The real risk is standing still

Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy & Operations at Circle, shares insights on what the industry misunderstands, the regulatory convergence quietly reshaping global markets, and the risks of preserving the status quo. 

‘The part of this market that is genuinely thriving is also the most boring: imbuing dollars with the superpowers of the internet. That is utility, not speculation. The underestimated risk is the status quo. Slow, expensive, exclusionary payments are not a neutral baseline.’ 

Digital assets are often seen as inherently risky. In your view, what are the most misunderstood risks in this space today, and which risks are actually underestimated by market participants? 

Not all digital assets – nor all stablecoins – are created equal. The part of this market that is genuinely thriving is also the most boring: imbuing dollars with the superpowers of the internet. That is utility, not speculation. 

Frankly, the underestimated risk is the status quo. Slow, expensive, exclusionary payments are not a neutral baseline. The counterintuitive threat is the vacuum that forms when regulated infrastructure is displaced by less accountable alternatives. 

Stablecoins are increasingly positioned as a safer segment of digital assets. Where do the real systemic risks lie today, in reserves, liquidity, counterparties, or regulatory frameworks, and how can they be mitigated? 

The real vulnerabilities are reserve quality, redemption certainty, and counterparty concentration. Both GENIUS - the US law for payment stablecoins - and MiCA, the European Union’s comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, address them directly: one-for-one reserve requirements, bankruptcy-protected structures, and the right of redemption at par. GENIUS goes further, prohibiting longer-maturity bonds in reserves entirely. Transparent, regulated stablecoins are not the systemic risk. Unregulated substitutes operating outside this framework are. 

Are we moving toward global alignment in digital asset regulation, or should the industry expect long-term fragmentation? How do differences between the European Union, the United States, and key Asian markets materially impact how companies like Circle operate? 

The direction is toward convergence, but unevenly and not uniformly. MiCA and GENIUS are different frameworks, but they reflect the same basic recognition: that digital assets are moving from the margins into regulated financial infrastructure. For companies like Circle, jurisdictional differences still matter. They require local licensing, governance, supervision, and careful market-specific implementation. But fragmentation should not be the end state. The right objective is comparability and mutual recognition among high-standard regimes, so that responsible actors can operate globally without recreating the wheel in every market. That is the model worth building. 

Having been involved with the Diem Association, what were the key regulatory or strategic lessons from that initiative, and how have they shaped today’s approach to stablecoin design and policy engagement? 

Diem demonstrated that you cannot build trust after the fact. Jeremy Allaire has always said we would walk through the regulatory front door. Circle was built accordingly: reserve simplicity, no proprietary capture, open and interoperable by design. Being first in compliance when MiCA became law was not a coincidence; it was the point. 

How are geopolitical shifts influencing where and how digital asset firms expand? Have there been cases where regulatory or geopolitical risks have required you to rethink or exit specific markets? 

Geopolitics is increasingly inseparable from market expansion. Digital asset firms cannot make decisions based only on customer demand or technical readiness; they must also assess regulatory clarity, rule of law, banking access, and whether a market is aligned with trusted financial infrastructure. For Circle, the priority is not being everywhere at any cost. It is operating where we can do so responsibly, under clear rules, with strong compliance and durable partnerships. The winners in this phase of market development will be the firms that can scale globally without compromising the trust that makes scale possible. 

AI is rapidly entering financial services. Where is it already delivering tangible value in digital asset operations, particularly in compliance, fraud detection, or risk management, and where do you see more hype than substance? 

Compliance and risk management at Circle are grounded in expert human review. AI can assist at scale, but it does not replace the judgment consequential decisions require. We are also beginning to see early forms of what could become an agentic economy, where AI systems initiate and settle transactions onchain - making it essential that these systems are built on compliant, transparent infrastructure from the start. The hype outruns substance where AI is assumed to operate autonomously in high-stakes financial contexts. Financial services have long mistaken automation for intelligence. The humans in the loop are not optional. 

As AI and digital assets converge, what new forms of risk should financial institutions and regulators be paying closer attention to? 

The convergence creates a new category of risk: speed without accountability. When AI agents can transact faster than any human oversight loop, the question of responsibility becomes much harder to answer. As financial activity becomes increasingly automated, compliance, transparency, and clear lines of responsibility need to be embedded into the underlying infrastructure, not bolted on after the fact. The real policy challenge is ensuring that AI-enabled finance does not scale opacity, dependency, or unaccountable decision-making alongside efficiency. 

At global gatherings such as the Point Zero Forum, what are the conversations you’re most looking forward to having this year, particularly the ones you feel could genuinely move the industry forward, but still don’t get enough attention? 

What I value most about Point Zero Forum is the candour it enables. Regulators from very different jurisdictions speak honestly about what they are seeing, what they are worried about, and what they are building. That kind of exchange is rare. 

This year, with GENIUS signed and MiCA in effect, I am most curious about what regulators outside the transatlantic corridor are drawing from those frameworks. And what they are not. 

This interview is brought to you in partnership with Point Zero Forum and The Paypers. Point Zero Forum is the annual gathering of global central bankers, regulators, policymakers, and industry leaders shaping the future of financial services — and The Paypers is proud to spotlight the voices driving that conversation.  

Point Zero Forum (23–25 June 2026, Zurich) is the premier policy-technology dialogue convening 2,000+ central bankers, regulators, and industry leaders to align the future of global financial systems. Use code [PZF26-IND-PTNR-30DISC-TPP] at checkout for an exclusive 30% discount off the industry pass.  

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About the author 

Dante Disparte is the Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy & Operations for Circle. In this role, he leads global growth and regulatory strategy, public policy, market expansion, international operations, and communications. Dante brings decades of experience as an entrepreneur, business leader, and global risk expert, and most recently served as a founder of the Diem Association. 

About Circle 

Circle (NYSE: CRCL) is one of the world’s leading internet financial platform companies, building the foundation of a more open, global economy through programmable blockchain infrastructure, digital assets, and payment applications. 

Circle’s platform includes the world’s largest stablecoin network anchored by USDC, Circle Payments Network for global money movement, and Arc, an enterprise-grade blockchain designed to become the Economic OS for the internet. Enterprises, financial institutions, and developers use Circle to power trusted, internet-scale financial innovation.