In this masterclass I walk you through stablecoins from the ground up—what they are, why they exist, and why they matter if you care about real-world payments, investing workflows, and “not getting wrecked” by volatility. I explain stablecoins as cryptocurrencies that live on blockchains but keep their value pegged to something external (usually the US dollar). That stability is the whole point: it makes things like cross-border payments and DeFi onboarding practical, and it also gives you a “parking spot” during volatile market periods. Then I break down the major players you actually need to know: USDT (Tether), USDC (Circle), and DAI (MakerDAO). I cover what’s centralized vs decentralized, what’s fiat-backed vs crypto-backed, and why “questionable backing” and depegging risk are not theoretical—DAI hitting $0.88 is a perfect example of how collateral chains can turn into a house of cards. I also talk about PayPal’s PYUSD as a bridge out of the PayPal walled garden into self-custody wallets and DeFi, and I give my take on Ripple’s move into stablecoin payments. Finally, I get practical: I show how I use stablecoins in Coinbase, how to send to a self-custody wallet, and the simplest way to avoid a painful mistake—check the network. If it starts with 0x, you’re looking at an Ethereum-style address (ERC-20); no 0x usually means Solana (SPL). I wrap with why regulation like the Genius Act matters: clear rules and 100% low-risk backing requirements are how this space becomes more trustworthy over time.