Remy Blaire: Well, Wall Street is preparing for a move toward near-continuous open markets, as the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq move to expand trading hours to 23 hours a day by December. Tokenized stocks like Tesla and Nvidia are already trading around the clock overseas, but trading off-hours creates dangerous price drift as well as hefty slippage for everyday investors. And at the same time, new stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act are set to take effect next year, igniting a multibillion-dollar battle over who keeps the interest on cash reserves.
Well, joining us live here at the New York Stock Exchange, fresh off Korea Blockchain Week and TOKEN2049, is Vishal Gupta, co-founder and CEO of True Markets. Vishal, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Vishal Gupta: Thank you for having me.
Remy Blaire: Well, we’re talking about near-continuous trading. So first and foremost, tell us about your background and what brought you to this place.
Vishal Gupta: Sure. I started my career at Goldman Sachs, focused on electronic trading, and then I found myself in crypto. Over the last couple of years, I led the launch and growth of USDC, which is the largest tokenized asset, largest stablecoin that’s US-domiciled. And then I ran Coinbase’s exchange business, taking it from 20 assets to 235 assets and launching two derivatives exchanges, one in the US under the CFTC and one internationally as a perpetual futures exchange.
Remy Blaire: And given your background, we are here in the final quarter of 2026, and a lot has happened when we’re talking about this intersection between TradFi and DeFi. So what do you think needs to happen as we head into the final weeks of the year?
Vishal Gupta: Yeah. So, you know, right now we’re seeing kind of a real big push for tokenized assets trading. And largely these are traded on AMMs. So an AMM is a protocol-driven solution for executing trades. It’s not like an order book. It’s slightly different. So when you’re trading something like a tokenized Nvidia stock, it’s actually anchored to the [unclear] live markets. So a lot of the work that we’re doing in the markets is really to anchor these prices back to reality.
So we have a new product called Anchor, where you are trading on an order book, but it’s settled in DeFi. So it’s the hybrid of both worlds that allows for the benefits of an order book and also the benefits of self-custody.
Remy Blaire: And of course, you mentioned the regulatory landscape. And many of us are counting down to the beginning of next year, especially on the heels of the GENIUS Act and, of course, the failed cloture vote from the Senate regarding CLARITY. But as we move forward, what can investors out there expect? And given the fact that the realities might not reflect some of the opportunities, and risks are important to consider, what would you say to viewers out there?
Vishal Gupta: Yeah, so I think GENIUS being really the clear rules that we have in the United States is going to be important, and you’re going to see inflows into the stablecoin world. And with the inflows into the stablecoin world, you’ll see more and more use cases. So, you know, in the GENIUS world, we have these clear rules. And now you’re going to have real competition for the incumbents like USDC.
So we’re going to start seeing a world where the stablecoin world is going to get very competitive. You’ll see the Stripes of the world, the PayPals of the world, really kind of pushing new product out. And I think that in a world where all these stablecoins look very similar, the most efficient will start to win over time.
Remy Blaire: Yeah. And speaking of efficiency, you are coming back from a week going to events in Asia, including Korea Blockchain Week as well as TOKEN2049. So give us a sense of what’s happening on the ground when we’re talking about South Korea, Singapore, and what the US needs to do.
Vishal Gupta: Absolutely. So there’s been a push in South Korea to tokenize their entire stock market. And that gives, you know, the United States a playbook to start asking those questions on how to tokenize correctly. With the lack of clarity, we need to start pushing into real rules and laws to allow us to really not only trade 24/7, but think about things like self-custody.
How does Reg NMS play into our own rules and regulations? Obviously, the rule set to make sure that we’re printing trades at the right price, the BBO, the best bid or offer. Does that work in the tokenized world? How should that work? So, you know, what’s happening in Asia is going to push us into innovation here in the United States.
Remy Blaire: Yes. And speaking of innovation, I do want to get your perspective on technology as well as artificial intelligence in particular, especially when we’re talking about embedding APIs. So what do you think the future will bring?
Vishal Gupta: Yeah. So True Markets is API for markets. And we believe in a future where things like stablecoins will start to infiltrate all the applications out there. So everything will become fintech. Fintech, everything is fintech, everything that’s fintech is crypto. And all those lines are going to start getting blurred, and we’ll see markets everywhere.
So we really do believe at True Markets that markets will be everywhere. Stablecoins will drive that market. So being the backbone for markets, and liquidity as a service, is what our focus is. So again, like, you know, if you’re playing a video game, you’re going to start trading virtual currencies. Or maybe you have dollars that are in the form of stablecoins. At some point, you’re going to want to trade those. That’s where markets start to show up.
Remy Blaire: And finally, before I let you go, when we’re talking about the role of artificial intelligence, in particular within DeFi, what guardrails do you think should be in place?
Vishal Gupta: Yeah. So again, in this API-focused world, brands and, you know, who you are in the market mean less and less. It’s more about the best APIs, the best fees, the best players. Now, in terms of a framework for AI, it’s still kind of a Wild West, and we’re still figuring out where the rules are.
And I think that, again, the APIs and the markets, the market structure, is going to be the important part in this world. It’s what are the rules of the road? How do we make sure that the execution is at a good price? How do we make sure that the clients are getting fair pricing, fair fees? That’s really important.
Remy Blaire: And finally, before I let you go, we are already looking ahead to the new year. 2027 is right around the corner. So what trends are you keeping your eyes on, and why?
Vishal Gupta: Sure. With GENIUS now installed, I think that you’re going to start seeing this competition in the stablecoin world. So I think you’re going to see what I would say are the more efficient stablecoins, where they’ll repay interest back to the businesses that are holding these assets. And that’s going to be important. I think we’re going to see clarity in prediction markets in terms of rule sets, and you’re going to start to see those proliferate.
We’re also seeing the tokenization push. And I think that 24/7 is a long time coming. And coming out of Asia, they really want to trade our US market. You know, stablecoins really brought the US dollar to international markets, and I think tokenization of our markets will be important to get our assets over there as well.
Remy Blaire: Well, a lot to keep our eyes on. So I appreciate you joining us here at the New York Stock Exchange. Thank you so much for all of your insights today.
Vishal Gupta: Thank you.
