.4 billion unbanked people with real-time cross-border settlement and none of the complexity of traditional correspondent banking. Joining us now is Torab Torabi, CEO of Movement. Torab, welcome to the show.
Johnny, thanks for having me.
Walk us through why Sarb chose Movement for this, and what does this partnership actually unlock for the region that wasn't possible before?
Movement is a settlement layer for digital assets, focused on the global South. Sarb is the first neobank focused on the global South, and their number one goal is to bank the unbanked while giving users custody of their own assets. This is really significant in Afghanistan specifically — one of the regions that's very hard to penetrate from a fintech perspective because many companies simply don't want to engage. Sarb has been serving Afghanistan for over ten years and is now expanding. We found them as the perfect partner.
Stablecoins are increasingly being used for cross-border payments. How big of a shift is this for financial actors across the MENA region?
Over 90% of currencies have lost value against the dollar over the last decade. When you have less purchasing power, you wake up one day and the money under your mattress can't buy you the same amount of bread. People are trying to access the dollar. Stablecoins make that easy — for the most part, permissionless. That's why you're seeing this explosion in adoption. Countries like Kenya and Nigeria are already there. And in MENA and broader Africa, adoption is more advanced than most people would anticipate.
Why is MENA specifically emerging as such a key hub for digital asset innovation right now?
Demographics. MENA has some of the lowest average ages in the world compared to Western Europe or the United States. Young populations are more adaptive to new technologies — they have no attachment to legacy systems. I like to joke that for most people today, especially my children, Bitcoin is just as old as gold. For them, they've always existed. For people like us, we know gold is ancient and Bitcoin is new. But for the new generation, there's no distinction.
For Movement, what is the next big phase of stablecoin adoption? Payments, infrastructure, something else?
First and foremost, we want to meet people where they are. A lot of fintech companies go into regions and say here's what you should want. We prefer to go in, meet with the people, understand the existing infrastructure, and help it grow. So first: stablecoin rails. Second: allowing users to buy assets like gold directly on their phones. Third: helping tokenise treasury bonds. Something we're hearing more and more from central banks and governments is that they want to tokenise their government bonds — because ultimately it helps their currency, their government finances, and their growth. That's what we're focused on.
What's next for Movement as you evolve into this next stage?
Stablecoin rails, in-app gold, and tokenised government bonds. And continuing to go into regions, understand the existing players, and help them grow. That's the playbook.
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us. Exciting to see where you take this next.
Thank you for having me, Johnny.
