The correspondent banking system has had a monopoly over payments for decades — slow, expensive, full of friction. My next guest thinks stablecoins are the fix. Joining me today is Ayad Butt, Senior Executive Officer and Head of Sales and Trading MENA at Zodia Markets. Great to have you with us.
Thank you Lucy. It is a pleasure being here.
What is Zodia Markets and what problem is it solving?
Zodia Markets is facilitating institutions in moving value across borders at the speed of data. The problem is not everybody has the equal right or equal opportunity to move value. And that is mainly because of the way dollar correspondent banking works — there is fractional ownership of that system, and that gives a disadvantage to various parts of the economy who want to move value smoothly. That is exactly what Zodia Markets is trying to fix — to democratise this, to move value at the speed of data.
Why is Zodia Markets based in Abu Dhabi?
The key facet of building a business involved in moving value is regulation — you want to do it the right way. There have been countless examples of nefarious actors misusing the advantages of blockchain. The primary reason to be in Abu Dhabi is the regulatory infrastructure — robust enough to give confidence to large institutions in exploring this opportunity and diving into it. And when it comes to attracting talent, infrastructure, and ease of doing business, you cannot compete with the UAE and Abu Dhabi.
Emerging markets are where payments are most broken. Why has it not been fixed yet?
Think of it as a puzzle — some pieces are in place and some are a work in progress. In order for a payment to go from point A to point B in a regulated, licensed fashion, there is a requirement for a robust licensing regime in each jurisdiction. The global regulatory landscape is evolving much faster than people think, but it is not regulated everywhere we want to settle yet. Secondly, there is an educational element for corporations — a lot of treasurers and CFOs say they get the theoretical use case but it is very difficult to implement in their current systems. Audit is one issue. How to merge blockchain with traditional settlements is another. It is a matter of time and we are not far.
You are majority owned by Standard Chartered. How does that change your business?
We are extremely lucky. It gives us credibility — an immense opportunity to have the backing of one of the systemically important banks and one of the top five largest clearers of dollars in the world. The next layer is infrastructure — balance sheet, credit lines, wholesale FX liquidity, and a banking network that connects key parts of the world and facilitates near-instant settlements. And lastly, this is a game of consistency. Whoever is going to win the payments-over-stablecoins race — the key is you cannot be a short-term solution. Standard Chartered's support gives us the best chance to provide that revolutionary change consistently.
Why do institutions and corporates come to Zodia Markets over other providers?
Three reasons. First, our regulatory presence gives clients comfort that we are serious operators playing within the rules. Second, settlement speed — a lot of organisations can settle small-scale payments at near-instant speed, but when you have a large corporation settling significant value in seconds and minutes — that is when you really test it. And that is where we shine. Third, consistency. Nobody would be impressed if you are good one day and off the next. We pride ourselves on fast settlement speed consistently and within the parameters of our regulated jurisdictions.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you Lucy. I am glad to share information on Zodia Markets.
