Stablecoins, Privacy, and Lightning on RGB Protocol
At Origin Seoul 2026, Birkan Kayadibi hosted a fireside chat with Federico Tenga, both co-founders of the RGB Protocol Association: “RGB: What It Is and What It Makes Possible”. The conversation covers stablecoin privacy on Bitcoin, compliance, and Lightning payments.
Watch the full video at the top of the page for the whole interview.
In Brief
- Assets on Bitcoin: RGB Protocol on Bitcoin brings stablecoins to Bitcoin and Lightning, with no wrapping and no bridge
- Local stablecoins: an untapped market for export-driven economies such as Korea, Japan, and China
- Privacy with compliance: transfer data stays off-chain, and the receiver verifies the full asset history
- Next milestone: USDT on RGB, on-chain and over Lightning
The Conversation in a Few Words
In 16 minutes, Kayadibi and Tenga explain RGB at a high level. Tenga starts from the problem: Bitcoin is secure and decentralized, and anyone can run a full node on ordinary hardware. However, Bitcoin alone has no built-in way to issue assets. With RGB, stablecoins and bitcoin share the same network. The rest of the chat is about stablecoins in local currencies for trade in Asia, privacy and compliance, payments over Lightning, and the arrival of USDT.
How Does Stablecoin Privacy on Bitcoin Meet Compliance?
The longest answer of the chat is about stablecoin privacy on Bitcoin. With RGB, the details of a transfer never go on-chain. Sender and receiver pass the data to each other directly, and Bitcoin only prevents double-spending and gives finality to the transfer. Anyone looking at a block explorer sees nothing about the asset, the amount, or the recipient.
Regulated companies still get the necessary information. The receiver sees the full history of the asset and can check the source of the funds before accepting the transfer, alone or with the help of a service provider. A receiver unhappy with the source can refuse the transfer.
According to Tenga, sanctioned entities on other chains sometimes send small spam payments to create trouble for a company. With RGB, the company can say no.
On-Chain for Large Payments, Lightning for Retail
For Kayadibi, RGB plus Lightning is “revolutionary”, and Tenga shares the view. The choice depends on the payment. A large cross-border payment works well on-chain. A retail payment needs the speed and low cost of Lightning. With RGB, the same asset goes both ways, and moving between on-chain and Lightning is as easy as with bitcoin. RGB was built for the Lightning Network from day one, because Tenga sees Lightning as the future of Bitcoin.
Next Milestone: USDT on RGB
The chat ends with a look at the months ahead. Tenga names the announced USDT support on RGB as the next milestone for adoption. After USDT, the work continues on tooling for the ecosystem.
The full video is at the top of the page. For news on USDT, follow @RGB_Bitcoin. New to RGB? Start with What is RGB Protocol on Bitcoin.
Fireside chat recorded at Origin Seoul 2026. Original video published by @ORIGINseoulBTC.
