FinTech LIVE Dubai: David Palmer, CPO, Vodafone Keynote
At FinTech LIVE Dubai 2025, David Palmer, CPO Pairpoint by Vodafone and Web3 Lead at Pairpoint by Vodafone, explored how fintech and Web3 will underpin the rapidly forming AI-powered digital economy.
Mapping the digital growth curve to 2030
David began by framing the future landscape with striking statistics.
By 2030, the world is expected to host 8.1 billion people, 7.6 billion mobile phones, 21 billion IoT devices and over 4.2 billion digital wallets.
Perhaps more notably, AI users are projected to exceed 115 billion, many of these represented by intelligent agents and robots.
“Could mobile phones and IoT be key to mass adoption of AI?” David asked. “Could the wallet be the gateway to fintech, Web3 and the AI economy?”
These questions served as a springboard for his exploration into the converging forces of connectivity, digital finance and smart infrastructure.
As AI adoption grows, so does its economic impact— David cited projections of 300 million jobs replaced by automation and the AI metaverse becoming a $5tn economy.
Yet, he offered a balanced view. “A lot more jobs will be created, which makes us more productive,” said David.
Tokenisation and stablecoins as key enablers
David highlighted three transformative trends fuelling the AI economy:
1. Tokenised real-world assets
Everything from real estate to securities and gold is being digitised through blockchain. The tokenised assets market is forecasted to reach US$18.9tn by 2030 – representing 20% of global GDP.
“We can expect that AI robots, AI assets will be part of the tokenisation efforts,” said David, including financing and ownership models based on smart contracts.
2. Stablecoins
Acting as digital representations of fiat currencies, stablecoins remove intermediaries, enable peer-to-peer transactions and provide programmable liquidity.
With a current market cap of US$215bn, David pointed to forecasts pushing that number to US$3.7tn by 2030.
He also hinted at emerging use cases beyond the US dollar, including tokenised bank deposits and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
3. Decentralised public infrastructure networks (DePIN)
David emphasised their critical role in building a financial system suited for a decentralised, AI-driven world.
“We’re building a new digital infrastructure for a new digital world,” he said.
DePIN is projected to support US$1tn in projects by 2030.
Together, these forces support what David sees as an entirely new financial architecture: “Tokenisation brings liquidity and programmability to assets, stablecoins tie them to the macroeconomic system, and DePIN links them to financing and communities.”
From connected devices to agent-led fintech
David described a paradigm shift from application-based interfaces to agent-based financial engagement.
“The next phase of this AI economy will increasingly involve IoT devices and how data from those devices get into large language models,” he explained.
Vodafone, through its Web3 initiative, is working to bridge connected devices – phones, IoT sensors, autonomous cars – to AI agents, smart contracts and blockchain networks.
This will enable devices to carry out financial transactions, execute contracts and validate identities independently.
David introduced Vodafone’s ‘Web3 asset as a service’ model, which leverages IoT data and smart contracts to automate repayment based on asset usage.
On the user side, digital wallets will act as the primary interaction layer. David envisions a wallet that integrates with embedded finance, decentralised identity and AI agents, allowing users to engage in seamless transactions across both digital and physical environments.
New markets, new risks and new responsibilities
As billions of connected devices come online and AI agents gain transactional authority, David acknowledged the risks.
“With more access and automation, the risk goes up as well,” he said, referring to poor user decisions in embedded finance scenarios.
While regulation and in-built safeguards can help, he emphasised the need for education and support systems alongside innovation.
David closed by reflecting on the “economy of things”—a landscape of 10.3 billion transacting devices by 2030, a US$500bn in-car payments market and over a billion AI robots globally. These, he believes, will drive the next generation of fintech innovation.
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