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Posted by shscs911 3 days ago

Y Combinator will let founders receive funds in stablecoins(fortune.com)
158 points | 298 commentspage 4
CuriouslyC 3 days ago||
Between this and Canada being dropped as an investable country shortly after the recent US/Canada fracas, I'm starting to wonder about YC's current political affiliations. Also, if you want to put your tinfoil hat on, Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell were publicly anti-Trump, and they both left months after the Trump admin took over, a very paranoid take is that the big shot VCs tied to YC made a push to "clean house" or "toe the line" and they were either gently pushed out or decided to leave because they didn't like the new vibes.
n2d4 3 days ago||
> Michael Seibel and Dalton Caldwell were publicly anti-Trump

Neither of these were "publicly anti-Trump" as much as Garry Tan has been.

Actually, where'd you even get that from? I cannot with my life imagine that Dalton would publicly post about politics. I've googled around a bit and found nothing either.

CuriouslyC 3 days ago||
Michael specifically mentions in an older video with Dalton brainstorming things they could do about Trump. I don't recall ever seeing a YC video where Garry leaks any political affiliations, though I don't follow him on social media.
n2d4 3 days ago||
Which video was that? Garry has been an outspoken Trump-critic and moderate Democrat on Twitter.

Either way, my point is it's an extreme stretch to believe their departure, Trump, and crypto stablecoins are somehow related.

CuriouslyC 3 days ago||
I don't recall the specific Dalton + Michael video, and it's not important enough for me to dig up, particularly if Garry is politically outspoken on social media. I'd prefer to believe YC is still a neutral player, but the amount of ring kissing from the big valley VCs makes suspicion rational.
joshribakoff 3 days ago||
Not endorsing conspiracy theories but one of the YC guys is an investor in flock, which is positioned to benefit from some of the recent political policies.
n2d4 3 days ago||
That's a very misleading way to say that Flock is a YC company [0]!

[0] https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety

rl3 3 days ago||
Where's the misleading part? What GP said is true:

https://x.com/garrytan/status/1856932483864170606

fud101 3 days ago||
The headline writes itself. Y Combinator putting the crypto in the grift just like the famous combinator.
j-pb 3 days ago||
How about receiving funds in coffee-shop vouchers and ramen?
vvpan 3 days ago|
Stablecoins work quiet fine as exchange medium for millions of people around the world, including myself, so they are different from vouchers and ramen.
j-pb 2 days ago||
This wasn’t a jab at stablecoins, just a startup joke, but in for a penny:

ramen is at least 1:1 backed by noodles, and doesn’t depeg.

grim_io 3 days ago||
Why not in gold while we're at it?

Both are equally stupid, and you have to exchange them to buy most of the things you might need.

cheonn638 3 days ago||
> Why not in gold while we're at it?

Crypto more hype-able

mrguyorama 3 days ago|||
YC connected people aren't as invested into gold as they are crypto.
nemild 2 days ago|||
Answering this seriously.

Most goods today are denominated in fiat, so stablecoins are a better fit than gold.

And at this stage, stablecoins are great for easy money movement (rather than holding in crypto). I actually think most people won't even know that crypto rails have been used to move their money, with stablecoins like tcp/ip for money movement.

iwontberude 3 days ago|||
Why not a gold backed stable coin like PAXG?
observationist 3 days ago|||
I mean, asking for $500 in gold every paycheck would be kinda cool, or getting gold coinage each pay cycle on a rolling basis, as many coins as your repeated $500 contributions buy.

It'd be friction against spending, a little bit of investing, in the case of gold, but friction against spending with crypto only makes sense if you don't lose a lot on moving it into a real bank account.

ceejayoz 3 days ago||
You can do this, today, if you want, via an IRA or some 401(k)s.
inkcapmushroom 3 days ago||
Yeah but my 401(k) tax statement paperwork doesn't make me feel like a pirate.
bandrami 2 days ago|||
If you want actual physical custody of gold you'll be paying a lot more than the alleged spot price; what you buy on the metals market is a certificate against gold held by a clearinghouse (which certificates are significantly oversold relative to their reserves, a topic goldbugs will do anything to avoid talking about).
defrost 2 days ago||
Perth Mint runs click and collect for bullion bars (say 10 ounce) against the AU market spot price.

It costs more as I'd have to drive 250 km round trip to pick it up (or pay extra for transport).

* https://www.perthmint.com/shop/bullion/cast-bars/

cheonn638 3 days ago|||
> Yeah but my 401(k) tax statement paperwork doesn't make me feel like a pirate.

solo 401(k) is for you

mikkupikku 3 days ago|||
Guess they want cryptobros, not gold bugs.
Supermancho 3 days ago||
Why? Because the US stable coins are an abstraction on top of US treasuries. It's effectively trading in the US debt market, not trading in crypto-hype.

The Fed is interested in converting the debt to another medium, for obvious reasons. Stablecoin looks to be the leader, since a number of the new administration have talked about it in the last decade (re: Scott Besset stablecoin speech).

I can understand why some companies want their runway in a currency that may go up during a transition (a more favorable exchange rate). There's little lossage in the exchange of USDT/USDC in the short term. Seems like a hedge strategy.

daveguy 3 days ago||
> ... US stable coins are an abstraction on top of US treasuries...

Nope. Not until these companies allow an independent external audit. I don't take "trust me" from a crypto bro as proof of backing funds.

Oh, and the current administration is clearly corrupt, so this administration wanting to convert the US to bozo bucks isn't one for the plus column.

Octoth0rpe 3 days ago||||
> I don't take "trust me" from a crypto bro as proof of backing funds

This is a good distillation of the inherent issue going forward with crypto. The people in tech I trust _least_ (cryptobros) are selling in a service that I require the _highest_ level of trust (finance). It's a very bad sales pitch.

mothballed 3 days ago||
You don't buy stablecoins because you trust them. You buy them because a greater idiot will. For that reason, I wouldn't be particularly bothered about getting them instead of dollars, though I'd try not to hold on to them terribly long.
direwolf20 2 days ago||
You buy bitcoin because you think there's a greater idiot. You buy stablecoins as a step in the path to buying bitcoin. You don't buy and hold stablecoins.
Supermancho 3 days ago|||
The why stands. If the Fed got involved in transitioning the currency, which seems MORE likely under this administration (because of the grift and corruption), then they will be negotiating with the stable coin providers and the grift will follow the normal trajectory to the moon or whatever. The arbitrary "not until some independent shows the paperwork" will never be on the table.
daveguy 3 days ago||
Independent audits aren't arbitrary. They're the standard by which you can tell whether an organization is lying about their finances. Double entry accounting and receipts makes it pretty difficult to fake especially when the claim is as simple as "don't worry, we hold the backing value in treasuries." Of course, the independent part has to be truly independent and not paid for by the audited. But they refuse independent audits.
black_13 2 days ago||
[dead]
nailer 3 days ago||
[flagged]
Giefo6ah 3 days ago||
And how are you supposed to convert USD to USDC to local currency at par? The exchange fees end up eating any savings you got from not using the normie SWIFT network, and then at tax filing time you have to account for paying / being paid in specie instead of cash.
nailer 3 days ago||
- USDC to local currency at par

I edited my comment above to provide answer. Swap whatever stable to PyUSD (negligible) and then send to your Solana address in Paypal. You can also hold crypto in US banks pretty soon.

wmf 3 days ago|||
This all makes sense... if a YC startup is going to spend the majority of its funding outside the US. I'm having trouble thinking of such a scenario though. I'd expect YC money to be spent on rent, founder salaries, and API calls.
ghc 3 days ago|||
> Transferring money across regions with the best 'normie' tools (eg Transferwise/wise.com) is multiple orders of magnitude more expensive than $0.0000015 (tranferring USDC or another GENIUS-compliant stablecoin on Solana).

I don't see how that's relevant to YC startups. Startups can't legally pay their employees in crypto through transfers, any more than they can write checks out of their bank account or pay their employees in cash. I've paid an overseas employee in BTC before, but we still had to go through a payroll provider and do everything above-board to satisfy IRS requirements.

splix 3 days ago|||
I'm curious why you can't legally pay in crypto? I heard a few times about companies paying in crypto to their remote workers. In fact I heard that a US company was paying in BTC withing the US, though I'm not sure I trust this particular story. I also see that Deel accepts USDC, and to my understanding they convert to local currency of the remote worker. Is that all illegal? Truly want to understand.
ghc 2 days ago|||
It's not illegal, but you have to do all the paperwork the same as if you pay in USD. That means tax withholdings and all that, on a per-pay-period basis. Doing this basically means going through a payroll provider. When I had an employee we paid in BTC, we had to go through a licensed company to actually do the BTC payment to our overseas worker (Circle).

The way it worked was our payroll provider would release the paycheck in USD to Circle, who would do conversion to BTC at prevailing exchange rates same day before executing the transfer.

If we already had the money in BTC, we would have had to convert the money to USD to send to our payroll provider so they could do withholdings and all that, and then have Circle convert it back to make the transfer.

There are foreign transfer reporting requirements and rules about currency conversion at payment time so that you can't skirt paying taxes. If you try to do it yourself you're making a lot of extra work for yourself.

nailer 2 days ago||
> Startups can't legally pay their employees in crypto

...

> It's not illegal

Why did you write that it was?

> you have to do all the paperwork the same as if you pay in USD

Yes. Obviously.

ghc 1 day ago||
> Why did you write that it was?

You misread. You can't legally pay through transfers (between wallets). You need an intermediary that verifies identity linked to wallets and does escrow to satisfy anti-fraud requirements.

wmf 3 days ago|||
It's probably legal as long as you do all the same accounting/withholding that you would normally do. I suspect some companies are forgetting to do that, just as many people forget to report taxes on crypto.
direwolf20 2 days ago|||
Is it really illegal for US companies to pay their employees in cash or cheques?
ghc 2 days ago||
It's not illegal to pay W-2 employees in US currency as long as you satisfy IRS withholding and reporting requirements. Paying employees in non-currency assets (gold, crypto, etc.) is highly regulated since it's often used as a tax-evasion scheme.
luke5441 3 days ago|||
- ACH fees are pretty small, depends on the payroll provider of course, so USD ACH transfer to Wise is pretty much free

- I bet with whatever way I can convert the stable coin to my local currency (EUR), that it will be more expensive than Wise. Certainly Paypal is really expensive (as in SWIFT transfer would be better)

nailer 3 days ago||
After ACH, which I’m assuming you got for free as you mentioned, US to Poland for 1000 USD on Wise is still 0.46% which is multiple orders of magnitude more expensive.
luke5441 3 days ago||
More expensive then what? The magic that converts USDC into Zloty?
lonesword 2 days ago|||
> You can easily put stablecoins in a Lulo savings account and get 5% interest instead of 0.1% or whatever your bank provides. Yes Lulo has insurance.

From Lulo's site[1]: "Lulo’s yield comes from interest paid by traders and borrowers in integrated DeFi protocols. These loans are over-collateralized with assets like SOL, ETH, and BTC, reducing lender risk."

SOL, ETH and BTC as collateral? What if their value goes down? We know what happened when the banks made bad housing loans (2008 sub-prime mortgage crisis). At least the houses had some tangible value - bricks and mortars. Crypto seems like a fiat currency minus the "full faith and credit of the United States government".

> 1234.56 in PyUSD means you get 1234.56 in Chase or Wells Fargo or whatever. In future your bank will hold these assets directly without need to off-ramp at all.

If the appeal of PyUSD is that you can convert it into equivalent USD anytime, why do we need PyUSD at all? What's the value-add, apart from low transfer fees?

[1] https://lulo.fi

nailer 2 days ago||
> SOL, ETH and BTC as collateral? What if their value goes down?

The lender provides the collateral. If when the value goes down, Lulo does a partial liquidation.

> What's the value-add, apart from low transfer fees?

High interest, with insurance. Mentioned in the comment you're replying to.

Aloisius 3 days ago||
I don't know why I'd trust crypto companies with my company's money given the general lack of regulation; outrageous history of massive fraud, scams, security breaches and simply insiders running away with money; short history of these companies; lack of trusted deposit insurance; lack of reversibility; suspicious claims of guaranteed high "risk free" rates of return; and frankly, the general seediness of seemingly everyone involved.

I mean, for goodness sake, "normie"? Come on.

nailer 3 days ago||
[flagged]
Aloisius 3 days ago||
It mentions it once.

More importantly, not only are those regulations not in effect, the final regulations haven't even been written or approved yet - which brings up certain questions about how a stablecoin could be compliant with them.

And of course, even if a US-based stablecoin is well regulated, it still doesn't make these foreign "savings" account companies offering guaranteed high rates of return is a safe place to park your money.

Everything about it feels scammy. The claim of compliance against non-existent regulations, too good to be true guaranteed high rates of return, companies set up in questionable jurisdictions and the emotional appeals of not being a sucker and fear of missing out? All that's missing is a suggestion that there's a limited time left to act.

nailer 2 days ago||
> It mentions it once.

> > (tranferring USDC or another GENIUS-compliant stablecoin on Solana).

> > The Genius act regulates stablecoin provision. US-issued stablecoins are backed by government bonds with proof of reserves. USDC and PyUSD are compliant already, USAT exists because USDT isn't compliant.

No.

> More importantly, not only are those regulations not in effect, the final regulations haven't even been written or approved yet - which brings up certain questions about how a stablecoin could be compliant with them.

No. The GENIUS Act is in effect, it was signed on July 18, 2025, becoming Public Law No: 119-27.

Aloisius 2 days ago||
> No. The GENIUS Act is in effect, it was signed on July 18, 2025, becoming Public Law No: 119-27.

The law itself isn't the regulations. The law authorizes and directs regulators to create the regulations.

Moreover, the GENIUS Act doesn't become effective until January 18, 2027 (18 months after it was passed) or 120 days after regulators issue final regulations, whichever is earlier.[1][2]

The regulations for it are still being developed across dozens of state and federal regulatory agencies. The only thing someone like Tether did was get an existing bank to issue it which is a basic requirement to qualify as stablecoin issuer at all.

[1] Pub. L. 119–27, § 20

[2] https://dacfp.com/the-genius-act-in-plain-english/

vvpan 3 days ago|
[flagged]
arbol 3 days ago||
Markedly less than a few years ago
vvpan 2 days ago||
So there is a chance the situation is improving you think? I sure hope so.
aurareturn 2 days ago||
Cookie-cutter "but crypto is a scam" comments are well deserved on HN.

Take it as someone who worked in crypto doing on chain analysis.

It's 99.999% scams, rug pulls, insider trading, ponzis, pump and dumps, and insiders stealing customer funds. It's a zero sum game because crypto does not increase productivity. Crypto is also one of the best ways to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich.