🚨 NOW STREAMING — Stableminded S5 E4 ft @mhudack , CEO @SlingMoney Stablecoins are "Internet Relay Chat" for money. Mike discovered this sending USDC from London to San Francisco for a DAO investment—instant transfer, tenth of a penny cost. "I fell in love with this idea of online community where you could talk to anyone in the world. Stablecoins are exactly the same thing. You digitize money and transfer it to anyone in the world." - Mike Hudack Sling Money's goal: eliminate the concept of "international payments" entirely. Just like we don't think about long-distance calls anymore. What's different about Sling's approach? They're not taking payment processing fees. Instead, they built infrastructure out to support 80 countries and partnered with @global_dollar / $USDG to make money indirectly through network participation rather than transaction skimming. "My dream is to do all of this for free to the end user and make money as indirectly as possible. We don't think about long distance calls anymore—the same should be true for payments." - Mike Hudack Key Timestamps: 00:00 - Mike's unconventional path from high school dropout to fintech CEO 03:11 - Early computer obsession and discovering IRC's global connectivity 13:19 - The USDC moment: discovering stablecoins through DAO investment 16:52 - The crisis: SVB collapse, USDC depeg, and the floor meeting decision 20:31 - Why Sling built custom infrastructure vs third-party solutions 25:30 - Regulatory transformation: from skepticism to partnership 34:07 - Commercial model: making global payments free for users 39:22 - USDG partnership and network economics 42:00 - Building consumer product in the "night and day" regulatory environment