Lisa Nestor, Research Director at Stanford’s Future of Digital Currency Initiative, shares her journey from microfinance to blockchain, sparked by her time at Stellar Development Foundation. She discusses Stellar’s mission to build open-source financial infrastructure and her work with Airtm, focusing on stablecoins as tools for financial inclusion in unstable economies. Lisa explores the growing adoption of digital dollar stablecoins for cross-border payments, inflation hedging, and improving financial access. She also addresses central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), their challenges, and their potential to transform financial systems. Additionally, she highlights emerging trends like tokenizing real-world assets and digital dollar economies for freelancers and global workers. The conversation underscores blockchain’s role in democratizing finance and enabling economic opportunities worldwide.