Circle Managing Director for Asia Pacific Yam Ki Chan on Stablecoin's Journey to Trillions in Asia

About this episode

Yam Ki Chan discusses the impact of stablecoins on global finance and the unique position of Asia's economies.

Paulo sits down in person at Insignia’s Singapore office with Yam Ki Chan, Managing Director, Asia Pacific at Circle. The conversation maps Yam Ki’s vantage point at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy, from his years negotiating for the U.S. government on the G20 and G7, through Google Pay and Google Cloud, to leading Circle’s regional buildout. He unpacks how stablecoins are upgrading the underlying rails of global finance, why Asia’s trade-exposed economies are uniquely positioned to benefit, and what becomes possible when treasury, trade financing, settlement, and even micro-payments can clear 24/7 in seconds. The discussion closes with a candid view on the policy landscape across Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, and a builder’s outlook on the trifecta now reshaping the digital economy: AI, stablecoins, and tokenization. Timestamps (0:00): Introduction (1:37): A Career Across Policy, Tech, and Finance (3:50): IPO Milestones and the Journey to Trillions (5:39): Asia Adoption Playbook (8:52): Real-World USDC Use Cases (11:40): Upgrading Financial Rails (13:56): Circle's Full-Stack Platform (17:00): Treasury, VC, and Programmable Money (20:59)…

People in this episode

Host: Paulo

Guest: Yam Ki Chan

Topics covered

• stablecoins
• finance
• technology
• policy
• digital economy
• Asia

Keywords

• stablecoin
• Asia
• finance
• technology
• policy
• digital economy
• USDC
• Circle
• G20
• G7

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Circle, Insignia Ventures Partners

Products: Google Pay, Google Cloud, USDC

Places: Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea

More episodes of The On Call with Insignia Podcast

• Konvy CEO & Co-Founder QingGui Huang on Matchmaking Quality Beauty Brands to the Global Market · June 4, 2026 · 29 min
• Jonathan Yip, Head of Innovation Banking, Asia at HSBC on the Future of Innovation Capital and CFOs · May 25, 2026 · 18 min
• Why you should take stablecoins seriously with Coinbase Singapore Country Director Hassan Ahmed · April 14, 2026 · 36 min
• The right way to bridge fintechs and banks with Standard Chartered Head of Fintech, Asia Luke Boland · March 12, 2026 · 32 min
• Why AI native companies can't chase features and what they should focus on instead with Diaflow CEO and co-founder Jonathan Pham · March 5, 2026 · 31 min
• Ganhuyag Chuluun Hutagt, Ard Financial Group Executive Chairman, on Building Mongolia's Investor Nation · February 6, 2026 · 37 min