The Fintech Blueprint: Recent Episodes

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In this episode, Lex chats with Srini Krish — Co-Head of Financial Solutions at Fiserv, one of the original fintechs, in business for nearly five decades and sitting at the intersection of commerce and banking.

Lex and Srini discuss how Fiserv acts as the technology backbone for 5,000+ US banks and credit unions that lack the wherewithal to match JPMorgan or Wells Fargo on their own, and how the firm is packaging AI into that distribution layer through Agent OS and partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic. Srini lays out his four-bucket framework for enterprise AI - better client service, internal productivity, AI embedded in products, and a platform banks can use to build their own agents - and explains why money demands deterministic outcomes rather than probabilistic guesses, keeping a human in the middle as commercial loan underwriting compresses from weeks to hours.

They explore the competitive race against challengers like Mercury and Ramp, the mainframe that has outlived thirty years of obituaries, and where power sits between the AI labs and their distribution channels once inference commoditizes.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. MIPS became tokens. Srini frames the whole AI shift through continuity: engineers once measured effectiveness by MIPS consumed and how often they compiled code; today the metric is token consumption. Same discipline of doing more with minimal resource, thirty years apart.
2. Money forces determinism. Probabilistic outputs are fine for many tasks but unacceptable for balances - a figure 1% or 5% off is a failure, it has to be right every time. So Fiserv’s Agent OS rollout starts with non-real-time, human-in-the-middle use cases and only graduates toward autonomy and eventually customer-built agents. It’s a crawl-walk-run path, and Fiserv says it’s clearly still crawling.
3. The moat is distribution, not model access. Fiserv’s 5,000+ banks and credit unions can’t engage OpenAI or Anthropic directly at scale, so Fiserv becomes the platform that packages agentic workflows - turning commercial loan decisions from a multi-week process into hours, with the auditability and observability those institutions could never build alone.

TOPICS

Fintech, Fiserv, EmbeddedFinance, AgenticAI, EnterpriseAI, Banking, Payments, DigitalBanking, CommunityBanks, FinancialInfrastructure, AIAgents, OpenAI, Anthropic, ClaudeCode, JPMorganChase, FirstData, Mercury, Ramp, Plaid

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’12: Fintech Before It Was Fashionable: Five Decades at the Intersection of Commerce and Banking

6’13: Access, Move, Trust: What Actually Defines a Fintech Across Three Decades

10’28: A Loan at the Mechanic's Shop: How Embedded Finance Widened the Market and the Money Behind It

13’22: Four Buckets for Enterprise AI: Where Agent OS and the OpenAI Partnership Actually Fit

20’47: Not Savviness but Wherewithal: Why 5,000 Institutions Can't Build JPMorgan's Stack Alone

25’39: Mercury, Ramp, and the Mainframe That Never Died: Why the Incumbents Aren't Going Anywhere

29’51: Both Labs, All Three Clouds: Why the Distribution Channel Sits in the Middle

33’16: The Engineer Who Stops Writing Code: Why Replacement and Expansion Can Both Be True

36’50: It Has to Be 100% Correct Every Time: Why Money Demands Deterministic AI

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Jeff Grimes — who is Head of Live Events Products at Perplexity, the AI company that has evolved from an "answer engine" into an "agent platform" built around Perplexity Computer, its multi-agent digital worker. They discuss how Perplexity has shifted financial research from the how to the what, letting a user describe an outcome in a single sentence while Computer orchestrates 20+ frontier models, direct tool calls to licensed live data, and finance-specific skills to produce the artifact.

Jeff explains the enterprise strategy behind traceability - the north star that 100% of every quantitative figure traces back to its source filing - alongside bring-your-own-license connections via MCP and the consumer "personal CFO" vision powered by Plaid. They explore what 5x revenue growth on a 34% headcount increase signals for finance jobs, and why the future looks like a 24/7 family office that proactively surfaces and, with permission, executes financial actions for everyone.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. The “how to what” collapse is the real product thesis, not just better models. The shift to zero-shot rests on three stacked unlocks: direct tool calls to licensed live data (Quartr for earnings transcripts, unusual whales for insider and political holdings, SEC filings for historicals) instead of relying on web freshness; a thinking-model router that orchestrates 20+ frontier models in parallel, matching the model to the job (a heavy thinking model for macro analysis, a lighter one for ticker-matching 550 names); and ~20 opinionated finance skills (DCF, three-statement, LBO, comps) tuned through expert-led evals. Together they turn one sentence into a polished equity-research artifact.
2. Traceability is the enterprise wedge, framed as “don’t trust and verify.” The stated north star is that 100% of every number in any output is hover-traceable back to the source filing - pre-scrolled to the page, highlighted, with the full chain of calculations exposed. The framing inverts the usual “trust but verify”: assume the user won’t trust the model, so trust must be earned per number. Paired with bring-your-own-license via MCP (FactSet, LSEG, Morningstar, CarbonArc, PitchBook), this is the concrete answer to why regulated institutions get comfortable adopting.
3. The productivity and jobs signal is quantified and lived internally. Perplexity grew annual run rate 5x while increasing headcount only ~34%. Computer began as a company-wide Slack bot where every request was visible to all employees; Jeff now runs 9–10 scheduled cron jobs each morning and says essentially all code is written first by his agents. On the consumer side, the emergent pattern is build-your-own long-tail apps that no roadmap-bound product could serve - a DraftKings-addiction accountability system that emails a user’s spouse on any bet, or a GitHub-style heatmap of daily spending - which is the real substance of the personal-CFO bet.

TOPICS

Perplexity, Perplexity Computer, Perplexity AI, Google, Shadebot, Plaid, Yodlee, Claude, ChatGPT, AI, Artificial Intelligence, LLM, CFO, financial services, AI commerce

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’05: A company built on failed founders: Why the startup that didn't work out led here

5’10: A playing card company that became Nintendo: How curiosity carried Perplexity from answers to actions

9’52: We're basically at zero shot now: Why prompt engineering is disappearing from finance work

15’21: A thinking model that routes the job: How Perplexity picks Claude Opus for macro and Grok for tickers

20’12: Two tracks, one engine: Building for enterprise workflows and a personal CFO at once

25’25: Bring your own license, or use ours: How Perplexity gets institutions comfortable enough to adopt

32’54: 5x revenue on 34% more headcount: The productivity gain Perplexity lived firsthand

37’28: Connect everything from your mortgage to the painting on your wall: Building the true personal CFO

45’15: A family office that works 24/7 for everyone: The proactive, automated future of the personal CFO

48’01: The channels used to connect with Jeff & learn more about Perplexity Computer

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Cactus Raazi — CEO Americas at B2C2, one of the original and largest institutional market makers in digital assets, serving roughly 1,500 institutions and pricing across more than 40 exchanges globally.

They discuss what a market maker actually does, how balance sheet and signal generation underpin roughly $1 billion a day of stablecoin flow at B2C2, and why the two extremes of crypto market making - riskless principal aggregation versus proprietary alpha - produce very different client outcomes that buyers rarely understand.

Cactus explains B2C2's 18-month bet that the Circle-versus-Tether debate would give way to a multi-issuer world, the launch of its PENNY product for instant zero-cost cross-stablecoin swaps, and they explore why programmability is the next frontier for digital dollars, why US capital markets have almost no structure for funding genuine risk-taking businesses, and whether the current combination of scale, speed, and complexity makes this the hardest investing environment Wall Street has ever faced.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Market makers aren’t a homogeneous category, and clients pay for the difference. At one extreme, a market maker is essentially a riskless agent - aggregating prices across 40+ exchanges and quoting on top with no real view. At the other extreme, a market maker is a proprietary quant shop running alpha signals on horizons from seconds to days, and the price you get is heavily conditioned by where the signal says the asset is going. B2C2 sits in the middle, partly because its public-company parent (SBI) constrains risk appetite. The implication for institutional buyers: who you trade with structurally determines the quality of execution, not just the spread.
2. Algorithmic fixed income market making didn’t fail on technology, it failed on capital structure. US capital markets are excellent at funding venture, growth equity, private equity, and buyouts, but there is almost no domestic pool of “risk equity” - capital comfortable with the possibility that the machines (or the humans) lose money on a given day. Market makers need exactly that kind of balance sheet, and the mismatch between what the business requires and what the US capital base offers is a structural reason firms like Elefant struggled, regardless of execution quality.
3. The Circle-vs-Tether framing is already obsolete; the next product wedge is interoperability. B2C2 made an 18-month-old contrarian bet that the duopoly narrative was wrong and that Stripe (via Bridge), Western Union, Revolut, and many other consumer and platform companies would issue their own stablecoins. PENNY - instant, zero-cost, zero-counterparty-risk stablecoin-to-stablecoin swaps - is the product expression of that view. The deeper claim is that stablecoins are software, and the SaaS analogy (a base layer plus an app store of programmable financial logic) is the real reason institutional adoption accelerates from here, not the transfer-of-value benefit on its own.

TOPICS

B2C2, Goldman Sachs, SBI Group, Binance, Coinbase, Circle, Tether, Stripe, Kraken, Credit Suisse, Market making, institutional liquidity, stablecoins, fixed income, risk management, algorithmic trading, crypto exchange infrastructure

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’17: Rejected by 30 firms: A cold-call advertising inquiry that became a Goldman career

6’43: "I'll go sell jet engines": Complexity as the through line from credit derivatives to crypto

8’53: Scale, speed, and dimensionality: The hardest investing environment in 28 years

12’33: A terrific idea, a brutal execution: Building an automated market maker in 2015

16’22: The used car dealership of bonds: How over-the-counter fixed income actually works

19’51: Price, time frame, and the art of liquidity: What a market maker actually does

24’52: Riskless principal or proprietary alpha: The two extremes of crypto market making

29’54: Priming the liquidity pump: Why new tokens hire market makers and large ones don't

35’40: $1 billion a day in stablecoins: A contrarian bet against the Circle-versus-Tether frame

39’43: 24/7 money movement: The treasurer wish list stablecoins actually deliver

41’04: The channels used to connect with Cactus & learn more about B2C2

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats withMike Milotich — Chief Executive Officer of Marqeta, the modern card issuing platform that processed nearly $400 billion in payments volume in 2025, and is certified to operate in 40+ countries, growing over 30% for the third straight year. They discuss how Marqeta's separation of bank, processor, and brand armed fintech's largest winners across buy now pay later, on-demand delivery, neo-banking, and expense management with the Lego blocks to build their own card programs.

Mike explains how the company's growth is shifting from enabling new use cases to displacing volume on legacy bank platforms, and they explore why card issuing is going multinational, what the agentic commerce wave actually requires to clear security and behavioural hurdles, and how Marqeta's continued growth runs through embedded finance, real-time personalisation, and the forced modernisation of the banks themselves.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. The BNPL business model is flipping from merchant rails to consumer cards. Marqeta originally solved the merchant scale problem for buy now pay later via virtual cards, removing the need for tens of millions of merchants to integrate a new button at checkout. The current shift is more important: BNPL players are now issuing consumers their own physical and virtual cards usable anywhere cards are accepted, turning BNPL from a merchant-acceptance game into a direct consumer value proposition. BNPL volume has grown over 50% year-on-year for Marqeta in recent quarters.
2. Card issuing is going multinational, and that breaks the legacy bank model. Banks have always been local on the consumer side, with only a handful multinational on the commercial treasury side. The next generation of card issuers, neo-banks like Revolut and Nubank, plus large global platforms embedding financial products into existing user bases, are global by default. A single platform that issues cards, and is certified to operate across 40+ countries, becomes the strategic moat, and legacy processors built to serve domestic bank programs aren’t structured to compete.
3. The growth story is moving from expanding the pie to displacing the incumbents. To date, Marqeta has mostly powered new card use cases that didn’t exist before — on-demand delivery, BNPL, neo-banking, expense management. Mike’s forward thesis is a phase change: pressure from fintech winners is forcing banks to modernise, and the next leg of growth comes from displacing volume sitting on legacy bank-controlled platforms. Real-time personalised rewards, where the same card delivers different offers to different cardholders based on live data, is the wedge that legacy infrastructure can’t deliver.

TOPICS

Marqeta, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Payments, card issuing, embedded finance, fintech, BNPL, neobank, agentic commerce, e-commerce, crypto, stablecoins, programmable money, machine economy, agentic AI

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’04: From Math Brain to Payments Career : Finding the Nuance in How Money Actually Moves

7’05: The Narrative Gets Ahead of Reality : Why Agentic Commerce Will Move Slower Than the Technologists Think

10’08: Global But Local : The Balancing Act That Kept Visa on Top of the Payments Network for Decades

12’58: Carve It Out or Watch It Get Trampled : How Visa Incubates Mobile, Crypto and Agentic Without Killing Them

15’03: $400 Billion in Volume, 30% Growth, Three Years Running : The Numbers Behind Marqeta's Compounding Scale

17’05: The Pandemic Poured Gasoline on Everything : Why DoorDash, BNPL, Expense and Neo-Banking All Exploded at Once

24’24: The Lego Blocks for Payments : How Marqeta Armed the Innovators Who Couldn't Build Through Banks

29’19: Visibility as a Weapon : Why Being Public Helps Marqeta Win Customers Against Private and Embedded Competitors

33’15: Fewer Bets, Higher Probability : How Public Market Discipline Reshaped Marqeta's Risk and Profitability Model

36’35: The Legacy Platforms Were Built for Banks : Why Embedded Finance, Multinational Card Issuing and Personalisation Reshape the Pie

41’50: Prompted, Not Replaced : The Ten-Year View on Whether Volume Comes From People or Robots

43’56: The channels used to connect with Mike & learn more about Marqeta

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats withEvan Malanga — Chief Revenue Officer of Yuma, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group focused on growing the Bittensor ecosystem. They discuss how Bittensor's $6 billion protocol incentivises AI builders worldwide through token emissions across 128 competing subnets, and why the network has produced real commercial outputs — including a 72 billion parameter model trained on-chain and a coding agent rivalling Claude at a fraction of the cost. Evan explains Yuma's role as the institutional gateway to Bittensor through its validator, accelerator, and asset management products, and they explore why the concentration of AI in OpenAI and Anthropic is a systemic risk, and whether Bittensor's future extends beyond AI into a broader coordination engine for decentralised work.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Bittensor has crossed from experimentation into shipping benchmark-competitive work at a fraction of centralized cost. Three recent proof points: Templar (subnet 3) completed the largest decentralized pre-training run of a 72B parameter model using only the network’s token incentives. Ridges, an AI agent platform, is hitting 88–90% on software engineering benchmarks, on par with Claude-class agents at ~5x cheaper, built by a 3-to-5-person team under $10M of token emissions. Score (subnet 44) is doing computer vision 200x faster than centralized counterparts. Small distributed teams are producing outputs competitive with frontier labs without raising venture capital or hiring staff.
2. Dynamic TAO restructured emissions from validator-curated to market-curated, making each subnet its own tradeable asset. Previously, dominant validators assigned weights that determined how the 7,200 daily TAO emission flowed across subnets. Under Dynamic TAO, each of the 128 subnets has its own token denominated in TAO, and any holder can buy or sell into specific subnets, pricing them like a market rather than a committee vote. Subnet owners, miners, and validators earn fees in the respective subnet token. Distribution has settled into a power law: the top ten subnets hold ~80% of market cap. This is the move that turned Bittensor from “decentralized AI protocol” into a financial hyperstructure with hundreds of tokenized work markets layered on top.
3. The economics for subnet owners are genuinely unusual — hundreds of millions in annual incentives, fully subsidized labor, no fundraising. A subnet owner gets access to up to ~256 miners globally competing to satisfy their problem statement, with miner compensation paid by protocol emissions rather than the subnet owner. At current TAO prices, annual incentives across the network run into hundreds of millions; at higher prices, this approaches $1B/year up for grabs. No hiring, no benefits, no recruiting, the network runs as a continuous adversarial competition where validators rank miner outputs. This is the mechanical answer to “why would an AI researcher choose Bittensor over Silicon Valley”, and explains why researchers at Meta and Google reportedly mine Bittensor on nights and weekends, with top miners on subnets like Ridges earning ~$30,000/day.

TOPICS

Yuma, Bittensor, Digital Currency Group, DCG, OpenAI, Anthropic, Foundry, Templar, Ridges, Bitcoin, Meta, Google, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Decentralized AI, Crypto, Blockchain, AI, Tokenomics, Decentralized Science, DeSci, AI Agents, Computer Vision, Proof of Work, Tokenization, Real World Assets, RWA, Machine Economy

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: The World Wide Web of Intelligence : How Bittensor Turns AI Into Open Competition

9’48: Decentralized AI or Financial Hyperstructure : Unpacking Bittensor's Tokenomics and the Shift to Dynamic TAO

15’04: 256 Miners, Zero Payroll : How Bittensor Subsidizes the Labor Behind Every Subnet

18’03: The Olympics of AI : How Subnet Competitions Replace Bitcoin's Proof of Work

20’09: The Grayscale Playbook for Bittensor : How Yuma Is Building the Institutional On-Ramp

23’19: AI Is the Wedge, Not the Ceiling : Bittensor's 3-to-5-Year Path to Coordinating All Work

28’03: Right but Early : Why the Vision for Decentralized AI May Take 15 Years to Realize

30’52: Decentralized Science as the Next Wedge : Why DeSci Could Be Bittensor's Most Underrated Use Case

34’10: $30,000/Day Mining on Nights and Weekends : Why Meta and Google Researchers Are Quietly on Bittensor

35’56: The channels used to connect with Evan & learn more about Yuma and Bittensor

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Immad Akhund, CEO and founder of Mercury, a leading neobank for businesses. Immad shares his entrepreneurial journey, explaining how frustrating banking experiences inspired Mercury's creation.

They discuss Banking as a Service, open banking, embedded finance, and core banking systems. Immad details Mercury's product philosophy, team structure, and migration away from Synapse before its collapse. He also outlines Mercury's impressive growth, with 300,000 customers, $650M in annual revenue, and three years of profitability.

The conversation concludes with Mercury's future plans, including lending expansion, a bank charter application, and hopes for smarter AI-driven regulatory compliance.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Banking-as-a-Service Has Been Completely Restructured - and the Original Model Is Dead: The fintech BaaS layer that enabled the 2019–2021 neobank boom - middleware providers like Synapse, Unit, and Bond sitting between fintechs and partner banks - has effectively collapsed. The replacement model is banks themselves exposing modern APIs directly, with Column Bank and Lead Bank emerging as the new infrastructure layer. Mercury navigated this shift early, moving entirely off Synapse months before its April 2024 failure, but the broader lesson is that the hundred-program BaaS model broke under the weight of compliance and reconciliation complexity.
2. Mercury’s 40% Startup Market Share Is Just the Entry Point to a $2 Trillion Opportunity: Mercury captures over 35% of early-stage US startups, but broader SMB banking represents 30% of all banking revenue - a $2 trillion market. The company is now expanding into personal banking (launched December 2025), lending (bank charter application filed), and subscription software. Akhund frames Mercury not as a bank but as a financial operating system - the “Google suite of banking” - where deposits are the entry point to invoicing, bill pay, spend management, and eventually underwriting.
3. Stablecoins Don’t Magically Solve the Ledger Problem: Akhund pushes back on the narrative that stablecoins eliminate reconciliation risk. In practice, most stablecoin providers pool customer funds into shared wallets and run their own abstraction layers and internal ledgers - recreating the same reconciliation challenges that exist in traditional banking. The benefit only holds in the narrow case where users truly own their own keys and wallets, which is rarely how scaled fintech products operate.

TOPICS

Mercury, Synapse, Chase, Evolve Bank, Column Bank, Stripe, Plaid, Coinbase, neobank, neobanking, banking-as-a-service, BAAS, fintech, fintech regulation, reconciliation, product development, stablecoins, API, blockchain, VCs, embedded finance

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’05: Signing up for six bank accounts and asking for an API nobody understood : how the idea for Mercury was born

4’57: Why depository banking was fintech's last untouched frontier : partner banks, BaaS, and the gap Mercury filled

6’54: BaaS, open banking, embedded finance, and banking cores : a plain-English breakdown of fintech's alphabet soup

13’50: Competing against Chase and Wells Fargo : why Mercury's best advantage is how bad banks still are

18’28: Checkbox banking versus handcrafted product : how Mercury built a unified experience that incumbents can't replicate

20’52: Autonomous product teams and customer-first engineering : how Mercury structures 300 people to ship like a startup

23’21: The right unit of speed : why Mercury bets on autonomy over coordination in product development

26’14: Navigating the Synapse collapse : how Mercury moved off early and reconciled every transaction

29’42: Stablecoins as the new embedded finance : why blockchain ledgers don't magically solve reconciliation

31’52: $650M in revenue and still just getting started : Mercury's vision for the Google suite of banking

35’04: Why profitability beats begging VCs : Mercury's business model and the case for financial independence

37’42: 40% of startups and a bank charter application : Mercury's roadmap inside a $2 trillion market

41’28: The path to a national bank charter : why AI will reshape compliance costs for fintechs

44’00: The channels used to connect with Immad & learn more about Mercury

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Marc Boiron — CEO of Polygon Labs. Marc shares his journey from law to blockchain, discussing the challenges of navigating crypto’s evolving legal landscape and the complexities of structuring compliant DeFi projects. He explains Polygon’s strategic pivot to focus on stablecoin payments, leveraging its proven blockchain and global partnerships.

Marc highlights Polygon’s real-world adoption, competitive edge, and vision to become the leading platform for on-chain payments. The episode offers insights into regulatory hurdles, industry trends, and Polygon’s mission to transform digital money movement.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. The Labs-Foundation Structure Is a Frankenstein - and Its Creator Knows It: Marc helped architect the legal frameworks behind major DeFi token launches but openly calls the outcome a “complete Frankenstein.” The arm’s-length separation between labs and foundations was necessary to survive regulatory hostility, but makes coherent execution nearly impossible. He argues projects still copying this structure today are doing so out of habit, not legal necessity.
2. Generalist Blockchains Are Dead - Polygon Is Betting Everything on Payments: As chain architectures converge, Boiron believes differentiation through speed and low fees is over. Polygon analysed its actual usage, found stablecoin payments was the standout vertical - $2.3 trillion already moved, fintechs across LatAm, Africa, and Southeast Asia already on-chain - and went all-in. The thesis is binary: if all money moves on-chain within a decade, even the 50th-best payments chain wins big.
3. Polygon’s Real Moat Is Enterprise Trust Built During the NFT Era: The 2022–23 enterprise NFT push looked like a dead end after FTX collapsed, but it left behind institutional due diligence and credibility. Fintechs evaluating payments chains find that Polygon has years of live production use, Fortune 500 relationships, and Stripe already defaulting to it - a trust advantage no newly launched chain can replicate.

TOPICS

Polygon Labs, Polygon protocol, blockchain, crypto, decentralized finance, DeFi, legal frameworks, token launches, meme coins, stablecoins, payments, fintech, Ethereum, ICO boom, web3, NFT, Stripe, Circle

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: From Spreadsheets to Smart Contracts: The Accidental Lawyer Who Found His Edge in Emerging Companies

4’40: Selling Your Soul for Low-Risk Capital: The Case For and Against the JD MBA

9’41: Fake It Till You Make It: How the ICO Craze of 2017 Turned One Niche Bet Into a Crypto Legal Career

13’01: Read the Actual Law: Why Memorizing the Securities Act Beat 20 Years of Legal Precedent in Crypto

18’19: The Crypto Legal Frankenstein: How Regulatory Survival, Not Business Logic, Built the Foundation-Labs-Token Structure

25’16: From Stockholm Syndrome to Meme Coin Mania: The Disorienting Cost of Crypto's Regulatory 180

30’05: The Dichotomy of Success: How Polygon's Most Celebrated Moment Was Secretly Its Most Broken

36’49: All Money on Chain: Why Polygon Is Betting Its Future on Becoming the World's Payments Blockchain

48’29: The channels used to connect with Marc & learn more about Polygon Labs

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Alex Gluchowski — Cofounder and CEO of Matter Labs, about the transformative impact of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) on blockchain scalability and privacy. They discuss Matter Labs’ evolution, the development of zkSync, and how ZK proofs enable secure, private, and efficient blockchain transactions.

The conversation explores enterprise adoption, regulatory shifts, and the potential for blockchain to revolutionize global finance by enabling privacy-preserving, interoperable networks anchored to Ethereum, ultimately highlighting the growing role of cryptography in advancing financial sovereignty and innovation.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Incorruptibility is Blockchain’s Core Value—Not Consensus: Consensus mechanisms solve network liveness without central operators, but the guarantee that your assets can’t be spent without your permission comes from verification. Bitcoin’s “don’t trust, verify” mantra is literal: every node re-executes every transaction. Zero knowledge proofs achieve the same incorruptibility without requiring universal visibility—enabling both scale and privacy.
2. The Regulatory Shift Has Unlocked an Entirely New Market: The post-Trump regulatory environment represents a “great divide” for crypto. Banks and enterprises that previously couldn’t engage are now actively piloting blockchain infrastructure. Matter Labs is working with Deutsche Bank, UBS, and 35+ global financial institutions through initiatives like Presidio Breakthrough. The focus has shifted from building systems to withstand regulatory hostility to integrating crypto into real business processes.
3. Private Enterprise Chains Settling on Ethereum is the Institutional Path: Banks experimented with consortium blockchains (Hyperledger, Corda, R3) for years but failed due to privacy concerns—participants could see each other’s transactions. Zero knowledge proofs solve this by enabling private chains that interoperate trustlessly through Ethereum as a shared settlement layer. Each institution maintains sovereignty over its operations while gaining cryptographic guarantees when transacting with counterparties.

TOPICS

Matter Labs, zkSync, Ethereum, Consensys, Hyperledger, Arbitrum, Optimism, fintech, blockchain, zero-knowledge proofs, ZK proofs, privacy, institutional adoption, scalability, cryptography, interoperability

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’14: The Incorruptibility Problem: Why Zero Knowledge Proofs Are the Only Path to Private, Scalable Finance

5’19: From Soviet Ukraine to Zero Knowledge: How Hyperinflation and a Hunger for Freedom Built a Crypto Visionary

14’07: Freedom Has a Cost: Squaring Crypto's Libertarian Promise With a Decade of Market Abuse

17’11: The Post-Trump Paradigm Shift: Why Stablecoins Are the Shipping Container Moment for Global Finance

25’19: ZK Rollups Demystified: How a Few Kilobytes of Cryptographic Proof Inherit the Full Security of Ethereum

31’38: The Bank Stack of Ethereum: How Zero Knowledge Proofs Finally Solve the Problem Hyperledger and Corda Never Could

37’11: Ethereum as the World's Chronometer: Why Trustless Interoperability Lives or Dies Within a Single Settlement Layer

39’46: The channels used to connect with Alex & learn more about Matter Labs

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats with Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO of Alpaca — a brokerage infrastructure company that provides API-based trading and custody services to fintechs and developers globally.

The conversation begins with their shared experience at Lehman Brothers during the 2008 financial crisis, where Yoshi worked in fixed income securitization and learned that even when market participants sense a bubble, they keep dancing because timing the exit is impossible. After Lehman's collapse, Yoshi pursued entrepreneurship, building a computer vision AI company acquired by Kyocera before founding Alpaca in 2017. Initially inspired by Robinhood, Yoshi pivoted after experiencing firsthand the friction of accessing brokerage infrastructure—realizing the deeper opportunity was building API-first brokerage rails for developers. Today Alpaca powers 9 million accounts through 300+ partners across 45 countries, recently raising $150 million at a unicorn valuation.

The discussion explores how Alpaca follows Robinhood's product roadmap to anticipate partner demand, the challenges of adding crypto, and Yoshi's thesis that finance is undergoing a generational shift from digital to on-chain operations. Lex shares examples of legacy infrastructure dysfunction—from faxing PDFs to TD Ameritrade in 2012 to the Synapse collapse caused by manual CSV uploads—illustrating why Alpaca built its own custody and ledger systems as a path to competing in the $350 trillion global securities custody market.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Alpaca’s biggest breakthrough was not a better investing app idea, but recognizing that the real bottleneck was brokerage infrastructure. Yokokawa and team initially explored B2C product concepts, but pivoted once they experienced firsthand how painful broker-dealer setup, custody, and clearing integrations were. For readers building fintech, this is a huge lesson: the highest-value opportunity is often the “invisible” infrastructure pain, not the user-facing feature set.
2. They found product-market fit by starting with a narrow wedge (API for automated traders) and only then expanding into a broader platform (Broker API for fintech apps). Alpaca did not begin by serving large fintechs; it first attracted power users who urgently needed programmable execution, then used inbound demand (“can I build my own Robinhood?”) as proof to build account opening, reporting, and full brokerage APIs. This is a valuable go-to-market pattern for infrastructure startups: win with a sharp use case, then expand into the system of record.
3. Yokokawa’s core strategic edge is full-stack control of licenses, memberships, and ledger technology rather than relying on legacy vendors. He explicitly ties this to lessons from historical fintech fragility (manual workflows, broken reconciliations, middleware failures) and argues that owning the custody/clearing layer is what makes Alpaca defensible long term. For readers, this is the key takeaway on moat-building in financial services: if you don’t control the ledger and operational core, your product may scale faster at first but remains structurally fragile.

TOPICS

Alpaca, Lehman Brothers, Barclays, Nomura, Neuberger Berman, Blackrock, Robinhood, Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, BNY Mellon, Brokerage infrastructure, API, trading, tokenization, embedded finance, fintech, crypto, web3

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’08: From Lehman and Subprime ABS to Alpaca: Yoshi Yokokawa’s Origin Story

4’39: Neuberger’s $120B MBO and Lehman’s Core Lesson: Keep Dancing Until the Music Stops

7’17: From AAA Securitized Demand to Startup Conviction: Yoshi’s Post Lehman Pivot From Asia Institutions to Entrepreneurship

10’59: Computer Vision AI at the Deep Learning Inflection Point: Building a Profitable Startup and Exiting to Kyocera

13’29: Web2 Fintech Tailwinds and Robinhood Inspiration: Searching for the Right Investing Product in 2017

15’23: Mockups to Broker API Pivot: Why Trade Execution Pain Beat User Interview Insights in 12 Months

19’46: API Brokerage Go to Market: Winning Automated Traders First Then Expanding Into Global Fintech Infrastructure

24’25: Broker API Expansion and Early Partners: Midas and GoTrade Validate the Shift to Fintech Infrastructure and Crypto

26’53: Global Broker Demand and Crypto Buildout: Using Robinhood Signals to Drive Multi Asset Infrastructure in One API

29’48: Multi Asset Revenue and the Endgame: 300 Partners 45 Countries 9M Accounts and a $350T Custody Ambition

34’07: Tokenization as the Regime Shift: How On Chain Finance Could Disrupt BNY Mellon and Reshape $350T Custody

37’12: Fax Machines CSV Ledgers and the Case for Web3 Finance: Why Owning the Custody Stack and Ledger Matters

45’37: The channels used to connect with Yoshi & learn more about Alpaca

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex chats to Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink, a Nasdaq-listed leader in digital asset treasury management focused on Ethereum. Joseph shares his journey from BlackRock and the Aladdin platform to pioneering digital asset strategies, including staking and tokenization. The discussion explores the evolution of fintech, the integration of crypto into institutional finance, and the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and AI-powered financial agents.

Joseph highlights SharpLink approach to making Ether productive for investors and the growing institutional adoption of blockchain technologies.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. SharpLink’s scale and “productivity” pitch for ETH
   We hear that SharpLink (Nasdaq listed since July 2025) has raised a little over $3B in equity, holds ~$3B of ETH, and claims it stakes nearly 100% of its ether—framing itself as a public equities “one click” way to get both ETH upside and yield.
2. A rare behind the scenes look at BlackRock’s crypto playbook
   We get specifics on how BlackRock approached digital assets through three pillars—Circle/USDC reserves, the Coinbase integration (announced Aug 4, 2022) to make crypto trading “boring” for institutions, and tokenization via BUIDL on Ethereum with Securitize, which he calls the largest tokenized fund.
3. The next wave thesis AI agents + Ethereum rails
   Chalom argues the underestimated unlock is autonomous AI agents using Ethereum for programmable settlement, continuously reallocating capital across staking, lending, liquidity, and DeFi while monitoring smart contract risk—replacing manual “yield farming” with always on optimization.

TOPICS

Sharplink, BlackRock, FutureAdvisor, Ethereum, ETH, Buidl, Aladdin, digital assets, treasury management, decentralized finance, tokenization, Bitcoin, AI, AI Agents, Roboadvisors, Autonomous Agents

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’05: SharpLink’s Ethereum Treasury: $3B Raised to Make ETH Productive

4’53: BlackRock’s iShares Era and Aladdin Explained: Risk Tech at $14T Scale

9’07: From Aladdin to Robo Advisors: Why 320,000 Advisors Couldn’t Scale

16’32: The FutureAdvisor Culture Lesson: Balancing Product Builders and Institutional Know How

18’31: BlackRock’s Three Pillar Crypto Bet: Circle Coinbase and Tokenization

25’21: Why BlackRock Picked Coinbase: Making Crypto Trading “Boring” and Institutional

28’44: From Six Week Retirement to ETH Treasury: Why SharpLink Holds “Permanent Capital”

34’12: The Treasury Trade After the Hype: Why SharpLink Beats ETH ETFs on Staking

38’55: NAV Discounts and Mean Reversion: SharpLink’s Plan to Double ETH per Share

43’39: Ethereum’s Next Growth Stack: $300B Stablecoins $14T Tokenization and Institutional DeFi

48’23: From Copilots to Autonomous Agents: Ethereum as the Rails for Machine Finance

52’21: The channels used to connect with Joseph & learn more about SharpLink

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks with John Caplan — CEO of Payoneer, a public fintech company driving over $85 billion in annual cross-border payment volume. With roots as a prepaid card provider, Payoneer has evolved into a global financial operating platform serving 2 million entrepreneurs across 190 countries.

Caplan shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey—from building OpenSky and scaling it to $50 million in revenue before its acquisition by Alibaba, to now leading Payoneer’s transformation into a full-service banking alternative for global SMBs.

We explore how Payoneer is addressing the complex financial needs of international businesses, competing in a dynamic payments landscape, and preparing for a future that includes stablecoins, workforce management, and potentially $1 trillion in annual volume.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Payoneer’s Strategic Evolution from Payout Processor to Global SMB Bank Alternative
   Under John Caplan’s leadership, Payoneer expanded beyond marketplace payouts to become a comprehensive cross-border financial platform, offering AR/AP, intra-network transfers, cards, and global workforce management. This shift has significantly increased customer retention, take rate, and profitability—highlighting how product expansion and upmarket focus can unlock durable growth in fintech.
2. Execution Over Hype in Global Fintech Infrastructure
   Payoneer operates in 190 countries with 100+ banking partners and 7,000 payment routes—demonstrating the importance of deep regulatory compliance, local licensing, and multi-entity support in building resilient cross-border infrastructure. Unlike crypto-native entrants, Payoneer emphasizes last-mile utility and customer trust as core differentiators for scaling in complex markets.
3. Profitable Scale and Global Demand for SMB Financial Services
   With $1B+ revenue, $200M+ EBITDA, and $7.5B in customer funds held, Payoneer is proving that serving cross-border SMBs is not just a mission, but a highly profitable business. Their customer base spans from Bangladeshi freelancers to European firms doing $1M+ in volume, signaling massive, underserved global demand for modern financial tools outside the traditional banking system.

TOPICS

Payoneer, Alibaba, OpenSky, Stripe, Wise, Airwallex, Mercury, NuBank, digital banking, embedded finance, stablecoins, blockchain, regtech, B2B payments, SPAC, supple chain, ecommerce

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’06: John’s Career Journey: From OpenSky to Alibaba to Payoneer

6’18: Inside OpenSky: Serving Global Sellers and Financing the Supply Chain

9’54: Finding Traction: Failure, Product Market Fit, and China’s E‑Commerce Leap

13’42: Global Distribution: Universal Ambitions, Local Execution

15’52: Behavior Change Beats Legacy: Why Users Digitize When It Matters

17’21: Payoneer at $85B Volume and $1B Revenue: A Platform for Global SMBs

20’49: From Prepaid Cards to Core Operating Account: Evolving Payoneer’s DNA

25’32: Inside Payoneer’s Architecture: Global Bank Network and Internal Ledger

28’26: Global Growth Corridors: LatAm, APAC, and Take Rate Expansion

31’13: Staying the Course: Payoneer’s Post-SPAC Journey Through Volatile Markets

34’03: Misunderstood Value: Stablecoins, Interest Revenue, and Payoneer’s Real Strengths

38’44: Where Global Commerce Bends: Regulation, Platforms, and Resilience

40’58: Path to $1 Trillion: Payoneer’s Strategy for Organic and Inorganic Growth

43’22: The channels used to connect with John & learn more about Payoneer

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks with Michael Egorov - Founder of Curve Finance and YieldBasis. Kicking things off about his journey from experimental physicist to founder of Curve Finance and YieldBasis, highlighting how theoretical physics concepts influenced his creation of financial invariants in DeFi protocols.

Curve pioneered fully automated concentrated liquidity for stablecoins and introduced veTokenomics, a governance model rewarding long-term commitment with voting power and protocol fees. Egorov defends veTokenomics against criticisms of unlock-driven volatility, citing that most CRV locks average over 3 years and behave like permanent commitments. YieldBasis expands Curve’s approach by offering impermanent gain strategies to counter impermanent loss in volatile markets like Bitcoin, aiming to scale toward a $50B market ceiling.

The discussion closes with reflections on DeFi token market structure challenges and Egorov’s call for protocols to connect token value to real economic flows by activating fee-sharing mechanisms.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. veTokenomics Drives Long-Term Alignment and Token Sink Efficiency
   Michael Egorov introduced veTokenomics in Curve to address short-termism in token governance by requiring users to lock CRV tokens for up to 4 years to gain voting power and protocol rewards. This mechanism has proven effective in practice, with the average CRV lock time exceeding 3 years, effectively removing tokens from circulation. Egorov notes that veTokenomics removed 3x more tokens from supply than buybacks would have, highlighting its material impact on protocol stability and investor alignment.
2. YieldBasis Aims to Neutralize Impermanent Loss via Engineered Impermanent Gain
   YieldBasis builds on Curve’s AMM infrastructure by combining two layers: a Curve pool experiencing impermanent loss, and a complementary structure engineered to capture “impermanent gain”. This dual-layer approach statistically delivers net profit in volatile assets like Bitcoin, assuming mean-reverting price movements. Egorov estimates the market ceiling for this strategy at $50 billion, positioning YieldBasis as a scalable solution for volatility-based yield generation.
3. DeFi’s Market Structure Issues Stem from Uncertain Token-Economics Linkages
   Egorov critiques much of DeFi for failing to connect protocol economics to token value. While Curve distributes fees directly to CRV lockers, most protocols (like Uniswap) have not activated fee-sharing mechanisms (”fee switches”), creating valuation uncertainty. Egorov argues that unless projects “turn the switch on” and reduce economic ambiguity, token pricing will remain volatile and fragile, hindering broader adoption and investment confidence.

TOPICS

Curve Finance, YieldBasis, Uniswap, MakerDAO, Convex, StakeDAO, Threshold Network, NuCypher, AladdinDAO, Athena, Yearn, DeFi, veTokenomics, AMM, Stablecoin, Tokenomics, Governance, CRV Token, Ethereum, ETH, Bitcoin, BTC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’17: From Laser Cooling to Stablecoin Swaps: Michael Egorov on Physics-Inspired DeFi and Writing the “Laws” of Money

9’12: On-Chain Macro Labs: Designing Economies at Speed

14’58: Lockups vs. Liquidity Wrappers: When “Commitment” Becomes a Market for Illiquidity

18’57: Delegate Democracy on Chain: Vote Aggregators, Campaign Politics, and Why Ve-Style Governance Drives Higher Participation

23’52: Beyond TVL: Why Stablecoin AMMs “Need Less,” and How Yield Basis Targets Bitcoin’s Volatility to Neutralize Impermanent Loss

31’00: Who Earns the Volatility Yield: Wrapped Bitcoin Deposits, Market-Maker Liquidity, and the Long Runway Before Strategy Saturation

36’58: The Altcoin Valuation Trap: Why Buybacks Barely Move Prices—and Locking Can Shrink Supply

40’32: Fixing Token Market Structure: Connecting Cashflows, Killing Uncertainty, and Why “Turning the Fee Switch On” Matters

47’23: The channels used to connect with Michael & learn more about Curve and YieldBasis

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks with Gracy Chen - Bitget’s CEO, who transitioned from a fintech entrepreneur to leading one of the top five global crypto exchanges. Bitget processes $10–20 billion in daily trading volume and serves 120 million users across centralized and decentralized platforms. Its geographic base is mostly in Asia, but it’s expanding into Europe through regulatory compliance and new products like tokenized US stocks, which have already surpassed $20 billion in trading volume.

Bitget differentiates through security features, including a $600 million protection fund, and user acquisition via both brand campaigns (e.g. Messi sponsorship) and local affiliate (KOL) marketing. Looking ahead, Bitget aims to move beyond crypto-native assets toward mass adoption, focusing on product-market fit and offering tokenized real-world assets and enterprise services.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Bitget Is Transitioning Toward Regulatory Compliance and Tokenized Assets
   Bitget, historically an offshore crypto exchange, is shifting to a compliance-first strategy in key markets like Europe (e.g., under MiCA). It’s also diversifying its product offering beyond altcoins, including tokenized US stocks and forex, which have already generated $20B in trading volume. This reflects a broader industry trend where crypto platforms aim to integrate with traditional finance and support real-world assets (RWAs).
2. Bitget’s User Acquisition Combines Web2 Financial Discipline with Web3 Community Tactics
   Bitget uses a hybrid marketing approach: brand partnerships like the Leo Messi campaign and grassroots affiliate marketing via KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) who earn volume-based rebates. Additionally, local teams are given budget control and tailor acquisition strategies per market. This decentralized yet data-informed model mimics Web2 CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) analysis while leveraging crypto-native community dynamics.
3. Exchanges Are Struggling with Unsustainable Token Launch Models
   Gracy Chen criticizes the crypto industry’s overreliance on speculative “narrative-driven” token launches, noting that even well-funded tokens often fail without real product-market fit. Bitget is responding by requiring more tangible utility and sustainability from listed projects and aims to balance value across users, exchanges, and project teams through mechanisms like airdrop campaigns and launch pools with <1% token supply allocated.

TOPICS

Bitget, Bitget Wallet, Bitkeep, Coinbase, Binance, FTX, MetaMask, MicroStrategy, BlackRock, crypto, crypto exchange, token, altcoins, digital assets, tokenized assets, tokenization

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’03: A $300 Revelation: The Unlikely Path to Running a Global Crypto Exchange

4’00: From Offshore to Onshore: Scaling a Global Exchange for 120 Million Users

10’09: Chasing Real Value: How Product Market Fit Outlasts Hype

15’39: Market Structure in Flux: How Speculators Gave Way to Institutions

19’14: Inside the Exchange: How Marketing and Trust Drive User Growth

26’20: Balancing the Books: Navigating User Acquisition in Web3 vs Web2

30’38: Speculation and Signal: How Culture and KOLs Drive Crypto Adoption in Asia

34’11: Fixing the Feedback Loop: Rethinking Token Launches and Expanding Beyond Altcoins

40’42: Beyond the Hype: Building Sustainable Demand for Tokenized Assets

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks Friederike Ernst, co-founder of Gnosis. Together, they explore the evolution of Gnosis from an Ethereum-based prediction market project into a major infrastructure provider powering over $100 billion in DAO treasuries and $10–15 billion in monthly DEX trading via CowSwap. Tracing the company’s journey from a 2017 ICO raising $12.5 million in ETH (now worth ~$450 million) to spinning out critical tools like Safe, CowSwap, and Zodiac, all originally built for internal use.

Despite their success, Gnosis recognizes that the crypto-native user base is limited and has now pivoted to building user-centric, mainstream products like the upcoming Gnosis App targeting Gen Z with real-world financial utility. The company emphasizes its founding mission of democratizing financial ownership and warns against complacency as incumbents like Stripe and Robinhood enter the space. Lastly, Gnosis sees a near-term opportunity in AI-agent driven commerce, especially through reverse advertising models that could unlock trillion-dollar markets.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. The $12.5M ICO That Became a $450M Treasury: Gnosis raised $12.5 million in ETH during their 2017 ICO when ETH was trading at $40. Through conservative treasury management and holding their ETH position, that initial raise has sustained the company for nearly a decade and grown to approximately $450 million today. Friederike attributes this to “conservative treasury management and sheer luck” — a remarkable case study in long-term crypto treasury stewardship.
2. Polymarket Runs on Gnosis Infrastructure: Despite Polymarket’s $10B+ valuation and mainstream recognition, it still uses Gnosis’s conditional token framework that was written years ago. Friederike acknowledges being “a little salty” that infrastructure they built powers such a significant share of the on-chain prediction market economy without Gnosis directly benefiting financially. It’s a stark illustration of the “first up the mountain” dynamic where pioneers clear the path but don’t always capture the value.
3. The 19th Century German Banking Parallel: Friederike draws a compelling historical analogy: impoverished German farmers in the 1800s faced predatory moneylenders charging 25-40% interest. They responded by forming collective community banks, lending to each other at 4-6%. Within decades, tens of thousands existed, and one-third of Germans remain members today. She positions crypto’s ownership model as the modern equivalent — a cooperative financial revolution for a generation economically disenfranchised by incumbent systems.

TOPICS

Gnosis, Gnosis Safe, CowSwap, Zodiac, CPK, Polymarket, Kalshi, ConsenSys, Ethereum, ETH, AI, AI Agents, ICO, Onchain, Governance, Crypto Treasury, Web3, Blockchain, Finance, Banking, Payments, Custody, Wallets

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’25: From Prediction Markets to On-Chain Governance: The Gnosis Journey with Friederike Ernst

6’09: Early ICO Bets and Lasting Impact: How Treasury Design and Tooling Shaped On-Chain Governance

14’10: Owning the Problem: Turning Internal Crypto Tools into Customer-Facing Products

18’08: Beyond Crypto Natives: Building User-Friendly Blockchain Finance for the Next Billion

24’34: Beyond the Noise: Staying True to Web3’s Ownership Revolution

28’48: Culture as the Catalyst: Building User-Owned Financial Systems for a Disenfranchised Generation

32’59: Reinventing Everyday Banking: A Self-Custodial Money App for the Postbank Era

36’48: AI Agents With Wallets: Gnosis Chain as the Payment Rail for Autonomous Finance

39’49: Reverse Advertising: How AI Agents Will Turn Your Attention Into a Trillion-Dollar Market

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks withDavid Namdar- CEO of the BNB Network Company, kicking off with his journey from early Bitcoin adoption in 2012 to co-founding Galaxy Digital and now leading the BNB Network Company. Namdar explains the evolution of public markets’ engagement with crypto, highlighting how regulatory hurdles and speculative cycles shaped market participation. He outlines the rise of Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies, crediting Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy for pioneering the model by converting $400 million in cash to Bitcoin - now holding over $75 billion in BTC. We examine how Binance, with 290 million users and 40% of global crypto volume, supports BNB as a deflationary asset, burning up to $2 billion per quarter. Finally, Namdar shares why BNB, not Bitcoin, is the focus of his new DAT initiative, offering U.S. investors exposure to an underrepresented but powerful asset.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Digital Asset Treasuries Are Emerging as Crypto ETFs in Disguise: Public companies like MicroStrategy and MetaPlanet are turning their balance sheets into crypto holdings, offering indirect exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and BNB. This model is attracting billions and creating a new on-ramp for investors -especially where ETFs or direct access are limited.
2. BNB Is Massively Used Yet Underrepresented in U.S. Markets: With 290 million users and up to $2B in quarterly token burns, BNB is one of the most used tokens globally. Yet it’s largely inaccessible to U.S. investors, creating a major disconnect and a potential opportunity for BNB-focused public vehicles.
3. Crypto Booms Often Rely on Misunderstood, Unsustainable Incentives: Namdar highlights how past cycles inflated demand through staking rewards and nominal yields, not real value. A lack of economic literacy continues to fuel hype over fundamentals, risking long-term sustainability.

TOPICS

BNB Network Company, Binance, BNB, Galaxy Digital, SolidX Partners, MicroStrategy, Bitcoin, Bitcoin treasury, Ethereum, Digital Asset Treasury, DAT, treasury, crypto, convertible debt, tokenomics, crypto treasury, capital markets

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: Building the Crypto Investment Bank: Taking Digital Assets to Public Markets

4’43: Why Going Public Matters: Crypto Firms, Capital Access, and Market Credibility

7’28: From Fintech to DeFi: How U.S. Markets Mispriced the Crypto Transition

11’07: Real Yield vs. Hype: Why Crypto Markets Keep Getting It Wrong

14’36: The Rise of Digital Asset Treasuries: How Crypto Became a Corporate Balance Sheet Strategy

18’28: Financial Engineering in Crypto Treasuries: How Convertible Debt Fueled Massive Bitcoin Accumulation

22’23: Boom, Hype, Exhaustion: The Capital Cycle Behind Crypto Treasuries

28’52: From Foundations to Public Markets: Why BNB Is the Next Big Treasury Bet

33’25: BNB by the Numbers: Inside the Tokenomics of the World’s Largest Crypto Exchange

39’18: Premiums, Discounts, and Buybacks: Managing Value in Crypto Treasury Stocks

44’41: The channels used to connect with David & learn more about BNB Network Co.

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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In this episode, Lex speaks with Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect. In this episode Jess explains how WalletConnect bridges wallets and decentralized applications (dApps), simplifying secure blockchain interactions for millions of users.

Together, Lex and Jess discuss the platform’s origins, technical innovations, and massive scale - supporting over 700 wallets and 70,000 projects. The conversation covers challenges in integrating traditional finance with Web3, regulatory compliance, and WalletConnect’s decentralized, token-incentivized network. Jess also shares insights on the future of on-chain commerce, global adoption trends, and the evolving relationship between fintech and blockchain infrastructure.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. WalletConnect Becomes Web3’s Financial Backbone: Once a simple UX fix, WalletConnect now connects 700+ wallets and 70,000+ apps, moving $400B annually. It’s evolving into the universal connectivity layer for on-chain finance - a “Visa for Web3.”
2. Fintechs Are Forcing Crypto to Grow Up: As players like Stripe and Shopify enter Web3, they demand frictionless UX and regulatory-grade compliance, not crypto-native clunkiness. This wave will make crypto invisible but usable through embedded fintech experiences.
3. Stablecoins Will Power On-Chain Commerce and Dollarization: Jess predicts commerce, not trading, will drive the next cycle. As stablecoins become spendable everywhere, users won’t need to off-ramp - accelerating global dollarization via open financial rails.

TOPICS

WalletConnect, ReOWN, Circle, Stripe, Checkout.com, MetaMask, Solana, blockchain, decentralized finance, DeFi, crypto, wallet, Web3, web2, UX, wallet infrastructure, stablecoins, tokens, token economy

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’03: WalletConnect’s Financial Connectivity Layer: CEO Jess Houlgrave on Helping Build The New Internet

4’42: Universal Wallet Interoperability: How a Single Integration Connects Every App to Every Wallet

9’06: Building Trust in Web3: How Seamless Wallet Connections Create the ‘Visa Moment’ for Crypto

11’51: Scaling Web3 Connectivity: Inside the 50 Million Users and $400 Billion Powered by Wallet Infrastructure

14’02: The Next Wave of Adoption: How Better UX and Fintech Integration Are Bringing Millions On-Chain

16’53: Beyond Ethereum: How Multi-Chain Support and Compliance Are Driving the Next Phase of Web3 Growth

19’41: When Web2 Meets Web3: How Fintechs Are Redefining Crypto UX and Compliance Standards

22’34: Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Helping Fintechs Understand the Complexities of Web3 Integration

26’37: The New Chain Race: Why Fintechs Are Repeating Banks’ Playbook and Competing for Value Capture in Web3

30’05: Decentralizing the Network: How Wallet Infrastructure Is Building a Sustainable Token Economy

35’44: The Future of On-Chain Commerce: How Stablecoins and UX Advances Will Drive Real-World Payments

39’46: The Rise of Digital Dollarization: How Open Financial Systems Are Reshaping Global Currencies

40’57: The channels used to connect with Jess & learn more about WalletConnect

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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In this episode, Lex speaks Mike Sha - the CEO and co-founder of Tandems (formerly SigFig), a leading provider of AI-powered software for wealth management firms and financial institutions. Together, Lex and Mike discuss the evolution of wealth technology through the lens of Mike’s entrepreneurial journey from founding Wikinvest in 2006 to building Tandems. Wikinvest pivoted to portfolio tracking and then to a B2B model, powering major portals like Yahoo Finance and managing over $500 billion in tracked assets. The team’s insights into poor retail investment behavior led to building SigFig, a B2B robo-advisor, eventually serving banks like UBS and Wells Fargo.

Today, rebranded as Tandems, the firm offers AI-powered tools for advisors across three key areas: meetings, asset gathering, and investment management, with AI integrated via a modular “wealth OS” platform. Tandems uses an open architecture for AI, prioritizing trust, configurability, and high accuracy tailored to the specific workflows of financial advisors.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. The Realization That Most Investors Struggle on Their Own Sparked the Robo-Advisory Movement - Mike Sha’s early data from tracking $400–500 billion in retail portfolios across Yahoo!, CNN, and other finance portals revealed that most individuals consistently underperform when managing their own investments. This insight directly led to the creation of SigFig, one of the first robo-advisors, designed to make high-quality investment advice affordable and automated. It shows how data-driven observation of user behavior can uncover market inefficiencies and spark new product categories.
2. Distribution and Integration Trumps Pure Innovation in Fintech Partnerships - Tandem’s evolution from a consumer-facing platform to a B2B software provider for major banks underscored a critical lesson: distribution and trust are the hardest parts of scaling in financial services. Rather than trying to replace institutions, Sha’s team embedded within them - learning that success requires deep integration with legacy systems and respect for the bank’s compliance and operational frameworks. The “secret” to working with large financial institutions, Sha notes, is understanding their old infrastructure and designing around it - not fighting it.
3. AI’s Real Impact in Wealth Management Will Begin with Eliminating Repetitive Work - Tandem’s current strategy focuses on AI automation for financial advisors, not as a replacement but as an assistant. Sha highlights that over 90% of an advisor’s day involves repetitive administrative work - meeting prep, paperwork, compliance, follow-ups. Tandem’s “Wealth OS” connects legacy systems and uses AI to automate these tasks first, freeing advisors to focus on human relationship-building and advice. It’s a practical and near-term vision of AI in finance: efficiency before intelligence.

TOPICS

Tandems, SigFig, Wikinvest, wealthtech, wealth management, fintech, ai, artificial intelligence, investment, roboadvisors, finance, financial management, banking, bank partnerships

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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TIMESTAMPS

1’31: From Wikis to Wealth Tech: Mike Sha on How 401(k)s and “Investing-as-a-Chore” Shaped Tandems

7’05: Building a Fintech from the First Dot-Com Boom: The Origins of Tandem’s Founding Partnership

10’46: Turning Drive-By Traffic into Real Investors: The SEO Strategy That Sparked a $500B Fintech Shift

16’25: Following the Money: How Tandems Scaled Through Bank Partnerships and the Hidden Art of Integrating Legacy Systems

21’58: Inside the Fintech–Bank Power Dynamic: Lessons from Partnering with UBS and Navigating the Enterprise Maze

25’36: Scaling Smart: How Tandems Grew from 25 to 100 People by Blending Finance, Software, and Global Talent

29’55: Beyond Robo-Advisors: How Tandems Rebranded to Tackle Wealth Management’s “Unsexy” Problems with AI

34’02: AI for Advisors: Automating the 90% of Work They Don’t Want to Do

39’32: Open Architecture, Not One Model: How Tandem Builds Reliable AI for Financial Institutions

43’53: The channels used to connect with Mike & learn more about Tandems

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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In this episode, Lex speaks with Marcelo Ruiz de Olano, Co-Founder of KPK (Karpatkey), an on-chain asset management firm born out of Gnosis DAO. Marcelo recounts KPK’s evolution from stewarding Gnosis’s $1B treasury to advising on more than $2B for leading protocols like ENS, Balancer, and the Ethereum Foundation. The discussion dives into the mechanics of non-custodial treasury management - balancing governance, security, and risk - along with strategies across lending, liquidity provision, and stablecoin yields. Marcelo also shares why the rise of large Ethereum treasury companies could be a turning point for DeFi, injecting institutional-scale liquidity and potentially making ETH more liquid than Bitcoin.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Origins and Scale of On-Chain Treasury Management
   KPK spun out of Gnosis DAO, which had one of the earliest and largest on-chain treasuries (~$1B). From there, KPK evolved into an independent manager now advising on over $2B of DAO and foundation treasuries (ENS, Balancer, Ethereum Foundation, etc.), pioneering non-custodial, fully on-chain asset management practices.
2. Conservative, Mission-Driven Approach vs. Yield-Chasing
   Unlike many DeFi actors during “DeFi Summer,” KPK deliberately rejected risky high-yield strategies. Instead, they prioritized capital preservation and mission alignment—for example, ensuring ENS’s treasury only supports Ethereum-strengthening initiatives (like minority client staking or avoiding centralization risks). This contrarian, values-driven approach built trust and positioned them as long-term stewards of DeFi treasuries.
3. Transformative Potential of Ethereum Treasury Companies
   Marcelo highlights that emerging Ethereum treasury firms (similar to MicroStrategy’s BTC play) could deploy $10B+ in ETH treasuries. A single such “mega whale” could inject unprecedented liquidity into DeFi—making ETH potentially more liquid than BTC, bootstrapping entire verticals (DEX liquidity, lending, insurance), and creating a flywheel where treasury strategies directly accelerate Ethereum’s adoption and price stability.

TOPICS

KPK, Gnosis, Gnosis Safe, Balancer, Aave, Maker, Sky, Uniswap, Morpho, Ethereum Foundation, on-chain asset management, DAO, decentralized autonomous organization, treasury management, DeFi, tokenization, ETH, Ether, stablecoin, USDC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’08: From Gnosis to KPK: Building the Infrastructure for On Chain Treasury Management

8’00: Playing It Safe: How KPK Built Long Term DeFi Strategies in a Risk Obsessed Market

11’50: DeFi Lending Unlocked: How KPK Assesses Risk and Builds Yield Strategies with Stablecoins and Leverage

17’11: Treasury Playbooks: Matching DeFi Investment Strategies to Risk Profiles and DAO Values

20’32: Stablecoin Farming and DAO Drama: Navigating Risk, Governance, and Community Conflicts

23’18: From Impermanent Loss to Long Term Gain: Liquidity Provision and the Case for OG DeFi Protocols

26’33: Behind the Smart Contracts: Why Human Ops and Governance Still Run On Chain Asset Management

30’11: The Rise of Ethereum Treasury Companies: How On Chain Giants Will Supercharge DeFi Liquidity and Revenue

36’34: The Ten Billion Dollar Whale: How Ethereum Treasury Giants Could Reshape Liquidity and Supercharge DeFi

40’51: The channels used to connect with Mercelo & learn more about KPK

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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In this episode, Lex speaks with Ravi Adusumilli - President and GM of the Americas at Airwallex. Ravi and Lex discuss how Airwallex has evolved into a global financial platform by offering businesses an integrated suite of cross-border payments, treasury, and banking services. Founded in 2015, Airwallex now supports 150,000 customers, processes $130 billion in annualized volume (up 73% YoY), and projects a $1 billion revenue run rate by year-end.

The company’s success stems from its end-to-end infrastructure, homegrown payment rails, and multi-product strategy, with 80% of revenue now coming from customers using more than one product. Airwallex differentiates itself by focusing on global-first B2B use cases and building regional autonomy alongside centralized infrastructure. While not prioritizing stablecoins today, the company is exploring AI-driven financial operations and aims to reach $1 trillion in transaction volume by 2030.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Airwallex’s Infrastructure: Proprietary Global Payment Network
   Airwallex operates a proprietary global payment infrastructure that processes 95% of its $130 billion in annualized transaction volume. The company has developed its own technology and regulatory framework in partnership with over 60 banks worldwide. This approach reduces dependence on legacy systems such as SWIFT and supports greater control over transaction speed, cost, and compliance.
2. Expansion Through Multi-Product Offering
   Airwallex has expanded its services beyond cross-border payments to include card issuance, spend management, treasury functions, and merchant acquiring. According to company data, 80% of revenue is generated from customers using multiple products. Payments now account for 70% of net revenue and are growing at three times the rate year over year.
3. Decentralized Go-To-Market Structure
   Airwallex employs a regional management model, with General Managers responsible for performance and operations in specific geographies. This structure is supported by centralized functions such as product development, compliance, and engineering. With 1,700 employees in 26 offices, the company uses this hybrid model to manage growth and adapt to local regulatory environments across multiple regions, including Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

TOPICS

Airwallex, Stripe, Brex, Rippling, Shopify, Pinterest, Visa, fintech, global payments, e-commerce, cross-border transactions, paytech, embedded payments, CFO stack, stablecoins, AI

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’02: Building Through Partnerships: The Platform Strategy Behind a $130B Fintech

7’24: Why It’s Working: Scaling B2B Payments in a Crowded Fintech Market

12’21: From Coffee Beans to Global Rails: How Cross-Border Payments Became the Wedge for Platform Expansion

19’02: Sticky by Design: How Regional Autonomy and Multi-Product Depth Drove Global Expansion

25’31: From Credibility to Scale: When Partnerships Start Driving Growth

29’33: Beyond Point Solutions: Why Global Platforms Are Replacing Fragmented Payment Stacks

34’47: Solving the CFO Stack: A Unified Approach to Global Money Movement

38’14: Resilient by Design: How Airwallex Manages Multi-Bank, Multi-Market Complexity

42’51: The Hidden Cost of Scale: Inside the Engineering Behind a $130B Network

46’15: The Next Phase: Airwallex’s Vision for a Global Financial OS

49’54: The channels used to connect with Ravi & learn more about Airwallex

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Matthew Le Merle - CEO of Blockchain Coinvestors, a leading blockchain and AI fund-of-funds. He reflects on the limitations of large institutions in adopting disruptive technologies and why he chose to back innovators over incumbents, using stablecoins as an example of asymmetric value creation. Le Merle explains his evolution from angel investor to institutional LP, highlighting the benefits of leveraging top-tier venture capitalists’ expertise in inefficient early-stage markets. He outlines the psychological challenges of venture investing, where failures appear early and outsized wins often take a decade, contrasting this with the faster liquidity but higher existential risk in token markets. Finally, he critiques institutional allocators for over-relying on efficient markets, under-allocating to venture despite its role in driving future value, and positions his strategy as fully committed to early-stage blockchain and AI as the highest-returning segments.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Innovation Threatens Incumbents, Benefits Disruptors: Major technological shifts, from the internet to blockchain and AI, create winners and losers. Incumbents often resist disruptive change because it threatens existing revenue models, while nimble startups and tech-first companies can rapidly capture new market opportunities.

2. Venture Success Requires Navigating High Failure Rates: In early-stage investing, most portfolio companies will fail, often within the first 3–4 years. Returns are driven by a small number of outsized successes, usually via acquisitions rather than IPOs, requiring patience, resilience, and a disciplined investment strategy.

3. Inefficient Markets Offer the Greatest Asymmetric Upside: Early-stage venture and emerging technologies like blockchain and AI are inefficient markets where superior access, insight, and execution can generate returns far above those available in traditional, efficient markets like public equities or bonds.

TOPICS

Blockchain Coinvestors, Band of Angels, AngelList, Blockchain Capital, Pantera, Sequoia, Andreessen, BlackRock, Fidelity, Blockchain, DeFi, Decentralized Finance, Investment, Venture Capital, Angel Investment, Fund of Funds

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’33: From Consulting to Disruption: Matthew Le Merle on Pivoting from Advising Incumbents to Backing the Innovators

9’56: From Angel Checks to Global Funds: Building One of the World’s Largest Blockchain Co-Investment Platforms

16’50: Leveraging Top Venture Funds to Capture Blockchain and AI’s Biggest Winners: Evolving from Direct Deals to an LP Strategy

24’50: The Emotional Reality of Venture Investing: Coping with Early Failures, Long Timelines, and Rare Big Wins

32’13: Early Liquidity, Higher Risk: Why Most Token Projects Fail Without Ever Delivering Software

35’20: Backing Winners in Inefficient Markets: What Makes a Venture Fund Worth Investing In

42’59: Why Institutional Portfolios Miss the Future: The Case for Shifting Capital from Efficient to Inefficient Markets

51’08: The channels used to connect with Matthew & learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Harish Natarajan - Practice Manager, Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure, Finance, Competitiveness & Innovation at the World Bank, and Carlos Brandt - The Senior Advisor for Pix at the Central Bank of Brazil. Together they discuss the remarkable success of Pix, Brazil's real-time payment system, which now sees over 6 billion transactions per month and is used by more than 90% of the adult population and 80% of companies. Lex explores how Pix was created by the Central Bank of Brazil with strong public-private collaboration, backed by regulatory authority and supported by a co-creation model with stakeholders. Key to its adoption were a low-cost centralized infrastructure, clear branding, mandatory participation by large banks, and a robust national communication strategy. Globally, Pix is seen as a leading example of fast payment system deployment, driven by the central bank acting as a neutral coordinator and scheme owner. Lex also examines the technical architecture, built in-house by a surprisingly small team of 55–65 people, and how scalable infrastructure and extensibility have enabled rapid growth and innovation.

NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:

1. Pix achieved mass adoption through public-private co-creation and legal mandate:

Pix now processes over 6 billion transactions per month, with 90% of Brazil’s adult population and 80% of businesses actively using it. Its success stems from a strategic legal mandate in 2013 granting the Central Bank regulatory and operational authority over retail payments. The Central Bank then led a co-creation process involving both public and private stakeholders through the Pix Forum, fostering alignment, inclusivity, and strong network effects.

1. A lean but powerful team built a nation-scale real-time payments system:

The Pix infrastructure was built entirely in-house by a relatively small team, 30-40 people for the technical infrastructure layer and around 25 for the payment scheme layer. It operates 24/7 with real-time settlement and uses centralized infrastructure separate from Brazil’s traditional large-value payment rails. This centralized, purpose-built architecture dramatically lowered costs and enabled rapid rollout.

1. Strategic communication and mandated participation drove adoption at scale:

The Central Bank led a national communication campaign to build trust, establish a strong brand identity, and educate the public. Simultaneously, it mandated major banks (with over 500,000 active accounts) to join Pix, triggering widespread voluntary adoption from smaller PSPs. The rollout included a restricted pilot phase and emphasized user-friendly features like QR codes and aliases to boost convenience and usage from day one.

TOPICS

Pix, Central Bank of Brazil, World Bank, Visa, Citibank, M-Pesa, Alipay, SPI, fintech, payments, PSP, API, Fast Payments, Payments Infrastructure, PayTech

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’19: Building Pix from the Ground Up: Carlos Brandt on Modernizing Brazil’s Payment Infrastructure

3’03: Fast Payments for Financial Inclusion: Harish Natarajan on the World Bank’s Role in Modern Payment Infrastructure

4’29: From Cash to 5 Billion Transactions a Month: How Pix Transformed Brazil’s Payment Ecosystem Through Public-Private Collaboration

10’41: Why Pix Succeeded Where Others Struggled: The Power of Neutral Coordination and Public-Private Synergy

12’40: Inside the Pix Forum: How Brazil Built a Collaborative Process for Payment Innovation

15’07: Fast Payments at Scale: Market Coordination, Infrastructure, and Global Lessons from Pix

20’55: Engineering Pix: How a Small Team Built Brazil’s 24/7 National Payments Infrastructure from Scratch

27’28: Driving Nationwide Adoption: How Strategic Communication and Mandates Powered Pix’s Rollout Across Brazil

34’14: Scaling for Success: Why Communication, Extensibility, and API Design Are Key to Evolving Payment Systems

37’23: Building Trust Through Cooperation: How Regulators Can Foster Innovation While Balancing Public and Private Interests

40’06: The channels used to connect with Carlos & learn more about The Central Bank of Brazil.

40’39: The channels used to connect with Harish & learn more about The World Bank

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex speaks with Ali Niknam, CEO and founder of Bunq, a leading European neobank. Ali shares Bunq’s journey from its founding during the financial crisis to becoming Europe’s second-largest neobank. The conversation explores Bunq’s user-centric philosophy, innovative products, and unique organizational design. Ali discusses overcoming regulatory challenges, prioritizing cultural values, and fostering accountability within teams. The episode also examines the complexities of the European fintech landscape and Bunq’s mission to revolutionize banking by focusing on user needs and continuous improvement.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Bunq, ING, Revolut, Betterment, Synapse, TransIP, Fintech, banking, crypto, neobank, challenger bank, culture, Europe, VC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: Bunq’s Bold Mission: Ali Niknam on Reinventing Banking for the Modern User

6’27: Building from the Core: Why Bunq Chose the Hard Road to Reinvent Banking

10’08: Bootstrapped Banking: Building Bunq Without External Capital or Compromise

13’56: Launching the Future: Bringing Innovation to Market with Bunq’s First 45-Person Team

17’35: From Payments to Personalization: How Users Drove a Decade of Product Innovation

19’52: Designing for Eva: How Bunq Rebuilt Its Organization Around the User, Not the Org Chart

22’02: Beyond Titles: How Bunq’s Ownership-Driven Culture Redefines Teams, KPIs, and Hierarchy

28’14: Culture Over Compensation: How Bunq Attracts Mission-Aligned Talent Without Relying on Equity

35’06: Europe’s Tech Paradox: Why Innovation Thrives Despite Fragmentation—and What Must Change

39’11: The channels used to connect with Ali & learn more about Bunq

43’07: The channels used to connect with Edward & learn more about Zerohash

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Edward Woodford - CEO of Zerohash. They discuss Zerohash’s growth, the rise of stablecoins, and the evolving fintech landscape. Edward explains how stablecoins now make up half of Zerohash’s volume, highlights regulatory shifts in the U.S. and abroad, and explores the distinction between crypto and stablecoins. The conversation covers usability challenges, emerging payment use cases, and the future of embedded finance, emphasizing the need for regulatory clarity and collaboration between fintechs and traditional financial institutions.

Notable discussion points:

1. Stablecoins Overtake Crypto in Volume: Stablecoins now make up over 50% of Zerohash’s volume, driven by regulatory clarity and real-world use cases like payments and treasury. Institutions prefer them for their centralized control and ease of integration.

2. Brokerage and Payments Are Converging: Zerohash sees strong demand across brokerage and payment rails, with banks and fintechs embedding stablecoin infrastructure. Global payouts, account funding, and subscriptions are key growth areas despite UX friction.

3. Regulatory Climate Is Rapidly Improving: U.S. policy has shifted from regulatory overreach to bipartisan support for stablecoin legislation. This change is unlocking institutional adoption, with banks now moving aggressively into crypto and digital assets.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Zerohash, MoonPay, Transak, Ramp, Stripe, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Hamilton Lane, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, SoFi, Uniswap, fintech, web3, digital assets, blockchain, tokenization, rwas, stablecoin, crypto, regulation

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’51: From Crisis to Convergence: Edward Woodford on Scaling Zerohash and the Future of Embedded Crypto Infrastructure

5’06: Scaling the Pie, Not Stealing Slices: Rethinking Volume, Margins, and Meaningful Growth in Digital Asset Infrastructure

10’02: The Great Rebrand: How Stablecoins Are Shedding the 'Crypto' Label and Reshaping Digital Finance

15’22: From Overreach to Opportunity: How Regulatory Pushback in the U.S. Sparked a Global Shift Toward Stablecoin Adoption

20’31: The Semantics of Trust: Why ‘Stablecoin’ Sells and ‘Crypto’ Scares - and Why the Framing Now Matters More Than Ever

22’36: Unlocking Real Utility: Why Stablecoin Payments Are Finally Poised to Scale Across Commerce and Subscriptions

30’50: Disrupting the Rails: How Stablecoins Are Reshaping the Power Dynamics of Global Payments

34’49: The New Brokerage Mandate: Why Every Platform Is Racing to Add Crypto - and What’s Unlocking the Shift

39’03: Rewiring Financial Infrastructure: How Stablecoins and Super Apps Are Forcing Banks to Rethink Risk and Relevance

43’07: The channels used to connect with Edward & learn more about Zerohash

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset, about the company’s transformation from its early institutional blockchain experiments to launching the Canton Network - a purpose-built, privacy-enabled smart contract platform designed for financial markets. Rooz shares insights into why Digital Asset was inspired by Bitcoin’s financial principles rather than its technical assumptions, highlighting the importance of rethinking blockchain infrastructure rather than replicating flawed legacy models. He also unpacks the hard lessons from high-stakes projects like the Australian Stock Exchange overhaul, emphasizing why large-scale financial infrastructure must evolve incrementally to succeed. Finally, the conversation dives into Canton’s unique tokenomics, where 70% of block rewards go to the developers and users who create economic activity on the network, challenging traditional validator-centric models and aligning incentives more fairly for long-term ecosystem growth.

Notable discussion points:

1. Canton’s innovative tokenomics: Unlike Ethereum, where validators capture most of the rewards, Canton allocates 70% of block rewards to developers and applications, creating sustainable alignment.

2. Lessons from ASX: Rooz reflects on the failed ASX blockchain migration, advocating for iterative upgrades rather than “big bang” infrastructure transformations.

3. True tokenization: Rooz critiques superficial on-chain IOU models, asserting that real tokenization must place the asset’s books and records natively on-chain to unlock the benefits of DeFi and composability.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Digital Asset, Canton Network, DRW, ASX, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Plaid, DAML, fintech, web3, tokenization, digital assets, financial infrastructure, DeFi, onchain

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28: From Wall Street to Web3: Yuval Rooz on Founding Digital Asset and the Birth of the Canton Network

4’29: Rethinking Blockchain: Rejecting Ethereum’s Assumptions to Build a Better Financial Infrastructure

8’18: Getting Banks to Say Yes: Bridging Blockchain Innovation with Regulatory Reality

12’43: Blockchain at Scale: Lessons from the ASX Project and Why Incremental Innovation Beats Big Bang Deployments

21’27: Agile by Design: How Canton Aims to Bring Continuous Delivery to Decentralized Blockchain Networks

23’50: Beyond the Hype: Why Crypto Needs Pragmatism, Not Just Vision, to Integrate with Financial Institutions

27’08: From DAML to Canton: Building Scalable, Privacy-First Infrastructure for Real-World Finance

30’52: Redefining Tokenization: Real On-Chain Finance at Scale with Trillions in Assets on Canton

35’34: Solving the Tokenization Gap: Bridging Legacy Infrastructure with Decentralized Architecture

39’13: Seeding Web3 with Real Assets: Canton’s Strategy to Power DeFi with Institutional-Grade Infrastructure

41’33: Custom Rules, Shared Rails: How Canton Balances Decentralization with Regulatory Flexibility

44’30: Aligning Incentives: How Canton’s Tokenomics and Fair Launch Redefine Value Creation on Chain

49’35: The channels used to connect with Yuval & learn more about Digital Asset and Canton Network

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Stani Kulechov - founder and CEO of Aave, a leading decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol. They explore the evolution of DeFi, Aave’s growth, and its architectural shift from a peer-to-peer model to pooled liquidity. Stani reflects on the early days of DeFi, the impact of the FTX collapse, and the increasing adoption of DeFi over centralized exchanges. They discuss Aave’s strategies for attracting assets, the importance of capital efficiency, and future innovations, including the tokenization of real-world assets and the role of stablecoins.

Notable discussion points:

1. Aave Reaches $40 Billion in Net Deposits: Stani Kulechov shared that Aave has achieved a record-breaking $40 billion in net deposits and $25 billion in active liquidity, making it the largest DeFi lending protocol ever by total value locked (TVL).

2. DeFi’s Evolution from Peer-to-Peer to Liquidity Hubs: The conversation detailed Aave’s architectural shift from early peer-to-peer lending models to pooled liquidity and now to a hub-and-spoke model with Aave V4 — designed to balance capital efficiency and risk segregation for both native crypto and real-world assets (RWAs).

3. The Rise of Real-World Assets and Stablecoins in DeFi: Kulechov emphasized that tokenized real-world assets (like treasuries) and decentralized stablecoins (such as Aave's GHO) are reshaping the DeFi landscape, predicting RWAs will outgrow both stablecoins and native crypto assets in total value locked within five years.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Aave, Lens Protocol, GHO, Horizon, FTX, Project Guardian, AaveDAO, MakerDAO, Web3, DeFi, Lending, stablecoins, tokens, RWA, decentralized finance, capital markets, DAO, Digital Assets

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’11: DeFi at $40B: How a Lending Protocol Redefined Blockchain Finance

9’06: From Peer-to-Peer to Liquidity Hubs: Evolving the Architecture of DeFi Lending

15’01: DeFi's Growth Curve: From Airdrops to Institutional Adoption After FTX

20’49: Scaling Safely: How a Lending Protocol Outpaced Rivals Through Capital Efficiency and Brand Trust

24’34: Beyond Infrastructure: Why Token Issuers Need Capital Markets, Not Just DeFi Hype

28’33: Building Beyond Lending: How a Stablecoin and Institutional Arm Power DeFi Profitability

31’33: From JPMorgan to BlackRock: How Horizon Bridges Institutions to On-Chain Finance

35’18: Tokenized Treasuries and the Future of DeFi: Why RWAs Will Eclipse Stablecoins by 2030

39’36: From Fragmentation to Focus: Why DeFi’s Future Depends on Application Layers, Not More Chains

41’47: The channels used to connect with Stani & learn more about Aave and Avara

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Avlok Kohli - the CEO of AngelList, about the company's significant evolution. Initially a platform for startups to connect with venture capitalists, AngelList has transformed into a comprehensive fintech entity encompassing private equity and cryptocurrency. Avlok discusses the strategic pivots, including the introduction of syndicates and rolling funds, that have redefined the company's business model. The episode also explores the broader implications of crowdfunding and the unique challenges in the crypto space, offering a deep dive into AngelList's impact on the financial services industry.

Notable discussion points:

1. AngelList’s Second Founding: Reinvention as a Fintech Platform: Since 2019, AngelList has transformed from a mixed-use startup platform into a focused fintech infrastructure business for fund managers. Avlok Kohli spun out the syndicates arm and built a scalable product offering that includes SPVs, venture funds, and innovative structures like Rolling Funds and Roll Up Vehicles. This pivot catalyzed explosive growth—from ~$1B in AUM in 2019 to $171B+ today—by enabling fund creation and deployment at scale.

2. Product Innovation as a Strategic Advantage: Instead of competing with well-capitalized incumbents like Carta on sales and marketing, AngelList focused on building category-defining products. The launch of Rolling Funds—allowing fund managers to raise publicly and continuously—was a breakout moment. It created viral word-of-mouth growth and redefined how emerging fund managers could access capital, illustrating the principle: “You can’t win by playing someone else’s game.”

3. AI and the Future of Private Markets Infrastructure: AngelList is embedding AI across three strategic layers: (1) Back-office automation, replacing manual workflows, (2) Customer service enhancement, enabling agents to respond to LPs with real-time data, and (3) Data reasoning products, like Fin, which analyzes anonymized fund and secondary data to deliver actionable private market insightsThis positions AngelList not only as an admin platform but as a data intelligence layer over the private capital markets.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Fintech, Web3, Venture, VC, Venture capital, private markets, fundraising, crowdfunding, crypto, web3, AI, Angellist, Coinlist, Carta, Gumroad

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: AngelList Reimagined: How Avlok Kohli Transformed a Startup Directory into a Fintech Powerhouse

6’43: Syndicates vs. Crowdfunding: Solving the Signal Problem in Startup Investing

11’43: From Community to Capital: Rebuilding AngelList Through Business Model Reinvention and Rolling Fund Innovation

16’49: Playing a Different Game: How AngelList Scaled by Redefining the Category Through Product Innovation

21’59: Creating the Category: How Rolling Funds Sparked a Movement and Redefined Venture Fundraising

28’51: From $1 Billion to $125 Billion: How AngelList Scaled by Saying No Before Saying Yes

32’56: The Liquidity Mirage: Why Private Market Access Remains Elusive for Most Investors

37’57: AI Meets Private Markets: Automating Back Offices, Enhancing Customer Touchpoints, and Powering Intelligent Fund Infrastructure

42’26: The channels used to connect with Avlok & learn more about Angellist

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Jamie Burke - founder of Outlier Ventures, about the current state and future of Web3, decentralized finance, and the metaverse. Jamie highlights Outlier Ventures' impressive growth, with a portfolio of around 400 startups, and discusses successful projects like IOTA and Fetch.ai. The conversation delves into the open metaverse, emphasizing the importance of infrastructure and middleware in blending physical and digital realities. Jamie also explores the transformative role of AI in the metaverse and offers practical advice for entrepreneurs navigating this rapidly evolving landscape.

Notable discussion points:

1.The “Post-Web” Is an Intent-Led Internet: Jamie Burke outlines a shift from today’s attention-based web to an intent-driven internet, powered by AI agents, Web3 infrastructure, and DePIN. In this model, agents act on user intent, radically streamlining interactions and replacing much of today’s web interface.

1. Web3 Will Be Run by Machines, Not People: Burke predicts that autonomous agents—not humans—will become the primary users of blockchains, making crypto “machine money.” As a result, products, brands, and processes matter less, while incentive systems and on-chain automation take center stage.

2. Founders Must Embrace Systems Thinking: In the Post-Web era, survival depends on designing self-optimizing systems, not just building products. Burke stresses that token engineering, incentive design, and value flow mapping will define the next generation of durable startups.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Web3, decentralized finance, metaverse, Open metaverse, Post web, Outlier Ventures, IOTA, Fetch.ai, accelerator program, AI, artificial intelligence, Agentic AI, agents, Web3, post-web, digital economy, blockchain technology

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’18: Outlier Ventures in 2025: From IOTA to Fetch.ai, Backing the Infrastructure Behind Intelligent Web3

10’24: The Open Metaverse Revisited: Outlier’s Long-Game Bet on Augmented Reality, Middleware, and AI-Driven Agents

26’01: FThe Post-Web Era: How AI Agents, Web3 Infrastructure, and Delegation Will Redefine the Internet

35’57: From Attention to Intention: How AI Agents and Web3 Are Flipping the Internet on Its Head

49’39: Surviving the Post-Web Paradigm: Why Founders Must Shift from Startup Thinking to Systems Design

57’49: The channels used to connect with Jamie & learn more about Outlier Ventures

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Josh Reeves, co-founder of Gusto, a company specializing in payroll, HR, and benefits solutions for small businesses. Josh shares his journey from academia to entrepreneurship, highlighting the challenges and strategies involved in building Gusto. The discussion covers the evolution of technology from Web 2.0, the importance of understanding customer needs, and maintaining strong unit economics. Josh emphasizes Gusto's mission to simplify payroll and HR tasks for small businesses, aiming to improve their survival rates and overall efficiency. The episode underscores the significance of product quality and customer satisfaction in navigating industry competition.

Notable discussion points:

1. Solving Payroll as a Massive, Underserved SMB Pain Point: Reeves highlighted how in 2011, 40% of small businesses were fined annually due to manual payroll errors. Gusto addressed this pain using cloud and mobile tech, making payroll fast, accurate, and accessible—especially for non-experts.

2. Product Sequencing and the Power of a Payroll-Centric Ecosystem: Starting with payroll, Gusto built a sticky, horizontal product with strong retention. From there, they expanded into benefits, time tracking, and more—adding products based on customer pull and reinforcing their ecosystem.

3. Organizational Evolution: From Founder-Led to Functional and Matrixed: Gusto grew from 3 co-founders to 2,600+ employees by evolving from a hands-on team to a matrix structure. Reeves emphasized hiring leaders suited to each stage and giving small, focused teams autonomy to drive new product development.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Fintech, Gusto, Payroll, HR, Zazzle, SMB, CAC, Customer, Scaling, Growth, Web2.0

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’13: From PhD Dropouts to Payroll Pioneers: Joshua Reeves on Building Gusto and Solving Real Problems with Technology

4’21: The Web2 Reawakening: Democratizing Creation and Commerce Through the Internet

8’14: From Pen and Paper to the Cloud: Tackling Payroll Pain and Modernizing SMB Operations

11’15: Is Gusto a Fintech?: Ignoring Labels, Solving Problems, and Building for Small Business from Day One

16’07: Cracking the SMB Code: Building Scalable Products with Strong Unit Economics and Organic Growth

19’39: The Fundamentals of Scaling: Navigating CAC, LTV, and Retention in Subscription Businesses

22’49: Building Beyond Payroll: How Customer Demand and Smart Sequencing Shaped a Scalable Product Organization

27’16: Scaling with Intention: Evolving Leadership, Structure, and Talent from 10 to 2,600 People

33’00: Structuring for Scale: Balancing Autonomy, Focus, and Flexibility in a Multi-Product Organization

36’22: From Traction to Tenure: Scaling Impact, Navigating Competition, and Building for the Next Decade

41’12: The channels used to connect with Joshua & learn more about Gusto

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews David Snider - founder and CEO of Harness Wealth. David shares his extensive fintech journey, including his pivotal role at Compass, a real estate technology firm. He discusses the challenges of aligning agents with new technology and the evolution of Compass's business model to empower agents with better tools and incentives. Transitioning to Harness Wealth, David explains his vision to enhance tax advisory services through a modern platform, addressing complex financial needs. The episode underscores the importance of innovation and human expertise in fintech and real estate.

Notable discussion points:

Empowering Advisors in Complex Industries: David Snider has built platforms that enhance human advisors rather than replace them—first in real estate with Compass - a technology-powered real estate brokerage, now in tax with Harness Wealth. In industries with high complexity and large transaction sizes, like wealth management and real estate, human expertise remains essential. His approach emphasizes that technology should enable, not displace, trusted advisors.

Compass Pivoted to Power Top Agents: Compass began with a plan to disrupt real estate agents but pivoted to support top performers with better tech and economics. This shift—paired with smart execution—enabled rapid growth and market leadership by focusing on high-value agents and transactions, rather than cutting them out of the process.

Harness Wealth Modernizes Complex Tax Advisory: Harness Wealth applies a Compass-like model to tax, serving clients with equity comp, crypto, and private investments by connecting them to top advisors through a modern, tech-enabled experience. The platform improves both advisor workflows and client usability, targeting a large, underserved market that DIY tools can’t effectively serve.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Fintech, Harness Wealth, Compass, AI, RealEstate, Platform-As-A-Service, Advisory, Data, Tax, WealthTech, TaxTech, CryptoTax, PersonalFinance, FinancialAdvisors

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’06: From Bain to Compass: David Snider on Navigating Finance, Real Estate, and the Rise of Advisor-Enabled Tech

5’42: Evolving Real Estate Through Tech: Market Levers, Rollups, and Building Compass's Super Agent Model

13’20: Digital vs. Human: Why Tech Wins in Some Industries—and Advisors Thrive in Others

17’16: Scaling Compass: How Tech, Economics, and a New Go-to-Market Strategy Fuelled Rapid Agent Growth

22’20: Overcoming Resistance: The Grind Behind Compass’s Data Integration and Agent Tech Adoption

26’13: From Compass to Harness: Building a Tech-Driven Platform to Simplify Complex Tax and Financial Advice

31’05: Serving the Underserved: How Harness Wealth Empowers Advisors and Clients Navigating Complex Tax Needs

34’16: Building Smarter Tax Tech: Harness’s Curated Approach to Streamlined Data, Insights, and Advisor Collaboration

36’02: Scaling with Purpose: Harnessing Data, Advisor Value, and a Massive Market Opportunity in Tax

37’46: The channels used to connect with David & learn more about Harness Wealth

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Scott Woody, CEO and founder of Metronome, a usage-based billing platform. Scott shares his journey from academia to entrepreneurship, detailing his experiences at UC Berkeley, D.E. Shaw, and Stanford, where he studied biophysics. His tenure at Dropbox, where he tackled billing system challenges, inspired the creation of Metronome. The discussion highlights Metronome's real-time billing data capabilities, which aim to improve business efficiency and customer experience. Scott also explores the broader implications of AI in fintech, emphasizing the shift towards usage-based business models and the importance of real-time data.

Notable discussion points:

Metronome emerged from firsthand frustrations at Dropbox, where Scott Woody experienced how rigid billing systems slowed growth, confused customers, and blocked real-time insights. He built Metronome as a flexible, real-time billing engine that merges usage data with pricing logic—powering the monetization infrastructure for top AI companies today.

Real-time billing isn’t just about invoices—it's a strategic revenue lever. For AI and SaaS businesses alike, Metronome enables teams to run dynamic experiments, optimize GPU allocation, and make last-minute decisions to hit quarterly targets—turning billing into a core growth engine.

The rise of AI is accelerating a shift to usage-based models. As AI becomes specialized labor across verticals (from loan collection to customer service), companies are rapidly replatforming, and entire industries may flip from seat-based to outcome-based pricing within quarters—Metronome is positioned as the "payment processor" for this AI economy.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Metronome, Dropbox, Datadog, OpenAI, AI, AGI, machine learning, pricing models, financial services, business optimization, operational frameworks, analytics, financial modeling

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’05: Talent Spotting and Swag Strategy: How Scott Woody Recruited the Brightest Minds at Berkeley

7’27: From Biophysics to Startups: How Stanford and Protein Folding Led Scott into Tech

9’28: Lessons from Dropbox: Why Talent Density Beats Perks in Building Scalable Tech Teams

14’09: Solving the Billing Bottleneck: How Metronome Powers Real-Time Monetization for Modern Tech

19’45: Real-Time Revenue Intelligence: How Metronome Helps Teams Optimize Pricing, Experiments, and GPU Allocation

24’55: Optimizing AI Economics: Metronome’s Real-Time Matching of Model Usage, Customer Spend, and GPU Allocation

29’03: The Rise of Usage-Based AI: Why Real-Time Monetization Is Reshaping Business Models Across Tech

34’25: Specialized AI as Labor: Why Purpose-Built Agents Are Shaping the Future of Work and Software Integration

40’46: The Tipping Point for AI Adoption: Why Clear ROI and Competitive Pressure Are Rewriting Entire Industries

48’39: The channels used to connect with Scott & learn more about Metronome

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Sam Williams - founder of Arweave. This episode delves into the innovative aspects of Arweave, a protocol designed for permanent data storage and computation within the Web3 ecosystem. The discussion covers a range of topics, from the economic models underpinning Arweave to its potential applications in decentralized finance (DeFi) and beyond.

Notable discussion points:

The Founding of Arweave and its Mission – Sam Williams’ interest in distributed computing and concerns about authoritarianism led him to create Arweave in 2017. Inspired by the Snowden leaks, he saw the need for a blockchain-based permanent storage solution to protect journalism, historical records, and digital assets from censorship.

Decentralized vs. Distributed Storage – Williams explained how Arweave differs from alternatives like IPFS and Filecoin. Unlike traditional storage, which requires ongoing payments, Arweave uses a one-time payment model. This storage endowment leverages declining storage costs to ensure long-term data persistence without relying on centralized infrastructure.

Arweave’s Expansion into Decentralized Compute – Arweave has evolved beyond storage to develop decentralized computing through "Arweave IO." This enables parallelized smart contract execution, making it possible to run AI models, financial automation, and decentralized apps on-chain—aligning with Web3’s shift toward autonomous, intelligent systems.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Arweave, permanent data storage, Web3, decentralized systems, distributed systems, blockchain, economic models, IPFS, Filecoin, decentralized computing, decentralized finance, compute

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’06: From Distributed Computing to Decentralized Truth Preservation: A Journey into Web3

4’31: Decentralization vs. Distribution: Defining the Future of Web3 Infrastructure

9’41: Building a Decentralized Archive: Arweave’s Journey from Vision to Adoption

16’28: Web3 Storage Economics: Arweave vs. IPFS and the NFT Data Dilemma

22’42: Arweave’s Endowment Model: A Blockchain-Native Approach to Permanent Storage

27’13: Arweave’s Next Chapter: From Permanent Storage to Decentralized Supercomputing

31’36: Decentralized AI and Agent Finance: Expanding Arweave’s Computational Power

36’26: Decentralized AI and Blockchain: Overcoming Computation and Consensus Challenges

41’34: The Future of Decentralized Intelligence: Trustless Finance and Digital Immortality

44’59: The channels used to connect with Sam & learn more about Arweave

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Andrew Jamison - CEO and Co-founder of Extend - a financial infrastructure platform that helps banks innovate financial product development with capabilities while working with their existing systems, starting with virtual cards. Andrew shares his journey into fintech, detailing his experiences at American Express and the evolution of virtual cards. He discusses the challenges and opportunities in the virtual card space, the founding of Extend, and its innovative approach to simplifying spend management. The episode highlights Extend's rapid growth, unique market position, and the future of financial management, emphasizing real-time transactions and integrated solutions for businesses.

Notable discussion points:

Virtual Cards = Smarter Spend ManagementVirtual credit cards revolutionize payments by enabling real-time reconciliation, reducing fraud, and improving financial control—especially for SaaS, digital ads, and legal expenses.

Extend’s Edge: Partnering with Banks, Not Disrupting ThemUnlike Brex and Ramp, Extend powers virtual cards on existing bank-issued cards, making adoption seamless for businesses while strengthening bank relationships.

B2B Payments Go EmbeddedThe future of finance is embedding payments directly into platforms like SAP Concur - letting CFOs manage expenses within the tools they already use.

From Enterprise-Only to Instant AccessVirtual cards once took months to implement. Extend’s API-first approach makes them deployable in minutes, bridging the gap between legacy banking and modern finance.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Extend, American Express, AMEX, SAP, fintech, credit cards, spend management, virtual cards, B2B, API, banking infrastructure, embedded payments

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’10: From Green Screens to the Cloud: How Early Tech Shaped Andrew Jamison’s Approach to Business and Automation

5’12: Scaling Amex: Expanding Beyond Travel to B2B Payments and Virtual Cards

10’27: Virtual Cards in Travel: Solving Payments but Struggling with Scale

15’19: Virtual Cards and On-Demand Growth: How APIs Unlocked a New Payments Model

19’17: From Amex to Extend: Reinventing Virtual Cards for Everyday Business

26’00: Scaling Smart Payments: How Extend is Reshaping B2B Credit Cards

29’33: Rethinking Spend Management: How Extend Partners with Banks Instead of Replacing Them

31’47: Built for CFOs: How Extend Streamlines Payments and Expense Management

35’08: The Future of Finance: How Embedded Payments and APIs Are Reshaping the CFO’s Role

40’34: The channels used to connect with Andrew & learn more about Extend

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Jayendra Jog - co-founder of Sei Labs, about his professional journey and the innovative Sei protocol—a high-performance parallel blockchain. Jay shares insights from his time at Robinhood, emphasizing the importance of distribution over technology and the challenges of scaling a fintech company. He discusses the limitations of Ethereum's transaction processing and how Sei Labs aims to address these through parallelization. The conversation also covers the future of blockchain in finance, the need for regulatory clarity, and the potential of high-performance blockchains to support emerging industries like AI and decentralized science.

Notable discussion points:

Impact Over Paychecks – Jog’s career leap from SAP to Facebook, Pinterest, Robinhood, and Sei Labs was driven by impact, not salary. He thrived in small, high-talent teams where he could truly move the needle.

Robinhood’s Growing Pains – Early Robinhood was fast and scrappy, but as it scaled, bureaucracy slowed innovation. The shift from “missionary” to “mercenary” employees hurt culture and velocity.

Tech Doesn’t Win—Distribution Does – The best crypto projects don’t just have great tech; they win by getting users. Sei Labs focuses on real-world adoption, not just engineering breakthroughs.

Sei’s Parallelized EVM: A Game Changer – Ethereum is slow. Sei Labs fixes this by parallelizing transactions, enabling high-speed trading and complex on-chain applications. It’s Ethereum’s power with Solana’s speed.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: fintech, blockchain, Sei Labs, Sei protocol, Ethereum Virtual Machine, EVM, Robinhood, decentralized applications, DeFi protocols, DePIN

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’29: From Silicon Valley Roots to Startup Hustle: Jayendra Jog’s Journey Through Tech’s Elite Ranks

7’53: Scaling Robinhood: From Scrappy Startup to Corporate Bureaucracy

12’56: Why Robinhood Won: Distribution Over Technology in Fintech and Crypto

17’38: Sei and the Parallelized EVM: Scaling Blockchain for High-Performance Trading

25’18: Parallelization in Blockchain: Unlocking Scalability Without Breaking the System

28’03: Building Sei: Solving the Blockchain Adoption Puzzle for Finance and Developers

33’50: The Blockchain Race: Competing for Killer Apps and Market Dominance

38’02: The Next Wave: Sei’s Vision for AI, DePIN, and High-Performance Blockchain Applications

41’34: The channels used to connect with Jay & learn more about Sei

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Arun Kumar, the CTO of Socure, an identity management and risk assessment company. In this exciting episode, Arun touches on: (1) his experience building large-scale, high-throughput, and low-latency systems at companies like Amazon and Citadel, and how he applies that expertise to the identity verification and fraud detection challenges at Socure. (2) Socure's rapid growth, serving over 2,700 customers including 9 of the top 10 U.S. banks and over 30 state agencies, processing hundreds of millions of transactions per month. (3) Socure's approach to building a real-time identity graph by aggregating signals from devices, phone numbers, IPs, and other data points to detect and prevent sophisticated fraud tactics like deepfakes and fraud GPTs. (4) The company's recent acquisition of Effectiv to simplify the integration process for customers and improve efficiency, as well as its use of Generative AI to automate various tasks. Lastly, (5) Socure's future plans to expand beyond account opening and login into transaction monitoring, as well as exploring opportunities in the growing embedded finance and digital identity spaces.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Socure, Effectiv, Citadel, Amazon, Identity management, digital identity, generative AI, deepfakes, fraud prevention, machine learning, identity verification

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’02: Scaling Innovation: Exploring High-Performance Systems and Real-Time Technology

4’04: From Financial Data to Machine Learning: Scaling Systems and Solving Edge Cases

8’49: Bridging Big Tech and Quant Finance: Exploring Technology Overlaps and Ultra-Low Latency Systems

11’12: Protecting Digital Identity at Scale: The Journey to Socure and Solving Real-Time Fraud Challenges

15’50: Building the Network Effect: How Socure Became a Leader in Identity Verification and Fraud Prevention

21’00: Battling Modern Fraud: Deepfakes, Generative AI, and the Evolving Landscape of Digital Security

26’30: Revolutionizing Customer Success: Simplifying Integrations with No-Code Solutions and Real-Time Performance Insights

29’57: Scaling Customer Integration: Fixed Costs, POCs, and Generative AI-Driven Value Propositions

34’00: Driving Efficiency and Scale: Socure's Evolving Product Roadmap and Future Vision

36’14: Learning from Customization: Standardizing for Scalability and Long-Term Growth

38’58: Expanding Horizons: Growing Market Share and Addressable Markets in Digital Transactions

41’00: The channels used to connect with Arun & learn more about Socure

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Shachar Bialick, the founder and CEO of Curve, a fintech mobile wallet. In this exciting episode, Shachar touches on: (1) his background as a serial entrepreneur and his experience in the Israeli military shaped his ability to solve problems and work in high-stress environments, which are key traits for a successful founder. (2) The initial idea behind Curve was to create a "wallet to rule them all" - a single interface that could consolidate and manage multiple payment cards and accounts, providing more value and convenience to customers. (3) Building Curve involved navigating complex challenges, such as convincing payment networks like Mastercard and Visa to change their rules to allow Curve's back-to-back wallet technology. This required a resilient, innovative, and persistence approach. (4) Shachar emphasizes the importance of building a company culture that fosters curiosity, adaptability, and a belief that "everything is possible" rather than focusing on perceived limitations. (5) Lastly, Shachar discusses the evolution of the fintech landscape, including the challenges faced by neobanks in creating true financial marketplaces, and the ongoing issues with the implementation of open banking standards.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Curve, ApplePay, Google Wallet, PayPal, Tink, neobank, fintech, wallets, payments, paytech, NFC, Open Banking

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’02: From Military Service to Fintech Success: Shachar Bialick on Founding Curve and Redefining Payments

9’10: The Resilient Founder: Risk-Taking, Leadership, and the Cultural Mindset Behind Entrepreneurship

14’59: From Unbundling to Rebundling: Building Curve to Solve Financial Fragmentation

20’50: Revolutionizing Payments: Curve's Ambition to Unite Financial Ecosystems

24’26: Trailblazing Curve: Overcoming Challenges to Redefine Payments and Build a Global Fintech Ecosystem

30’23: Project Elah: How Curve Challenged Apple’s NFC Restrictions to Redefine Digital Wallets

34’50: Shaving the Lion: How Curve Built a Culture to Overcome Industry Challenges and Innovate

39’05: Challenging Apple Pay: Curve’s Strategy to Deliver Tangible Customer Benefits

42’01: The Evolution of Fintech Infrastructure: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Role of Open Banking

51’54: The channels used to connect with Shachar & learn more about Curve

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Michael Heinrich, co-founder and CEO of 0G (Zero Gravity) Labs. In this exciting episode, Lex and Michael explore the concept of decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) and how it differs from centralized, closed-source AI models provided by big tech companies. Michael kicks off with his background in tech and finance, and how he became interested in decentralized AI as a solution to the issues with closed AI systems. Notable discussion points: (1) Decentralized AI provides transparency and verifiability around the data, training, and model alignment used, unlike closed AI systems. (2) Blockchain-based systems can help enforce a "code of conduct" for AI models and ensure fair rewards distribution for data contributors. (3) 0G Labs is building a decentralized AI operating system focused on key components like decentralized storage, data availability, and a serving layer for AI inference. (4) And lastly, the company is working with various providers of AI verification mechanisms (zKML, OPML, TEML, etc.) to integrate with their decentralized AI platform. The ultimate goal is to provide a seamless user experience for building and deploying decentralized AI applications, similar to how centralized tech platforms operate today.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: 0G, 0G Labs, Zero Gravity Labs, Bridgewater Associates, ORA, Story Protocol, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Decentralized AI, Tokenized AI, Web3, Blockchain, zkML, TeeML, OPML, SPML

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’10: Decentralized AI: From Early Tech Fascination to Innovating the Future

4’08: From Finance to Founding: A Journey of Passion, Growth, and Resilience

9’07: Web3 Meets AI: Building a Human-Centric Future Through Blockchain Innovation

13’45: Decentralized AI Explained: Trustless Systems vs. Closed AI Paradigms

17’21: Decentralized AI Solutions: Addressing Bias, Censorship, and Fair Rewards

23’30: Decentralized AI Framework: Building Open, Trustless Systems for Developers

27’28: Data Availability in Decentralized AI: Supercharging Blockchain for High-Performance Applications

31’24: Integrating Decentralized AI: From User Queries to Scalable Inference Frameworks

34’38: Tokenized AI Ecosystems: Economic Flows and Emerging Inference Networks

40’04: Ensuring Trust in AI Outputs: Bridging Verification Mechanisms with Decentralized Systems

42’13: Decentralized AI's Future: Breakout Use Cases and the Path to Mainstream Adoption

44’40: The channels used to connect with Michael & learn more about 0G

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Tom Duff Gordon, the Vice President of International Policy at Coinbase, where he drives the company’s engagement with policymakers in global markets across the UK, Europe, APAC, LatAm, and the MENA region. Together, Tomm and Lex discuss the importance of policy work in the financial services industry, especially after the 2008 financial crisis, and how policy teams collaborate with regulators to shape the regulatory environment; the reasons why the financial services industry is heavily regulated, including the systemic and interconnected nature of the financial system and the need to protect retail consumers; the regulatory approaches to cryptocurrency and digital assets in different jurisdictions, with Europe (MiCA), the US, and other regions like Asia. The discussion highlights the diverse and evolving nature of crypto regulation globally; the challenges faced by the US in developing a coherent regulatory framework for crypto assets, particularly the jurisdictional tussle between the SEC and CFTC; Coinbase's efforts to advocate for clear and balanced crypto regulation, including through grassroots initiatives like "Stand with Crypto"; and lastly, Coinbase's evolving product strategy, expanding beyond its core exchange business into areas like custody, lending, and infrastructure for the broader crypto ecosystem.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Coinbase, Credit Suisse, SEC, Circle, MiCA, Stand With Crypto, FIT21, financial regulation, financial policy, crypto, exchange, USDC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’02: Shaping the Future of Finance: Tom Duff Gordon’s career involving Policy, Crypto, and Global Regulation

7’30: Preventing Financial Panic: How Regulation Mitigates Systemic Collapse

13’12: From Bank Runs to Balance Sheets: Tackling Systemic Risk and Preventing Financial Contagion

16’32: Regulating Crypto: Global Progress and Emerging Frameworks

19’42: Expanding Crypto Regulation Worldwide: Frameworks, Challenges, and the Road Ahead

28’18: Crypto and the SEC: Unpacking America’s Contradictory Approach to Regulation

34’30: Crypto Politics: Why the US is Divided While Europe Stays Unified

41’30: Scaling Crypto: Coinbase's Multi-Vertical Strategy and Ecosystem Vision

45’28: The channels used to connect with Tom & learn more about Coinbase

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex interviews Alessandro Chesser - CEO of Dynasty, a San Jose-based online platform for trust creation and management. In this episode, the key topics discussed include: The importance of aligning business and product teams, and the challenges Chesser faced when this alignment broke down during Carta's unsuccessful foray into the private markets business. Chesser's decision to leave Carta and co-found Dynasty, a startup that aims to simplify the process of creating trusts to avoid probate and protect assets. Dynasty's go-to-market strategy, which focuses on driving organic growth through short-form video content on platforms like TikTok. And lastly, the technical and legal complexities of automating the trust creation process, and how Dynasty is navigating those challenges.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: Dynasty, GetDynasty, Carta, eShares, fintech, trusts, legaltech, private markets, legal, SaaS, social media, TikTok, Instagram, LegalZoom

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’24: From Sales Pioneer to Scaling Success: Alessandro Chesser on Building Carta’s Sales Organization and Transforming the Cap Table Market

5’38: Building Carta's Success: Strategic Partnerships, Demand Generation, and Sales-Product Synergy

9’57: Navigating Growth and Product Alignment: Carta's Scaling Challenges and the CartaX Experience

14’19: The Journey from Carta to Founding Dynasty: The Lessons Learned and Taking the Leap

16’55: Democratizing Estate Planning: Dynasty’s Mission to Make Trusts Accessible for Everyone

23’11: Unlocking Wealth Protection: Directed Trusts, Asset Security, and Tax Strategies for Founders and Investors

26’00: Trusts for the Middle Class: Simple Solutions for Inheritance and Probate Avoidance

28’19: Privacy and Protection: Using Trusts to Safeguard Real Estate and Build Awareness Through Organic Growth

32’02: Cracking the Viral Code: Leveraging Short-Form Video to Drive Customer Acquisition in Estate Planning

35’09: Building a Viral Marketing Team: Crafting Convincing Content for Organic Growth in FinTech

39’35: Engineering Simplicity in Legal Tech: Automating Trusts and Navigating Legal Complexities

42’52: The channels used to connect with Alessandro & learn more about Dynasty

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex is interviewing Sankaet Pathak, the former CEO and founder of Synapse, and CEO and current founder of Foundation, to explore what happened with Synapse, the banking as a service industry, and key lessons learned. The discussion covers Synapse's origins, the reliance on bank partners like Evolve, the discovery of reconciliation issues and missing payments, and the eventual sale of Synapse to TabaPay. Pathak shares details on the various categories of "breaks" they uncovered, including debits from customer accounts, undisclosed fees, and the challenges around the Mercury migration. The episode also touches on potential regulatory oversights, the role of blockchain technology, and Pathak's perspective on his critics. The summary provides a comprehensive overview of the issues faced by Synapse and the broader implications for the banking infrastructure space.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Topics: BaaS, API, Open Banking, payments, banking, Fintech, Embedded Finance, regulation

Tags: Synapse, Foundation, Evolve Bank, Mercury Bank, TabaPay, Yotta, FDIC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’06: Synapse and the Evolution of Banking-as-a-Service: Sankaet Pathak’s introduction

3’26: The Synapse Story: Inside the Banking Infrastructure and Its Collapse

6’17: Behind the Rise and Reliance: How Evolve Bank Became Synapse’s Key Partner

9’16: Uncovering Reconciliation Issues: How Synapse Detected Problems with Evolve Bank

11’05: Tracking Customer Funds: How Synapse Managed User-Level Data with Pooled Bank Accounts

14’41: Uncovering Payment Breaks and Fee Issues: The Challenges Synapse Faced with Evolve Bank

21’16: Tracing Missing Funds: Synapse’s Financial Breakdowns and Evolve Bank’s Alleged Deception

24’44: From Billion-Dollar Valuation to Fire Sale: The Synapse Collapse and TabaPay Deal

29’04: Missing Millions: How a Migration Error with Mercury Led to a $49 Million Discrepancy

33’37: Lessons from Synapse’s Collapse: Reflecting on What Could Have Been Done Differently

39’10: Reflecting on Mistakes: Scaling Too Fast and the Complexities of Synapse’s Brokerage Service

43’11: Rethinking Financial Oversight: The Need for Bank Accountability and Direct Regulation of Bank-Adjacent Companies

45’59: Addressing the Critics: Sankaet Pathak on Misunderstandings and Missed Opportunities in the Synapse Collapse

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Zuben Mathews - CEO and Co-founder of Brigit. Brigit is a leading consumer financial app in the United States that offers a suite of holistic financial products including budgeting, financial insights, access to paychecks, and credit building. Zuben kicks off the conversation discussing his journey from investment banking at Deutsche Bank to founding one of the largest financial health apps in the U.S. Mathews reflects on his early experiences in banking, where he launched a small entrepreneurial team within Deutsche to leverage the bank’s data and client relationships to drive revenue. This experience helped shape his approach to solving real financial pain points, which became the foundation of Brigit.

Zuben explains Brigit’s focus on addressing the U.S. financial crisis of living paycheck-to-paycheck, a problem he personally experienced as an immigrant student. Brigit’s initial product leverages cashflow data to provide instant cash advances, helping users avoid overdrafts and predatory loans. Mathews emphasizes that Brigit’s success stems from a commitment to solving users’ deepest financial issues and using real-time cashflow data, not traditional FICO scores, to provide financial solutions.

The conversation delves into Brigit’s subscription-based business model, which offers transparency and value to users, helping them save money while improving financial stability. Zuben discusses how the app has grown to serve over a million users, generating more than $100 million in revenue with a small team of 90. He also addresses challenges in fintech, such as data access in the U.S. compared to Europe’s open banking regulations, and calls for more balanced regulation that encourages innovation while protecting consumers.

The discussion concludes with Zuben advocating for greater access to bank data and better infrastructure for fintechs, highlighting the importance of innovation in improving customer outcomes in the financial space.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Brigit's Website: https://bit.ly/4d8tqoh

Zuben's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3XvsEvT

Topics: Fintech, neobank, overdraft, cash advance, subscription, financial wellbeing, PSD2, regulation

Tags: Brigit, Deutsche Bank, Plaid, Chime, Revolut, Monzo, Yodlee, Synapse, Coastal Community Bank

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’36: From Deutsche Bank to Brigit: Zuben Mathews' Journey in Finance and Entrepreneurship

5’03: Bridging Silos at Deutsche Bank: Detailing Strategic Vendor Partnerships and Fintech Insights

9’06: From Startup Struggles to Success: Building Brigit and Navigating the Challenges of Entrepreneurship

15’41: Solving America's Deepest Financial Pain Point: The Vision Behind Brigit's Differentiation in a Crowded Fintech Market

21’07: Leveraging Cashflow Data to Outperform Banks: How Brigit Built a Product to Tackle Overdraft Fees and Expand Financial Access

24’47: Beyond Overdraft Protection: How Brigit Uses Cashflow Data to Reduce Financial Stress and Drive User Engagement

29’01: Balancing Affordability and Financial Health: How Brigit's Subscription Model Empowers Users While Lowering Costs

33’25: Challenges of Data Access in US Fintech: Navigating Bank Transactional Data and the Push for Open APIs

40’36: Navigating US Banking Rails: The Role of Regulation, Innovation, and Customer-Centric Solutions in Fintech

45’24: The channels used to connect with Zuben & learn more about Brigit

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Till Wendler, Founder of Peaq Network - a leading DePIN Layer 1 in the blockchain space. In this episode, Till discusses his journey into entrepreneurship and the blockchain space. He talks about his early involvement with Ethereum and building a business around e-commerce payments using cryptocurrencies. Till also explains the concept of decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) and their role in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Economy of Things (EOT). He highlights the limitations of current IoT systems and the potential for value exchange between devices. Till discusses the success of Peaq in attracting over 800,000 devices onto the network and the challenges of building demand for data-driven projects. He emphasizes Peaq's role in catalyzing the sector by providing support on product optimization, go-to-market strategies, and financial assistance.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Peaq's Website: https://bit.ly/3XjsaKo

Till's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4cGvSSJ

Topics: Blockchain, web3, decentralized applications, dapps, economy of things, EOT, depin, iot, decentralized physical infrastructure networks

Tags: Peaq, IOTA, Exonum, DMG MORI, Silencio, MapMetrics, Helium

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’09: From the Valley to Blockchain: Till’s Journey into Entrepreneurship and Crypto

4’59: Building Peaq: From Berlin's Blockchain Scene to IoT Innovation

8’26: Connecting Machines to Blockchain: The Use Case Discovery and Peaq's Evolution

13’31: From IoT to the Economy of Things: The Evolution of Connected Devices

17’53: Unlocking the Machine Economy: The Role of Web3 and DePINs in Decentralized Infrastructure

20’50: Scaling the Machine Economy: Successful Use Cases Built on Peaq's Decentralized Network

23’34: Driving Network Growth: How Peaq Reached 800,000 Connected Devices Through Strategic Go-to-Market and Product Market Fit

29’15: Streamlining DePIN Success: How Peaq Simplifies Tokenomics and Focuses on User Demand

32’56: Empowering Ecosystem Growth: Peaq's Role in Supporting Projects from Integration to Funding

34’45: The channels used to connect with Till & learn more about Peaq

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Luke Voiles, the CEO of Pipe - a modern capital platform built to connect business owners to fast, frictionless, dilution-free funding. Luke kicks off discussing his experience in the FinTech industry. He talks about his transition from being an investor to working in FinTech. Luke shares his background in distressed credit investing and how it led him to focus on lending money to other lenders. He then discusses his role at Intuit, where he helped build QuickBooks Capital and gained valuable experience in tech, leadership, and product development. Luke also talks about his time at Square and Square Banking, where he learned about being a true CEO and P&L owner. He then joined Pipe and discusses the stage at which the company was when he joined and the core concept of revenue-based financing. Luke explains the differences between revenue-based financing, invoice factoring, and other fixed income instruments. He also talks about the pivot that Pipe made and the focus on Pipe Capital as a service. Luke discusses the importance of platforms and embedded finance in reaching small businesses and explains how Pipe works with SaaS vertical software providers. He emphasizes the value of giving small businesses access to credit and criticizes other FinTechs that have made mistakes in scaling their businesses. Luke concludes by providing contact information for himself and Pipe.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Pipe's Website: https://bit.ly/3WGQrJN

Luke's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4dpDh9P

Topics: Fintech, revenue-based finance, embedded finance, unicorn, SaaS, entrepreneur, lending, capital

Tags: Pipe, Square, Stripe, PayPal, Intuit, OnDeck, Alloy, Increase

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’07: From Distressed Credit to FinTech Leadership: Luke's Journey from Sixth Street Partners to Intuit and Beyond

7’17: Square Banking and the Evolution of Leadership: Navigating Single-Threaded and Functional Structures

14’53: Pipe's Transformation: Joining and Steering one of the Fastest Unicorns in History

18’46: Understanding Revenue-Based Financing: Defining Factoring, Merchant Cash Advances, and More

26’39: The Power of Storytelling: How Pipe's Vision and Innovation Led to Unicorn Status

28’39: Pivoting Pipe: Adapting Strategy and Overcoming Growth Challenges

37’25: The Future of Small Business Banking: Embedded Finance and SaaS Vertical Platforms

41’35: Navigating Regulatory Challenges: Pipe's Embedded Finance and Compliance Strategy

46’23: The channels used to connect with Luke & learn more about Pipe

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Danielle Sesko about insurance and innovation in the fintech sector. They discuss the purpose of insurance and why it exists, the structure of insurance companies, the challenges of insurance innovation, and the integration of insurance into digital lending platforms. Sesko explains that insurance is necessary because most people cannot sustain a total loss of their assets, such as their homes or businesses. She also discusses the regulatory structure of insurance in the US, which is regulated on a state-by-state basis. Sesko describes the product she is working on at TruStage, which provides insurance coverage for loans in the digital lending space. The insurance is designed to protect both the borrower and the lender in case of unexpected events, such as job loss or disability. Sesko explains the technology integrations between insurance and digital lending platforms and the economics of the product. She also discusses the challenges and opportunities in the insurtech industry.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

TruStage's Website: https://bit.ly/3WibyC1

Danielle's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3XUZNmp

Topics: InsurTech, Insurance, Digital Lending, Lending, embedded finance, embedded insurance, API, fintech

Tags: TruStage, Payment Guard, Lending Club, FDIC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’27: From Financial Consulting to Insurance Innovation: Danielle Sesko’s Journey in Financial Services

4’58: The Role and Necessity of Insurance: Insights on Financial Resiliency and Industry Structure

9’52: Innovation in Insurance: Creating Relevant Products and Navigating Regulations

13’39: Navigating US Insurance Regulations: Engaging State Regulators and Structuring Underwriting for New Products

17’59: Adapting to FinTech: How Established Underwriters Leverage Experience for Digital Lending Innovation

20’48: Assessing the Rise of Digital Lending: Timing, Consumer Preferences, and Regulatory Challenges in FinTech and InsurTech

27’39: Bridging the Gap in Digital Lending: Ideal Customers for PaymentGuard and Their Unique Needs

31’21: Defining Digital Lending Coverage: Target Workflows and Payment Flows for Embedded Insurance Solutions

34’36: Understanding PaymentGuard's Economics: Coverage Duration, Cost Structure, and Value for Digital Lenders

37’42: Integrating InsurTech and Digital Lending: The Technology and Processes Behind Embedding Insurance Solutions

40’11: The channels used to connect with Danielle & learn more about TruStage

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Anthony Moro, CEO of Provenance Foundation. Provenance is a blockchain platform for real-world assets and has a focus on financial services. Moro discusses his background in the traditional financial industry, particularly in security servicing, and explains how Provenance is positioning itself as a good control location for ownership of securities. He highlights the inefficiencies and high costs associated with intermediated securities transactions and explains how Provenance aims to provide a more efficient and secure alternative. Moro also discusses the technology stack of Provenance, which is built on the Cosmos network, and explains the importance of purpose-built blockchain networks for financial services. He also touches on the topics of noncustodial networks, ledgering, and the importance of network uptime in financial services. Moro concludes by discussing the future vision for Provenance, including the tokenization of trillions of dollars of financial assets and the role of Provenance in enabling asset issuers and service providers to transact efficiently on the platform.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Provenance's Website: https://bit.ly/3xLpXx6

Anthony's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3VIl3Jn

Companies: Provenance, Sofi, Provenance Blockchain Labs, ProvLabs, Ethereum, Cosmos, Merrill Lynch, Figure Technologies, Figure Markets

Topics: Blockchain, tokenisation, capital markets, DeFi, TradFi, NFT, Financial Services, Governance, crypto

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28: From Traditional Finance to DeFi: Insights on Provenance and Financial Services

4’48: The Complexities of ADRs: Insights on Traditional and Decentralized Financial Systems

8’54: Provenance and Blockchain Innovation: From SoFi Founders to Cosmos Network Integration

13’17: Transforming Capital Markets: The Evolution of Figure's HELOC Business and Blockchain Integration

17’28: Revolutionizing Mortgages with Blockchain: The Impact of NFT Mortgages and Disinflationary Technology

21’20: Exploring Alternative Investments: The Value of Pork Bellies and the Unexpected Tale of Uranium

26’39: Bridging Provenance and Ethereum: Open Source Development and Financial Services Security

30’01: Revolutionizing Governance in Financial Services: Provenance's Approach and Future Directions

32’56: Navigating Centralized Exchanges: Bringing an Institutional Network to Retail Markets

39’20: Regulatory Shifts in Crypto and FinTech: Navigating the Evolving Landscape Ahead of US Elections

42’49: Embracing the Future of Tokenization: Provenance's Vision for Retail Inclusion and Financial Services

46’31: The channels used to connect with Anthony & learn more about Provenance

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Lu Zhang, the founder and managing partner at Fusion Fund, a venture fund that invests in deep technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and healthcare. They discuss Lu's experience as an entrepreneur and the challenges she faced in building her own company. Lu also shares her investment thesis on AI, highlighting the opportunities in AI application and infrastructure. She believes that while large tech companies dominate the consumer AI market, there are still opportunities for startups in enterprise AI, particularly in industries with high-quality data and a need for AI solutions. Lu also discusses the potential of edge computing and the importance of addressing energy consumption and data privacy in AI infrastructure. She emphasizes the coexistence of large and small AI models and the need for practical, cost-efficient solutions. Finally, Lu discusses the revenue pools for AI companies and the growing awareness and adoption of AI in enterprises. She encourages startups to focus on reducing energy consumption in AI and addressing sustainability challenges.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Fusion Fund's Website: https://bit.ly/4egJMgp

Lu's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3KIWozf

Topics: Venture Capital, VC, Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, Startup, Infrastructure, LLM, Decentralized AI, Healthcare

Companies: Fusion Fund, OpenAI, IBM, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’30: From Entrepreneur to VC: Insights from Building and Exiting a Successful Healthcare Startup

5’50: Navigating Startup Challenges: Overcoming Obstacles and Embracing Growth in My Entrepreneurial Journey

9’56: From Founder to Investor: Experiencing the Transition and Learning to Say No

15’16: Fusion Fund’s AI Investment Thesis: Identifying Trends, Opportunities, and Challenges in Artificial Intelligence

23’03: Comprehending Enterprise AI: Ensuring Startups Thrive Without Being Captured by Big Corporates

26’48: The Challenges and Opportunities in Selling Large AI Models to Enterprises: Fine-tuning The Sales Process and Building Strategic Partnerships

30’31: Exploring AI Infrastructure Investments: Paths to Acquisition and IPO in a Competitive Landscape

36’24: AI Infrastructure Gaps: Identifying Opportunities and Challenges in the Evolving Value Chain

40’53: The Future of Decentralized AI: Commercial Opportunities and Economic Dynamics in a World of Personal AI Models

47’07: Key Opportunities in AI: Unmet Needs and Ideas for Future Startups

48’08: The channels used to connect with Lu & learn more about Fusion Fund

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better Mortgage. Better is an all-in-one digital homeownership company. From finding a real estate agent and getting a mortgage, to shopping for homeowners insurance and title services, Better and its affiliates take customers through the entire homebuying process online. Garg shares the story of how he founded Better Mortgage after experiencing the difficulties of getting a mortgage online. He explains how he saw an opportunity to reimagine the mortgage industry and create a more efficient and consumer-friendly process. Garg discusses the challenges of scaling the company, going public through a SPAC, and navigating the changing market conditions. He also shares his optimism for the future of Better Mortgage, highlighting the company's focus on efficiency, automation, and sustainable growth.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Better's Website: https://bit.ly/456T3Ub

Vishal's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4e52szk

Topics: fintech, mortgage, digital lending, digital mortgage, SPAC, interest rates

Companies: Better.com, Better mortgage, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, SoftBank

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’33: Revolutionizing Mortgages: Vishal's Journey from Frustration to Fintech Innovation

6’41: Cracking the Mortgage Code: Leveraging Fintech Experience to Disrupt a Stagnant Industry

11’11: Overcoming Startup Challenges: Innovating in the Mortgage Industry and Securing Early-Stage Financing

15’25: Recruiting Top Talent: How to Attract High-Caliber Professionals to Revolutionize the Mortgage Industry

20’32: Scaling to Success: The Rapid Growth, Economics and Strategic Milestones of Better Mortgage

24’48: Balancing Growth and Profitability: Navigating Blitz Scaling and Cultural Shifts at Better Mortgage

28’17: Understanding the SPAC Process: The Market Conditions, Expectations, and Challenges of Going Public

34’20: Facing Macro Headwinds: The Declining Efficiency and Financial Challenges in a Changing Market

36’50: Balancing External Stressors and Internal Efficiency: Navigating Market Changes and Organizational Challenges

39’04: From Private to Public: Better Mortgage's Evolution, Current State, and Optimistic Future

43’11: Overcoming Market Shifts: Vishal Garg on Better Mortgage's Resilience and Path to Profitability

45’30: The channels used to connect with Vishal & learn more about Better Mortgages

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Matt Watson, the founder and CEO of Origin, a comprehensive money management platform for the modern workforce. Watson discusses his background as an entrepreneur and his first fintech experience working on Wall Street. He also talks about his previous business in the commercial insurance space and the challenges of building out the go-to-market function for that company. Watson then explains the concept behind Origin and its focus on providing a mass-market private banking experience for the underserved segment of the population with investable assets below $500,000. He discusses the company's go-to-market strategy, its target market, and its monetization strategy. Watson also touches on the collapse of Mint and the opportunity it created for Origin, as well as the role of generative AI in financial planning and guidance. He concludes by discussing the ownership of data and the challenges of accessing and utilizing consumer financial data in the industry.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Origin's Website: https://bit.ly/4bJcMvc

Matthew's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3ym8mMa

Topics: fintech, AI, artificial intelligence, PFM, personal financial management, embedded finance

Companies: Origin, Origin Finance, Mint, Mint.com, Plaid, LearnVest, Column Tax, Intuit, Yodlee, ChatGPT

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’07: The Entrepreneurial Journey: From Family Influence to Fintech Ventures

3’55: Building the Go-to-Market Function: Penetrating and Innovating in the Insurance Agency Software Market

7’55: Challenges in Financial Vertical Software: Entrenched Systems and High Switching Costs

10’08: Exploring Origin: Addressing the Financial Services Gap for the Mass Affluent

18’16: Evolving Data Aggregation in Fintech: Addressing Costs and Open Banking Trends

22’30: Origin’s Business Model and Market Dynamics in Mass Affluent Financial Services: Lessons from Lead Generation Giants

26’01: Building Financial Solutions In-House: Origin's Approach to Planning, Investing, and Tax

29’24: The Collapse of Mint: Catalyzing Opportunities for Origin in B2B and B2C Markets

31’26: Leveraging Generative AI in Financial Planning: Enhancing Guidance and Managing Challenges

35’47: Understanding the Demand for AI Financial Planning: Challenges and Consumer Behavior

40’22: The Future of Financial Data Control: Consumer-Driven Analysis and Insights in a Tokenized World

41’07: The channels used to connect with Matthew & learn more about Origin

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Jason Morton, CEO of EZKL - EZKL is a technology that helps people build around artificial intelligence using zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) and the latest in technology. Jason explains that ZK proofs are a way to prove that a computation has been executed correctly without revealing any sensitive information. The proofs can be used to verify the execution of AI models, statistical models, and other computations on blockchain networks. EZKL provides a command line tool, a backend proving service, and a Python library for developers to use. The company's economic model involves licensing the components of the system and running backend services. In the future, EZKL aims to provide a more complete solution for interacting with the technology. The demand for verifiable AI and ZK proofs is expected to come from both Web2 and Web3 companies, as well as enterprise clients

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

EZKL's Website: https://bit.ly/4dx1wUb

Jason's Twitter: https://bit.ly/4boqumY

Topics: fintech, machine learning, ai, artificial intelligence, llm, zk-proofs, zero-knowledge proofs, blockchain, web3

Companies: EZKL, Ethereum, Bitcoin, DARPA

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’18: From Mathematics to Machine Learning: Tracing the Journey of an AI Researcher"

3’47: Putting Theory Into Practice: Navigating the Evolution of Neural Networks and Blockchain

7’18: Understanding Zero-Knowledge Proofs: The Evolution and Impact of Cryptographic Privacy

11’02: Digital Trust and Privacy: How Zero-Knowledge Proofs Enhance Security and Authentication Online

16’15: From Consensus to Cryptography: Exploring the Transformative Impact of Zero-Knowledge Proofs on Blockchain Technology

22’30: Revolutionizing AI with Blockchain: The Strategic Focus of EZKL on Verifiable and Secure Machine Learning

28’18: Connecting Worlds: Bridging Advanced AI and Blockchain Technology for Economic and Computational Efficiency

31’21: Strategic Transparency: Integrating Proofs in Smart Contracts for Trustworthy Investment Strategies

35’44: EZKL Defined: Navigating the Blend of Product, Library, and Framework in Blockchain Proofs

38’48: Blurring Lines: Will Web3 Innovations or Traditional Web2 Enterprises Drive the Future Demand for EZKL?

40’28: The channels used to connect with Jason & learn more about EZKL

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Libor Michalek, the President of Affirm, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) company. Michalek discusses his early experiences with the internet and how it shaped his understanding of technology and its potential in the financial services industry. He explains how Affirm was founded with the goal of building honest financial products that improve people's lives, and how the convergence of e-commerce, mobile technology, machine learning, and access to consumer information enabled the company to create a credit product that aligned with consumer interests. Michalek also discusses the challenges of building a technology-driven finance company, the performance of Affirm's loans compared to credit cards and personal loans, and the company's approach to competition and future growth.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Affirm's Website: https://bit.ly/3Qo2DvI

Libor's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4bfsQVk

Topics: fintech, buy now pay later, BNPL, e-commerce, machine learning, loans, credit, credit cards, payments

Companies: Affirm, Thinking Machines Corporation, PayPal, Amazon

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’00: Internet Pioneers and Business Innovation: Libor Michalek touches on Early Web Experiences

4’56: Digital Transformation and Commerce: Unpacking the Consumer Insights and Technological Advances That Fuelled the E-commerce Explosion

9’18: Beyond Traditional Finance: How Affirm's Founding Insights and Technological Integration Redefined Fintech in the 2010s

13’14: Redefining Credit: Exploring the Consumer Demand for Transparency and Fairness in Financial Products with Affirm

19’04: Integrating Innovation: How Affirm's Unique Approach to E-commerce and Payments Shaped Its Market Strategy

23’47: Machine Learning and Financial Innovation: Launching Affirm's Transaction-Specific Underwriting Models

27’56: Assessing Investment Opportunities: The Risk and Return Profile of Affirm's Customer Loans from an Institutional Perspective

32’11: Empowering Customers: Affirm's Commitment to Transparency and Support in Financial Services

37’42: Leading the Charge: Navigating Competition and Innovation in the Buy Now, Pay Later Market

41’22: Defining Innovation in FinTech: Distinguishing Between Technology-Driven and Finance-First Companies

43’29: The channels used to connect with Libor & learn more about Affirm

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Sarah Levy, CEO of Betterment - the largest independent digital investment advisor. Levy kicks off the conversation by discussing her career journey from working in the media industry to leading a fintech company. Levy explains that she was attracted to Betterment's mission of making people's lives better and saw the potential for growth and scale in the company. She also highlights the importance of brand building and understanding the customer in creating a successful business. Levy discusses Betterment's core products, including its retail robo-advisory service and its 401(k) offering for small and medium-sized businesses. She explains that Betterment aims to be a holistic investing home for its customers, focusing on expanding access and offering more account types and asset classes. Levy also discusses the potential for Betterment to offer self-directed investing options in the future.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Betterment's Website: https://bit.ly/3Uq5gPK

Sarah's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4d5aGqJ

Topics: Fintech, embedded finance, banking, investment, RIA, Tax, roboadvisor, advisory, branding, 401k

Companies: Betterment, Nickelodeon, Disney, Viacom, Schwab, Fidelity

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’10: From Nickelodeon to Betterment: Tracing Sarah Levy's Journey Through Media and FinTech

7’22: Brand Personification and Audience Engagement: Exploring Digital Transformation with a lens on the consumer

13’33: Mission and Brand Resonance: Transitioning Leadership at Betterment

16’50: Initial Impressions and Strategic Directions: Enhancing Betterment's Brand and Services

21’41: Refining FinTech: How Betterment Evolved to Meet the Needs of Modern Investors

24’58: Building Betterment's 401k Business: Strategic Growth and Market Opportunities

34’45: Revamping RIA Economics: Betterment's Innovative Approach to Advisor Services

39’41: Beyond the Super App: Betterment's Strategic Approach to FinTech Diversification

44’12: Focused Growth: Betterment's Strategic Decision to Prioritize Long-Term Investing Over Self-Directed Trading

47’09: The channels used to connect with Sarah & learn more about Betterment

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Anthony Cimino, the head of policy at Carta - an equity management company that builds the infrastructure for innovators, supporting approximately 35,000 companies, over 2.2 million stakeholders, and more than 5,000 funds. Cimino discusses his background in government and policy in the financial services industry and how he got involved in finance and policy. He explains the role of policy in the fintech industry and the importance of engagement with policymakers. Cimino also talks about Carta's core business of cap table management and valuation services, as well as their fund administration business. He discusses the challenges and opportunities in the private markets industry, including the barriers to entry for investors and the need for more access and standardization. Cimino also mentions Carta's focus on supporting founders and their plans to expand globally. He emphasizes the role of policy in unlocking capital and creating access to private markets.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Carta's Website: https://bit.ly/3U92K0w

Anthony's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3J6u5db

Topics: fintech, regulation, policy, private markets, fund administration

Companies: Carta, SEC, Committee on Financial Services

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’23: From Capitol Hill to Financial Crisis Management: Tracing Anthony's Journey through Finance and Policy

6’24: Building Trust in Turbulent Times: The Crucial Link Between Public Engagement and Policy Formation

10’50: Shaping the Future of Finance: The Essential Role of Stakeholder Engagement in Policy and Regulation

14’50: Digitizing Equity: Carta's Impact on Private Markets and the Future of Financial Infrastructure

20’07: Unlocking Private Markets: Navigating Complexity and Challenging Paternalistic Regulations

24’17: Expanding Economic Opportunity: The Imperative of Broadening Access to Private Markets

27’27: Beyond Data: Carta's Vision for Empowering Founders and Investors in the Private Market Ecosystem

31’50: Tailoring Growth: How Carta Supports Founders from Startup to Public Transition

34’39: Navigating the Terrain: The Dynamics of Private Fund Administration in Changing Economic Climates

38’56: Charting the Future: Carta's Vision for Empowering Founders, Revolutionizing Fund Administration, and Expanding Global Footprints

40’57: The channels used to connect with Anthony & learn more about Carta

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Malcolm deMayo, Global Vice President for Financial Services at Nvidia. deMayo kicks off the discussion on how Nvidia has been working with financial services firms for over 15 years, providing accelerated compute platforms to help solve compute-intensive challenges in trading, banking, and insurance. DeMayo explains that Nvidia's hardware accelerators, such as GPUs, can execute thousands of instructions at a time, resulting in a significant speedup compared to traditional CPUs. He highlights the use of AI and machine learning in various financial services applications, including fraud detection, sentiment analysis in trading, and process automation in banking. DeMayo also discusses the emergence of Generative AI, which enables the generation of unique content and the potential for human-like engagement in customer service. He emphasizes the importance of collaboration between business and AI teams for successful AI deployment and mentions the role of open-source models and federated learning in the future of AI.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Nvidia's Website: https://bit.ly/3TwEDXO

Malcom's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3xeimqa

Topics: AI, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, accelerated compute, compute, generative AI, genAI, financial services, Neural networks

Companies: Nvidia, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, EvidentAI, AlexNet

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’35: Beyond Moore's Law: Nvidia's Pioneering Role in Financial Services Innovation

6’56: Revolutionizing Efficiency: The Transformative Impact of GPU-Accelerated Computing in Finance

14’12: Unlocking Efficiency: How Nvidia's Accelerated Compute Platform Revolutionizes Machine Learning in Finance

19’52: Transforming Finance: The Power of Machine Learning in Fraud Detection and Market Analysis

29’15: From Data Custodianship to AI Revolution: Nvidia's Pivotal Role in Transforming Finance with Generative AI

35’03: Beyond Classification: Nvidia's Role in Fueling Generative AI's Impact on Financial Services Innovation

42’04: Shaping the AI Landscape: The Dynamic Between Open Source Innovation and Proprietary Models in Financial Services

47’01: The channels used to connect with Malcom & learn more about Nvidia

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Nelson Chu, founder and CEO of Percent - the modern credit marketplace. Nelson kicks off the discussion b by walking through his inspiration for building the private credit marketplace and the challenges of operating in the fintech industry. He explains that Percent aims to provide a better alternative investment platform for credit investors by offering shorter durations and lower minimum investments. Nelson also discusses the importance of infrastructure in the private credit market and the need for technology to streamline processes. He highlights the different types of investors and borrowers that use Percent's platform and the challenges of building a three-sided marketplace. Nelson also touches on the impact of macroeconomic factors, such as interest rates, on the private credit market and the role of data and AI in the industry.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Percent's Website: https://bit.ly/3x3w8Mg

Nelson's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/4a5Nwym

Topics: Private credit, lending, borrowers, underwriting, AI, artificial intelligence, investment, alternative investment, fintech, marketplace

Companies: Percent, Lending Club, LendIt, Prosper, Blackstone

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’12: From FinTech Consulting to Revolutionizing Private Credit: The Genesis of Percent

4’33: Unveiling the Void: The Journey to Establishing Essential Infrastructure in Alternative Investments

6’55: Decoding Private Credit: Navigating Yields, Risk, and Investor Dynamics in Short-Duration Fixed Income

14’01: Investor Trends and Platform Evolution: The Shifting Terrain of Private Credit Investments

19’15: Building the Bridge: Crafting the Infrastructure to Power a Tripartite Financial Marketplace

26’15: Mastering Multi-Sided Markets: Strategies for Bootstrapping Borrowers, Investors, and Underwriters

31’26: Tech as the Catalyst: Navigating the Fusion of Traditional Finance and Innovative Infrastructure in Private Credit

36’49: Adapting to Shifts: The Impact of Changing Interest Rates on the Private Credit Landscape

40’16: Unlocking Potential with AI: How Proprietary Data Sets Are Shaping the Future of Finance

43’15: The channels used to connect with Nelson & learn more about Percent

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Richard Ma, CEO of Quantstamp -a leading blockchain security company. Richard kicks off by discussing the origins of the company and the importance of security in the blockchain space. He explains that the idea for Quantstamp came after he invested in Ethereum and witnessed the hack of the DAO, which prompted him to focus on the security side of Ethereum. Richard describes how Quantstamp conducts audits of blockchain projects, identifying vulnerabilities and providing recommendations for improvement. He emphasizes the importance of reading audit reports and understanding the risks associated with projects. Richard also discusses different types of adversaries in the blockchain space, including nation-state actors, developers seeking recognition, and financially motivated hackers. He believes that while established projects will become more secure over time, new experimental projects will always carry some level of risk. Richard suggests that AI-based debuggers could help improve security auditing in the future. He highlights EigenLayer, ZK-rollups, and the development on Solana as exciting sectors to watch in the coming years.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Quantstamps's Website: https://bit.ly/3Iv6zX4

Richard's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3IvaxyO

Topics: blockchain, security, audit, hacking, hacks, crypto, cryptocurrency, digital assets, Web3, DeFi

Companies: Quantstamp, Ethereum, MakerDAO, Compound, EigenLayer

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’30: From High-Frequency Trading to Fintech Innovator: The Journey to Creating Quantstamp

9’26: Demystifying the Audit Process: Inside Quantstamp's Approach to Securing Blockchain Projects

15’04: The Art and Challenge of Blockchain Audits: Navigating the Complex World of Code Review

19’37: The Nomad Hack: A Case Study in Preventability and the Importance of Diligence in Code Auditing

24’39: Web3's Adversarial Landscape: Unpacking the Motivations Behind Crypto Hacks and Security Breaches

29’13: The Ethical Dilemma of Crypto Hacking: Navigating the Fine Line Between Exploitation and Market Manipulation

34’59: Exploring the Frontier: Key Innovations Shaping the Future of Blockchain in 2024 and Beyond

36’34: The channels used to connect with Richard & learn more about Quantstamp

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Christian Catalini, co-founder and chief strategy officer of Lightspark - a company aiming to break down global payment barriers, throwing its weight behind a new standard intended to make payments as easy as sending an email. Christian kicks off by discussing his career in blockchain and academia, as well as the challenges and opportunities in the fintech industry. He explains how he became interested in crypto through his research on crowdfunding and how he later focused on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Catalini also discusses the importance of decentralized governance and the potential of Bitcoin as a global payment network. He introduces Lightspark's products, including Lightspark Predict and Universal Money Addresses (UMA), which aim to make Lightning Network more efficient and user-friendly for cross-border money movement. He emphasizes the need for compliance and regulatory clarity in the crypto industry and highlights the role of various partners in facilitating on and off-ramps between digital assets and traditional payment systems.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Lightspark's Website: https://bit.ly/3uQ0Nw1

Christian's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3UVwBu3

Topics: blockchain, crypto, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Digital Assets, AI, cross border, payments, lightning network

Companies: Lightspark, Diem, Libra, Meta Fintech, MIT, MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22: Bridging Worlds: From Academic Inquiry to Entrepreneurial Action in the Crypto and Crowdfunding Era

7’12: Innovating at the Intersection: From the Creative Destruction Lab to the Cryptoeconomics Lab at MIT

13’00: Designing Stability: The Economic Architecture and Vision Behind the Diem Experiment

18’37: Governance and Trust in Crypto: Navigating the Complex Landscape from Diem to Bitcoin

25’42: Money as a Public Good: The Evolutionary Path of Bitcoin and Digital Assets in the Global Economy

31’57: Unleashing Potential: Crypto and AI's Complementary Forces in Shaping the Future of Open Source Technology

37’02: Universal Money Addresses: Revolutionizing Global Transactions with Seamless, Compliant, and Real-Time Payments

41’31: UMA and Bitcoin: Simplifying Cross-Border Payments with a Global, Liquidity-Driven Settlement Layer

46’49: Integrating Innovations: How UMA Partners Enable Smooth Cross-Border Payments Through Bitcoin Liquidity and Local Infrastructure

50’14: The channels used to connect with Chris & learn more about Lightspark

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Shelby Austin, co-founder and CEO of Arteria AI - Arteria AI is an AI-focused company that develops a contract lifecycle management platform for end-to-end digital contracting. Shelby kicks off by discussing her career journey and the development of her company, which focuses on solving documentation challenges in the financial services industry using artificial intelligence (AI). Shelby explains that Arteria AI uses a combination of people and technology to streamline document management processes, such as onboarding, contract generation, and data organization. The company leverages a variety of AI models, both open-source and proprietary, to analyze and generate documents. Shelby emphasizes the importance of user-centric design and practical application of AI in solving real problems for financial institutions. She also discusses the challenges and opportunities of working with large financial firms, including data security and integration with existing infrastructure.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Arteria AI's Website: https://bit.ly/3SLtWAr

Shelby's LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3I11568

Topics: AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, documentation, finance, analytics, contract processing

Companies: Arteria AI, Arteria, Deloitte, OpenAI

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’23: From Law to Innovation: Shelby Austin's Journey Through Legal Grind to Tech Entrepreneurship

6’41: Digitizing Diligence: Pioneering Data Management in Legal Workflows

9’10: From Legal Documents to AI Frontiers: Navigating the Transition into Technological Leadership at Deloitte

17’27: Reimagining Documentation: The Genesis of Arteria and the Evolution of Financial Services Solutions

22’32: Simplifying Complexity: Arteria's Solutions for Streamlining Documentation and Compliance Processes

26’44: Transforming Documentation: Arteria's Multimodal Approach to Financial Services Paperwork

32’03: Crafting AI Solutions in Finance: Navigating the Landscape of Models Beyond the Hype

36’16: Building Bridges in Finance: Exploring the Complex Landscape of AI Integration with Major Financial Firms

39’25: The channels used to connect with Shelby & learn more about Arteria AI

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Rachel Lin, the Co-Founder & CEO of SynFutures, a decentralized derivatives trading platform. Lin discusses her background in traditional finance and her transition into the fintech and cryptocurrency industry. She explains her experience working in structured derivative sales and trading at Deutsche Bank, where she interacted with clients such as hedge funds and corporates who used derivatives for speculative purposes, hedging, and arbitrage. Lin then moved to fintech company Alipay, where she learned about blockchain technology and became interested in the potential of decentralized finance. She later joined Matrixport, a centralized platform, before starting her own decentralized derivatives platform, SynFutures. Lin explains that decentralized platforms offer transparency and the ability for anyone to become a market maker or service provider, while centralized platforms require more configuration and rely on market makers. She also discusses the growth potential of decentralized derivatives and the current dominance of speculation in the crypto derivatives market. Lin believes that as digital economies grow, the usage of blockchain and derivatives for economic purposes will also increase.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

SynFuture's Website: https://bit.ly/3OCDRaa

Topics: crypto, digital assets, investment, blockchain, AMM, DeFi, CeFi, Liquidity, hedging, arbitrage, derivatives, perps, synthetic

Companies: Synfutures, Alipay, Matrixport, DYDX, GMX, Synthetix, Deutsche Bank, Uniswap

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

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👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’23: Trading Illusions for Insights: Navigating the Complex World of Financial Derivatives

6’35: Hedging Needs vs. Market Speculation: Deciphering the Derivatives Landscape

10’54: Institutional to Retail: Transitioning Through Chinese Fintech and Cryptocurrency Markets

16’16: SynFutures: Unlocking Decentralized Derivatives Trading for All

20’54: Synthetic Derivatives and Leverage: Amplifying Trades on Decentralized Platforms

26’56: DeFi Derivatives: AMM Liquidity, Competition, and the Future of Synthetic Trading

32’13: The promise of Crypto Derivative Markets: Beyond Speculation - Hedging, Arbitrage, and the Promise of Digital Economies

35’00: The channels used to connect with Rachel & learn more about SynFutures

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with Stan Miroshnik, founder and managing partner of 10Squared Capital, discusses his early experiences in financial services and his journey into the world of digital assets and crypto. He talks about the challenges of navigating the ICO market and the importance of price discipline in investing. Miroshnik also shares his insights on the current state of the market and the opportunities he sees in sectors such as infrastructure, consumer applications, data analytics, and financial services. He also discusses the potential of security tokens and real-world asset tokenization.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

10Squared Capital's Website: https://bit.ly/3ShddVm

Stan's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3w8kO0S

Topics: crypto, digital assets, venture capital, investment, blockchain, ICO, tokenization

Companies: TenSquared Capital, 10THoldings, 10T, 10SQ, Animoca, Coatue, Tiger, Civic

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28: Navigating the Financial Landscape: From Soviet Childhood to Blockchain Innovation

4’03: Transitioning from Soviet Roots to Global Finance: A Journey Through Capital Markets and the Emergence of Digital Assets

11’07: Emergence of Russian Capital Markets: Navigating the Complexities of Financial Evolution and Integration

15’15: Bitcoin and the Birth of a New Capital Market: Pioneering Digital Asset Investment Banking

19’13: Compliance Complexity in 2024: Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Digital Asset Regulation

23’25: Reflecting on the ICO Market: Balancing Innovation, Speculation, and the Evolution of Digital Assets

27’53: From ICOs to Institutional Investment: Charting the Evolution of Digital Asset Markets with 10T Holdings and TenSquared Capital

32’18: Assessing Growth Stage Investments in the Digital Asset Space: Navigating the Challenges of Valuation and Opportunity in 2021-2022

35’24: Identifying Emerging Leaders in Digital Assets: A Look at Key Sectors and Companies Shaping the 2024 Market Landscape

36’25: Exploring the Future of Digital Assets: Exploring Infrastructure, Consumer Applications, and Financial Services in the Blockchain Ecosystem

43’04: The channels used to connect with Stan & learn more about TenSquared Capital

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Jerome Le Luel, founder and CEO of TRIVER - a London-based startup that uses open banking data and AI to provide short-term working capital to SMEs. To kick off, Jerome discusses the application of AI in fintech lending for small businesses. He explains that traditional banks have struggled to automate lending decisions for SMEs due to regulatory constraints and manual underwriting processes. However, with the emergence of open banking and the ability to access transaction-level data, fintech companies like TRIVER can use data science to automate underwriting decisions and provide instant capital to small businesses. TRIVER's platform allows SMEs to apply for short-term financing in a few clicks, using bank data and credit bureau information to make lending decisions. The capital comes from a combination of equity and debt raised by TRIVER, and the company is also exploring partnerships with non-financial institutions to embed its technology and offer instant capital to their SME clients.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

TRIVER's Website: https://bit.ly/3OiT1RN

Jerome's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3ubNWUz

Topics: Fintech, lending, SME, SME finance, Open Banking, Underwriting, API

Companies: TRIVER, Funding Circle, Barclays, Barclaycard, Capital One

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’29: From analytics to innovation: Pioneering credit card strategies in the UK with Capital One

4’13: Segmentation and innovation: How Capital One's early customer insights revolutionized consumer finance

9’19: Scaling financial services: Lessons in clarity, efficiency, and rigorous execution from Capital One's rapid growth

14’53: From challenger to major player: Navigating the shift to large-scale operations in financial services at Barclaycard

18’59: Risk management in lending: Balancing uncertainty, reward, and scaling in financial services

26’44: Innovating in Fintech: Leveraging flexibility and focus to outpace traditional banking at Funding Circle and TRIVER

31’37: Entrepreneurship and innovation: The impact of organizational culture and talent on Fintech advancements

33’53: Solving short-term SME finance challenges: TRIVER's innovative approach leveraging data science and open banking

40’23: Real-time SME underwriting: Leveraging transaction data and open banking for effective financial decisions at TRIVER

41’53: Empowering SMEs with instant capital: TRIVER's seamless integration of tech, data, and finance for efficient working capital solutions

46’02: The channels used to connect with Jerome & learn more about TRIVER

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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Lex chats with David Minarsch, co-founder and CEO of Valory - a team focused on providing research, products, and services at the intersection of multi-agent systems (MAS) and distributed ledger technology (DLT), one of them being Autonolas - a platform that offers an open-source software stack and an on-chain protocol, facilitating secure operations and incentivizing autonomous application development. In this episode, David discusses the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto networks. He explains that Valory is focused on building autonomous systems that connect to blockchain networks. David highlights the importance of AI agents in the future, as they can specialize in different roles and provide valuable services. He also discusses the launch of the Autonolas protocol on Gnosis chain, which allows for the creation of prediction markets and the coordination of autonomous services. David believes that autonomous agents will become the primary daily active users of crypto, providing a new user experience and abstraction for humans.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Valory's Website: https://bit.ly/4b3xuWP

David's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3S5EF8n

Topics: DLT, Distributed ledger technology, ai, blockchain, smart contract, game theory, autonomation, DAO, generative AI, crypto, economics

Companies: Valory, Autonolas, Fetch.ai, OLAS, Gnosis, Cosmos

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’34: Mathematics to Game Theory: A Journey Through Academia and the Intricacies of Human Behavior

4’03: Network Games and Equilibria: Exploring Graph Theory and Game Theory in Economics at Cambridge

7’31: Quantitative Abstractions and Intuition: Navigating the Complexity of Equilibria in Economic Systems

12’08: From Academic Theory to Real-World Application: The Impact of Crypto Networks on Economic Modeling and Experimentation

16’17: Mathematics in Governance: Transforming Data for Constituency Insights and Political Decision-Making

19’04: From Human Insights to Blockchain Innovation: The Evolution of Fetch.ai and the Role of Autonomous Agents

23’36: Defining Autonomous Agents: The Evolution and Impact of AI-Driven Software Agents in Complex Systems

30’48: Agent Ownership and Automation: Exploring the Spectrum and Implications of Autonomous AI Systems

35’16: Autonolas Protocol and Valory Launch: Revolutionizing Autonomous Services and DAO Governance on the Gnosis Chain

39’44: Governance Through AI: Understanding the Role of Autonomous Agents in DAO Decision-Making and Proposal Analysis

43’34: OLAS Protocol on Gnosis Chain: Pioneering Autonomous Agents in Prediction Markets and DAO Governance

50’15: Envisioning the Future: The Rise of Autonomous Agents and AI in Crypto and Economic Systems

55’01: The channels used to connect with David & learn more about Valory

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Steve McLaughlin, CEO and founder of FT Partners - the premier financial technology investment bank, and Jon Lear, president and co-founder of Fintech Meetup - the leading fintech conference in the world today. They discuss the early days of fintech, the growth and evolution of the industry, and the current market trends. They also touch on the definition of fintech and its boundaries, as well as the sectors that are seeing the most activity and opportunity in the coming year. They highlight the importance of networks, infrastructure, and emerging markets in driving innovation and growth in fintech.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

FT Partners' Website: https://bit.ly/3vEVbEG

Fintech Meetup's Website: https://bit.ly/48Nuzji

Steve's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/48P6AAm

Jon's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Sgz7cs

Topics: fintech, finance, financial technology, Investment Banking, Blockchain, crypto, paytech, insurtech, infrastructure

Companies: FT Partners, Fintech Meetup, NASDAQ, ETrade, EarthPort, Visa, Mastercard, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Stripe, Worldcoin, Intuit

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

2’21: From Goldman Sachs to FT Partners: Steve McLaughlin's Journey Through the Evolution of Fintech

6’39: Digital Finance Evolution: Steve expands on the Enduring Impact of Early Fintech Companies

9’35: Traversing the Fintech Landscape: Jon Lear’s journey from Procter & Gamble to Fintech Entrepreneurship and Beyond

15’58: Repeating Patterns in Fintech: Exploring Persistent Challenges and Innovations in Financial Technology

20’59: Defining Fintech: Navigating the Blurred Lines of Financial Technology in Today's Evolving Market

28’57: Emerging Ecosystems: How New Technologies Reshape Traditional Financial Services and Create Unique Economic Spheres

32’56: Fintech in Focus: Insights from Fintech Meetup on Market Dynamics, Innovation, and the Shift Towards Infrastructure

36’22: Risk Assessment in Fintech: Evaluating Current Market Dynamics and Venture Capital Trends in the Financial Sector

40’36: Navigating Challenges in Fintech: The Complex Dynamics of M&A and Growth Strategies Amid Market Volatility

43’39: Emerging Trends in Fintech: Identifying Growth Opportunities and Innovations in Blockchain and Payments

45’38: Future Fintech Frontiers: Uncovering Growth Sectors and Geographical Opportunities in the Financial Industry

50’57: The channels used to connect with Jon & learn more about Fintech Meetup

51’10: The channels used to connect with Steve & learn more about FT Partners

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Jeff Boortz, the Chief Product Officer of Blockstream. Blockstream is a company at the forefront of Bitcoin ecosystem development, and they discuss the new developments and innovations in the Bitcoin space. Boortz talks about his career background, including his time at Google, and how he transitioned to Blockstream. They also discuss the skills and differences between tech companies like Google and financial institutions when it comes to product management. Boortz explains the concept of decentralization in building software products and how it applies to Google's organizational structure. They then dive into Blockstream's core business, which includes advancing the Bitcoin protocol, building layer 2 technology like the Lightning Network, providing mining and co-location services, and developing self-custody products like wallets. They discuss the scale and usage of the Liquid Network, a sidechain implementation by Blockstream, and its potential for programmability and representing other assets. They also touch on the future of Bitcoin and the potential paths for development, particularly in the financial markets.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Blockstream's Website: https://bit.ly/3tzZ2Ck

Jeff's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3tzZ3pS

Topics: Bitcoin, layer-2, blockchain, ethereum, crypto, cryptocurrency, Protocol, L2

Companies: Blockstream, Bitcoin, Lightning Network, Google, Liquid Network, Blockstream Green, Ethereum, Product

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’44: From web development to Google: Jeff’s journey through technology and his evolution from software developer to shaping business strategies

6’03: Integrating tech in finance vs. core technology companies: Insights on skill sets and product development

13’17: Blockstream's mission and portfolio: Rethinking trust in financial transactions with Bitcoin and layer 2 technologies

16’52: Blockstream's core business: Building protocols and tools for Bitcoin-connected networks and services

20’27: Liquid Network's scale and programmability: Exploring blinded transactions and asset representation on Blockstream's sidechain

24’09: Bitcoin's evolution since 2009: Balancing decentralization with development and the institutional investment narrative

29’20: Lightning Network's progress: Enhancing Bitcoin's scalability and adoption through Layer 2 solutions

33’37: Lightning Network adoption: Balancing user convenience and enterprise applications in Bitcoin's Layer 2

37’24: Bitcoin's evolving ecosystem: Exploring Ordinals, inscriptions, and the surging interest in programmable assets

41’18: Reimagining financial markets: Blockstream's vision for trust-minimized finance and the path to equitable systems

43’45: The channels used to connect with Jeff & learn more about Blockstream

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands - a global leader in blockchain and gaming that is working to provide property rights for virtual assets via NFTs and related technologies. Yat discusses his journey into technology and gaming, as well as the intersection of gaming and decentralized finance. He shares his early experiences with technology, including writing MIDI software in the 1980s and discovering the power of online communities. Additionally, Yat discusses the shift from Web2 to Web3 and the importance of ownership and interoperability in gaming. He highlights the potential for virtual goods and NFTs to become platforms for building experiences and creating network effects. Yat emphasizes the need for trust and transparency in the gaming industry and the potential for Web3 to democratize ownership and create new opportunities for gamers.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Animoca Brands' Website: https://bit.ly/47Vv3UD

Yat's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3NvEtxT

Topics: Web3, crypto, blockchain, DeFi, NFT, NFTFi, Metaverse, tokens, gaming, GameFi, Web2

Companies: Animoca Brands, Animoca, ConsenSys, Dapper Labs, CryptoKitties, Axiom Zen, Minecraft, Sandbox, Mocaverse

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28: Journey into tech: Yat Siu reflects on his early experiences with gaming, MIDI software, and the transformative impact of online communities

6’49: From early internet anonymity to Web3's shared value: The evolution of online identity and the power shift in data dynamics

15’30: Digital identity and data monopolies: Exploring the tension between privacy and community in the evolution from Web2 to Web3

21’04: Building Animoca Brands: Yat Siu on his journey from a mobile gaming pioneer to championing user empowerment in the digital world

27’37: Collaborative creation: The genesis of CryptoKitties and the emergence of Dapper Labs from the early days of NFT gaming

31’02: Gaming as a platform: The evolution of gaming experiences and the rise of interoperability in the digital asset ecosystem

37’48: Digital economy's growth: The transition from virtual goods in gaming to a democratic, capitalist Metaverse

40’48: Exploring digital economies: The intersection of Web3 adoption and gaming, and the evolution of user engagement

49’22: The channels used to connect with Yat & learn more about Animoca

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Ed Maslaveckas, the founder and CEO of Bud, a FinTech company focused on data aggregation and artificial intelligence in financial services. They discuss the evolution of Bud's business model, the atmosphere of the FinTech industry in the UK, the challenges of data enrichment and customer insight, and the potential of AI agents and generative AI in transforming financial products. Maslaveckas highlights the value of accurate transaction data in reducing call center costs, improving lending decisions, and enabling personalized marketing. He also emphasizes the importance of automation and co-piloting in enhancing the customer experience and increasing efficiency in financial organizations.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Bud's Website: https://bit.ly/3TjBWue

Ed's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3TaEsTE

Topics: Fintech, open banking, embedded banking, banking, API, GenAI, AI, generative ai, artificial intelligence, data aggregation

Companies: Bud, Bud Financial, Plaid, Salesforce, Yodlee, mint.com

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’18: Evolution of Ed’s fintech career: The journey from tech enthusiast to influencing the UK's vibrant financial technology scene

6’32: From consumer app to B2B platform: Bud's evolution amidst the neobank wave and the challenges of data integration in fintech

14’14: Decoding customer insights in fintech: Mastering data enrichment and unlocking personalized financial solutions

20’58: Unlocking transaction data's potential: How advanced AI is transforming financial institutions' approach to customer insights

23’19: Transforming financial services with AI: Bud's role in enhancing banks' transaction analysis and customer engagement strategies

30’57: AI and financial well-being: Navigating the balance between automation and user comfort in personal finance apps

37’01: Redefining workflows in banking: The integration of AI agents for enhanced enterprise efficiency and customer engagement

41’59: Shaping the future of fintech: How generative AI and advanced data capabilities are transforming financial services

45’37: The channels used to connect with Ed & learn more about Bud

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Dan Finlay, co-founder of MetaMask, and Dean Tribble, CEO of Agoric, about the future of wallet strategy and the underlying technological changes in the Web3 space. They discuss the growth and usage of MetaMask, the philosophy behind its development, and the core dimensions in which they have tried to grow the wallet. They also talk about the concept of "Snaps," which allows developers to extend the functionality of MetaMask using JavaScript. The conversation touches on the potential of interconnecting different blockchains and the importance of user consent and security in the Web3 ecosystem. They also discuss the role of AI in wallets and the potential for users to have their own trusted AI companions. Overall, the discussion highlights the importance of building a more seamless and secure infrastructure in Web3 and the potential for innovation and integration in the space.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Agoric's Website: https://bit.ly/3GnHcFo

MetaMask's Website: https://bit.ly/3T1vGqY

Dean's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Rptf03

Dan's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3RoPpjb

Topics: Web3, wallet, blockchain, interoperability, AI, smart contracts

Companies: MetaMask, Agoric, Snaps, Cosmos, JavaScript, Secret Network

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’46: Web3's evolution and challenges: A conversation with Daniel Finlay on MetaMask's progress and future

6’52: Exploring Web3's potential: The role of MetaMask’s developer focus, safety, and the innovative Snaps platform in shaping the future

11’20: Revolutionizing wallets and Web3: Breaking down the role of JavaScript and secure confinement in enhancing user experience and innovation

17’32: Expanding Web3 development: How JavaScript and lightweight sandboxing in MetaMask unlock new possibilities for developers

19’52: Enhancing Web3 security and usability: The role of hardened JavaScript in simplifying and securing the development process

24’00: Expanding developer horizons in Web3: Understanding the impact of Snaps in MetaMask for creating diverse and innovative applications

28’20: Unifying Web3 ecosystems: How MetaMask and Agoric facilitate seamless integration and cross-chain functionality for developers and users

37’12: Crafting the future of Web3 interfaces: How MetaMask, Snaps and Agoric are paving the way for advanced cross-chain connectivity and AI integration

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Christopher Pallotta - founder and CEO of Templum, a company focused on alternative investments and private markets. Pallotta discusses his background in technology and investing, as well as the journey of Templum and its transformation into becoming the operating system for private markets and alternative assets. He explains how Templum's technology, broker-dealer and alternative trading system (ATS) capabilities enable the trading of regulated private securities in a compliant manner. Pallotta also discusses the growing demand for alternative assets and the role of liquidity in driving adoption. He highlights the potential for alternative assets to outperform traditional markets and the need for liquidity mechanisms in the alternative asset space. Finally, Pallotta shares his vision for the future, where alternative assets become more accessible and investing in them becomes as ubiquitous as investing in public equities.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Templum's Website: https://bit.ly/3GfLr63

Christopher's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/47O2sjy

Topics: fintech, hedge fund, REIT, ETF, finance, real world assets, RWA, tokenization, alternative assets

Companies: Templum, Raptor Group, Eniac, 8VC, New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22: From business school to blockchain: A journey into tech and investment

6’12: The liquidity journey: Navigating markets from illiquid to fractionalized assets

8’47: Templum today: Powering alternative asset markets and beyond

12’13: Demystifying infrastructure: Public equities vs. alternative asset markets

14’57: Revolutionizing private asset markets: Templum's Shopify-inspired solution

17’12: Unifying the world of alternative assets: Templum's central operating system

20’03: Unlocking demand: The shift towards alternative assets in investment portfolios

22’18: Democratizing investment: The rise of alternative assets in retail portfolios

26’18: The expanding alt-finTech ecosystem: Templum's position in liquidity and access

28’39: Unlocking liquidity: The market implications of tradable alternative assets

31’16: The evolution of portfolio composition: A future with 60% alternatives and 40% ETFs?

33’10: The future of real-world asset tokenization: Trends, insights, opportunities, and challenges

37’50”: The channels used to connect with Chris & learn more about Templum

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Eva Shang, CEO of Legalist - a technology-powered investment firm specialising in alternative assets. Shang discusses her company's strategies in litigation finance, bankruptcy, and government receivables. She explains that Legalist uses technology and data analysis to identify investment opportunities in the legal space. Shang also discusses the challenges and complexities of underwriting litigation cases and the importance of human judgment in the process. She highlights the need for uncorrelated sources of return in the investment landscape and the potential for technology to transform other asset classes. Shang also expresses caution about retail investors entering alternative investment spaces without proper knowledge and understanding of the risks involved.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Legalist's Website: https://bit.ly/46masHp

Eva's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/49GENmD

Topics: fintech, hedge fund, litigation finance, asset management, alternative investments, AI, artificial intelligence, underwriting, investment

Companies: Legalist, Y-Combinator, LexisNexis

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’23”: Overview of Legalist's Asset Management Strategies

2’31”: Litigation Finance: Core Strategy and Operation

6’20”: Integration of Data Analysis and Technology in Litigation Finance

9’37”: Early Development of Legalist’s Technology at Y-Combinator

14’59”: Transition from Legal Analytics to Litigation Finance

18’22”: Investment Process and Decision Making in Legalist

24’33”: Challenges and Innovations in Data-Driven Litigation Funding

27’24”: Growth and Expansion of Legalist Since 2019

31’51”: The Future of Alternative Investments and Legalist's Role

35’09”: The channels used to connect with Eva & learn more about Legalist

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Guy Young - the CEO and Founder of Ethena Labs, the crypto infrastructure company building USDe which is the first-ever scalable stablecoin not reliant on existing banking institutions alongside a permissionless 'internet bond'. They discuss Ethena, a new protocol for the synthetic dollar, and the market dynamics around Ethereum and the concept of the internet bond. Young explains his background in distressed investing and the risks and mistakes commonly seen in financial services. They also delve into the mechanics of the perpetuals market and the funding rates, as well as the scalability and risks associated with Ethena. Young highlights the potential for the synthetic dollar to replace bonds in traditional bank accounts and the value of a crypto-native solution with different risk profiles.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Ethena's Website: https://bit.ly/3MDR1Td

Guy's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/46gDDM4

Topics: crypto, blockchain, defi, ethereum, perpetual swaps, stablecoin, synthetic dollar, steth, usde

Companies: Ethena Labs, Ethena, Cerberus, BitGet, Binance, ByBit

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’20”: Strategic Investments: Distressed Assets and Value Opportunities in Financial Services

4’19”: Analyzing Collapse: The Underlying Mistakes Leading to Financial Institution Failures

6’22”: Market Missteps and Innovation: The Human Element in Financial Risks and the Allure of Crypto Markets

9’37”: Decoding Value and Innovation: The Dynamics of Ethereum Economics and the Future of DeFi Tokens

16’40”: Balancing Returns and Risks: Understanding Ethereum's Capital Market Structure and the Role of Perpetual Swaps

21’47”: Synthetic Leverage in Crypto Markets: Analyzing the Persistent Tilt in Funding Rates and the $30 Trillion Perpetuals Phenomenon

25’26”: Strategic Hedging with ETH: Understanding the Perpetual Market Mechanics and Identifying the Risks

28’30”: Exchange Relations and Risk Mitigation: Balancing Volume and Counterparty Exposure in Perpetual Markets

31’42”: Impact of Scale on Ether: Assessing the Price Dynamics of Synthetic Assets and Their Influence on the Underlying Market

36’23”: Exploring Synthetic Stability: The Mechanics of Crypto-Native Dollars and the Potential for Traditional Market Integration

40’50”: The channels used to connect with Guy & learn more about Ethena

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Sam Bobley, founder and CEO of Ocrolus - a fintech infrastructure company that powers underwriting processes for lenders like SoFi, Lending Club, and Enova. In this episode Sam starts off by sharing how he got started in entrepreneurship at a young age and the influence of his father, who was a serial entrepreneur. Bobley explains how Ocrolus focuses on document automation using OCR technology and the challenges they faced in the early days. He also discusses the evolution of machine vision and the improvements in handling semi-structured and unstructured documents. Bobley highlights the importance of vertical-specific solutions and the integration of AI technologies into financial services. He shares the company's experience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the pivot they made to focus on the Paycheck Protection Program. Bobley emphasizes the need for transparency, focusing on the big picture, and having a support system to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship. He rounds off the episode discussing the trends he sees in the industry, including the rise of large language models and the adoption of cashflow-based underwriting.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Ocrolus's Website: https://bit.ly/3QHYoeN

Sam's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3SrC7TU

Topics: artificial intelligence, ai, machine vision, OCR, LLM, machine learning, automation, fintech, embedded banking

Companies: Ocrolus, Plaid, OpenAI, Google, Amazon, AWS, OnDeck

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22”: Early entrepreneurial insights: Money's role Sam’s upbringing and fintech's influence

5’15”: The dawn of image recognition: Founding a company on the cusp of AI advancements

12’23”: Building the ideal product: The journey to a four-hour turnaround time

19’48”: The evolution of machine vision: From early days to cutting-edge capabilities

26’34”: Enhancing the developer experience: A deep dive into integration and seamless interactions

34’02”: Navigating the journey of building Ocrolus: Inflection points, growth, and challenges

38’48”: Staying resilient through business challenges: Advice for entrepreneurs from a seasoned founder

40’28”: Maintaining leadership resilience: Strategies for navigating the roller coaster of entrepreneurship

44’42”: Future trends in AI and embedded finance: Insights from a tech entrepreneur

46’21”: The channels used to connect with Sam & learn more about Ocrolus

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Matt Bivons, the founder and CEO of Canopy, a modern digital lending company. Bivons discusses his background in fintech and his journey from being a product designer to starting his own company. He explains the importance of designing products for others and how he identified a gap in the market for a lending infrastructure solution. Bivons also talks about the evolution of the digital lending sector and the role of infrastructure companies in enabling fintech innovation. He shares his vision for the future of Canopy and the opportunities in the commercial lending space.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Canopy's Website: https://bit.ly/3Fwvg3Y

Matt's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3QyIu6x

Topics: fintech, lending, API, Paas, credit, loan servicing, digital lending

Companies: Canopy, Earnest, GreenSky, Stripe, Kabbage, YC

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’37”: From self-design to universal solutions: A founder's journey

7’01”: Fostering empathy in product design: Balancing personal and market problems

10’25”: Marketing strategies & cost of acquisition in fintech: Insights from Earnest and GreenSky

17’45”: Expanding horizons: Gaining experience and expertise at GreenSky

22’24”: From insight to action: Building Canopy from scratch

25’58”: Navigating the go-to-market challenge: Insights from Canopy's founding journey

31’25”: Canopy's current landscape: Scale, competencies, and customer base

34’20”: Shaping the future of digital lending: Market evolution and exciting prospects

40’02”: The channels used to connect with Matt & learn more about Canopy

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy - Co-Founders of Bastion - a transaction and Web 3 orchestration company that aims to provide infrastructure for businesses to build user-friendly experiences on top of blockchain technology. The founders, Nas and Riyaz, have a background in security and have worked together for several years at companies like Docker, Anchorage, and Facebook. They believe that custodial wallets offer the best user experience and are focused on building a platform that allows businesses to issue wallets seamlessly to their users. Bastion also offers a smart transaction routing system that optimizes transactions and reduces costs. Both Nas and Riyaz see custodial services as a starting point for users, with the goal of eventually allowing them to graduate to self-custody. They emphasize the importance of security, compliance, and user experience in their platform.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Bastion's Website: https://bit.ly/3M8B6wb

Nassim's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/46UYe9g

Riyaz's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3M5UGJi

Topics: crypto, payments, custody, Web3, Web2, cybersecurity, decentralization, wallets, user experience, security

Companies: Bastion, Libra, Meta, Andreessen Horowitz, a16z, Docker, Anchorage Digital, Facebook

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’13”: From digital security to working on Facebook’s Libra project: The journey of Riyaz and Nas

7’09”: The Rationality of Digital Adversaries: A Look at Cybersecurity Challenges

9’45”: The Convergence of Decentralization and Corporate Ambitions: A Deep Dive into the Libra Project

16’52”: From Operator to Investor: Navigating the Crypto Space at Andreessen Horowitz

21’50”: Unlocking Crypto Security: The Mission of Bastion and its Innovative Approach

27’48”: Empowering Developers: How Bastion Fits into the Crypto Infrastructure Ecosystem

32’40”: Simplifying User Interactions: The Role of Bastion in Crypto Transactions and custody

38’51”: Data and the Future: Navigating the Possibilities of Web 3 Custodianship

41’02”: The channels used to connect with Riyaz and Nas & learn more about Bastion

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Adam Felesky, CEO and co-founder of Portage - an investment firm focused on fintech and financial services. Felesky discusses his background in finance and tech, his experience as an entrepreneur, and the investment opportunities he sees in the fintech sector. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the nuances of different verticals within fintech and the potential for incumbent transformation in the industry. Felesky also discusses the current market environment for fintech investments and the challenges and opportunities it presents. He suggests that M&A activity and buyouts may play a role in the recovery of the fintech market and advises investors to be prepared for companies to stay private longer.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Portage's Website: https://bit.ly/3ttPRmO

Adam's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Fi0ThE

Topics: investment, investment management, fintech, M&A, ETFs, venture capital, vc, private equity, roboadvisor, AI

Companies: Portage, Wealthsimple, Alan, Betterment, Wealthfront

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’21”: From early passion to industry pioneer: The journey of ETF entrepreneurship in 2005

8’29”: The intersection of asset allocation and individual investments: Navigating two worlds in wealth management

11’41”: Exploring the robot-driven dynamics of fund complexes, trading firms, and quant hedge funds

18’25”: Unpacking the Wealthsimple investment: From founding to differentiation in the digital investing wave

21’04”: Navigating investment stages: Assessing startups from seed to series A

27’33”: Valuation challenges in fintech: The blurred traction and market trends

30’02”: From entrepreneur to investor: Mastering the art of saying no

32’59”: Fintech's future: Portage Ventures' promising themes and market structure insights

37’53”: Assessing risk and the credit cycle: A conversation on market perspectives

41’12”: Unlocking growth potential: Strategies for overcoming valuation challenges in fintech

44’59”: The channels used to connect with Adam & learn more about Portage

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Chandini Jain, founder and CEO of artificial intelligence company Auquan. Together, Lex and Chandini discuss the use of AI in financial services. Jain explains that AI can help optimize information flow and improve decision-making by efficiently processing and analyzing large amounts of data. Jain highlights the importance of accuracy in AI models, particularly in the financial industry where incorrect information can have significant consequences. She introduces the concept of retrieval augmented generation (RAG) AI, which combines retrieval systems and generative models to provide accurate and credible answers to user queries. Jain also mentions that Auquan has published a white paper on RAG AI and offers a LinkedIn newsletter with frequently updated data points.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Auquan's Website: https://bit.ly/46j7GU2

Chandini's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3PHDj2x

Topics: artificial intelligence, AI, generative AI, capital markets, fintech, deep learning, LLM, Natural language models

Companies: Auquan, Optiver, Apple, Meta, ChatGPT, RAG AI, Andreessen Horowitz, A16z

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22”: Navigating Flying High: From Career Beginnings to Tackling Complex Problems

6’49”: Exploring Capital Markets: Finding Alpha and Transitioning to Entrepreneurship

15’20”: Building an Investment Solution: From Concept to Market-Ready Product

21’55”: Unlocking Private Equity Deal Insights: How to Leverage Auquan’s AI Services

26’37”: Demystifying AI in Financial Services: Core Trends and Model Insights

35’09”: Unlocking the Semantic Cosmos: AI Breakthroughs and Evolution in Knowledge Representation

41’24”: AI in Financial Services: Navigating the Bayesian Landscape of Probability and Accuracy

45’03”: The channels used to connect with Chandini & learn more about Auquan

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Arik Shtilman, CEO of Rapyd - a leading fintech-as-a-service platform. In this episode, Shtilman discusses his background in technology and financial services, as well as the journey of building Rapyd into a leading payment company. He talks about the challenges of starting a consumer payment company and the pivot to becoming a fintech-as-a-service platform. Shtilman explains the importance of building a global business and the need for a platform that enables companies to build financial services at scale. He also discusses the growth of different products within Rapyd, such as the wallet and payment collection capabilities, and the importance of serving marketplace structures. Shtilman shares insights on failure modes in fintech, including the challenges of onboarding SMB clients and the complexities of high-velocity payment processing in the cloud. He also discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the fintech sector and the outlook for financial recovery. Finally, Shtilman highlights the increasing role of developers in the buying process and the importance of building relationships with developers through developer communities and tailored documentation.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Rapyd's Website: https://bit.ly/3EVv0ei

Arik's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/45efpBg

Topics: fintech, fintech-as-a-service, payments, VOIP, Cloud, API, embedded banking

Companies: Rapyd, PayPal, Brex, RobinHood, Stripe

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22”: Navigating the early career: Entering technology and financial services

5’03”: Global business expansion: Strategies and expanding geographical reach, touching on Rapyd

8’33”: Evaluating opportunities: The quest for the ideal fintech platform

10’41”: Identifying the gap: Exploring unmet needs in the fintech platform landscape

15’52”: Landing marquee clients: The go-to-market journey of a fintech platform

19’12”: Driving growth: Exploring fintech product expansion and the mechanics of cross-border payments

25’02”: Beyond borders: Navigating the payments landscape and the global e-money licensing surge

28’46”: Investing in marketplace structures: Admired companies, lessons learned, and avoiding fintech failure modes

34’44”: COVID acceleration and financial recovery in fintech: Navigating strategic direction errors and shifting landscapes

38’42”: Empowering developers: Rapyd's role in the shift from financiers to developers

41’25”: The channels used to connect with Arik & learn more about Rapyd

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner, CMO at MoneyLion - a mobile banking and financial membership platform that integrates spending, saving, borrowing, and investing tools to empower consumers towards better financial wellness. Kincking off the conversation, Cynthia delves into the intricacies of charting a career in the ever-evolving landscape of digital transformation, sharing her transition from brand marketing to holistic marketing. As they navigate through industry insights, Cynthia provides a closer look at the challenges and strategies of targeting different sectors and personas, as well as marketing at scale across various business verticals. A significant portion of the discussion revolves around MoneyLion's journey. Cynthia charts the evolution of the platform, highlighting its transformation from its early days to a renowned digital banking platform, underscoring its core value proposition. This leads to an insightful conversation on the growth, valuation, and shifting fintech market trends that have shaped MoneyLion's trajectory. Cynthia goes on to detail the importance of financial literacy within the app, focusing on content evolution and user value. She further discusses the nuances of content discovery, the company's revenue model, and the balance between engagement and profitability. Navigating the tricky waters of financial influencers, Cynthia stresses the importance of balancing content quality with regulatory compliance. The podcast culminates with a forward-looking view, as Cynthia sheds light on MoneyLion's strategic priorities in the upcoming years.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

MoneyLion's Website: https://bit.ly/45YHQVl

Cynthia's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/460jn1S

Topics: Fintech, marketing, brand, e-commerce, customer lifecycle, embedded finance, brand, Marketplace

Companies: MoneyLion, Walmart, Bonobos, Nestle, Gilt Groupe, Even Financial, Malka, ZenDrive

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’16”: Charting a Career Journey: From Brand Marketing to Digital Transformation

8’49”: Industry Insights: Navigating Diverse Sectors and Targeting Personas

13’47”: Marketing at Scale: Strategies for Diverse Business Verticals

17’00”: The Evolution of MoneyLion: From Inception to Digital Banking, touching on its core value proposition

25’09”: The Unfolding Story of MoneyLion: Deciphering the Growth and Valuation journey Amidst evolving Fintech Market Trends

28’14”: Financial Literacy Engagement in the App: Content, Evolution, and User Value

31’30”: Content Discovery and Revenue Mix: Driving Engagement and the Core Economic Model

35’12”: Financial Influencers and Regulatory Considerations: Balancing Content Quality and Compliance

40’09”: The Future of MoneyLion: Company's Strategic Focus in the Coming Years

41’30”: The channels used to connect with Cynthia & learn more about MoneyLion

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Pete Townsend, Managing Director of the Techstars Web3 Accelerator - one of the largest pre-seed investors and accelerator programs in the world. Pete kicks off the conversation by sharing his career journey, from early experiences in finance to the present, highlighting the evolution of finance, where technologists have emerged as key wealth creators. Their discussion covers successful go-to-market strategies in the blockchain industry and reevaluates these strategies in fintech over the past decade. They delve into aligning employee incentives with digital transformation in traditional financial enterprises before transitioning to Pete's role at Techstars, where startups are accelerated and innovation thrives. The conversation concludes with reflections on the ever-evolving Web3 landscape, considering market lessons and shifting trends. Pete also explores positioning for the future amid consumer discretionary spending and the selection of startups within the accelerator.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Techstars' Website: https://bit.ly/3EHx4qn

Pete's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3sSuV8B

Topics: Web3, investment banking, finance, Web3, crypto, Blockchain, tokenomics, VC, accelerator, incubator, VR, Metaverse

Companies: Techstars, Fidelity, 11:FS, BNP Paribas, Norio Ventures, ALT21, Meta

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’47”: Building a Career: Foundational Experiences and Early Jobs

8’50”: Evolution of Finance: From Machinery to Technologists as Wealth Creators

15’59”: Cracking the Code: Successful Go-to-Market Strategies in the Blockchain Industry

24’19”: Reevaluating the Go-to-Market Strategy in the Fintech Industry: Lessons from the Past Decade

30’34”: Incentivizing Innovation: Aligning Employee Motivation with Digital Transformation in Financial Enterprises

32’42”: Venturing into Techstars: Accelerating Startups and Nurturing Innovation

40’05”: Reassessing Web3: Learning from Market Performance and Shifting Trends

45’28”: Positioning for the Future: Navigating Consumer Discretionary Spending and Startup Selection in the Accelerator

51’46”: The channels used to connect with Pete & learn more about Techstars

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

Want to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.

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Lex chats with Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia Bank (formerly Avanti Financial Group) - a Wyoming payment system provider and a custodian of digital assets required to fully comply with Know Your Customer, Anti-Money Laundering, and related laws and regulations. Together they delve into the fascinating world of fintech, US banking history, and the evolution of banking and payment networks. Starting with Caitlin's early experiences in finance and the unique dynamics of the US banking industry, they explore the controversies and historical context surrounding the US Central Bank. They touch upon centralization in banking, the unintended consequences of regulatory compliance, and how technology trends have shaped the industry. The conversation then shifts to the founding principles of Custodia Bank and its mission. Caitlin also discusses the evolving role of card networks in payment rail integration and how Custodia Bank fits into the open macro economy, emphasizing client focus and ecosystem integration. This podcast provides valuable insights into the past, present, and future of the US financial industry.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Custodia Bank's Website: https://bit.ly/3Z6ZALr

Caitlin's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/44KwXVD

Topics: Bitcoin, crypto, blockchain, finance, banking, Wyoming, macroeconomics, treasury management, fintech, monetary policy

Companies: Custodia Bank, The Fed, Salomon Brothers, FTX

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’25”: Early lessons in finance: A journey into financial services and understanding industry stressors

5’05”: Unraveling the uniqueness of the US banking industry: A historical perspective and future trends

10’38”: A glimpse into the history of the US Central Bank: Controversies and evolution

22’25”: Centralization in banking: Unintended consequences of regulatory compliance and technology trends

30’38”: The inception of Custodia: Mission and ideation

36’02”: Heralding a new era: Card networks' evolution in payment rail integration

41’10”: Custodia's role in the open macro economy: Client focus and ecosystem integration

47’13”: The channels used to connect with Caitlin & learn more about Custodia Bank

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Lex chats with Farouk Ferchichi, the President of Data and Analytics at Envestnet - supplies financial and wealth management technology and services to financial institutions. Farouk starts off by delving into the journey of understanding data and analytics. The conversation explores the challenges and dynamics of embracing quantitative decision-making across industries, emphasizing the transformative power of Yodlee in financial data aggregation. Farouk explains how Yodlee's scope has evolved from Personal Financial Management (PFM) to encompassing brokerage, spending, and credit data. Lex and Farouk also discuss the diversification of distribution by integrating payments and banking data beyond the advisory experience. Farouk provides valuable insights into navigating fintech market dynamics, striking a balance between payment trends and asset-based stories. The discussion culminates in a vision for revolutionizing financial identity through unifying data and enabling personalized decisions with AI.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Envestnet's Website: https://bit.ly/3r03h95

Yodlee's Website: https://bit.ly/45ucdT8

Farouk's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3L75W7A

Topics: Data, analytics, AI, embedded finance, aggregation, machine learning, AI, deep learning, neural networks, PFM, Wealth management

Companies: Envestnet, Yodlee, Amazon

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’40”: Journey to understanding data and analytics: Definitional experiences and core insights

10’12”: Embracing quantitative decision-making: Challenges and dynamics across industries

15’15”: The power of Yodlee: Evolution and impact in financial data aggregation

23’16”: Expanding Yodlee’s scope: Evolution from PFM to aggregating brokerage, spending, and credit data

26’12”: Diversifying distribution: Integrating payments and banking data beyond the advisory experience

27’54”: Navigating fintech market dynamics: Balancing payment trends and asset-based stories34’23”: Revolutionizing financial identity: Unifying data and enabling Personalized decisions with AI

36’36”: The channels used to connect with Farouk & learn more about Envestnet and Yodlee

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Lex chats with Aman Behzad, Managing Partner of Royal Park Partners - A group of Corporate Finance advisors focused on Fintech. Amas kicks off the conversation talking about his early experiences in banking and his strategic focus on financial institutions, the discussion covers the dynamics of investment banking, the success vectors in fintech at Financial Technology Partners and Royal Park Partners, and the ongoing innovations shaping capital markets. Together, they analyze fintech's performance, addressing its volatility, beta, and unique factors. The conversation shifts to the changing landscape of valuation dynamics in fintech, transitioning from rapid blitzscaling to a more rational approach in multiples. The discussion concludes by unraveling exit strategies, encompassing M&A, IPOs, and the intricate world of SPACs, highlighting their dynamics, performance, and underlying influencing factors. This podcast offers a condensed exploration of the multifaceted fintech realm through Aman Behzad's expertise.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Royal Park Partner's Website: https://bit.ly/3svb5A7

Aman's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/45n80Rd

Topics: fintech, corporate advisory, crypto, SPAC, IPO, Investment banking, capital markets, M&A, venture capital, private equity

Companies: Royal Park Partners, FT Partners, Citigroup, Arma Partners, Marco Polo Partners

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’19”: Exploring the banking journey: Early experiences and focus on financial institutions

4’11”: Deconstructing investment banking: Balance of financial analysis, strategy, and sales

6’09”: Fintech investment banking: Success vectors at Financial Technology Partners and Founding Royal Park

11’35”: Reimagining Fintech: The Evolution of Capital Markets and Ongoing Innovations

18’39”: Analyzing Fintech's Performance: Volatility, Beta, and Idiosyncratic Factors

23’25”: Shifting Valuation Dynamics: From Blitzscaling to Rationality in Fintech Multiples

28’58”: Navigating Exit Strategies: M&A, IPOs, and SPACs in Fintech

34’41”: Unraveling the SPAC Market: Dynamics, Performance, and Factors Influencing Value

37’09”: The channels used to connect with Aman & learn more about Royal Park Partners

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Lex chats with Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex (one of the largest crypto exchanges) and Tether (a US-dollar pegged stablecoin). Paolo kicks off reflecting on his journey into the crypto space and the pivotal role of technology, community, and opensource in his learning. The discussion navigates through Bitcoin's diverse potentials, Bitfinex's growth, and the intricate challenges of crypto exchanges. Paolo emphasizes the importance of learning from past industry mistakes to guide future strategies. Tether's origin story is explored, shedding light on its initial architecture, on-ramp process, and strategies to manage banking counterparty risk. A significant aspect discussed is stablecoin usage dynamics, where Paolo delves into the primary customers—ranging from institutional demand to market makers and retail onboarding. The episode concludes with insights into Bitfinex and Tether's future directions.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Bitfinex's Website: https://bit.ly/3QFgzCo

Tether's Website: https://bit.ly/3ElM90N

Paolo's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/45zFBak

Topics: crypto, web3, stablecoins, crypto exchanges, custody, banking, T-Bills

Companies: BitFinex, Tether, USDT, Poloniex, Bittrex, Binance, Bitcoin, Omni Layer, Copper

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’37”: Laying the foundation: Early experiences and technological DNA in the crypto sphere

11’35”: The motivating forces: Tech's role in building, exploration, and human progress

14’49”: Embracing Bitcoin's multifaceted potential: From asset class to economic infrastructure

18’35”: The complexity of crypto exchanges: Grasping the scale of trading activity on Bitfinex and vertically integrated challenges

26’02”: Learning from exchanges' mistakes: Industry evolution and future strategies

30’01”: Tether's inception and early architecture: Addressing volatility in crypto transactions

35’02”: Tether's on-ramp process: Early days and acquiring Tether, banking counterparty risk, and risk mitigation strategies

42’36”: Stablecoin usage dynamics: Institutional demand, market makers, and retail onboarding

46’26”: The channels used to connect with Paolo & learn more about Bitfinex and Tether

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Lex chats with Asaf Horesh - General Partner at Vintage Investment Partners - who invest in the leading venture funds and growth-stage technology companies that are spearheading disruptive innovation. Asaf shares insights into his venture journey, highlighting core lessons in becoming a successful investor. Emphasizing the significance of people and recognizing signals of success, Asaf delves into the essence of venture investing. He unveils a key strategy flywheel that drives venture success and further examines the venture asset class, including returns, cycles, and strategic positioning. Additionally, he sheds light on identifying hidden gems in investments beyond conventional metrics. Asaf discusses the impact of industry-specific funds on venture performance and dives into the challenges and dynamics of the current venture landscape, particularly addressing issues related to valuation storms, overhang, and the evolution of the DPI metric.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Vintage Investment Partners' Website: https://bit.ly/444yNAq

Asaf's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/4456T75

Topics: Investment, Venture Capital, fintech, growth equity, private equity, crypto, Web3

Companies: VintageIP, Vintage Investment Partners, Softbank, Andreessen, iZettle, Creandum

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’26”: Asaf’s venture journey: From early engagements to core lessons, and what makes a good investor

6’14”: The essence of venture investing: People and signals of success

12’40”: Driving venture success: A core strategy flywheel

16’17”: Understanding the venture asset class: Returns, cycles, and positioning

21’27”: Identifying hidden gems: Uncovering factors beyond access and past performance

25’56”: Navigating industry focus: Impact of industry-specific funds on venture performance

35’03”: Venture landscape and challenges: Overcoming valuation storms and overhang, and breaking down DPI

41’17”: The channels used to connect with Asaf & learn more about Vintage Investment Partners

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Lex chats with Aron Alexander - CEO, and Founder of Runa - a digital value infrastructure and network that enables people to pay and get paid by anyone, anywhere, instantly. The discussion delves into the founding story of Runa, which was inspired by insights from commerce experiences. Together Lex and Aron explore the significance of payment networks and loyalty programs in aligning incentives for merchants and providers. Runa's integration, impact, and impressive numbers in simplifying payments for merchants are unveiled. The conversation also covers the industry structure of third-party gift card providers, considering concentration, diversity, and geographic impact. The decision-making process behind building a global API layer and the mechanism of cross-border money movement are discussed. Aron dives into international transactions, scale, and the best customer use case—an embedded finance layer for business-to-consumer payouts. The growth strategy and revenue model are explored, focusing on incentives for success. The episode concludes with an insightful discussion about alternative forms of value, including equity shares, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs, and how Runa embraces alternative assets to mitigate volatility and facilitate seamless transactions.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Runa's Website: https://bit.ly/45coLOs

Aron's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3QrdAgF

Topics: payments, paytech, infrastructure, cryptocurrency, digitalization, embedded finance

Companies: Runa, WeGift, PayPal, TransferWise, CoinBase, Twilio

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’19”: Unveiling the founding story: How commerce insights led to startup ideation

7’36”: Understanding the role of payment networks and loyalty programs: Aligning incentives for merchants and providers

12’34”: Introducing Runa: Integration, impact, and numbers in simplifying payments for merchants

17’52”: Decoding the industry structure of third-party gift card providers: Concentration, diversity, and geographic impact

20’16”: Building a global API layer: Navigating the choice of wide coverage vs. deep focus

24’20”: Mechanisms of cross-border money movement: Understanding infrastructure, risk, and partnerships

27’16”: Handling international transactions and scale: Bank accounts, volumes, and consumer impact

30’17”: Exploring the best customer use case: An embedded finance layer for business-to-consumer payouts

33’01”: Understanding the growth strategy and revenue model: Structuring incentives for success

36’14”: Exploring alternative forms of value: Role of equity shares, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs in the business

39’13”: Embracing alternative assets: Mitigating volatility and facilitating seamless transactions

40’59”: The channels used to connect with Aron & learn more about Runa

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Lex chats with Emma Kerr - Senior Vice President, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Europe at Visa - one of the world's largest payment networks. In this episode, Emma unravels Visa's comprehensive definition of commerce and the nuances of being a merchant. She shares her remarkable journey within Visa and the evolution of payment networks over time. The discussion delves into the intriguing concept of the "network-of-networks," exploring Visa's strategic position amidst the ever-changing landscape of payments, including the emergence of crypto and Web3. Emma sheds light on the exciting world of Web3 commerce, where utility, value, and digital objects converge. They discuss the significant value of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital object wrappers, and how they shape the future of the crypto industry. As they look ahead, they predict the evolution of digital objects and crypto payments, envisioning a shift from primitives to highly interactive software and the seamless integration of crypto into payment rails. The episode concludes with Emma offering insights into Visa's forward-thinking strategy to navigate the multi-rail payments landscape and maintain hyper-relevance in this dynamic and complex space.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Visa's Website: https://bit.ly/3Owc5MO

Emma's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Kjr3DD

Topics: Payments, crypto, paytech, NFT, web3, commerce, network, payment network, payment rail, E-commerce

Companies: Visa, USDC, VisaNet, Visa B2B Connect

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’12”: Unpacking Visa's definition of commerce and merchant: Understanding the scope and qualifications

5’14”: Unveiling Emma’s journey within Visa: Exploring her career progression and during the evolution of payment networks

11’36”: Navigating the network of networks: Visa's position in the evolving landscape of payments and the categorization of crypto and Web3

16’09”: Exploring Web3 commerce: The intersection of utility, value, and digital objects

20’15”: Unraveling the value of NFTs: Why non-fungible tokens and digital object wrappers matter

22’44”: Breaking down the future of NFTs and crypto: Scaling, interoperability, and evolving value propositions

25’56”: Predicting the future of digital objects and crypto payments: From primitives to interactive software & integrating crypto into payment rails

29’25”: Constructing the future of crypto infrastructure: USDC integration and layer 2 solutions

31’55”: Navigating the multi-rail payments landscape: Visa's strategy for staying hyper relevant

33’29”: The channels used to connect with Emma & learn more about Visa

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Lex chats with Leif Abraham, Co-CEO and Founder of Public - Public.com is an investing platform that helps people be better investors. Members can build a diverse portfolio of stocks, funds, and crypto within a single platform. In this episode, Leif delves into his journey through design, creativity, and venture, including early career insights in video game web development. Together, Lex and Leif discuss the prescience of "Pay with a Tweet" and its connections to attention, payments, and Web3. Leif navigates his career path from community and advertising to FinTech, leading to investments and the connection to Public. They explore scaling in the digital brokerage market amidst fierce competition and tailwinds. Balancing engagement and financial health, Leif shares how Public crafts the optimal user experience. The conversation covers integrating diverse financial instruments, Public's commission-free trading model, and the revolutionary "Alpha" AI feature. They also touch on how Public's financial bot handles unusual queries. The podcast concludes with a discussion about connecting with Leif and learning more about Public.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Public's Website: https://bit.ly/43CUNSH

Leif's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/44VfGtm

Topics: Fintech, banking, investments, artificial intelligence, AI, trading

Companies: Public, Fiverr, AND CO, ChatGPT, Alpha, Morningstar, Coinbase

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’38”: Journey through design, creativity, and venture: Early career insights & video game web development

5’31”: The prescience of Pay with a Tweet: Early connections between attention, payments, and web3

9’28”: Navigating the career path from community and advertising to FinTech: The journey to investments and the connection to Public

13’57”: Entering the digital brokerage market in 2019: Scaling in a landscape of fierce competition and tailwinds

19’18”: Navigating the challenges of building for the "active-ish" persona: Understanding the market shape and crafting the right experience

22’41”: Constructing the optimal user experience: Balancing engagement and financial health

24’54”: Navigating the product journey: Integrating diverse financial instruments & market infrastructure

29’18”: Exploring business model differentiation: Public's approach to commission-free trading

33’52”: Revolutionizing financial insights: Unveiling Alpha, Public's AI feature

38’07”: Interpreting emotional boundaries: How Public's financial bot handles unusual queries

45’33”: The channels used to connect with Leif & learn more about Public

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Lex chats with Sankaet Pathak, the founder and CEO of Synapse - the largest regulated banking-as-a-service platform that provides payment, card issuance, deposit, lending, compliance, credit and investment products as APIs to more than 18 million end users. In this episode, Sankaet delves into his journey that led him to fintech and the decision to build a robust financial infrastructure. Together, Lex and Sankaet explore the value of modular architecture in dissecting financial infrastructure and the role of middleware in distribution. Reflecting on the global demand for the US dollar in crypto markets, and assessing its implications. Sankaet shares key metrics for evaluating Synapse's scale and success and discusses revenue generation and cost alignment in the FinTech space. They analyze market dynamics, the impact of COVID, and navigating the regulatory landscape.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Synapse's Website: https://bit.ly/3DiUT6Y

Sankaet's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Da8jCx

Topics: BaaS, API, Open Banking, payments, banking, Fintech, Embedded Finance

Companies: Synapse, SynapseFi, Stripe, Square

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’21”: Journey into fintech: Understanding the founder's background, skills, and motivation for building a banking infrastructure company

5’45”: From consumer play to financial infrastructure: The decision to build a foundational layer in the fintech landscape

10’31”: Dissecting financial infrastructure: The value of modular architecture and the challenges of integrating traditional banking services

15’45”: Envisioning the role of middleware: Banks as distribution mechanisms through third-party applications

20’52”: Examining the global demand for the dollar in crypto markets: Reflecting on the US role and implications for crypto companies

25’55”: Evaluating Synapse's scale and success: Key metrics for progress and growth

28’02”: Balancing Synapse’s business economics: Revenue generation, cost alignment, and pricing strategies in the FinTech space

31’30”: Analyzing market dynamics: Impact of COVID, growing demand, competitive landscape, and future outlook in embedded finance

37’37”: Navigating the regulatory landscape: Addressing challenges and fostering stability in a transforming financial industry

41’39”: The channels used to connect with Sanket & learn more about Synapse

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Lex chats with Sandy Carter, COO at Unstoppable Domains - a company on a mission to create user-owned, digital identity for every person on the planet. Sandy opens up about her journey from big tech companies - IBM and Amazon, to the realm of Web3 and crypto. Together, Lex and Sandy discuss the challenges of navigating large tech companies and the innovative services offered by Unstoppable Domains. Sandy explains the concept of non-custodial data, the process of acquiring a blockchain identity, and the importance of digital truth in the age of AI. The conversation concludes with an exploration of metaverse economics, highlighting the underlying business activities in digital exchanges.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Unstoppable Domains' Website: https://bit.ly/3NHDzO7

Sandy's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3O11p8P

Topics: crypto, blockchain, web3, metaverse, identity, AI, deepfakes, generative AI

Companies: Unstoppable Domains, IBM, Amazon, AWS, Ethereum, Venmo, Metamask, LinkedIn

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’31”: Exploring professional background: Key experiences and journey to Web3 and crypto

6’51”: Navigating large tech companies: Challenges and insights from senior roles in IBM and Amazon

12’17”: Discovering Web3 and journey to Unstoppable Domains: Understanding the product and service offering

19’28”: Unpacking non-custodial data and digital identity: How Unstoppable Domains facilitates access across multiple platforms

23’02”: Acquiring an Unstoppable Domain: Understanding the role of MetaMask, NFTs, and smart contracts in establishing a blockchain identity

31’12”: Confronting digital reality: The increasing importance of digital truth verification in an AI-driven world

36’17”: Balancing power: Navigating the intersection of AI giants and Web3's open source data authenticity mission

39’24”: Assessing metaverse economics: Unraveling the business sector and activity underlying digital exchanges and objects

44’53”: The channels used to connect with Sandy & learn more about Unstoppable Domains

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Lex chats with Jeff Dorman, CIO at Arca - an asset management firm that creates and manages institutional grade products using crypto and blockchain technology. Together they discuss key aspects of crypto finance, starting with Jeff's transition into crypto from investment banking, and then delving into the impact of the Fed on financial markets and institutional investment on digital asset trends. Jeff shares insights on the role of digital assets in the context of Ray Dalio's civilizational expansion and debt cycle model and the current macroeconomic landscape. The conversation shifts to the realm of Web3 and DeFi, examining investment challenges amidst market fluctuations. Jeff and Lex further explore token design and regulatory constraints, with a focus on GMX, and discuss the potential of DAO treasuries in the context of activist investing.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Arca's Website: https://bit.ly/3pv7iBD

Jeff's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3psSOlJ

Topics: macroeconomics, The Fed, Ray Dalio, Web3, DeFi, Tokenomics, Inflation, DAO, Finance, Markets

Companies: Arca, FTX, Alameda, BNB, Binance, GMX, Aragon, NASDAQ

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’14”: Transition into crypto: Reflecting on previous experiences and discussing the draw to Arca

6’12”: Dominance of the Fed in financial markets: Exploring the obsession with monetary policy and its impact on fundamental analysis

10’35”: Examining correlations in the digital asset space: The impact of institutional investment on portfolio management and market trends

16’26”: Assessing the role of digital assets amidst civilizational expansion and debt cycle: A discussion on Ray Dalio's model and its implications for the current macroeconomic environment

20’35”: Seeking a macro perspective: An insight into the current economic state, predictions for the upcoming year, and the potential impact of inflation

26’23”: Unraveling Web3 and DeFi: Investigating unemployment rates, assessing the performance of Defi protocols, and the challenge of investing amidst fluctuating market conditions

35’26”: Exploring token design and regulatory constraints: An insight into GMX and the implications of value accrual mechanisms

39’11”: Activist investing in Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Unleashing the potential of DAO treasuries

45’05”: Broadening stakeholder reach in the new financial system: The power of token governance in protocol development

47’44”: The channels used to connect with Jeff & learn more about Arca

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Lex chats with Sasha Orloff, CEO and Co-founder of Puzzle - “the first smart accounting software,” which combines a streaming financial data platform that’s connected to a general accounting ledger. Sasha starts the conversation detailing his journey from traditional banking to fintech entrepreneurship. Reflecting on the early days of fintech, contrasting the East and West Coast perspectives, and sharing his experiences from leading innovative fintech ventures like LendUp. The conversation dives into the future of fintech, discussing the transition into autonomous accounting, the rise and fall of Personal Financial Management (PFM) tools, and the integration of natural language processing into quantitative software. The duo also contemplates the nature of rules in language models, the dichotomy between deterministic and probabilistic models in AI, and the future of intelligent software. The episode concludes with Sasha sharing various channels to connect with him and learn more about Puzzle.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Puzzle's Website: https://bit.ly/3NKuO6Y

Sasha's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Pt3pHX

Topics: Fintech, AI, artificial intelligence, machine learning, GenAI, Accounting, Software, LLM, embedded finance

Companies: Puzzle, Puzzle Financial, Mission Lane, LendUp, ChatGPT, Brex, Stripe, Plaid

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’43”: The evolution from traditional banking to fintech entrepreneurship: Exploring personal journey and the early days of fintech

7’10”: The East vs West Coast perspective in fintech's infancy: Analyzing venture investments, startup culture, and the birth of innovative fintech ventures like LendUp

12’36”: Deciphering the keys to fintech success: The role of mobile distribution, underwriting capabilities, and capital flow in shaping lending ventures

18’23”: Transitioning into the realm of autonomous accounting: The genesis of Puzzle and its inevitable emergence in the fintech landscape

22’41”: Reflecting on the evolution of fintech: Assessing the impact of financial data accessibility, manufacturing financial products, and mistakes in early accounting software ventures

28’23”: The rise and fall of Personal Financial Management (PFM) tools: Evaluating consumer adoption, value proposition, and the role of autonomous accounting in fintech's future

34’47”: Exploring the integration of natural language processing into quantitative software: The role of language models in user experience and backend operations

39’04”: Deciphering the nature of rules in language models: Deterministic vs. Probabilistic approaches in accounting software

41’59”: Speculating the future of AI: A dichotomy between deterministic structures and probabilistic models in building intelligent software

46’10”: The channels used to connect with Sasha & learn more about Puzzle

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Lex interviews seasoned fintech expert Teana Baker-Taylor - Circle VP of Policy and Regulatory Strategy EMEA. Circle began as a peer-to-peer payments technology company that now manages stablecoin USDC, a cryptocurrency the value of which is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Teana discusses her journey from traditional finance to the frontier of blockchain and crypto exchanges. Together Lex and Teana explore the tangible economic impacts of banking and navigate the complex digital asset landscape, focusing on the unique role of USDC as a leading stablecoin. Additionally, they touch on the underlying mechanics of USDC and the intrinsic investment risks in the stablecoin space. Concluding by pondering the potential of stablecoins like USDC in the emerging metaverse, a new digital realm with endless possibilities.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Circle's Website: https://bit.ly/3CwWfL5

Teana's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3Nw8yxF

Topics: crypto, blockchain, tokenization, web3, defi, stablecoins, metaverse, AR/VR

Companies: Circle, USDC, Eurocoin, Terra Luna, Metamask, Apple

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

2’38”: Tracing Teana’s professional journey: From traditional finance to innovative blockchain and crypto exchange operations

5’14”: Exploring the true purpose of banks: Bridging the gap between abstract finance and tangible economic activity

9’48”: Decoding the digital asset space: A deep dive into the function, philosophy and criticisms of crypto exchanges

15’58”: Unraveling USDC: Understanding its creation, uses, and its novel role as a cash equivalent and unit of account on a payment rail

20’10”: Differentiating stablecoins: Examining redemption processes, collateralization practices, and the existence of investment risk

21’11”: Exploring the underlying mechanics of USDC: The role of bank-held dollars in stablecoin operations

24’47”: Envisioning the role of money in the metaverse: The use cases and potential dominance of stablecoins in emerging digital spaces

28’11”: The channels used to connect with Teana & learn more about Circle and USDC

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Lex interviews Ashwin Kumar - Stripe's Head of Startups for Banking-as-a-Service. Stripe is a financial technology (FinTech) company based in San Francisco, CA, whose software allows individuals and businesses to make and receive payments online. In this episode, Lex and Ashwin explore Stripe's strategic positioning in the transformative world of fintech. From unraveling Stripe's core mission and approach, Ashwin and Lex provide an enlightening comparison with Amazon's strategy, shedding light on Stripe's unique ability to integrate across platforms for exponential reach. Additionally, Ashwin and Lex touch on the rich understanding of embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service, key insights into the pivotal role of banking partnerships, and the evolving dynamics of fintech startups in the market landscape.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Stripe's Website: https://bit.ly/3NvD9LX

Ashwin's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3X1bNjW

Topics: Payments, Banking-as-a-service, banking, fintech, embedded finance, BaaS

Companies: Stripe, Chime, Karat, Ramp, Apple

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’18”: Understanding Stripe: Deciphering the core bet, its mission, and defining the concept of a digital company

3’18”: Defining the landscape of fintech: The role of stripe in niche user group services, embedding financial services in SaaS companies, and the evolution towards becoming a financial services arm

6’43”: Exploring Stripe's unique position in the industry: The exponential reach through platform integrations, a comparative study with Amazon's strategy, and the unfolding of Stripe's architectural framework for third party utilization

12’14”: Distribution to the long tail and solving the last mile problem: Differentiating between embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service, and understanding the relationship with underlying regulated financial entities

17’15”: Expanding the role of Banks in embedded finance: Regulatory perspectives, compliance work, and the impact of the shrinking U.S. banking sector

18’17”: Stripe's vision for Bank partnerships: Diversifying distribution and empowering financial institutions in the era of centralizing forces

21’04”: Observing the evolution of fintech: Changes in quality, screening, and focus of emerging tech companies seeking cutting-edge fintech solutions

22’08”: Strategies for fintech startups: Considering distribution, value addition and comprehensive business models for sustainable growth and success in the financial technology landscape

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Lex interviews Alisa Chinedu of Remita - a payment solution platform that helps individuals and businesses make and receive payments, pay bills, and manage their finances; making it key to supporting the Nigerian payments and fintech ecosystem. discussing the company's role in enhancing the Nigerian fintech ecosystem. Alisa delves into Remita's functionality, strategic corporate partnerships, and its integral position in commerce and e-commerce. The discussion then proceeds to analyze Nigeria's banking system's dynamics and mobile banking's significance, focusing on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). The conversation touches on the economic implications of COVID-19, the transition to digital currency, and the intricacies of eNaira, Nigeria's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). They discuss Remita's role in eNaira's adoption, the application of CBDC in social services, and the banking sector's perspective on CBDC. The interview concludes with a future-oriented exploration of eNaira's adoption, market penetration, and the multichannel approach to CBDC distribution.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Remita's Website: https://bit.ly/3OUWbMQ

Alisa's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/42n16t1

Topics: Payments, Paytech, CBDC, Digital Wallets, Fintech, Banking

Companies: Remita, eNaira, SpeedWallet

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’29”: Remita: what it is, what it does, how it got started, and how it works with corporates

3’31”: Exploring Nigerian digital payment systems: A closer look at Remita and its role in commerce and E-commerce

6’26”: Understanding the dynamics of the banking system: An exploration of banking concentration, consumer banking situations, and the integration of digital wallets

9’03”: Exploring mobile wallets and smartphone access: Understanding digital funds transfers, population coverage, and the role of USSD in mobile banking

12’09”: Dissecting merchant codes and regulatory landscapes: Understanding the interface between feature phones, financial institutions, and mobile money providers amidst government regulation

16’32”: Deciphering Nigeria's economic landscape: Insights into inflation, impact of COVID-19, and the transition from cash to digital currency amidst economic fluctuation

21’06”: Delving into eNaira: Understanding CBDC adoption, wallet accessibility, transaction volume, and user experience amidst evolving digital currency landscape

24’39”: Remita's role in eNaira adoption: Understanding the integration process, contribution to design ideation, and the function of financial agents in product distribution

28’35”: CBDC and social services: Examining government utilization of digital currency for welfare distribution, transaction tracking, and understanding the underlying technical infrastructure

33’04”: Exploring bank relations with CBDC: Assessing retail and wholesale models, potential disintermediation concerns, and bank perspectives on eNaira adoption

35’21”: Envisioning the future of eNaira: Assessing current adoption, potential for market penetration, and the multichannel approach to CBDC distribution

39’52”: The channels used to connect with Alisa & learn more about Remita

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Lex chats with Eric Barbier, CEO of Triple-A. Triple-A operates as a crypto payment gateway that allows businesses to accept crypto payments. In this discussion, Eric and Lex discuss the origins and growth of Triple-A, detailing its evolution and journey through the complex world of cryptocurrency payments. Eric delves into the intricacies of building a successful crypto payments infrastructure, from risk management and liquidity to the significance of robust banking relationships and compliance frameworks. From charting his entrepreneurial path and reflecting on the roles of different players in creating value networks, to drawing comparisons between his past and current ventures, Eric concludes with strategies for connecting and learning more about TripleA's revolutionary role in broad-scale commerce.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Triple-A's Website: https://bit.ly/3II37cd

Eric's LinkedIn profile: bit.ly/3MC59vl

Topics: Fintech, payments, paytech, crypto, commerce, ecommerce

Companies: Triple-A, TransferTo, Thunes, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Mpesa

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’14”: Triple-A: what it is, what it does, how it got started, and how it has evolved over time

4’23”: Unraveling the Crypto Payments Journey: Initial Asset Considerations, Building the Merchant Network, and Understanding the Evolution of Commerce

8’41”: Navigating the Crypto Commerce Landscape: Exploring Product Market Fit, Go-to-Market Strategies, and the Impact of Geographical and Market Volatility on Adoption

13’59”: The Blueprint of Crypto Payments: Exploring Infrastructure, Risk Management, and Liquidity in Digital Asset Transactions

18’16”: Mitigating Risks in Crypto Commerce: Unveiling the Importance of Banking Relationships, Enhanced Due Diligence, and Robust Compliance Frameworks in Last-Mile Settlements

22’16”: Exploring the Penetration of Crypto in Broad-Scale Commerce: Visualizing Expansion Strategies and Assessing Potential Limitations in Market Availability

24’28”: Tracing the Entrepreneurial Journey: Insights from Thunes and the Shift from Telecommunications to Value Transfer Networks

30’03”: The Confluence of Different Players in Creating Value Networks: Reflecting on the Roles of Telcos, Banks, Card Networks, and Tech Firms in Money Movement Evolution

32’25”: Leveraging Market Demands in the Evolution of Payment Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Thunes and TripleA's Approaches to Cross-Border Payments

34’51”: The channels used to connect with Eric & learn more about Triple-A

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Lex chats with Eric Barbier, CEO of TripleA. TripleA operates as a crypto payment gateway that allows businesses to accept crypto payments. In this discussion, Eric and Lex discuss the origins and growth of TripleA, detailing its evolution and journey through the complex world of cryptocurrency payments. Eric delves into the intricacies of building a successful crypto payments infrastructure, from risk management and liquidity to the significance of robust banking relationships and compliance frameworks. From charting his entrepreneurial path and reflecting on the roles of different players in creating value networks, to drawing comparisons between his past and current ventures, Eric concludes with strategies for connecting and learning more about TripleA's revolutionary role in broad-scale commerce.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

TripleA's Website: https://bit.ly/3II37cd

Eric's LinkedIn profile: bit.ly/3MC59vl

Topics: Fintech, payments, paytech, crypto, commerce, ecommerce

Companies: TripleA, TransferTo, Thunes, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Mpesa

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’14”: TripleA: what it is, what it does, how it got started, and how it has evolved over time

4’23”: Unraveling the Crypto Payments Journey: Initial Asset Considerations, Building the Merchant Network, and Understanding the Evolution of Commerce

8’41”: Navigating the Crypto Commerce Landscape: Exploring Product Market Fit, Go-to-Market Strategies, and the Impact of Geographical and Market Volatility on Adoption

13’59”: The Blueprint of Crypto Payments: Exploring Infrastructure, Risk Management, and Liquidity in Digital Asset Transactions

18’16”: Mitigating Risks in Crypto Commerce: Unveiling the Importance of Banking Relationships, Enhanced Due Diligence, and Robust Compliance Frameworks in Last-Mile Settlements

22’16”: Exploring the Penetration of Crypto in Broad-Scale Commerce: Visualizing Expansion Strategies and Assessing Potential Limitations in Market Availability

24’28”: Tracing the Entrepreneurial Journey: Insights from Thunes and the Shift from Telecommunications to Value Transfer Networks

30’03”: The Confluence of Different Players in Creating Value Networks: Reflecting on the Roles of Telcos, Banks, Card Networks, and Tech Firms in Money Movement Evolution

32’25”: Leveraging Market Demands in the Evolution of Payment Systems: A Comparative Analysis of Thunes and TripleA's Approaches to Cross-Border Payments

34’51”: The channels used to connect with Eric & learn more about TripleA

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Lex chats with Anish Acharya - a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, California, that backs bold entrepreneurs building the future through technology. Anish and Lex analyze the impact and adoption of disruptive platform shifts, before charting a journey through FinTech from innovative startups to high-profile acquisitions. Additionally, shedding light on Credit Karma's growth strategies and user behavior. Finishing off with a discussion of the future of FinTech, envisioning a landscape transformed by AI integration, Web 3.0 convergence, and innovative investment strategies that uncover non-traditional opportunities in financial services and consumer sectors

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

A16z's Website: https://bit.ly/3olOrIz

Anish's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/438tqjt

Topics: Fintech, web3, mobile, generative AI, AI, Artificial intelligence, social

Companies: a16z, Andreessen Horowitz, Google, Social Deck, Snowball, Credit Karma, ChatGPT, Facebook, Google

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’54”: Anish’s foundational experiences with early stage startups & what pulled him towards entrepreneurship

7’05”: Reflecting on SocialDeck's beginnings: early hypotheses, insights from Facebook APIs and mobile behavior patterns, and the evolution of reality

12’22”: Analyzing modern platform Shifts: a deep dive into adoption rates and Disruptive Impact"

17’04”: Journey into FinTech: from mobile startups to Google and Credit Karma acquisitions - A founder's tale of innovation and acquisition Interests

20’14”: Insights from scaling Credit Karma: understanding consumer behavior and navigating the financial life of its users

25’08”: Walking the ethical tightrope in FinTech: balancing paternalistic products and dopamine-driven loops, lessons from Credit Karma and A16z

29’19”: The challenges of active and social-following copy investor platforms: examining the successes and shortcomings of companies like Covestor, Wealthfront, eToro, and M1 Finance

31’26”: Evolving the investment thesis at Andreessen Horowitz: reflections on a journey shaped by COVID, Web 3.0, NFTs, and the rise of generative AI

38’15”: The Future of FinTech: envisioning AI-integrated investment plugins and their potential role in Big Tech - insights from an Andreessen Horowitz GP

40’35”: The Convergence of AI and Web 3.0: exploring the future of privacy, digital ownership, and personalized AI agents in the evolving technological landscape

42’36”: Investing beyond the mainstream: uncovering under-the-radar opportunities in financial services and consumer sectors

44’39”: The channels used to connect with Anish & learn more about A16z

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Lex chats with Jacqueline Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer at Quicknode - a Web3 infrastructure platform, that helps developers and businesses build, launch, and scale blockchain-powered applications (dApps). In this episode, Jackie and Lex touch on understanding cloud infrastructure companies like DigitalOcean and AWS, understanding developer, client needs and commercial outcomes across different lines of the Web3 infrastructure business, and a deep dive into the confluence of computational and financial value in Web3. Finishing off on navigating the Multichain Future and evaluating dependencies, challenges, and future prospects of Web3 vs Big Tech.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Quicknode's Website: https://bit.ly/3nYHbCr

Jackie's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3MjHCRa

Topics: Web3, infrastructure, big tech, NFT, blockchain, API, development, DApps

Companies: Quicknode, Blockdaemon, AWS, DigitalOcean

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’34”: From Law School to Crypto Entrepreneurship - The journey and early experiences explained

5’04”: Deciphering Risk - perspectives from legal profession and entrepreneurship

8’23”: Understanding Infrastructure Companies - Customer approach and principles at DigitalOcean and Amazon

14’20”: Introducing QuickNode - Functionality, use case, and the journey towards its creation

16’57”: Unveiling the Web3 Infrastructure User Base - Developer interests and market personas

21’32”: Diverse API Usage - Understanding client needs and commercial outcomes across different lines of business

26’08”: Decoding Economic Models for Web3 Infrastructure Companies - pricing, value generation, and potential business models

31’42”: The Intersection of Finance and Technology - A deep dive into the confluence of computational and financial value in Web3

34’11”: Navigating the Multichain Future - Understanding the dynamics and implications for Web3 from QuickNode's perspective

37’35”: Web3 and Big Tech - Evaluating dependencies, challenges, and future prospects in the intersection of the industries

40’38”: The channels used to connect with Jackie & learn more about Quicknode

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In this conversation, we chat with Alain Meier, the Head of Identity at Plaid. Plaid builds a data transfer network that powers fintech and digital finance products. Plaid's product, a technology platform, enables applications to connect with users’ bank accounts. Alain has spent the past decade problem-solving in all things digital identity. He was a founding member of the Stanford Bitcoin Group and went on to start identity verification company Cognito, which was acquired by Plaid.

Topics: fintech, digital finance, platform, identity

Brands: Plaid, Cognito, Stanford, Bitcoin

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

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Lex chats with David Hoare, the CTO and co-founder of Codat - a universal API platform that connects small businesses to banks and other financial platforms. Together they discuss the value behind data aggregation, API integrations, SME enablement via APIs and the complexities involved in connecting large institutional businesses to API platforms. Additionally, Dave breaks down how the COVID-19 pandemic created an unexpected opportunity for Codat to help large banks deliver funds to smaller businesses in need of financial assistance. He also emphasizes the importance of buying APIs via API platforms like Codat rather than building it in-house, and so much more!

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Codat's Website: https://bit.ly/3LfoYZ1

Dave's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3HnvV90

Topics: API, payments, embedded finance, fintech, payments, integration, automation

Companies: Codat, Experian, PayPal, Plaid, Stripe

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’26”: Codat - what the company is, how long it has been around, some of the things it does, and how small Fintechs use Codat

9’20”: The different software packages that the data aggregation adds value to, and the types of API integrations needed for the data pull

17’07”: Envisioning the customer experience and breaking down the economics of the platform

20’22”: Breaking down the requirements involved in integrating Codat into their stack, and expanding on Codat’s partnership program with large enterprises

26’43”: Examples of failed hypotheses and customer relationships, and surprisingly successful use case examples

33’42”: The current competitive landscape and dynamics evolving towards the future

37’10”: The channels used to connect with David & learn more about Codat

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Lex chats with Antonio Juliano, founder and CEO of dYdX - a crypto derivatives trading platform that caters to professional traders outside the U.S. It averages roughly $2 billion in daily trading volume (Coinbase does about $5 billion). Antonio shares his experience working at Coinbase since 2015 when Bitcoin was dominant and Ethereum was new to the game. Together, they discuss how decentralized exchanges and automated market makers made it easier for individuals to provide liquidity and trade crypto assets. Touching on dYdX's plans to deploy a Layer 1 on Cosmos, as well as adopting a model of progressive decentralization, and so much more!

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

dYdX's Website: https://bit.ly/3H4gHFI

Antonio's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3mRYTqz

Topics: blockchain, crypto, layer 2, decentralized exchange, order book, perpetual contracts, crypto trading, rollups

Companies: dYdX, Ethereum, Cosmos, Coinbase, Bitcoin, FTX, Solana, StarkNet

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’22”: Antonio’s foundational experiences at Coinbase, and how the concept of trading coins on a centralized exchange was received at the time

8’57”: Breaking down the definitions, functions and directions of decentralized exchanges, automated market makers, their order books, and liquidity

14’49”: What a perpetual contract is, how it functions, what are the limits and rules behind it and how it has evolved over time

24’04”: The mechanics behind the current market structure behind selling on-chain positions, and the best practices that stemmed from bad incidents

29’47”: Layer 2s - what they are relative to dYdX, what dYdX has done with them, what the current initiatives are involving them at dYdX, and their future

39’29”: The Cosmos ecosystem relative to Ethereum, and the future of how the market structure will evolve

42’29”: The future of dYdX and how it will evolve over time

45’12”: The channels used to connect with Antonio & learn more about dYdX

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Lex chats with Padman Perumal, CEO of Masttro. Masttro is a privately-held FinTech company that delivers a truly global wealth technology ecosystem to wealth owners and their trusted advisors. In this episode, they discuss the differences between wealth management, private banking, brokerage and banking, as well as the challenges of providing a consumer-grade digital experience for wealth management. Masttro serves ultra-high net worth clients to manage their complex investments by aggregating data from over 500 financial institutions and providing efficient tools to do so. The platform utilizes a range of technologies from document ingestion to character recognition and pattern learning to handle unstructured data.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Masttro's website: https://bit.ly/41b8PdE

Padman's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/3KGPeLg

Topics: Fintech, wealth management, advisory, investment management, family office, institutional capital, banking, Private Banking

Companies: Masttro, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, UBS, Hamilton Lane, KKR

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’36”: Padman’s foundational experiences at Credit Suisse & J.P. Morgan, and how he found roles that touch transformation for these organizations

4’31”: The difference between wealth management, private banking, brokerage, and maybe banking generally, and what it’s like doing transformation at scale

11’15”: The failures of initiatives within big institutions from the outside vs the inside, and some examples

15’26”: Masttro - what it is, what it does, and where they are at the moment

21’31”: The core entities that Masttro connects to, and differentiation of business model to competitors

25’14”: The process of structuring unstructured data and how to indicate net worth over time

30’42”: Masttro’s business model both in terms of the immediate client and the end client, and what trends are Masttro noticing between different clients

36’47”: The impact and/or benefit of the proliferation of technology around asset classes

40’07”: Intergenerational Transfer - The trends supporting the transfer of wealth to people who expect different experiences

42’12”: The channels used to connect with Padman & learn more about Masttro

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Lex chats with Dave Balter about the complexities of building data products on the blockchain and the importance of understanding human relationships and reality when building startups. They also discuss Flipside Crypto – a platform that builds business intelligence via a suite of analytics tools that provide insights into user behaviors, developer activities, and financial health, to crypto organizations – and MetricsDAO – a community of Web3 data analysts who provide blockchain projects with on-demand data insights and tooling. Additionally, they touch on replacing Excel with ChatGPT and on-chain smart contract data, and how to evaluate Web3 projects, as well as the future of how the value chain stacks on top of data and analytics to actually drive decisions and potentially drive automated decisions

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Flipside Crypto's website: https://bit.ly/3KhgCPT

MetricDAO's website: https://bit.ly/3MqYOES

Dave's LinkedIn profile: https://bit.ly/43iT5qK

Dave's Twitter profile: https://bit.ly/3zE4rYv

Topics: crypto, blockchain, analytics, data, AI, DAO, decentralized autonomous organizations

Companies: MetricsDAO, Flipside, Flipside crypto, ChatGPT, Excel

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’23”: Dave’s foundational experiences & identifying some key threads that were formative to his experience

9’01”: The two elements that make startups difficult in general

13’22”: Flipside crypto: what it is, how it started, and how it all came together from a technical standpoint

16’46”: How difficult it is to collect high quality data in order to be successful and what the problems are along the way

22’43”: The importance of data and its supporting infrastructure is to Flipside and what the most repeatable use cases are in the market

26’01”: Segmenting out and positioning relative the competition such as: Coinmarketcap, Nansen, Messari, Glassnode, and Dune

28’30”: MetricsDAO: what it is, who is in it, and what the tokenomics are

32’06”: Replacing Excel with ChatGPT and on-chain smart contract data, and how to evaluate Web3 projects

35’21”: The vectors of growth for the protocol and the DAO, and examples of analytics that really made a difference

40’55”: The future of how the value chain stacks on top of data and analytics to actually drive decisions and potentially drive automated decisions

42’40”: The channels used to connect with Dave & learn more about Flipside crypto and MetricsDAO

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Lex chats with Christopher Goes, co-founder of Anoma and Cryptium Labs. Initially, they explore the current centralized monetary system, how it disconnects from physical changes, and the need for technology to evolve with the complexity of our financial systems. Following this, they deep dive into the differences between privacy-preserving and data-obscuring technology, and how privacy is important for citizens, governments, and communities. Ethereum, Cosmos, and Anoma have a shared vision, but their approaches to blockchains and assets differ.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Anoma's website: https://bit.ly/3K26vOJ

Christopher's Twitter profile: https://bit.ly/3nzD8vK

Topics: Blockchain, crypto, security, privacy, protocol, zero knowledge proofs, control theory

Companies: Anoma, Cryptium Labs, Heliax, Tendermint, Zchain, Namada, Ethereum, Bitcoin

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’15”: Christopher’s foundational experiences & an in-depth into the background he needed to participate into some of his early experiences

9’11”: Control Theory: what a thermostat, the Fed funds rate and EIP-1559's gas price adjustment mechanism have in common

12’06”: Christopher’s early startup and founder experiences & identifying what is good or valuable about privacy

25’02”: The multichain vision between Ethereum, Cosmos, and Anoma, & their community’s differing opinions on the role of blockchains

32’12”: Expanding Eliezer Yudkowsky’s analogy of a map vs reality to the various ways culture influences technology and vice versa

39’25”: Introducing Anoma: What it is, the problem it is trying to solve, and the potential outcomes derived from its success

42’26”: Integrating into the Anoma ecosystem: what is the process for developers and projects, and what are the incentives driving them to so do?

44’00”: The role of zero-knowledge proofs in the protocol

44'40”: The steps Anoma are taking to grow the ecosystem, and the channels used to connect with Christopher & learn more about Anoma

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Lex chats with Arno Castillo, founder and CEO of CrunchDAO. CrunchDAO is a research team of data scientists and quants that leverage the power of collective intelligence and Web3 to produce and sell next-generation predictive financial insights. In the discussion, Lex and Arnaud touch on decentralized asset management, data science, building portfolios, and web3 organizations. Arnaud shares his background in finance, including his experience working at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank, as well as his work in consulting and entrepreneurship. Arnaud explaines how CrunchDAO has developed a framework called the design framework to address the challenges of using machine learning in financial markets. The framework is designed to share their research and data sets with others in the industry, allowing for collaboration and feedback.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

CrunchDAO's website: https://bit.ly/3z60sDU

Arnaud's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/40cWrJS

Topics: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, DAO, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Blockchain, Web3

Companies: CrunchDAO, Numerai, Lehman Brothers, Deutsche Bank

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’25”: Arnaud’s background in finance & experience working at Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank

5’06”: Learning the concept of Economic Value Add (EVA) and its connection to DAOs & DAO Networks

9’15”: What it means to be a DAO stakeholder & the agency issues around management in a corporation versus the public goods inside of a DAO

15’17”: The role of a CEO/Business Leader & how this changes when applied to a DAO

18’35”: Identifying business opportunities in fairly technical, difficult, innovative markets & immersion into the machine learning fintech space

23’42”: CrunchDAO: What it does, the problem it solves for, and the architecture of the technology involved relating to the user experience

28’40”: Comparison of CrunchDAO to Numerai (developer competition-based hedge fund) & the evolution of decentralized asset management in capital markets

36’22”: Machine learning challenges in financial markets & CrunchDAO’s framework for sharing their research and datasets

38'26”: Channels to use to connect with Arnaud & learn more about CrunchDAO

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Lex chats with Calvin Liu, the Chief Strategy Officer at EigenLayer, about his journey in investment banking, working for a financial regulations consulting firm, and transitioning to entrepreneurship. Calvin delves deep into the inner workings of EigenLayer, a restaking protocol for Ethereum, and the importance of focus, incentives, and integration in the crypto industry. Additionally, they discuss the early days of crypto lending protocol, Compound and working for Robert Leshner (Compound's founder), as well as, how this inspired working with purpose and immense focus. Calvin even touches on some exciting upcoming launches for EigenLayer.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

EigenLayer's website: https://bit.ly/3LxwS1x

Calvin's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/40aGSSm

Topics: staking, restaking, defi, cryptocurrency, blockchain, crypto lending, validators

Companies: EigenLayer, Ethereum, Compound, Rocketpool, Lido, MakerDAO

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’29”: Calvin’s foundational experiences, how he got pulled into investment banking, and how he integrates philosophy into economics

7’21”: The journey of moving from investment banking to consulting and finally entrepreneurship

14’30”: Becoming a crypto enthusiast - joining DeFi lender Compound and how the company has evolved from its genesis value proposition

21’25”: Some of the “forks in the road” for Compound over these periods of evolution and how they were addressed

28’14”: EigenLayer - what it is, how does it work, what makes it unique, and what it means to stake and restake crypto

34’10”: What it is about Ethereum that makes staking so powerful in this network in particular

36’17”: The future evolution of EigenLayer and the influences of network upgrades like Ethereum’s Shanghai, as well as any other influential variables

38’53”: The tension between building the best and most secure protocol security vs creating speculative assets that generate quick returns

42’57”: Understanding the systemic risk in crypto networks and the possibility of cascading effects from network attacks

44'50”: Channels to use to connect with Calvin & learn more about EigenLayer

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with Siddharth Batra, Co-founder at X1 Card, about his experience in technology and software development. X1 is a FinTech company that has created a smart credit card and has become one of the top 100 credit cards in the US with a waitlist of 600,000 people. Together, they discuss how Sid has articulated his consumer product building learnings from his experience as head of engineering at Twitter to revolutionise the traditional credit card into a B2C financial super app. Touching on X1's growth strategy and how it is focused on a consumer product approach rather than traditional marketing techniques. This has allowed them to have a 10x better referral rate than traditional credit cards.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

X1's website: https://bit.ly/3J9w404

Sid's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3ywr6Wh

Topics: Fintech, paytech, artificial intelligence, consumer, credit, b2c, pfm

Companies: X1, Twitter, Venmo, Apple, Robinhood

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’36”: Sid’s foundational experiences in technology & what laid the groundwork for his career

8’49”: Using Stanford and network thereof as the launchpad to becoming a startup founder

11’52”: Joining Twitter and learning about consumer behaviour and consumer’s relationship with social media content

15’43”: How building consumer products at Twitter formed the basis for the articulation towards Fintech

17’13”: X1 - what it is, how it started, what is a smart card, what is the software that differentiates it from competitors and the volume growth since its inception

25’38”: X1’s feature set, issuing bank, its underlying regulatory structure, and the underwriting credit policy for users

29’02”: X1’s economics and the crucial component to X1’s success vs the likes of Apple Card

33’21”: The winning formula - creating a step function better product for X1’s prime audience and then offering rich feature sets

37’10”: X1’s long term ambitions and why they are positioned better relative to other Fintechs in the market

42’13”: Channels to use to connect with Sid & learn more about X1

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Lex interviews Hristo Borisov, CEO and co-founder of Payhawk, a leader in B2B payments and expense management. Together, they discuss the evolution of product development, from mobile apps to platforms that solve customer problems. Touching on the 2017 trend of chatbots and the practical uses of this technology today via ChatGPT. Additionally, Hristo expands on the company he founded in 2018 - Payhawk, a Fintech company that automates financial functions for businesses, highlighting the importance of understanding customer problems and iterating solutions to validate and prototype them.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Payhawk's website: https://bit.ly/3ZjfCRM

Hristo's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3ETjWiv

Topics: fintech, payments, credit, ERP, SaaS, cloud, AI, platform, API, financial ecosystem, chatbots

Companies: Payhawk, Telerik, Progress Software, DarwinAI, Progress NativeChat, Brex, Ramp, ChatGPT

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28”: Hristo’s foundational experiences in technology & how he became a founder

4’03”: Telerik - A successful launchpad for entrepreneurs & startups

7’47”: Building a platform vs building a point solution & building for developers (customer segment)

12’35”: Building a system that generates chatbots - the experience, the motivations, and the outcome

19’10”: Payhawk - the idea, the execution, the main functions, how much money they have raised and what it is used for

24’44”: Payhawk’s customers - the types of customer, the engagement strategy, the go-to-market strategy, and your evolved approach to developers

29’12”: The journey of evolving the product/feature set to becoming the financial ecosystem for the CFO

34’04”: The adjacency of the software product and the underlying financial product & thinking about growth from a global vs regional perspective

39’04”: Channels to use to connect with Hristo & Payhawk

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Lex interviews Kaito Cunningham, Co-founder and CEO of Utopia Labs, the modern system for managing contributor payments, expenses, and more for your DAO, supported by communities such as FWB, Sushiswap, and PleasrDao. Together, they touch on what a DAO really is and how the theoretical concept has evolved over time. The true benefits of transparency and verification have not been brought to fruition, and its Kaito's mission to do that with Utopia Labs, bringing true DAO tooling to the next generation of online labour. Lex and Kaito talk about the philosophy behind governance, voting, and community capitalism, as well as, how Utopia Labs have nurtured the journey of fundraising and leveraging the best value from their investors.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Utopia Labs' website: https://bit.ly/3lYVfdH

Kaito's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3ItjhFo

Topics: Web3, Defi, blockchain, DAO, decentralized autonomous organizations, voting, governance

Companies: Utopia Labs, Lido.fi, Metropolis, MakerDAO

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’18”: Kaito’s founder journey - entering the Web3 space and his learnings from failed startups and content creation on social media

6’07”: Finding Utopia Labs’ CTO on LinkedIn & how an interest in Web3 evolved to a focus in DAOs

9’38”: An intro to DAOs - What they are? How they differ? What they are for? and some compelling examples

17’19”: The concept of Liquid Labor in the context of DAOs & characterizing the last six months of governance structure evolution

26’51”: The future of governance - Breaking down the idea of voting driven by identity and the individual human and democracy rather than by financial holding

29’47”: Utopia Labs - The evolution of its purpose, Kaito’s journey to date, and who the main clients are that are utilizing Utopia Labs’ tools?

34’43”: The process of fundraising and financing the company to date & building relationships with investors

38’42”: Channels to use to connect with Kaito & learn more about Utopia Labs

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Lex interviews Michele Tucci, the Managing Director in North and Latin America and Chief Strategy Officer of CredoLab, the largest developer of bank-grade digital credit risk scorecards based on mobile device data. Together, they touch on digital banking, digital credit, as well as the intersection between financial services, telecoms, and technology more.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Credolab's website: https://bit.ly/2XBhDgk

Michele's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3KfeHwU

Topics: Fintech, payments, alternative data, AI, artificial intelligence, behavioural modelling, credit risk, fraud, GDPR

Companies: Credolab, Capital One, Mastercard, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, Trans Union

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’32”: Michele’s foundational experiences & the core proponent to his entrepreneurship

2’43”: The behavioural influences between credit cards in America vs Europe & the data landscape in the early 2000s

8’51”: The role of Mastercard in Michele’s journey & how issuers thought about the role of payment rails on the customer journey

16’19”: How data spoke to the human nuances around financial behaviour

20’48”: The evolution of how different players created financial networks in different geographies

24’09”: Credolab - the core problem it solves for & where it is today

32’50”: How Credolab uses pattern-recognition to develop user personas to inevitably inform risk profiles

36’53”: The development of extracting insights from digital footprints of users & how this results in sophisticated AI algorithms that banks compete for

39’54”: Channels to use to connect with Michele & learn more about Credolab

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Lex Sokolin continues his Build It Series, focusing on the differences between B2C and B2B strategies, and on the implementations of some foundational marketing principles. He discusses branding and the two ways of doing it right. Then he dives into the various programs that can be implemented to generate demand, from content, to social media, to paid acquisition. Finally, he touches on the importance of CAC and LTV, in particular during a year like 2023.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Fintech Blueprint's Website: https://bit.ly/3IcO9eq

Fintech Blueprint's Archive: https://bit.ly/3XlSGiX

Topics: marketing, strategy, economics, fintech

Companies: Betterment, Mint, FutureAdvisor, LendingClub, Coinbase, Softbank

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

2’04”: Recap of first edition - looking at markets and figuring out the shape of demand

3’12”: Why B2C Fintechs are one of the brightest signals of the transformation of the distribution of financial products

10’03”: Brand - why Brand matters in Fintech more so than ever before

20’04”: Marketing Programs - Building brands vs. quantitative marketing funnels

28’04”: Cost of Customer Acquisition and Lifetime Value - Blitzscaling vs organic growth

27’45”: Automation of the CFO stack vs Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

37’50”: Conclusion - closing remarks & overview

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Lex interviews Dean Tribble, co-founder and CEO of Agoric. Agoric is a Proof-of-Stake chain utilizing secure JavaScript smart contracts to rapidly build and deploy DeFi, comprised of a team who are experts in smart contracts. Agoric was founded on open-source principles which look to build a public economy. Dean is considered a technical genius and a long-time developer around blockchain, smart contracts, as well as a number of other technology initiatives

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Agoric's website: https://bit.ly/3DGKuTw

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3judFCd

Topics: DeFi, artificial intelligence, blockchain, web3, smart contract, javascript, dapps

Companies: Agoric, Xanadu, ARPANET, Ethereum, Cosmos, Agorics, Inter.trade

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28”: Dean’s professional DNA - his motivations, profound experiences, and the journey

3’49”: Early distributed systems - what they are, their evolution, and how they inspired the foundations for the internet/Web that we know today

8’10”: Witnessing the evolution of the internet and how the vision, futurism, and ideals warped over time

16’12”: The relationship between the legal symptoms of society trying to figure out what to do vs what’s actually going on

19’34”: Early forms of smart contracts, designing large scale e-commerce infrastructure, and distributed systems

24’07”: Addressing the idea of building an abstraction/pattern/framework embedded in software and layers in neural networks/AI models

28’07”: Agoric: What it is, what it does, and where it is positioned relative to other Web3 ecosystems

34’02”: The Cosmos ecosystem, what it means to be “multichain”, and the protocol Agoric are in the process of building

38’14”: What composable DeFi means and what the hardened DeFi primitives are that Agoric is providing

43’30”: Channels to use to connect with Dean & learn more about Agoric

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Lex interviews Stephen Balavan, the CEO of Lambda Labs, a company that provides GPU servers, workstations and cloud services for training neural networks. Stephen talks about his background in computer science, economics, and deep learning, and how his interest in AI began with reading Neuromancer by William Gibson. He discusses the history of AI research, the concept of perceptron, and the breakthrough of deep learning in 2012-2014 that enabled machines to recognize and categorize images better than humans. Stephen also talks about working for Perceptio - which started as an API for face recognition, and and later was acquired by Apple.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Lambda's website: https://bit.ly/3j6nOVI

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3HAYhNv

Topics: fintech, artificial intelligence, neural networks, deep learning, generative AI

Companies: Lambda, Perceptio, Prisma, Apple, ChatGPT, Dall-E, Google, DeepDream, Dreamscope

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’48”: Stephen’s academic training and how it formed a foundation for his career trajectory

7’17”: The history of facial recognition AI, what a perceptron is, how it fails, and the architecture thereof

11’59”: Deep neural networks advancing facial recognition progress and the social credit score dystopia in China

17’45”: Define DeepDream and deep style - Neural network reverse engineering perceptions, visualisations and hallucinations

22’34”: From DeepDream to Dream Scope (web app) to accelerate image accuracy, and addressing the competition: Prisma’s Lensa

27’38”: The advances in the AI math that are responsible for the step-change in progress resulting in OpenAI’s ChatGPT, for example

31’53”: Lambda - how the company started, how the perceptions around consumable AI have changed, and the progress thusfar

36’42”: Lambda’s ability to evolve given the current heightened demand, and the future of the market

39’32”: What the future looks like with AI embedded into our everyday lives

41’38”: Channels to use to connect with Stephen & learn more about Lambda

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Lex interviews Sean Bennett, the co-founder and CTO of Stronghold, a Fintech company. Sean started out as an independent software developer, building software for clients. This experience led him to entrepreneurship and he used his skills to tackle the problem of remittance. He created Coinex, a stable coin issuer on the Ripple network, which allowed people to send money cheaply and quickly. However, early regulatory challenges and user adoption issues meant that the project was not successful. Sean eventually left the project and moved on to his next venture, Stella, a fork of Ripple. Setting the foundations for eventually starting his own company, Stronghold – a DeFi-enabled financial services company for institutional clients.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Stronghold's website: https://bit.ly/3iRB8Nk

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3D4sJNr

Topics: fintech, DeFi, remittance, payments, ACH, blockchain, stablecoins, e-commerce

Companies: Coinex, Ripple, Stellar Network, IBM, Stronghold

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’52”: Sean’s early experiences building software and the path to entrepreneurship

8’56”: How a remittance-based family use-case led to a career building stablecoins

11’33”: The on and off-ramp mechanics involved in early-stage stablecoins & the reality-check of being to early to market

16’01”: Partnering with IBM to build their blockchain network & ideating a US Dollar settlement stablecoin integration using the Stellar Network

24’03”: Stronghold - the journey to its inception, its vision, and its unique positioning to the customer vs blockchain enablement

30’23”: The global nature of Stronghold’s merchant footprint & the data used to understand merchant risk and the associated rates thereof

33’58”: Stronghold’s preferred blockchain and protocols & the returns generated by the relative assets class

38’24”: Stronghold’s current focus given the state of the market & the trends informing its strategy going forward

39’44”: Channels to use to connect with Sean & learn more about Stronghold

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In this podcast, Lex interviews William (Bill) Capuzzi, CEO of APEX, a Fintech company transforming financial services. Bill talks about his journey from studying environmental science to working in the financial industry, first at the banking and trading divisions of DLJ, then at Pershing where he learned the "bowels" of the industry, and then at Convergex where he learned about the importance of disrupting the trading technology. He then talks about buying Apex from Peak6 and his understanding of what it means to custody, clear, and settle a trade. He explains that a custodian holds the assets of the end investor and provides the clearing of transactions through a central counterparty like DTCC. He also discusses the decentralized finance world and the lack of a central counterparty in the cryptocurrency world.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

APEX Fintech Solutions website: https://bit.ly/3H0LgwE

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3IIMD4k

Topics: fintech, custody, clearing, settlement, trading, investment, crypto

Companies: Apex, Pershing, DLJ, PEAK6, Convergex, SoFi, Stash, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Betterment

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’50”: A breakdown of Bill’s foundational experiences

13’37”: Definitional breakdowns of custody, clearing, and settlement

19’19”: Unbundling custody solutions from broker-dealers and retail distribution, and the regulatory implications

27’04: The dynamic between digital wealth management platforms and either robo-advisors or traditional advisors using robo platforms that plug into their custody

31’07”: Joining Apex in 2010 - the customer profiles, tech stack, opportunities, and vision to where Apex is today

33’31”: Hyper efficiency - offering zero commission and fractional shares in 2015/16

36’52”: The current winning formula for B2C tech-enabled financial companies that Apex supports

40’27”: Channels to use to connect with Bill & learn more about Apex Fintech Solutions

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In this conversation, our Editor-in-chief Lex Sokolin walks through how 2023 is the year for executing on raw fundamentals, which means understanding how to design a Fintech or DeFi business model and understanding the shape of demand. Companies must focus on customer centricity and use a Lean Startup methodology to validate ideas and assumptions. This is done by testing products and services with prospects, using digital landing pages, and buying Google Ads to drive people to those landing pages.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

The Fintech Blueprint: https://www.fintechblueprint.com/

Lex Sokolin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexeysokolin/ and https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

Topics: start-ups, fintech, DeFi, innovation, disruption, tokenomics, cryptocurrency, blockchain, DAO, Web3, roboadvisor

Companies: Google, Greensky, Facebook, Robinhood, Youtube, DriveWealth, Betterment, Coinbase, MetaMask, Cross River Bank, MoonPay

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

0’31”: Introduction - What the last 3 years brought to the Fintech space

2’45”: How to approach 2023 from a mental model perspective

7’03”: The approach to designing a Fintech or DeFi business model in 2023

16’27”: The Lean Start-up Methodology & how it optimises product market fit

22’48”: Methods to seeking economically sufficient demand: traditional banking vs neobanking models

27’45”: Automation of the CFO stack vs Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

30’48”: Risk appetite: Betterment vs Coinbase vs MetaMask - their similarities and vastly dissimilar approaches to win consumers

36’11”: Economic models attached to opportunities

44’32”: Platform businesses providing an intermediating layer with repeatable demand

46’29”: The nature of economic flows: Money in motion vs money at rest

50’49”: Conclusion - closing remarks

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In this conversation, we chat with Jessie Proudman, the VP of Crypto Investing at Betterment, who was also the co-founder and CEO of Makara. Proudman shares his journey of building a web-design business, which eventually morphed into a cloud computing service and was later acquired by IBM. He then explains his interest in blockchain and the business he built to manage crypto portfolios, which led to the creation of the private cloud product. He discusses the challenges of the public internet versus private internet, public cloud versus private cloud, and public blockchain versus private blockchain, and how the industry has evolved since the ICO collapse of 2018.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Betterment website: https://bit.ly/3WlCM8B

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3Ww8mQG

Topics: fintech, roboadvisors, crypto, investment, blockchain, cloud, cloud-as-a-service, digital assets

Companies: Betterment, IBM, IBM Ventures, IBM Cloud, Strix Leviathan, Makara, Plaid, Gemini

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’28”: The entrepreneurial journey and the influences that led Jesse to becoming a founder

3’04”: Connecting the dots between designing websites for the local dentist to running cloud-as-a-service and getting acquired by IBM

7’41”: Public technology vs private technology and whether they solve for a similar answer

10’36”: Building an accelerator for IBM Ventures and how this drove the inspiration behind Strix Leviathan (a quantitative crypto hedge fund)

16’16”: Building a quantitative crypto hedge fund in the first crypto bear market and the investment strategies needed for it to work

20’32”: The trigger(s) that led to founding Makara (a cryptocurrency robo-advisor startup)

24’58”: The acquisition of Makara by Betterment, the combined offering as a result, and the psychographics of who this offering is for

30’26”: Custodial vs non-custodial holding of crypto assets, and the regulatory mine field of providing investment advice in the United States

33’53”: Betterment’s approach to modelling the full user journey/financial picture combining the traditional asset allocation with a crypto asset allocation

39’38”: The strategic vectors within the digital asset advisory business and what the future looks like for this industry

43’07”: Channels to use to connect with Jesse & learn more about Betterment

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https://lex.substack.com/p/podcast-scaling-a-core-ledger-for#detailsIn this conversation, we chat with Jarred Ward, CEO and co-founder of Twisp. Twisp has been tasked with building nearly every part of the modern financial ecosystem, from a greenfield core banking stack, direct integrations with Visa and the card networks for card issuing, and later, building a banking-as-a-service API on top of BBVA’s global core.

Ledgers are the detailed records of transactions and money movement for every fintech, yet they are continuously reinvented for every product. The process of building and operating mission-critical ledgers to track and reconcile payments and money movement is complex.

Twisp’s vision is to provide the operational and scaling guarantees of DynamoDB, the correctness guarantees of a relational database, with the ledger and accounting primitives you need to build modern financial products at any scale

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

This episode was sponsored by Twisp. We are committed to highlighting partnerships transparently, and only work with organizations that we find compelling from an editorial perspective.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

Twisp website: http://bit.ly/3BEWBzb
CEO's Linkedin profile: http://bit.ly/3HAHgng

Topics: fintech, blockchain, ledgers, finance, financial infrastructure, cloud, accounting, banking-as-a-service, baas, api

Companies: Simple, BBVA, Twisp, PacifiCorp, Stripe, Marqeta, MySQL

ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT

🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2

🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV

👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin

TIMESTAMPS

1’29”: The foundational experiences in Jarred’s education and career

3’39”: Identifying the ways in which computers and automation were helping people in finance solve their problems

7’35”: Jarred’s experience working at B2C consumer neobank Simple and its approach to success in a highly competitive space

12’58”: The approach of the financial stack in a US-based traditional bank vs. neobank like Simple

16’47”: The acquisition of Simple by BBVA and their approach to remaining competitive and relevant

22’29”: The evolution of banking: Is old infrastructure with a modern API-based real-time infrastructure on top the answer?

25’32”: Twisp – financial ledger infrastructure: Founding the company and its core propositions to date

33’08”: The fundamentals of a core ledger and how abstraction supports assets of differing types

38’39”: The ways that modern stacks are able to get around the natural limitations of technologies like MySQL and Postgres

43’52”: Financial workflows: Their evolution, customer adoption preferences, and the ability to package them into on-demand financial infrastructure

46’50”: Channels to use to connect with Jarred & learn more about Twisp

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Timestamp1’01”: Setting the scene in Fintech 2022 & what are the symptoms of things going wrong in the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) space

10’01”: The recipe for success in the BaaS space and the opportunities over the next coming years

13’19”: The dialetic between infrastructure and application and their phases of innovation

19’32”: Optimising the operating model for maximum efficiency & where/how regulatory influence plays a part

24’27”: The tangible impact of regulation & how this may help alleviate the current state of affairs

28’04”: The cost impact of fintech solutions on the value chain & what these costs may look like

31’31”: The optimal outcome for fintech infrastructure: embedded & bundled, or independent development, or acquisition of leading providers of services

34’00”: The optimal outcome for fintech applications: build a full service neobank or build a revenue generating component and grow from there

37’13”: Channels to use to connect with Will & Lex

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Timestamp2’21”: A high level overview of what happened to FTX and the bizarre coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried

6’56”: How BitMEX fits into the equation

11’34”: Addressing the relevance of the conspiracy theories surrounding FTX

16’19”: Tokenomics of FTT (FTX’s token) overview - explaining trading on the margin, how this differs from buying at spot rates, and liquidation machanics

20’24”: Crypto holding attacks and why this is profitable for the attacker

22’59”: FTX and Alameda Research’s Balance sheet - collateralization, strategy, and leverage

27’16”: The collapse of Terra LUNA and Three Arrows Capital, how this impacted FTX, and who is likely to fall next

35’02”: Remediation strategies: The Binance Billion Dollar Recovery Fund and Proof of Reserves

39’12”: Channels to use to connect with David

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Timestamp1’30”: The formative experience behind Adam’s career & starting at Apple in its heyday

9’59”: The building experience during the internet boom that lead to roles at eBay and other leading Web2.0 companies

13’22”: The evolution of consumer sentiment towards E-commerce at eBay

18’43”: Embedding software in Web1.0 to initiate the possibility for engagement & what this meant for product at LinkedIn

25’21”: The Web2.0 approach to building software & the initial hypotheses around extending the Silicon Valley method to financial services

32’36”: Daffy – the idea, what drove its inception, and what the future looks like

37’40”: The art of giving via a Fintech app – the methodology of how to make generosity a major driver of Daffy’s user journey

41’37”: Channels to use to connect with Adam and/or to learn more about Daffy

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Timestamp1’24”: From the US Secret Service to fraud control at Visa - what kickstarted this journey?

3’58”: Transitioning from the public to the private sector and building an electronic crimes task force

6’15”: The goals of payment network VISA relative to the e-commerce in which it participated

9’15”: Dispelling the myths around risk in e-commerce and how these narratives evolved into crypto

14’15”: The definition of a security engineer and how hackathons are used to counter vulnerabilities

16’16”: DocuSign and how it compares to the fundamental structure of a blockchain, as well as, how it works

20’07”: Joining crypto-custodian BitGo and how that lead to joining Prime Trust

21’47”: Prime Trust – what it is and how it has grown over the years

24’01”: The differences between a trust company or a trust custodian versus a depository institution like a bank versus a brokerage custodian like BNY Mellon

29’18”: The archetypes of the customers and clients of Prime Trust

31’27”: Prime Trust’s go-to-market strategy and how APIs as a product feature and distribution mechanism are used

34’53”: The vision and mechanisms for growth for Prime Trust over the next year, given the current market state

38’17”: The view on where American regulation will land with regards to the crypto industry

40’29”: Channels to use to connect with Tom and/or to learn more about Prime Trust

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In this conversation, we chat with David Beiner, Co-Founder and CEO of Hume – a web3 entertainment company pioneering music in the metaverse. David’s background is in media strategy working with companies like Comcast/NBC and MGM. In 2017 he went down the Ethereum rabbit hole and never looked back.

Hume’s community-building approach blends music, digital identity, and storytelling to develop virtual artists, or metastars. Hume goes beyond just the music and production of their virtual artist like ‘angelbaby’ — originally from the popular NFT collection FLUF WORLD— they thoroughly craft a rich backstory that embodies and humanizes their Metastars.

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In this conversation, we chat with David McFarland, co-founder and CEO of Coterie Insurance – a US- based insurance entity focused on making risk transfer efficient for the small commercial P&C insurance space. Coterie uses industry-leading tech, deep insurance expertise, and product innovation to embed insurance into their partners’ existing products and workflows, leveraging data from multiple sources to turn small commercial accounts from an unprofitable obligation to a profitable opportunity.

Prior to founding Coterie, David served as Chief Actuary and Head of Insurance Product & Pricing at Clearcover, a personal auto insurtech. David is a Fellow in the Casualty Actuarial Society and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

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In this conversation, we have a special episode where Lex Sokolin - Chief Editor of The Fintech Blueprint - walks us through some strong mental models for how FinTech works, how financial services is evolving, how technology is spreading into and out of financial services, and also how we consumers, people are getting reprogrammed or used to different modes of engagement entirely.

Additionally, Lex touches on how the interactions between some of the largest tech, finance, regulatory, and government players is leading to some really weird stuff. He will integrate some of the recent long takes that we've done on the FinTech Blueprint in the written newsletter and try to weave them together into a cohesive story, a story that's bigger than any particular look at the issues.

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In this conversation, we chat with Shamir Karkal, CEO and Co-Founder of Sila - a banking and payment platform for software teams building the next generation of financial products & services in regulated and unregulated industries.

A true FinTech pioneer, Shamir played a crucial part in building the infrastructure that would pave the way for online banking. In 2009, he co-founded Simple, the first bank of its kind in the United States, and later headed the Open Platform at BBVA. Shamir was drawn to serve smaller companies, co-founding Sila in 2018 with the goal of empowering financial innovations.

Shamir studied physics and computer science at Bangalore University and is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon, and enjoys jiu-jitsu, long-range target shooting, and studying history whenever possible.

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In this conversation, we chat with Gwendolyn Regina, Investment Director at BNB Chain. Her main responsibilities include streamlining processes around deal sourcing, investment strategy, portfolio management and growth. As a part of her role she invests in promising projects in the web3 and MetaFi space (GameFi, SocialFi, NFTs etc.), and leads the MVB incubation program, which she set up.

Gwen was the head of venture capital partnerships at Meta and built its startup fast-track growth program. Before that, she was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at deep tech investment fund, Entrepreneur First, based in Paris. Prior to that, Gwen built and sold the tech media startup, SGEntrepreneurs to Tech in Asia. Gwen also spearheaded Mashable's expansion into Asia and as a professional host, she hosted a TV documentary on the Internet of Things for ChannelNewsAsia.

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In this conversation, we chat with Jeff Keltner, the SVP Business Development at AI-powered digital lending fintech, Upstart. Jeff joined Upstart in 2012 after spending 6 years at Google. He launched and built the Google Apps for Education business, growing market share from zero to almost 70% in its first four years. Jeff spearheaded marketing efforts for Google Apps in Global 2000 accounts and led sales, business development, and go-to-market strategy for the launch of Chrome devices in the education and enterprise sectors.

Jeff spent several years in direct sales at IBM, always exceeding quota, and was a founding engineer and lead UI developer at SSB Technologies. Jeff holds a BS in Computer Systems Engineering from Stanford University.

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In this conversation, we chat with Soups Ranjan, the co-founder and CEO of Sardine.AI, a VC funded company with the mission to “confidently load money into a digital wallet”, where Sardine takes care of fraud and compliance issues related to money movement and instantly funds the money in the wallet.

Prior to founding Sardine, Soups was head of crypto for Revolut and head of data & risk for Coinbase. He has held roles in cyber security and AI/Machine Learning at many Silicon Valley companies over the last 15 years. Soups also holds a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Rice Univ where his thesis was on preventing application layer DDoS attacks. One of his lifelong passions is matching wits against fraudsters and he founded a popular risk community called RiskSalon that allowed many companies to learn from each other.

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In this conversation, we chat with Carlos Domingo, is a senior executive, entrepreneur, investor, and currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Securitize, Inc. Carlos has 25+ years of experience in innovation and digital transformation.

Before becoming the CEO of Securitize, Carlos co-founded and launched SPiCE VC, a fully tokenized VC fund. In order to ensure global compliance for SPiCE VC, Carlos and his team created the security token issuance and lifecycle management platform that would later become Securitize, Inc.

Additionally, Carlos was CEO of Research & Development for Telefonica (one of the largest telecom companies in the world), as well as CEO of New Business and Innovation for Telefonica Digital.

Carlos holds a PhD in computer science, speaks English, Spanish and Japanese, and is based in Miami.

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In this conversation, we chat with Justin Drake, Researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. He is also front and center of the biggest upcoming change to happen in Ethereum’s short history by transitioning from proof of work to proof of stake, commonly known as The Merge. A major engineering feat for what is the most active Blockchain in Crypto

Justin lives in Cambridge, UK where he studied mathematics. He founded the Cambridge Bitcoin Meetup group in 2013, and in 2014 left his job as a programmer and FPGA engineer to study the blockchain space. In 2015 he operated a Bitcoin ATM and started a company providing a web interface for OpenBazaar. He is now a researcher for the Ethereum Foundation focusing on sharding.

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In this conversation, we chat with Jason Wilk, Co-Founder and CEO of Dave (NASDAQ:DAVE), a US challenger bank that has prevented $1 billion in overdraft fees, and has reached 10 million clients in just four years. Founded in 2017, Dave went public in January 2022 via SPAC that had a market cap of close to $4 billion. As a private company, Dave raised almost $200 million and attracted top investors and personalities like Mark Cuban, Norwest Venture Partners, Financial Solutions Lab, and even Diplo.

But entrepreneurship runs in Jason’s blood, as he is a 4X founder, as well as, an active angel investor in MetroMile, Eatsa, Air Media, SnapChat and more. He formerly was co-founder and CEO of AllScreen.TV, a technology platform that enabled large media outlets to syndicate their digital content to over 500 publishers. Clients included Vice, Time, CondeNast, AOL, Yahoo and many more and investors included Mark Cuban, Jonathan Kraft, Skip Paul and Y-Combinator.

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In this conversation, we chat with Kareem Saleh – Kareem has been working on financial inclusion and underwriting hard-to-score borrowers his entire career. At ZestFinance (now Zest.ai) he served as Executive Vice President where he led the go-to-market strategy for the company’s AI-powered b2b SaaS underwriting platform and negotiated software licensing, partnership, financing and other commercial deals with Fortune 500 firms, credit bureaus and financial infrastructure providers.

Prior to Zest.ai, he served as an Executive at SoftCard, a mobile payments startup founded by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon that was acquired by Google. Additionally, Kareem has served in several senior roles in the Obama Administration, he helped manage the team that negotiated the Paris Climate Agreement, and oversaw $3B in annual investments into development-friendly projects in emerging markets. Kareem is a Forbes contributor and a frequent speaker on the application of artificial intelligence to financial services, including consumer loan underwriting, loan servicing, model risk management and fair lending analysis. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and an honors graduate of the University of Chicago, and is fluent in French and Arabic.

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In this conversation, we chat with Mark Aubrey – CEO of Catheon Gaming. Prior to this, Mark was Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific (“APAC”) at Activision Blizzard, the leading gaming developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry’s most critically acclaimed games, including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Mark has over 19 years of experience in the entertainment and gaming industry in the APAC region.

Prior to Activision Blizzard, Mark worked a long stint at Warner Bros. Entertainment as the Group Marketing Director, driving synergies and commercial opportunities across groups (Home Entertainment, Theatrical, Television, HBO, Games, Consumer Products and Digital Distribution). Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Business and Marketing from the University of Newcastle.

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In this conversation, we chat with Prashant Fuloria – CEO of Fundbox. With decades of experience in payments and monetization, he has served in a wide variety of leadership, operational, and product roles at prominent technology companies.

Prior to Fundbox, Prashant served as SVP of Advertising Products at Yahoo, having joined through the acquisition of Flurry, where he was the Chief Product Officer. He also served as Senior Director of Product Management at Facebook, where he led the company’s advertising and payment product efforts, and Product Director at Google, where he built their global payment platform and managed all of Google’s products for the APAC region.

Prashant received a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He also holds an MA in Business research; an MS in Statistics; a Ph.D. minor in Engineering-Economic Systems & Operations Research; and a Ph.D. in Business, all from Stanford University.

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In this conversation, we chat with Chris Brookins – co-founder of RociFi, a new DeFi primitive for under-collateralized lending. Chris is a crypto veteran, having entered the space in 2014, and prior to RociFi, founded Valiendero Digital Assets, a quantitative cryptocurrency investment fund, founded out of Carnegie Mellon University. Valiendero utilized machine learning and data-driven investment strategies over a variety of liquid digital assets. Chris also held the COO position at a 2015 Y-Combinator alumni - Valor Water Analytics (a SaaS utilities firm which was acquired by Xylem Inc.) and was founder and COO at data driven research and venture firm - Pugilist Ventures.

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In this conversation, we chat with Matt Kopko – DailyPay's Vice President of Public Policy, where he manages DailyPay's interactions with regulators, legislators, other government officials and stakeholders. Prior to his role at DailyPay, Matt served in a similar role – Director of Public Policy – at Bird, the micromobility company.

Matt was also a senior government official and member of the Senior Executive Service, as well as an attorney in private practice. Matt holds a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, and a JD/MBA from the University of Chicago.

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In this conversation, we chat with Jacobc.eth, the now Head of Product Strategy for BitDAO’s Windranger Labs, and Head of Product for the Game7 DAO. Previously, Jacob worked as Lead of Operations at MetaMask, and before that he led product for the Panvala grant funding DAO, one of the earliest grant DAOs in the Web3 ecosystem.

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• Ivan Bakrac - is a Senior DeFi Market Strategist at ConsenSys, as well as Adjunct Professor in Blockchain Technologies & Decentralized Finance at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Adjunct Professor - Global Fintech: AI, Blockchain, Business Data Science at Berkeley College.
• Ajay Mittal - is a Senior Strategist, Cryptoeconomics at ConsenSys, as well as Co-Lead of Treasury at Friends With Benefits.
• James Chung - is a Senior DeFi Market Strategist, Cryptoeconomics at ConsenSys, as well as Founder at BANKR.
• David Shuttleworth - is a DeFi Economist at ConsenSys, with a history in HealthTech, data analytics, and token engineering.

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In this conversation, we chat with Simon Taylor, the head of strategy and content at Sardine.ai, which is a modern compliance infrastructure. Before this, Simon served as the Co-Founder and Blockchain Practice Lead at 11:FS. Simon has been immersed in the technology of financial services for as long as he’s been working and is consistently voted one of the most influential people in Banking, Insurance and Fintech by banks, his peers and a number of industry bodies.

Simon Led Blockchain Research and Development at Barclays, where Barclays became the first bank in the world to perform a live trade finance transaction over a Blockchain / DLT with a real customer attached. Today Simon advises Governments, Regulators and some of the worlds largest Banks, Financial Institutions and Corporations on how Blockchain and DLT will impact their business in the short, medium and long term. Prior to this Simon helped build the Barclays www.thinkrise.com programme and held a number of roles in payments, banking and the telco sector.

In addition Simon is a co-host of both Fintech Insider the #1 Business Podcast in Europe and Blockchain - the fastest growing business podcast and the home of Blockchain knowledge and first rate interviews.

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In this conversation, we chat with Meidad Sharon, the CEO and founder of the award-winning retail finance SaaS network platform ChargeAfter, the first global network to provide a complete solution to Point-of-Sale financing from multiple lenders. Meidad is a long-time high-tech industry veteran, with over 15 years of experience scaling global payments and SaaS businesses with a people and customer-first approach. As well as, demonstrating how simple payment processing and fraud prevention solutions can meet complex needs, and lead to maximum profitability and a seamless end-user experience.

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In this conversation, we chat with Ivan Maryasin, the co-founder and CEO of Monite, an embedded finance startup that is automating back-office accounting for SMEs. Earlier this year Monite raised $5M (€4.4M) in a funding round led by Point72 Ventures. Ivan lived for a time in Boston and San Francisco, working for different startups and going to school before settling in Berlin. A natural entrepreneur, Ivan began his first marketing consultancy at age 16, and he founded Monite after witnessing first-hand the pain points that SMEs are facing with finances, whilst leading growth for Penta, one of the key German B2B neobanks and realized small businesses struggle a lot more with admin and accounting than they do with banking

More specifically, we touch on the differences between marketing, advertising, and growth hacking. As well as the lag in fintech expansion in Germany and how starting a fintech there was challenging, and how painpoints from SMEs and retail customers lead to the building of an embedded finance startup, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Nick Lombardo, co-founder of Arc Technologies. Nick previously worked in private equity in New York where he experienced firsthand the limitations of traditional capital raising. In 2021, Nick and the other co-founders of Arc teamed up with Y Combinator and met with hundreds of software founders in the SF Bay Area and realized that they all shared a common pain point – startup funding is costly and distracting.

Arc was founded to give founders an alternative to the status quo that helps them grow – with technology and without dilution.

More specifically, we touch on investment banking vs. private equity, capital raising and the purpose of finance for early stage startups, invoice financing/invoice factoring vs revenue-based funding, embedded finance, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Will Beeson, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at digital bank BELLA. Previously, Will was a Principal at Rebank, a fintech advisory firm, as well as he co-founded Allica, a digital bank for businesses in the UK. After starting his career at Citigroup in New York, Will spent nearly a decade in Europe working with and managing financial services companies prior to launching Allica. Will holds a BA from Amherst College (USA) and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Charterholder.

More specifically, we touch on frameworks for navigating down markets, valuations, multiples, why some fintechs have to disclose themselves as tech companies than banks, covid-19 implications, buy now pay later developments, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Kurtis Lin, the co-founder & CEO of Pinwheel, a leading payroll connectivity API. The son of two immigrant parents, Kurt saw how the lack of credit history created a greater struggle for them to access and secure financial products. This experience became a driving force for him and his co-founders to create Pinwheel. Kurt has been involved in multiple startup acquisitions, first Idean and later with Luxe.

Following Luxe’s acquisition by Volvo, he received an HSA and experienced similar challenges to those of his parents. He realized if you didn’t have money to pre-fund an account - which most Americans don’t - opening an HSA was basically impossible. Kurt and his co-founders set out to create a more automated HSA process and soon realized the key problem was actually inaccessibility to the data and controls in payroll systems. Thus Pinwheel was born with the mission to build a fairer financial system.

More specifically, we touch on the journey to building a fintech API infrastructure play, integrating inset payroll systems via APIs, the demise of payday lenders, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Sami Start, the Co-founder and CEO of Transak. Transak is one of the fastest and securest way to buy 100+ cryptocurrencies on 75+ blockchains. Users can pay via Apple Pay, UPI, Bank Transfer or use a credit or debit card. The company is trusted by more than 2 million users globally and empowers wallets, gaming, DeFi. NFTs, Exchanges and DAOs in more than 145 countries. Sami is based in London and has worked in high frequency trading and B2C fintech – his passion for fiat onboarding arose from his time at Smarkets. He has degrees in Physics from Imperial College and Computer Science from UCL

More specifically, we geek out on problem solving philosophies and processes, market makers, building the best Web3 applications involving money, the inception of Transak and how it aims to power all web3 companies to facilitate payments using its developer-friendly infrastructure and easy UX/UI, the future of DeFi and CeFi and their convergence with TradFi, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Steven Goldfeder, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Offchain Labs – the team building Arbitrum. He holds a PhD from Princeton University, where he worked at the intersection of cryptography and cryptocurrencies. Before Offchain, he attended Princeton as a PhD candidate, where his research explored economics, anonymity, and incentive compatibility of cryptocurrencies.

More specifically, we geek out on the heydays of early cryptography and the connection to cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, the fundamental structure of Ethereum and how this birthed Arbitrum, the application of optimistic roll-ups, the existing data storage issues of Layer 1s and how Arbitrum seek to solve them, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Marieke Flament, CEO of Near Foundation. Marieke is a French-born computer engineer who has worked across the globe in a diverse range of companies that include Boston Consulting Group, LVMH, and Expedia’s Hotels.com. In her previous role, she was Managing Director of Europe and Global CMO for Circle, one of the world’s largest crypto companies. At Circle, she pioneered the consumer application of blockchain, taking several products to market and building a user base of over two million in less than two years. She also helped move the blockchain agenda forward by working with key decision makers, including governments and financial policy makers across Europe.

She is passionate about exploring the ways in which technology can be used to change people's lives and is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in finance and technology. Marieke was recognised in the Women in FinTech Powerlist for 2019 and frequently provides media commentary on technology and the future of finance.

More specifically, we touch on the journey from Fintech Web2 to Layer-1 protocols and Web3, the neobanking ecosystem and comparatives, the role of the NEAR protocol and its Foundation, the three foundational pillars of NEAR, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Mona El Isa, the co-founder of Enzyme, one of the industry’s leading decentralised asset management protocols, and founder and CEO at Avantgarde Finance. She is also President of MAMA (Multichain Asset Managers Association), and was nominated Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and Digital Shaper in Bilanz magazine.

Mona is a former star-trader at Goldman Sachs, promoted to Vice President by the age of 26 and made the “Top 30 under 30” list in Trader Magazine in 2008 and Forbes Magazine in 2011 after profitably trading the 2008 and 2011 crashes. She moved to Geneva-based macro fund Jabre Capital in 2011, before deciding in 2014 that the future of finance lay in blockchain technology. She studied Economics & Statistics at University College London.

More specifically, we touch on the magnificent and harrowing journey from institutional finance during the financial crisis, to family office portfolio management, to multiple attempts at Web3 and DeFi. Mona has been through some incredible successes, as well as, harsh failures. Give this one a listen!

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In this conversation, we chat with Gene Hoffman, Chief Operations Officer and President at Chia Network. Formerly CEO & co-founder Vindicia, eMusic, PGP, PrivNet. Recognized by the San Francisco Business Times with the “40 under 40 Emerging Leaders Award” in 2012, Gene has deep experience with building companies that disrupt markets. As head of eMusic, Gene was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 E-Gang, and named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine’s November 2000 Elite 100. Gene led the acquisition of eMusic by Vivendi/Universal in June 2001. Before founding eMusic Gene was Director of Business Development and Director of Interactive Marketing of Pretty Good Privacy.

More specifically, we touch on the early days of encryption, digital signatures, cryptocurrencies, and copyrights. As well as, the evolution of intellectual property management, the mechanics behind subscription infrastructure, how to build an alternative network to Bitcoin’s, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Dan Heyman, Co-founder and CEO of Palm NFT Studio and Network. Dan is a blockchain industry leader with experience building and leading organisations through the design, development and implementation of enterprise-grade blockchain protocols. Prior to Palm, Dan was the co-founder and Program Director of PegaSys, focusing on the strategy and operations of the team. Prior to joining PegaSys and ConsenSys, he was co-founder and CEO of Stack AI, COO of the Demeter Entrepreneur Support Network and Project Manager at MIT's Poverty Action Lab. He has an M.B.A. from MIT Sloan and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Columbia University.

More specifically, we touch on Dan’s fascinating journey from working with the poverty action lab to founding Palm, as well as, Dan’s experience at MIT, ConsenSys’s enterprise solutions, the philosophy behind Crypto Art, NFTs and their value to large media enterprises, setting up a creator-focussed DAO, some exciting upcoming collaborations with DC Comics, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Sergej Kunz, the co-founder of the 1inch Network, a distributed network of decentralized protocols. From 2015 to 2019, Sergej worked for consulting firm Mimacom, running projects for major customers such as Bosch, Siemens and Porsche. After joining Porsche on a full-time basis, he gradually shifted toward cybersecurity. He also co-hosted the YouTube show CryptoManiacs. At a 2019 hackathon, Sergej and the 1inch Network's eventual co-founder, Anton Bukov, developed a prototype crypto exchange aggregator that became the basis of the entire network.

More specifically, we touch on how a passion for software development and coding lead Sergej to the web3 world, the concept of data aggregation and its value in a multitude of industries, all things surrounding the 1inch protocol and the tokens involved and the liquidity programs, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Karn Saroya, the co-founder & CEO of Cover, a YC-backed insurance technology company that simplifies the process of getting property insurance and focuses on underserved communities. Karn is responsible for operations, business development, growth and investor relations. To date, Karn has raised $27M for the company through its seed, Series A and Series B rounds.

More specifically, we touch on the inefficiencies of the property insurance industry, introducing things like financial transaction history and elements of behavioral data results in a better risk segmentation, fair prices, and in many cases - access to the insurance in general. We also discuss how Karn left a career in finance for startups, and shares details of developing and selling StyleKick, a high-end fashion e-commerce business, to Shopify. Karn talks about the future of insurtech and how crypto plays a part, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Luca Prosperi, is a MakerDAO believer and senior finance professional with 15 years of experience in banking and credit investments. Luca has a wide range of experience ranging from publishing a Substack newsletter on the evolution of banking and DeFi, to working for the likes of Ripplewood Advisors, Partners Capital, Morgan Stanley, Oliver Wyman. Luca holds a Masters in Business Administration from London Business School, and a MSc and BS in Mathematical Economics and Econometrics from Bocconi and Tel Aviv University.

More specifically, we touch on MakerDAO and its mechanics, Automatic Market Makers and Curve, the utility behind stablecoins, how Curve was born from the inefficiency of Uniswap, how Yearn and Convex stemmed from Curve, why Luca considered OlympusDAO to be a ponzi scheme at first, and so so much more….

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In this conversation, we chat with Yenwen Feng, co-founder of Perpetual Protocol, a decentralized perpetual contract protocol for every asset, made possible by a Virtual Automated Market Maker, with an aim to create an accessible and secure decentralized derivatives trading platform. Yenwen has over 17 years of various expertise and experience in the financial and tech industry, co-founding businesses like Cubie Inc. and Cinch Network. Yenwen also holds an MS degree in computer science from National Chiao Tung University.

More specifically, we touch on the idea of "perpetual trading" on top of AMMs. He explains how the idea is similar to traditional spot trading of the self custody assets on AMMs and how it's really capital efficient. He also talks about how he and his co-founder fell in the crypto rabbit hole in 2017 and how they joined Binance, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Edward Woodford, Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash. Zero Hash’s mission is to empower innovators by delivering access to the financial system 2.0. Zero Hash provides the complete turnkey solution to allow platforms to launch digital assets and own the client experience, without any regulatory overhead and a light technical lift. Zero Hash’s clients include Neo-banks, broker dealers and payment groups.

Prior to founding Zero Hash, he gained experience at a series of hedge funds and start ups including founder a US-based CFTC-registered derivatives execution venue. Edward holds a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from University of Warwick (United Kingdom) and a Master of Finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US). He was named in Forbes' 30 Under 30 in 2018.

More specifically, we touch on CFTC regulated marketplaces for Hemp, launching a digital asset trading business, Embedded finance and API-driven businesses, the US regulatory patchwork for traditional financial service companies vs new banking-as-a-service companies, third-part crypto wallet providers and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Urvashi Barooah, a Principal at Redpoint Ventures. Urvashi holds a B.A. from Middlebury College, has 3 years experience in Mergers & Acquisitions consulting at Ernst & Young’s New York office. Since then she has worked at BCG, Primary Venture Partners, and Redpoint Ventures - where she has been an integral part to investing in high growth startups across Web3 and Fintech.

More specifically, we touch on the journey to becoming a venture capitalist, the essential tools and mental models used to become an effective VC such as the CFO tech stack, the modernisation of financial platforms, the transition to investing in crypto companies, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with John MacIlwaine, Founder and CEO at HighNote. The former general manager at Paypal Holdings Inc-owned Braintree. Highnote improves embedded payments experiences, reducing speed to market while supporting customer loyalty and engagement.

John is a senior business and technology professional with 25 years of experience in executive level GM/CEO and CTO/CPO roles, primarily within the financial services industry, with expertise in technology innovation, strategic vision, implementation execution, and operational excellence in both early stage and mature companies. He is a seasoned general manager with significant people leadership (1,500 staff) and P&L responsibility ($195 Million). He has a reputation for building high performing global teams (India, Singapore, Philippines, US) and operating effectively in diverse corporate cultures across industries and geographies.

More specifically, we touch on the journey of leadership through Morgan Stanely, Envestnet, SunGard, GreenDot, Visa, Lending Club, Braintree/PayPal and HighNote. Touching on the progress of technology influencing embedded finance through each of these entities, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Trevor Marshall, The Chief Technology Officer at Current, a leading U.S. financial technology company serving Americans working to create a better future for themselves. A graduate of Columbia University with degrees in math and computer science, Trevor worked on automating trading strategies at Morgan Stanley and built applications on distributed ledger technology before creating the foundation for Current.

In 2015, he began building the Current Core, Current’s proprietary banking technology, which provides stability, faster money and cost savings that are passed onto customers, and allows Current to provide experiences that cannot exist on traditional banking infrastructures.

More specifically, we touch on cryptography, bitcoin arbitrage trading strategies, Web3, Dollar Ledgering, ACH transactions, Influencer marketing, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Aaron Klein, the co-founder and CEO at Riskalyze. Aaron’s career has largely been at the intersection of finance and technology. As co-founder and CEO at Riskalyze, he led the company to twice being named one of the world’s top 10 most innovative companies in finance by Fast Company Magazine. Today, over 200 Riskalyzers serve thousands of advisors who have aligned the world's investments with millions of investors' Risk Numbers®. Aaron has served as a Sierra College Trustee, and in his spare time, he co-founded a school project for orphans and vulnerable kids in Ethiopia. Investment News has honored him as one of the industry’s top 40 Under 40 executives.

More specifically, we touch on the journey of entrepreneurship, Political campaign fintech and website development, roboadvisors vs. automated trading rebalancing, the future of wealth management and financial advice, and so so much more!!

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In this conversation, we chat with Dimitri Dadiomov, the CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based Modern Treasury which is among the Bay Area’s up-and-coming fintech entrepreneurs reshaping how business is done.

Modern Treasury’s software automates the processes companies use to move money, from initiating payment, getting approvals and reconciling it all. The company reconciles more than $2 billion in payments every month, up from $1 billion in April 2021. It helps that Modern Treasury has a client roster filled with fast-growing companies, including Marqeta, Side and Gusto — all based in the Bay Area. Modern Treasury’s growth also will be juiced by Plaid, which selected the company as one of about 50 partners globally for its recently created payments ecosystem.

More specifically, we touch on the mind and application of a product manager in tech, the journey of how a mortgage business lead Dimitri to founding Modern Treasury, Embedded Finance, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Ruben Nieto, the managing director at Allfunds Blockchain S.L.U., who has more than 15 years applying technology to the financial services industry. Ruben has been intrumental in building solutions for the institutional fund distribution leading platform in Europe, Allfunds Bank.

More specifically, we touch on all things digital asset management, wealth management, Ruben’s, blockchain journey around digital assets in the enterprise space, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Aaron Schumm, the Founder and CEO of Vestwell, an entirely new kind of digital retirement platform transforming the way plans are offered and administered — for the benefit of advisors, employers, and employees alike.

Prior to founding Vestwell, Aaron was a co-founder of FolioDynamix, a wealth management and advisory services company that powered $800 billion in assets for over 100,000 advisors. At FolioDynamix, which was sold to Envestnet in 2017, Aaron oversaw the strategy, revenue, marketing, customers and product. Aaron holds a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. degree from Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business. He was named as one of 40-under-40 by InvestmentNews and WealthManagement.com’s “10 to Watch”

More specifically, we touch on all things 401ks, IRAs, Portfolio Balancing, Roboadvice in portfolio management, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Carson Cook – the founder of Tokemak and Fractal. Carson holds his PhD in Physics and Master’s in Electrical Engineering. After completing his PhD, Carson worked at McKinsey for several years, focused on fintech, financial services, and wealth management. He got into the blockchain/crypto space in 2016 and founded Fractal in 2018, focused on market making and providing liquidity. Tokemak is a new product Carson designed based on opportunities he saw in the space. Tokemak is a decentralized liquidity/market making primitive.

More specifically, we touch on how decentralized finance has evolved as well as the different threads that have brought all of it together, as well as, magnetohydrodynamics, the similarities between the finance world and theoretical physics, early crypto exchange arbitrage trading, 0x market making, liquidity aggregation, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Andrei Cherny, Co-Founder & CEO ofAspiration, a budding financial services platform for people who want to save the planet by neutralizing their carbon footprint. Their mission is massive, with ~5 million members making a difference in the fight against climate change.

Andrei combines a background as an advisor to some of America’s top companies, the co-founder and president of a media start-up, a financial fraud prosecutor, a historian, a White House aide, a Navy reserve officer, and a nationally-recognized economic policy expert. Andrei has provided strategic counsel to companies such as Intel, Qualcomm, and Bank of America. He has worked with Elizabeth Warren to help start the successful fight for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A former Clinton White House aide, he was the youngest White House speechwriter in American history.

More specifically, we touch on American public policy and politics, speechwriting for Al Gore, The amalgamation of political theory and public legislation and environmental policy and a lack of trust by consumers in financial institutions lead to the founding of Aspiration Bank, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Michael Godsey – the GM and Head of Product for Infura, previously a Producer and Product Manager in the video game industry working on Call of Duty, Need for Speed, and EA Sports franchises. Michael’s educational background is in Mathematics and Game Design.

More specifically, we touch on the idea of games and rendered worlds, the philosophies behind game design, the financial services that are blockchain powered, the solution that Infura solves for so many, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Hany Rashwan – the founder of Amun and 21Shares. Hany built the company that put out the first physically backed crypto Exchange Traded Product (ETP). In simpler terms, he created a vehicle for people to buy crypto assets, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, on the stock market. Alongside Cathie Wood of ARK, 21Shares recently submitted a Bitcoin ETF to the SEC. While he waits for the US to get on board, Hany's products are already offered all over Europe, with more than $3 billion under management.

More specifically, we touch on his early entrepreneurial mindset which lead him to building successful businesses, how currency devaluation in Egypt pushed him to create 21Shares, what an Exchange Traded Product (ETP) is and how it related to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), the regulatory landscape for crypto-backed ETPs, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Henry Yoshida – Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Rocket Dollar. Prior to Rocket Dollar, Yoshida was the co-founder of Honest Dollar, a robo-advisor retirement platform that was acquired by Goldman Sachs, as well as a founder of MY Group LLC, a $2.5-billion assets under management investment firm. Henry shares his industry expertise as a speaker at several industry conferences, as well as having been featured or quoted in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Financial Times. Henry has a passion for helping people be the best that they can be and contributes as a member in several financial and technology industry organizations. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and has an MBA from Cornell University.

More specifically, we touch on Henry’s career at BoA Merrill Lynch, his role at building a multi-billion dollar RIA business, how he started a digital retirement account platform called Honest Dollar which was sold to Goldman Sach’s neobank Marcus, the inception of Rocket Dollar, we talk IRAs and 401ks and how important these are for the current Gen-Z market, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Daniel Finlay – a former Apple software developer, co-founder and co-lead developer on MetaMask – a non-custodial Ethereum wallet, allowing users to store Ether and other ERC-20 tokens and make transactions. Further. With the growth of DeFi and NFTs over the past year, MetaMask has increased in prominence as an entry point for novice users. So much so that its user base is now over 20 million monthly active users.

More specifically, we touch on how Dan went from teaching kids to code to having an app rejected by the Apple App Store to MetaMask, the philosophy behind e-government, questioning the role and job of software engineers, how crypto wallets compare to neobanks, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Elizabeth Rossiello – the CEO and founder of AZA, an established provider of currency trading solutions which accelerate global access to frontier markets through an innovative infrastructure. Elizabeth founded the company in 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya and has expanded it to 10+ markets across Africa and Europe.

Before founding AZA, Elizabeth was a rating analyst for microfinance institutions across sub-Saharan Africa, consulting for Grameen Foundation, Gates Foundation and the Acumen Fund, as well as working with regulators and policy-makers on legislation for financial innovations. Elizabeth co-chairs the World Economic Forum's Council on Blockchain and holds an M.A. in International Business and Finance from Columbia University.

More specifically, we touch on ratings agencies and the activity of rating intitutions, M-Pesa and how it influenced the thinking towards a crypto-centric future, Africa’s banking landscape and some of the outstanding issues it faces, Bitpesa and how it became Aza, banking infrastructure in Africa, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Adam Hughes – the Chief Executive Officer at Amount, a technology company focused on accelerating the world’s transition to digital financial services via its digital retail banking platform, world-class digital authentication & fraud prevention tools, and ecommerce point-of-sale financing technology.

Prior to his role at Amount, Adam was President & COO at Avant, an industry-leading digital consumer lending platform. Earlier in his career, Adam was an early employee at Enova International where he played a critical role building and scaling the company's international digital lending business. Adam holds a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the Founders Pledge community, a group of entrepreneurs and investors who have pledged to give a substantial part of future proceeds to charitable causes

More specifically, we touch on digital lending industry Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as well as the trends of working with large banks and enabling their digital transformation to access some of these themes as part of embedded finance and banking-as-a-service.

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In this conversation, we chat with Nicholas – an NFT developer and a contributor to Juicebox, which is an awesome DAO enablement software, as well as SharkDAO and PartyDAO. He is very active in the ecosystems, got a solidity podcast called Solidity Galaxy Brain, a collaborator with multiple NFT artists, but I could go on and on. Let me welcome Nicholas to the podcast.

More specifically, we touch on the philosophy behind programming and coding, what a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) truly is and what it is comprised of, various successful examples of DAOs that Nicholas has been involved in, the concept of community and the value that DAOs serve in this respect, how DAOs leverage tools to achieve their purpose, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Rhett Roberts, the Co-Founder and CEO of LoanPro – a new breed of software company that is API-driven, cloud-native and easily scalable. Rhett and his co-founders created the company out of necessity when they ran an auto lending business as they could not find anything flexible enough to suit their own needs.

More specifically, we touch on all things around the lending industry, the auto lending industry and how everything there works, and of course, why LoanPro is such an awesome company, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Sergey Nazarov. Sergey Nazarov is Co-founder of Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle network used by global enterprises & projects at the forefront of the blockchain space.

Chainlink is the industry standard oracle network for powering hybrid smart contracts. Chainlink Decentralized Oracle Networks provide developers with the largest collection of high-quality data sources and secure off-chain computations to expand the capabilities of smart contracts on any blockchain. Managed by a global, decentralized community, Chainlink currently secures billions of dollars in value for smart contracts across decentralized finance (DeFi), insurance, gaming, and other major industries.

More specifically, we touch on what it means to build in DeFi, what Oracles are like, what smart contracts are and what they enable, how all of this works and where the protocol is going, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Richard Turrin – an award-winning executive, previously heading FinTech teams at IBM, following a twenty-year career, heading trading teams at global investment banks. He’s also the author of the number one international bestseller, Innovation Lab Excellence. One of his books is Cashless: China’s Digital Currency Revolution, which brings the story of China’s incredible new central bank digital currency to the west. He lives in Shanghai, China, where he’s had the privilege of living in China’s cashless revolution firsthand.

More specifically, we touch on where China has gotten to in terms of FinTech and blockchain and dispel some of the myths and assumptions that people bring to the conversation. Additionally we touch on the CBDC and how that's becoming really important, and how Richard got to China in the first place and began to build a career there, and so so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Sandeep Nailwal – The Co-Founder & COO at Polygon (previously Matic Network). Sandeep is a long time developer who’s been dabbling in the space since way back in his college days. Originally known as the Matic Network, Polygon rebranded with the aim to reach a global audience and they’ve certainly done just that.

More specifically, we touch on Sandeep’s intriguing entrepreneurial journey, developing a blockchain startup in India, DApps, Scalability & Interoperability of Layer1 and Layer2 blockchain solutions, Zero-knowledge Rollups, NFTs & Gaming, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Tim Frost, CEO and Co-Founder of Yield App, a fintech app making DeFi accessible to everyone. Prior to founding Yield, Tim helped build 2 previous digital banks, Wirex and EQIBank. Tim has also helped accelerate early-stage blockchain startups QTUM, NEO, Paxful, Polymath, and many others.

More specifically, we touch on all things crypto banking and debit cards, crypto onramps, juristictions and regulation, defi banking, yield generation mechanisms, and so much more!

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In this conversation, we chat with Paul Rowady is the Founder and Director of Research for Alphacution Research Conservatory and a 30-year veteran of proprietary, hedge fund and capital markets research, trading and risk advisory initiatives. Alphacution is a digitally-oriented research and strategic advisory platform focused on modeling and benchmarking the impacts of technology on global financial markets and the businesses of trading, asset management and banking. This data-driven approach allows Alphacution to reverse-engineer the operational dynamics of these market actors to showcase the most vivid and impactful themes among the field of available research providers and platforms.

More specifically, we touch on all things Robinhood, trading velocity, market making, crypto trading, wholesale, mobile app trading and its impact on hedge funds and asset managers, regulation and the SEC, and the future of capital markets and investment management.

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In this conversation, we chat with Gabriel Anderson – Managing Director at Tachyon, Head of Market Strategy & Business Intelligence at ConsenSys Labs. Former Head of VaynerMedia. Alum of Merrill Lynch.

More specifically, we touch on what Tachyon is, how it works, and who it’s for, the growth of crypto, and what needs to come next to allow the widespread adoption of crypto by mainstream society. Gabriel talks about the best projects he has seen so far that combine NFTs with other elements of DeFi and crypto, and what he’d like to see more of in the future.

We talk about the evolution of Web1.0 to Web 2.0 and finally Web3.0, and building and scaling communities in Web 3.0, and what makes them successful, along with the role of community managers. Gabriel shares some predictions about where the crypto space is headed.

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In this conversation, we chat with Kevin Levitt who currently leads global business development for the financial services industry at NVIDIA. He focuses on global trends in accelerated compute and AI for consumer finance – including fintech, retail banking, credit card and insurance. Prior to joining NVIDIA, Kevin served as Vice President of Business Development at Credit Karma, and Vice President of Sales for Roostify.

More specifically, we touch on the role data plays in the financial industry, how the needs of financial institutions have changed, the age of big data, the definitions between artificial intelligence and machine learning, how to train an AI algorithm, the reasoning behind the incredible amount of parameters machine learning solutions consume, the fundamental purpose of AI/ML in financial services, what NVIDIA’s platforms comprise of, and lastly the future of AI/ML.

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In this conversation, we chat with Erick Calderon is the founder and CEO at Art Blocks, a platform for creating on-demand, generative art pieces. Since its launch a year ago, Art Blocks has garnered the attention of many, including auction house Sotheby’s, which recently sold 19 of the platform’s pieces in a deal totaling $81,000. Calderon, a native Houstonian, uses the online handle Snowfro, which stems from a snow cone stand he used to own.

More specifically, we touch on projection mapping, generative vs. algorithmic art, machine learning, smart contracts, the constructivist art movement, Artblocks’ unique approach to NFT algorithms and minting, NFT flipping vs. scalping, gas price wars, flashbots, dutch auctions, and the massive demand for anything Artblocks in the world today and the justifcations behind such demand.

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In this conversation, Cris Sheridan, who is the Senior Editor of Financial Sense and Host of FS Insider, leads the conversation around the basics to understand the exciting new digital universe, more commonly known as The Metaverse.

More specifically, we discuss all things VR & AR including social media’s proliferation into the sector, Millenial vs GenZ behavioural approaches to the metaverse, the creator economy, NFTs, Axie Infinity, Mr Beast, Computational Blockchains, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), ConsenSys, MetaMask, and Ethereum vs Institutional Finance (Schwab).

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In this conversation, we chat with Jason Wenk, who is the Founder & CEO at Altruist. Apart from this Jason is a writer, self-proclaimed math geek, and investment systems developer. He began his career at Morgan Stanley in NYC at age 20, working on investment research and asset management systems development. After this Jason founded FormulaFolios: quantitative, computer-driven investment models based on academic research to help remove emotion from investing. FormulaFolios would later develop into a standalone asset manager and go on to rank as a fastest-growing private company by Inc. magazine 4 years in a row, reaching as high as #10 in 2017.

More specifically, we discuss all things wealth tech, as well as, serving people with financial planning, financial advice, and generally improving their financial health.

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In this conversation, we chat with Chris Dean, who is the Founder & CEO at Treasury Prime. Previously, Chris was the CTO & VP of Engineering at Standard Treasury, which was acquired by Silicon Valley Bank for an undisclosed amount.

More specifically, we discuss all things banking-as-a-service, FinTech APIs, embedded finance, and the general evolution of the FinTech banking industry over the last decade.

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In this conversation, we are so lucky to tap into the brilliant mind of none other than Sheila Warren who sits on the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum and is a key member in the executive leadership of the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR), in which she oversees strategy across the entire C4IR Network, consisting of centers in 13 countries. Sheila also holds board member and advisory positions at multiple institutions and organizations including The MIT Press (Cryptoeconomic Systems), The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), NGO network TechSoup and she is a Member of The Bretton Woods Committee.

More specifically, we discuss her professional journey from small claims court to NGO Aid to refugees to corporate law to The WEF, touching on rational choice theory, corporate personhood and its correlation to the growth around ESG, new substrates, DAOs and protocols, artificial intelligence, the purpose of The World Economic Forum and its impact on governments and society alike, and just so much more!

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In this conversation, we delve deep into next generation finance and banking with CJ MacDonald, the Founder and CEO of Step – an incredibly successful neobank on a mission to improve the financial future of the next generation.

More specifically, we discuss traditional vs. digital banking, how personal experiences influence entrepreneurial the spirit, immersive market research, banking-as-a-service, the importance of financial literacy amongst Millenials and Gen-Z, the power of influencers who actually believe in a brand, aspirational brands vs. plastic Wells Fargo stage coaches, and lastly the proliferation of crypto in the minds of the next generation.

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In this conversation, we talk all things capital markets and investing with Yoni Assia, the founder and CEO of eToro, one of the fastest-growing and largest global digital investing companies, brokerages, and applications out there.

More specifically, we discuss the eating habits of Warren Buffet, community-driven investment challenging incumbent investing practices, the purposes of investing and trading, of financial health, of investment education, of gamification of investment strategy, of capital markets and GameStop and the connection between capital, memes and fashion, and finally machine learning’s influence of investment behaviour.

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In this conversation, we talk all things Wall Street, FinTech, and Venture Capital with Patrick Pinschmidt, who's the general partner and co-founder at MiddleGame Ventures.

More specifically, we discuss the ups and downs of sell-side research in the early 2000s, the evolution of financial technology to today’s FinTech, an insight into the Financial Stability Oversight Council at the US Treasury Department, the founding of Middlegame Ventures and its impressive investment portfolio, and the transformation of financial services fueled by the rapid innovation in FinTech.

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In this conversation, we have a really cool conversation on fintech, crypto assets, payments and all the things around it with Ivan Soto-Wright, the CEO and Co-founder of MoonPay.

More specifically, we discuss Liability-driven Investment (LDI), the proliferation of AI in personal finance to drive sound decision-making, innovation in finance is following the same trajectory that resulted in VOIP for the telecommunication industry, the geographical maze of crypto KYC, payment networks, and crypto payment processing.

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In this conversation, we talk with Beatriz Helena Ramos – artist, entrepreneur, film director, producer and illustrator – the mind behind DADA.art. DADA is “a space where everything is about cooperation and solidarity, which are amazing ways to allow self-expression, as well as constant inspiration. Additionally, we provide simple tools to encourage creativity, and erase intimidation.”

More specifically, we discuss Beatriz’s journey to creating DADA, decentralized power structures, community-inspired creative collaboration, assymetric rewards in NFT markets driving new value distribution methodologies, DADA’s latest project called “The Invisible Economy”, and technology-inspired and centric approaches to empower artists in the future.

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In this conversation, we talk with Maximilian Rofagha, who serves as the CEO and Founder of Finimize, about how to do personal finance right and how to do it bottoms up for the world.

Additionally, we explore Max’s journey to becoming an entrepreneur, the nuances of the e-commerce business, the building of and drivers behind community and creating business activities around it, the influences of FinTok and crypto assets on financial community, and the drivers of value back into said communities fulfilling the feedback loop.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Kevin Owocki, who serves as the CEO & Chief Roboticist at Gitcoin, about the evolution of the programmable blockchain space, how open software gets made, where value comes from and all sorts of other really cool futuristic things.

Additionally, we explore the nuances of being an early developer in shifting markets, idea mazes, the founding of and philosophy behind Gitcoin, the deep work being done towards the Open Internet, the building of community-driven grant mechanisms, early work on quadratic-funding, and the idea behind memes powering DeFi.

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In this conversation, we geek out with Horacio Barakat, who serves as the Head of Digital Innovation for Capital Markets and the Head of DLT for the Repo Platform of Broadridge, about digital transformation, capital markets, and the role of blockchain in the institutional part of the financial industry.

Additionally, we explore the embedded complexities of capital markets and how fundamental they are to the smooth functioning of our economy, determining the growth of companies, and funding expansion. Touching on everything from the engine that powers capital markets, how that engine has evolved to becoming computational, and lastly how companies like Broadridge are leading the deep work going on in making that engine better.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Robert Leshner of The Compound Protocol about the early days of crypto and how a fascination with Ethereum smart contracts drove him to build one of the largest DeFi projects to date.

Additionally, we explore the nuances of lending and interest rates, consumer privacy software and data monetization, floating interest rate pools of capital across different token pairs, DAO evolution and its influence on mechanism design, the role Compound plays in chain interoperability, and the discovery of yield farming as a means for user incentivisation.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Will Beeson of Bella Loves Me and Allica Bank about banking and neobanking and the differences that he has witnessed across the different geographies in which he has worked on building a bank. Additionally, we explore the nuances around regulation and licenses, the transaction-centric nature of the American fintech layer, consumer psychographics and their impact on distribution, and the role influencers play in the neobank game.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Michael Sena of uPort, 3Box Labs, and The Ceramic Network about web3.0, decentralized identity, and the various standards that he has been implicit in creating. Additionally, we explore the nuances around data ownership and identity, the journey from founding uPort to now 3Box and the Ceramic network and how the practical implementation of these ideas has changed as the decentralized web has changed from Web2.0 to Web3.0, and conclude on how the Metaverse will be composed of decentralized identity and the protocols on which it travels.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Marwan Forzley of Veem about how the rampant evolution of the mobile phone spurred his fascination to turn the phone into a business-to-business (B2B) payments network. Additionally, we explore how generations of companies have tried to use correspondent banking to solve for B2B cross border and failed, the intricacies of payment rails and the infrastructure to support them, the impact of COVID on global e-commerce, how the future will blend the distinctions between digital wallets, banking services, and crypto wallets.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

Welcome back to our podcast series! For those that want to subscribe in your app of choice, you can now find us at Apple, Spotify, or on RSS.

In this conversation, we talk with Rune Christensen of Maker Foundation about how he became one of the most influential builders in the DeFi ecosystem. Additionally, we explore the creation, experiences, and evolution of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), the nuances of stablecoins, the interaction between Maker and DeFi with traditional finance and traditional economies, and Maker’s approach to leveraging layer 2 solutions to aiding scalability and transaction throughput.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Anil Aggarwal of Clarity Payment Solutions (acquired by TSYS) and TxVia (acquired by Google) about how he “stumbled” upon the payment space at the right time. Anil is an absolute FinTech icon as the founder of renowned FinTech conferences – Money20/20 and FinTech Meetup. Additionally, we explore the various concepts of payment network utlity, the market timing large platform shifts, as well as, how social capital and community formation can serve as drivers towards the monetization of our attention even further.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Jon Helgi Egilsson about his incredible journey to becoming Chairman and a co-founder of Monerium. Jon is a former chairman and vice-chairman of the supervisory board of the Icelandic Central Bank, a former adjunct professor in financial engineering and MBA lecturer at Reykjavik University, a visiting scholar at Columbia University, and co-founder of four software companies. Additionally, we explore the various concepts of digital money in the framework creating a competitive yet unified environment between fiat money, banking based on fractional-reserve, and the token economy.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Camila Russo of The Defiant and author of The Infinite Machine, about her journey as a successful financial journalist was derailed by the Crypto boom and subsequent winter of 2017. Additionally, we explore the success behind her first book, the nuances of the NFT craze, and how The Defiant became one of the most popular crypto media brands to date.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this exciting conversation, we talk with none other than Joe Lubin of ConsenSys and Ethereum, about his journey from being exposed to advances in artificial intelligence at Princeton to becoming the household name in programmable blockchain. Additionally, we get an insider look into his founding of Ethereum and ConsenSys, and how the technology and individuals behind these two companies are transforming the very fabric of financial institutions that exist today and how new products/services are started for the betterment of humanity.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

In this conversation, we talk with Tyler Mulvihill of Treum and EulerBeats, about how he became involved in the very first non-financial production grade blockchain use case, tracking & tracing tuna from Fiji to New York using Treum. Additionally, we explore the nuances of NFTs and how EulerBeats is using bonding curve economics to price the future of NFT use rather than mere collection.

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In this conversation, we talk with Patrick Berarducci of ConsenSys, about the valuations and multiples of capital markets protocols in Decentralized Finance on Ethereum, now making up over $60B in token value. Additionally, we explore the nuances of scaling Ethereum and its solutions, such as Metamask and the emerging Layer 2 protocols.

We also discuss law and regulation, including a fascinating story about Bernie Madoff from when Pat was a practicing attorney. This leads into a conversation about the embedded compliance nature of blockchain and crypto technology, the early days of ConsenSys, the path of crypto brokerages like Coinbase, and Metamask exhibiting emerging qualities of a neobank.

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M1 Finance bundles together roboadvisory, neobanking and lending into a single “super app”, allowing for combined pricing power (i.e., charging nothing on asset allocation). The firm currently has $3 billion in AUM, a growth of 50% in the past four months and tripling their total in just over a year. Notably, the company has its own broker/dealer and offers fractional shares, and partners with Lincoln Savings bank on the deposit accounts. That makes for a compelling business model from securities lending, interchange, and order flow.

For more analysis parsing 12 frontier technology developments every week, a podcast conversation on operating fintechs, and novel food-for-thought essays, become a Blueprint member below.

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Hope you enjoy, and do not hesitate to reach out here!

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

Thinking about how to connect these worlds and different available journeys? Or the timeless risks developing in tranched DeFi that look like mortgage-backed securities? We even touch on hegelian dialectics! Check out our great conversation.

For premium subscribers, a full transcript is provided along with the recording.

Hope you enjoy, and do not hesitate to reach out here!

ExcerptLex Sokolin:
And then, when we look at DeFi, and what we see is, globally, lots and lots of hackers from scratch, building capital markets machinery, which is like the Linux of capital markets machinery. You can make any exposure you want and package it however you want. I feel like people just have to take a much more forgiving lens here.

Ajit Tripathi:
Lex, this is a fascinating topic because I come from the other side, so everything, capital markets, from pricing and risking, to some of the most exotic derivatives the world has ever seen in Tokyo. I come from the other side and for me, it was really frustrating that everyone in fintech were either doing payments or doing some kind of mobile app, not really changing much, if you ask me and I know you'll disagree with this, but it has always been very frustrating for me that the core capital markets infrastructure has remained unimpacted, more or less, by this whole fintech revolution and nobody has tried in the traditional, and I'm already saying traditional because it has been 10 years, nobody has even tried to revive the backend infrastructure. People are building it, yeah people are building apps, people haven't really tried to see how capital is distributed? How is wealth created?

How do we allocate capital to applications far more efficiently? How do we make capital more efficient? How do we take the assets for the real world, whether gaming or art or whatever and how do we capture this? Finance doesn't exist in isolation. Capital markets make value, enable value to be monetized, distributed at scale and directed to relatively more efficient uses, and I think Joe Lubin saw this coming along ahead of most of us. Back in 2016, he was saying things like, Ethereum will help capital be directed to much more efficient uses, analog capital and so on. I didn't see that coming and for me, what DeFi really does is it starts to compliment fintech, it starts to build this whole backend infrastructure, the back office, the financial instrument creation, the lending, the market makers, the risk taking through derivative exchanges.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

There’s an enormous gap between the financial needs of humanity and what the financial sector is able to deliver there. This gap is being filled by tech-savvy solutions and embedded finance plays which are putting into question the role of a bank in this new ecosystem.

Simon’s recent analysis suggests that Embedded Finance is merely a decade out from offering a new, very large addressable market opportunity worth over $7 trillion, which is twice the combined value of the world’s top 30 banks today.

For the annotated transcript and additional premium analysis, subscribe HERE.

Hope you enjoy, and do not hesitate to reach out here!

ExcerptSimon Torrance:
So let's take an example here. Standard Chartered is quite a good example, based out of Singapore, but a big bank in Southeast Asia and Africa. And this example is quite good because their core business, like all banks, is suffering. And so they created a separate...

Lex Sokolin:
Sorry to interrupt. But I just want to highlight that their core business, the core business of Standard Chartered, is they're in the business of suffering. To be suffering, is their core operating activity.

Simon Torrance:
Yes, exactly. Exactly. Quite cleverly, very cleverly, what they've said is that we've got the core business, which is all about suffering, as you say, and we need to optimize that, but we've got to do something to get out of this rut we're in. So they created a separate unit called SC Ventures to try and invent the future and fast track that future and to do it away from all the old metrics and culture and everything in the core business, because you cannot do breakthrough innovation within the core.

And that business is proving pretty dynamic now. It's spinning off a lot of ventures, working with entrepreneurs to do so, and one of the ventures is something called Nexus, which is a bank-as-a-service proposition. And this is publicly available information. They've essentially created their own FinTech business in this space in embedded finance and put a lot of investment into it.

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Hi Fintech Futurists,

Welcome to our podcast series!

SoFi is going public with a SPAC deal worth over $8 billion. A few things we touch on in detail: (1) this is still largely a lender, (2) there is a gem of an embedded finance play called Galileo that SoFi owns, and (3) the multiple is a little over 10x T12 revenues, which is not crazy expensive, but not cheap.

Speaking of Galileo and finance APIs, we transition to Plaid, and how it is is not going to be one of the networks in Visa’s network of networks. Who wins and who loses in the equation? And last, we cover the Bakkt SPAC of over $2 billion and our view on its future.

For the annotated transcript and additional premium analysis, subscribe HERE.

ExcerptLex Sokolin:
If I could hop in to caricature it even a little bit more, as you're saying, 10 years ago, 12 years ago, whenever it was, SoFi is starting to do this arbitrage. They're arbitraging the government's decisions to non-discriminate for student loans, and it's a 400 basis point arbitrage, and they're getting all of the wealthier, better credit students from business schools and law schools to come to them. And if you're running a lending business, all you're doing really is printing money now because you're taking fees upfront and you've got credit risk way, way, way in the back. So on a revenue basis, you look pretty fantastic. So because you look fantastic, you might pick up $500 million or a billion from your friends at SoftBank and all of the other FinTech VCs which are trying to build gigantic consumer brands and are doing it on consumer growth and revenue growth and not really are super worried about credit risk.

Now you fast forward 10 years and the world is in many ways on fire, everybody's bankrupt, money's being printed every which way, and it so happens that your largest investor SoftBank itself is losing 12 billion bucks, printing $10 billion options contracts on tech companies and all sorts of shenanigans. And you start getting calls. You start getting calls from a variety of billionaires, from people that are managing hedge funds and creating these SPAC structures, to the Facebook billionaires like Chamath who are printing SPAC structures, to FinTech billionaires, or near deca-millionaires like The Bancorp's Betsy Cohen. So you start getting these calls saying, "Wow, you have some nice economics, let's go public." I think this is the first fancy one, right? The first fancy FinTech that is going this route. Is that fair to say?