Citi Predicts Stablecoins and AI Will Revolutionize Post-Trade Infrastructure

Wall Street's back-office is finally getting its tech upgrade—and it's not coming from traditional finance.

Stablecoins aren't just for crypto traders anymore. Citi's latest analysis shows dollar-pegged tokens slashing settlement times from days to seconds. No more waiting for wire transfers to clear while counterparty risk lingers like bad perfume.

AI steps in as the ruthless efficiency expert. Machine learning algorithms now predict fails before they happen—reconciling trades in milliseconds instead of manual teams wasting weeks untangling mismatched tickets. The tech bypasses legacy systems entirely, because let's be honest, most banks still run on infrastructure older than their interns.

Together, they're forcing the $100 trillion post-trade industry into its first real modernization since fax machines were cutting-edge. The only thing more surprising than the transformation? That it took this long for finance to embrace technology that actually works—without charging 30 basis points for the privilege.