Cashless: Fintech, CBDC and AI at the speed of Asia

Cashless newsletter, subtitled "Fintech, CBDC and AI at the speed of Asia", is a Substack by Rich Turrin on fintech, stablecoins, tokenisation and Asian payment systems. Several posts a week appear, along with premium "knowledge vaults" on stablecoins, Asia and China for 2026.

Recent posts Recent titles include "Why America Pays $175B More for Payments Than Asia and Europe", a comparison of payment infrastructure costs; "IMF: Tokenization Isn't Removing Friction, It's Adding Risk"; and "Fed: 95% of American Companies Say No to Stablecoins". Others examine deposit tokens and how traditional banks respond to fintech disruption, and one piece called "Tokenization's killer app" puts a number on a use case.

Angle The author is sceptical of crypto hype and compares what Asia has built, such as instant payments and QR rails, against the Western market. The mix is analysis, data and critique of official reports.

Why payments people read it Product and strategy teams get a regional comparison of cost per payment, CBDC pilots and stablecoin adoption backed by cited sources. It is useful for judging whether a tokenisation or stablecoin plan has real merchant demand behind it.