Not everyone can say they can pay for lunch with stablecoin, but in Lugano, Switzerland, that’s exactly what Serena Sebastiani (LinkedIn) did. Sebastiani is a long-time crypto expert, who’s worked with crypto — including stablecoins — from a regulatory standpoint, a consulting standpoint, and, now, as part of a fintech company that plays a key role in the regional crypto industry. She’s currently group chief strategy and venture officer at Fuze, and naturally, she has also become a regular crypto user.

In many ways, the UAE is not too far off from being like Lugano, where crypto payments are embedded into the local economy. “The UAE is actually pioneering at scale not only adoption, but the regulation — and therefore, trusted adoption of — stablecoins,” she told us in a sit-down a few weeks back.

We spoke with Sebastiani about what it will take for the UAE to actually adopt stablecoins at scale — outside of just trading — and her experience moving from working with regulators and PwC on crypto and digital assets to building the infrastructure for the sector. And, of course, we asked her about her morning routine, from how she starts her day to the hobbies and rituals that keep her in check. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

EnterpriseAM (E): You were at PwC before Fuze for 15 years. What made you make the shift to a crypto startup?

Serena Sebastiani (SS): At PwC, I set up and then led our fintech and digital asset platform for the Middle East, but I took that not only as a consulting business, but also as a way to be part of the ecosystem proactively. I was already co-chair of digital assets at MENA Fintech Association, the president for GCC at the Association of Women in Crypto, and a lot of other ecosystem roles. I don’t think you can advise or consult properly if you are not fully embedded in something that is so new and grows so rapidly.

Fuze was one of PwC’s digital asset infrastructure partners. I also worked a lot with regulators, like the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, the Central Bank of the UAE, the Saudi Central Bank, and others. Eventually, it felt like a very natural move. And Fuze is the fastest-growing fintech in the Middle East. It's good to be on the other side and practically lead the change.

E: What does Fuze do then? How did you know it was the right place to be?

SS: It’s one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the Middle East, and we’re growing very responsibly with a regulator-first and license-first approach. We are one of the only companies with a double-license approach, one with Vara for our virtual asset leg and another with the Central Bank for our payments and fiat leg. Last year, we processed USD 5.5 bn in volumes, and we’re looking at almost triple-digit percentage growth for the next year and the year after.

We offer distribution channels for the tokens we work with, meaning we offer them liquidity on the secondary market to drive circulation and adoption, because if your currency doesn’t circulate, it’s worthless. We distribute and facilitate all the well-established stablecoins: Tether, Circle, Paxos… we have them all. We are now also working on partnerships with AED-denominated stablecoin issuers so that we can become a distribution partner for them as well.

We are also expanding our product stack and adding new features. We are already launching rewards on our crypto trading, and we’ve launched a shariah-compliant offering, which is the first and only globally available shariah-compliant BTC offering.

We are expanding geographically as well. We’re partnering with banks and fintechs in Jordan to bring our digital asset solutions there, and we’re setting up our office in Saudi Arabia. We are looking at APAC and Africa as well — any jurisdiction that is high in adoption or that has payment frictions and lots of remittances.

E: Several government entities and even commercial airlines have started to accept AED-backed stablecoins as a form of payment. Do you think adoption will come fast?

SS: The use of the AED stablecoin is mostly limited to domestic, real economy payments. The large majority of stablecoin transactions that take place in the UAE are via the USD stablecoin. For general use cases like trading, older estimates say there’s around 32% adoption in the UAE, but I think by now, that’s quite underestimated. I think we can safely assume there’s around 40% adoption, judging by the number of wallets that we have in circulation.

Adoption is there, but how they’re used is a different story. The biggest use case by far right now is still for trading purposes. We will soon start seeing some use cases on the cross-border use of AED-pegged stablecoins. I think stablecoins are great for remittances and trades specifically. We are very lucky in the UAE because we are a bit of a hub between the West and the East, and the South and Europe. We see a lot of trades channeled through the Gulf.

All these corridors that we are able to build are rails that will facilitate not only payments but the exchange of value cross-border more broadly, especially in countries where SWIFT does not excel. SWIFT excels in many advanced jurisdictions, but there are still more than a few countries where, unfortunately, there is not that reach, or if there is reach, transactions still take three to five days. This is something that stablecoins can help with.

So one part is creating liquidity in the market for stablecoins here, and the other is expanding use cases beyond just payments, like remittances or for intra-company settlement purposes and treasury as well. Tourism is another area that would really benefit, because tourists can just use stablecoins instead of having to exchange money to the local currency.

E: So, what’s your morning routine?

SS: Even when I travel, I always have a strict routine. I wake up very early, even though my Whoop says I should sleep more, but I love early mornings. I watch the sunrise from my terrace, have my electrolytes first, and then my coffee. I go to the gym each and every day. I never skip a gym day.

If I run in the morning, which I do a couple of times per week, I like to do it without any music or distractions. It helps me a lot to think things through. Then I come back home, have breakfast, read the news, um, start with emails, and go to the office. At the end of the day, I just like to have dinner and take a nice walk after. It helps me clear my mind and also allows new ideas or solutions to earlier problems to pop up.

If I really need to switch off, I need to be in nature. So, hiking, climbing, swimming in the sea — anything that is outdoors.

Serena’s recommendations

What she listens to: I love my friend’s podcast; it’s called FUMO, and I was on there once. They speak to founders, VCs, and CEOs, and there are a lot of cool stories there. I really like Bankless too.

What she’s reading: I enjoy business books, but when I’m on the beach, I like something chill — an actual beach read. I like a bit of thriller and the sort of Italian-set 007 genre.

On her bucket list: Personally? I’m preparing for a marathon. Professionally, I’m just looking for ways to create a positive social and economic impact. We do that by helping people build their digital wealth and exchange value more easily.

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