This Week in Fintech

This Week in Fintech’s Nik Milanovic sat down with Coinbase Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal to discuss Coinbase’s Q1 2026 earnings following the company’s latest earnings release.• Q1 highlights, including all-time high crypto trading volume market share • USDC growth on-platform and why stablecoin economics matter • How institutional and developer products reinforce retail liquidity • What the “everything exchange” means for tokenized markets • Early traction in retail derivatives, prediction markets, and integrated DEX trading • Why Base sees a 10x jump in stablecoin transaction volume • Agentic commerce on Base, the X402 protocol, and machine-to-machine payments • What Coinbase is prioritising through 2026 

Presented by Rain.This episode of Crossing the Chasm, host Chiara Munaretto is joined by Malcolm Clarke to discuss how Western Union is bringing stablecoins into the real world with the launch of USDPT. Malcolm explains why Western Union believes the future of digital dollars is not about making consumers learn crypto, but about using blockchain behind the scenes to make cross-border payments faster, more efficient, and easier to scale.Chiara and Malcolm dig into the infrastructure challenges that still define global remittances, from liquidity and settlement timing to the need for reliable fiat off-ramps, and how USDPT can help reduce that friction. They also explore Western Union’s stablecoin-backed card experience, flexible custody options, interoperability across chains, and why trust and practical utility will be the deciding factors in bringing stablecoins to everyday users.Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world.Connect with the HostChiara Munaretto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaramunaretto/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers.

Presented by Rain.In this special series Crossing the Chasm, we explore when stablecoins stop being “crypto” and start functioning like real money, becoming familiar, fast, and cost-efficient. Justin Friedman is joined by Farooq Malik, founder and CEO of Rain, joins us to break down what true adoption looks like across payments, on-chain settlement, and card programs that integrate seamlessly into existing financial systems.Using a simple lens, technology wins when it improves infrastructure without changing user behavior, we trace the evolution from early experimentation to real-world adoption. Farooq shares how regulatory clarity, institutional demand, and interoperability are moving stablecoins beyond their early phase into mainstream use by banks, payment providers, and merchants.We also dig into what is holding adoption back, from internal inertia to underestimating urgency, and highlight a key insight: many businesses are already interacting with stablecoins without realizing it. Finally, we examine the global access challenge and how compliant stablecoin infrastructure could expand financial inclusion across borders.Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world.Connect with the Hosts & GuestJustin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/Farooq Malik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fhmalik/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers.

Powered by Spade.Julie VerHage-Greenberg is back for Season 4 of The Fintech OGs, now joined by co-host Lauren Crossett, to sit down with the pioneers who built and transformed fintech. From the early days of digital finance to the innovations redefining money today, these are the stories behind the people who changed the industry.In episode one we sit down with Angela Hung and Dan Egan, two builders and researchers whose careers span policy research, Robinhood, Earnin, and Betterment. Together, they have helped shape how modern wealth and financial tools are designed and experienced.Go to https://www.thisweekinfintech.com/the-fintech-ogs to subscribe! And be sure to subscribe to all of the This Week in Fintech podcasts to stay up to date on the latest conversations shaping the future of finance.

Credit scores feel like destiny, but they’re built on a thin record of borrowing and repayment while ignoring income, cash on hand, and real assets. That blind spot blocks credit for immigrants, younger consumers, gig workers, and anyone whose financial life doesn’t fit the classic bureau file. In this episode, Nik sits down with Andrew Endicott, co-founder of Pedal and now co-founder and GP at Gilgamesh Ventures, to talk about how cash flow underwriting and open banking data change the game, and what it takes to build fintech that lasts.Andrew walks through his path from law and investment banking into founding a credit card company, including the post-financial crisis reality where regulation and risk constraints pushed banks to pull back. We unpack why fintech emerged to fill those gaps, what founders often underestimate about finance, and why areas like fraud, compliance, and risk management aren’t “later” problems. We also get into Andrew’s upcoming book, Finance Technology: Insights for Building an Enduring Fintech Company, and the framework he uses to map the ecosystem into four buckets: banking, payments, insurance, and infrastructure. Learn more about the book: https://www.amazon.com/Finance-Technology-Insights-Building-Enduring/dp/1954892225Subscribe for more founder-grade fintech conversations.Connect with the Hosts & GuestNik Milanović: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikmAndrew Endicott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewendicottAbout This Week in FintechThis Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. Hosted by Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech and General Partner at The Fintech Fund, the show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future.

This week, Stablecon’s Justin Friedman was joined by Bhau Kotecha, co-founder and CEO of Paxos Labs, for a discussion on the transformative potential of stablecoins and tokenization. Bhau and Justin examine how these technologies are redefining the way we think about financial tools, usability, interoperability, privacy, and the economics of stored value. Finally, Bhau offers predictions on whether stablecoin liquidity will consolidate into U.S. dollar-denominated assets or grow organically across the world’s currencies.

This Week in Fintech's Nik Milanovic sat down on February 12th, 2026 to talk with Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas about 2025 year-end earnings.Some topics they covered:Market Expansion: Coinbase doubled trading volume and market share in 2025, diversifying beyond crypto with Deribit acquisition.Revenue Resilience: Despite market softness in Q4, Coinbase showed strength through diversified revenue, supported by retail investors’ “buy the dip” behavior.On-Chain Vision: Coinbase aims to lead the shift to on-chain financial services, blending traditional and crypto assets for a tokenized future.Institutional Growth: Thousands of institutional clients are driving increased trading and demand for cross-margining products, with custody for 80% of ETF balances.Stablecoin Strategy: USDC holdings grew to $18 billion, enhancing trading and payment services while driving growth in Coinbase One membership.Future Focus: Heavy investment in derivatives as key growth area, emphasizing diversification to meet evolving customer needs and market trends.

In this episode, Nik Milanovic interviews Ram Palanappian, the CEO and Founder of Earnin, a fintech company that is revolutionizing how employees access their wages. Ram shares the origin story of Earnin, which began when he realized that many employees were struggling with cash flow issues, leading to late fees and overdraft charges. He discusses how he initially provided employees with early access to their earned wages, which evolved into a full-fledged product that allows users to access their pay in real-time, thereby reducing financial stress and improving overall financial health. Ram emphasizes the importance of shifting payroll systems from being employer-centric to employee-centric, allowing workers more control over their earnings.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Setup00:39 Multitasking in Conversations00:44 Introduction to FinTech Trends00:44 The Future of Digital Banking00:47 Introduction to Earnin and Its Mission04:10 Revolutionizing Payroll: Employee-Centric Solutions10:36 Adoption Across Industries: Who Benefits Most?11:50 The Small Business Perspective: Benefits of Earned Wage Access12:59 How Earnin Works: A User's Journey14:03 Monetization Strategies: How Earnin Generates Revenue17:06 Consumer Risks and Mitigation Strategies20:18 Ensuring Data Accuracy: The Source of Truth21:54 Employer Customization: Tailoring Earnin to Specific Needs22:46 Insights from Data: Understanding Consumer Financial Health23:58 Collaborations and Studies: Researching Labor Dynamics25:52 Looking Ahead: The Future of Earnin and Payroll26:36 Cross-Border Challenges in Business Growth29:57 Future Product Development and Innovations31:48 Inspiration from Other Industries34:49 Leveraging AI for Financial Products37:13 The Role of Stablecoins in Transactions39:28 Wage Growth vs. Inflation Dynamics42:32 The Future of Payroll: Continuous Pay43:44 Team Growth and Hiring Opportunities

An agentic future of commerce is coming faster than merchants think—and PayPal wants to make sure small businesses don’t get left behind. In this live Money20/20 2025 episode of This Week in Fintech, hosts Nik Milanović and Jillian Williams sit down with PayPal’s Michelle Gill, EVP and General Manager of Small Business Financial Services, for a deep dive into how AI agents will transform shopping, loyalty, and merchant discovery.They talk about the next phase shift in commerce: a world where over 40% of shopping journeys may start in chat surfaces, and agents—not humans—do the heavy lifting on search, comparison, and even checkout. Michelle explains why this upends traditional ideas about websites, SEO, and brand, and why “discoverability” and rich product descriptions become the new battleground for merchants of all sizes.The trio dig into big questions shaping this new landscape:- How will small businesses compete when shopping begins in agent interfaces instead of on their storefronts? - What new infrastructure and open protocols are needed so merchants can “integrate once and propagate everywhere” across AI surfaces? - Where does loyalty live when consumers no longer visit your website—but still expect rewards, points, and personalized offers to “just work” in their wallet? - How far are consumers willing to let agents spend on their behalf, and what new trust markers will replace today’s checkout experiences?Michelle also offers a small-business lens on AI: where it can save time first (customer service, email, hiring), where it could power new B2B flows like inventory and reordering, and why AI might both compress margins and lower barriers to becoming a proprietor. She argues that the real opportunity is in turning wasted browsing time into higher-value, more delightful discovery and post-purchase experiences.Stay to the end for a rapid-fire round on Michelle’s recent favorite book, her current AI toolkit, and what she thinks the payments and e-commerce landscape could look like a decade from now. If you care about the future of agentic commerce, small business resilience, or how PayPal is positioning itself for the next era of the internet, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

We sit down with Nubank co-founder Cristina Junqueira for a candid look at how frustration with fee-first banking led to a product people loved, and how that vision scaled across Brazil. We explore hard-won lessons on leadership, communication, regulation, and why AI plus open finance will reshape money.• leaving an incumbent bank to build customer-first products• forming the founding team and starting with nothing• operating through credit cycles, fraud pressure and regulation• leadership growth, emotional intelligence and storytelling• selling the vision internally and externally• customer impact from fair credit and savings features• Brazil’s policy tailwinds with PIX and open finance• AI as a financial co-pilot and US expansion plans

In this conversation, Nik Milanović discusses the evolving landscape of stablecoins and digital payments with Dan Mottice and Matt Marcus from Modern Treasury. They delve into the recent acquisition of Beam by Modern Treasury, the implications for the payments industry, and the potential of stablecoins to enhance financial operations. The discussion highlights the importance of regulatory clarity, the future of payment systems in the U.S., and the innovative capabilities that stablecoins can bring to money movement.

In today’s episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Bret Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO of Sierra and Chairman of the Board at OpenAI. Bret’s career is the stuff of valley legend…he is the former Co-CEO of Salesforce, former CTO of Facebook, and has been credited with building products like Google Maps and Facebook's 'Like' button. There may not be anyone closer to AI, spanning the app layer all the way down to its core foundation.In this episode, Bret and Ryan explore several topics including how Sierra has transformed customer service, the agentic era and its consequences for software, why we ‘might’ be in an AI bubble, how Sierra differentiates to win customers like Ramp, Rocket, and Brex, where AI moats will accrue, the 3 AI megatrends he’s leaning into, and much more.Key Takeaways“Every company’s AI agent will be as important as their mobile app or their website.” Bret sees a future where AI agents replace apps and websites as the first point of contact for customers. Agents will handle workflows end to end (fraud reports, mortgage refis, account changes) across all channels, languages, and modalities.CS agents are showing immediate ROI on both the top and bottom line…For example, Rocket’s customers who engage with a Sierra agent are 3x as likely to complete a transaction vs. traditional service. At Ramp, their self-service resolution rate with Sierra’s agents is >90%. Healthcare giant Cigna is replatforming its IVR with Sierra…using AI will help businesses rethink their operating model.Outcome pricing raises the stakes for software, morphing them into true business partners. Outcome pricing will create accountability, transparency, and measurable ROI in an era of vague productivity claims.The Future of AI is 3 things. 1) Multimodal - seamless voice experience. 2) Personalized - knowing your context, preferences, and intent. 3) Proactive - solving a problem before it arises or before the customer knows it has occurred. It’s an AI bubble, but a healthy one. The fundraising hype is alarming, but the underlying transformation is real. Similar to 1999, many firms will fail, but some will become generational winners. If you bought pets.com you lost your money. If you bought Amazon, you made history.

In this episode, Nik Milanović hosts Natalie Wexler from Adyen and Jamey Kennedy from Jackrabbit Technologies to discuss the untapped opportunities in embedded finance, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. They explore how SaaS platforms can leverage embedded finance to enhance customer experiences, the importance of capital products, and the evolving landscape of funding for small businesses. The conversation also touches on the future of payments, including the potential of AI and stablecoins.

In this conversation, Georgina Merhom, founder of SOLO, discusses the transformative potential of collaborative data sharing in the financial sector. She shares her journey from cybersecurity to fintech, emphasizing the importance of incentives, consumer experience, and the evolving regulatory landscape. Georgina highlights the need for a decentralized approach to data sharing, which fosters trust and efficiency, ultimately aiming to revolutionize open banking and expand beyond financial services.

In this episode, Nik Milanović interviews George Kurdin, co-founder of Monk, a company focused on automating accounts receivable processes using AI. George shares his unique career journey from professional poker player to fintech entrepreneur, discussing the lessons learned along the way. He highlights the significant problem of accounts receivable, valued at $3 trillion, and explains how Monk aims to address this issue. The conversation delves into the role of AI in automating the contract to cash workflow, the challenges faced in current AR processes, and the key metrics that define success in this space. In this conversation, George discusses the evolving landscape of finance solutions, emphasizing the need for financial rigor among founders and VCs. He highlights the challenges posed by fragmented systems in accounts receivable and the importance of leveraging agents for collections and reporting. George also shares insights on customer needs as businesses grow, the significance of effective reporting, and the company's future roadmap, including cash flow predictability and contract intelligence. He reflects on the early days of customer acquisition and the importance of adapting pitches for different business sizes. The conversation concludes with a focus on hiring for growth and the vision for a more efficient accounts receivable process.Check out Monk.com to save time on accounts receivables and get paid faster 

"Buckle up because...the cuffs are off."In this conversation, Nik Milanović interviews Mike Cagney, co-founder and CEO of Figure, discussing the company's recent IPO, its innovative product Democratized Prime, and the implications of the Genius Act on capital markets. Cagney shares insights on the evolution of Figure, the role of blockchain in financial services, and the potential for decentralized finance (DeFi) to disrupt traditional banking models. The discussion highlights the importance of regulatory changes and the future landscape of financial markets as they adapt to new technologies.00:00 Introduction to Figure and Mike Cagney04:23 Understanding Figure's Corporate Structure05:57 Inspiration Behind Figure's Founding11:37 The Value of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)14:31 The Genius Act and Its Implications26:27 The Future of Banking and Capital Markets31:55 Democratized Prime: A New Lending Paradigm46:16 The Role of Blockchain in Future Financial SystemsThis podcast is brought to you by Figure, the platform to Earn and Borrow.Need liquidity without selling your crypto? Figure offers Crypto-Backed Loans, allowing you to borrow against your Bitcoin or Ethereum with 12-month terms and no prepayment penalties. They have the lowest rates in the industry at 8.91%, allowing you to access instant cash or buy more Bitcoin without triggering a tax event. Your BTC collateral is protected by decentralized MPC custody. You can always see your BTC ownership in your FM account and verify holdings in your personal BTC vault on chain.Unlock your crypto’s potential today. Visit their app to apply for a Crypto Backed Loan today! DisclaimerFigure Lending LLC dba Figure. Equal Opportunity Lender. NMLS 1717824. Terms and conditions apply. Visit figure.com for more information. Figure Markets Credit LLC. 650 S. Tryon Street, 8th Floor, Charlotte, NC 28202. (888) 926-6259. NMLS ID 2559612. Terms and conditions apply. Visit figuremarkets.com/borrow for more information.

In today’s episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Kate Earle Jensen, Head of Americas for Anthropic. Kate joined Anthropic in 2023 after 8 years helping scale GTM at Stripe. Over the last 2 years, she has had a front row seat to the AI revolution at one of the fastest-growing companies in history. In this episode, Kate dives into how Claude is being used by major enterprises to revolutionize their businesses, the state of Anthropic’s products and MCP, why they built in the application layer for financial services, what key blockers remain for enterprise adoption, why AI’s market size allows them to approach partnerships in a unique way, transitioning from Stripe to Anthropic, why siblings make great leadership teams, and much more.Takeaways: The AI market is unquantifiably large, which helps you play non-zero sum games in GTM, partnerships, and product. It helps breed greater collaboration because you know there is more than enough revenue opportunity to share. Hackathons, though not new, have proven to be one of the best sources of discovering novel AI applications in the enterprise. We host them internally and encourage our clients to do host them to get employees experimenting and uncover the art of the possible.Financial Services + Healthcare are proving to be the best industries for AI. They have huge data sets, antiquated technology systems, and manual workflows that make them prime candidates. AI is only as good as the quality of data and context that you feed it. It is as important as anything you choose, which is why MCP became so popular. Siblings often make the best cofounding teams. The Collisons and Amodeis both have very strong working styles that allow them to be brutally honest with each other while not breaking relationships.

Hello fintech friends,Last week, I sat down with Doug Rickett, the founder and CEO of Payjoy.If you work in fintech and you don't know Payjoy, well, you should. The company's tagline is "finance for the next billion." And they're well on their way: As of 2025 they have brought 3 billion dollars in credit to 16 million customers, doubling in the last two years while remaining strongly profitable and sustainable for the long term.PayJoy is a mission-first financial service provider dedicated to helping under-served customers in emerging markets to achieve financial stability and success. They lend through their patented technology that turns a smartphone into digital collateral. Their cutting-edge machine learning, data science, and anti-fraud AI allow them to offer the lowest cost and qualify the most customers in the industry. This year, the company celebrates its 10th anniversary, with projected 2025 revenue of over $650 million and $110 million in profit.Doug and I discussed how his time at Stanford Business School led him to Africa to manage logistics – an area he admits he knew nothing about – for solar lighting company D.light, and how that in-turn inspired him to found Payjoy in 2015. It's one of the most fascinating CEO stories that I've heard in fintech. Well worth listening to his whole journey from start to finish.Enjoy!

This episode dives deep into the evolution of blockchain-powered lending and marketplaces in the FinTech sector, with guest Michael Tannenbaum, whose career has spanned senior roles at SoFi, Brex, and now Figure. Host Julie Verhage-Greenberg and Michael discuss how Figure’s vision—originally designed as one company with a strong blockchain backbone—has matured amidst regulatory and market shifts.Check out Figure Markets here: figuremarkets.onelink.me/Plnq/TWIFThis episode is brought to you by Figure Markets, the platform to Earn and Borrow.Democratized Prime lets you earn 9% by lending your money against real-world assets like home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) which only banks were able to do prior. Lend like a bank!Need liquidity without selling your crypto? Figure offers Crypto-Backed Loans, allowing you to borrow against your Bitcoin or Ethereum with 12-month terms and no prepayment penalties. They have the lowest rates in the industry at 8.91%, allowing you to access instant cash or buy more Bitcoin without triggering a tax event.Unlock your crypto’s potential today. Download their app and start earning your 9% today or taking out your Bitcoin-backed loan at industry low rates!DISCLOSURES: The 9% rate referenced is not guaranteed and subject to change as new offers are placed. Democratized Prime uses a Dutch auction method for its borrowers/lenders. There is an inherent risk due to interest rate volatility in a Dutch auction interest rates in the auction may rise rapidly. At the time of acceptance, your loan may be filled with a different or higher interest rate than offered at the time of selection. The interest rate is only fixed at the time of loan approval and not at the time of loan acceptance.Figure Lending LLC dba Figure. Equal Opportunity Lender.NMLS 1717824. Terms and conditions apply. Visit figure.com for more information.Figure Markets Credit LLC. 650 S. Tryon Street, 8th Floor, Charlotte, NC 28202. (888) 926-6259. NMLS ID 2559612. Terms and conditions apply. Visit figuremarkets.com/borrow for more information.

This week, Nik Milanovic sits down with Sandeep Pyapali, Founder and CEO of Mesta, a global cross-border payment network combining traditional rails with stablecoin systems.Mesta allows sending USD and stablecoins in over 50 currencies, cutting international payment costs by over 50%. Pyapali, with 17 years in payments – including Uber's $100 billion payment network – founded Mesta in 2024.Pyapali emphasized the importance of stablecoins for efficient international payments and predicts the growth of non-USD stablecoins. Mesta aims to disrupt traditional Fiat-to-Fiat payments with blockchain technology. Pyapali's vision for Mesta was informed not only by his time building payments systems at Uber but also by his international travel on a sabbatical afterwards, and the difficulty of converting currencies for international payments.You can learn more about what they're building at mesta.xyz----While stablecoins are one of our favorite topics to discuss, it's important to note that this episode was sponsored by Mesta.

Welcome back to This Week in Fintech and another episode of the Fintech OGs! Today, I’m joined by two incredible voices who have helped shape the future of financial technology from both the founder and investor perspective.First up, Jillian Williams, co-founder of Field Ventures, a new seed-stage fund focused on vertical software and fintech. Jillian has spent her career investing in the sector, from Anthemis to Cowboy Ventures, and now building her own firm.Joining her is Dimitri Dadiomov, co-founder of Modern Treasury. After serving as CEO for the first seven years, Dimitri recently shifted into the President role to focus on product innovation while continuing to drive one of the most important infrastructure companies in fintech.Together, we cover how fintech has evolved from the early days of Lending Club and marketplace lending, to today’s rebundling wave and AI-driven change. We talk about the future of money movement, risk and compliance, embedded financial products, and where they see the biggest opportunities ahead.Huge thanks to ⁠Persona⁠ for sponsoring today's episode! Persona is the adaptable identity platform helping businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust from the very first interaction. Check them out at ⁠withpersona.com/thisweekinfintech⁠. 

This week, I sat down with Eli Wachs, the Co-Founder and CEO of Footprint, a company building the identity infrastructure of the internet.It was a far-reaching conversation – Eli's an interesting guy – and we touched on everything from his deep-dives into identity in the Stanford library to working with economist Raj Chetty to philosophy and what it means to be authentic to yourself.Footprint provides automated onboarding that solves identity, security, fraud, and auth in 5 lines of code, building the identity layer to the internet.The company offers end-to-end onboarding solutions, including verification, storage, and re-authentication, aiming to create a centralized database of good actors. They emphasize reducing false negatives and improving conversion and compliance. Eli talked with me a bit about Footprint's unique approach using device fingerprinting and vaulting to enhance security and portability.We covered some recent product launches, including bank-linking and their new decision engine. Eli also discussed the company's evolution from a KYC point solution to a broader identity network built around preventing identity theft and fraud in any online situation, from buying a house to joining a community.You can find Footprint online at onefootprint.com

Welcome back to another episode of Fintech OGs with This Week In Fintech!Today, I’m joined by two incredible founders who have each redefined their corner of the financial world:Jack Zhang, Co-founder & CEO of Airwallex, the global payments and banking platform powering 150,000+ businessesLeif Abraham, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Public, the next-gen investing platform helping the top 20% of millennials build long-term wealthIn this episode, we explore their journeys from coffee shops and olive oil to building billion-dollar fintechs, why they both value first principles thinking over traditional industry experience, and their candid takes on hot topics like stablecoins, AI in finance, and tokenized assets.They share career highs, the lows of early struggles, and the unconventional advice they’d give to anyone starting in fintech today.Huge thanks to Persona for sponsoring today's episode! Persona is the adaptable identity platform helping businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust from the very first interaction. Check them out at withpersona.com/thisweekinfintech.

Nik sits down for 10 minutes with Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas to talk about the company's 2025 performance and where they are headed.OverviewCoinbase is at inflection point, with strong Q2 performance including custody volumes and derivatives trading hitting all-time highs, and the USDC market cap exceeding $60 billion.Stablecoin revenue of $332 million in Q2 represents 12% growth quarter-over-quarter, driven by market cap expansion via Circle collaboration.GENIUS Act signed into law enables Coinbase to lead the $30 trillion B2B cross-border payments market, targeting financial revolution in the US.Payment APIs launched with Shopify; Coinbase business account product in development with a waitlist of thousands of businesses.Acquisition of Deribit for $2.9 billion positions Coinbase to enter the options trading market, capturing a significant share of global derivatives trading.Newly launched perpetual futures contracts have seen week-over-week volume doubling, aligning trading hours with crypto spot market.User base expanding beyond retail to include payment-focused users and institutional traders seeking hedging and leveraged exposure.New Base app in beta testing, alongside the launch of Coinbase One Basic service tier to enhance user offerings.USDC payments integration with Shopify completed, with additional partnerships on the horizon and increased service offerings planned.10x intraday leverage available on newly introduced 24/7 futures products, enhancing trading capabilities for users.

Welcome back to FinTech OGs! This week, I’m joined by two leaders whose careers have shaped the evolution of modern financial technology: David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and co-lead of their AI Apps Fund, and Owen Jennings, an executive officer and Block’s Business Lead. From early ventures like Bond Street and the first days of Cash App to today’s frontier of AI in finance, David and Owen share how FinTech continues to evolve—what’s working, what hasn’t changed fast enough, and the massive opportunities they see ahead. We cover everything from consumer financial health to small business challenges, AI-driven automation, and the next wave of credit innovation. This is a masterclass in FinTech past, present, and future.

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with PayPal President & CEO Alex Chriss.Alex took over as PayPal CEO in September 2023 after a nearly 20-year run at Intuit. Today, Alex (and PayPal) are at the epicenter of some of the most disruptive trends in global technology & commerce.Since joining PayPal less than two years ago, his tenure has turned several heads in the industry. PayPal seems reinvigorated and on the offensive, working to take advantage of the several platform shifts we're seeing in global technology and commerce. We've seen new hires, a company reorganization, startup-like release cycles, Will Ferrell branding campaigns, and so much more.Alex comes on the show at the perfect time as he approaches the 2-year mark in his tenure and bold vision for PayPal is turning into reality. Highlights01:58 Alex's rallying cry 'Customer Back' and how he's reorganized the company to think customer-first06:28 Tactical advice for implementing transformative change at a major global enterprise09:15 His and PayPal's Top 5 strategic priorities for the coming years11:42 How agentic commerce will disrupt global commerce (especially merchant data) and how PayPal is positioned to help serve consumers and merchants17:25 A deeper look at initiatives like Quantum Leap, PayPayl's Remote MCP, and Agent Toolkit20:47 PayPal's build / buy / partner approach in agentic commerce to date22:41 The most successful AI initiatives at PayPal, including payment method recommendation, multi-modal customer service, next-gen fraud detection, and 'EVA'27:55 Why orgs need to get flatter and empower smaller + leaner teams to run farther with AI29:40 Where PayPal is focusing on crypto/stablecoins on the consumer and merchant side32:44 His aggressive approach to PayPal's innovator's dilemma and why 'innovator's dilemma is a mindset'35:30 Regulatory changes and what it has unlocked for PayPal37:28 Why Intuit has become a breeding ground for so many top executives 39:30 Making the leap to join PayPal from Intuit40:39 A fun rapid-fire round including his most important criteria for executive interviews, hanging with Will Ferrell, his workouts, his dream guest on the pod, and moreEnjoy the show.--Alex Chriss has spent more than two decades harnessing the power of technology to help individuals and small businesses solve their greatest financial challenges. Having successfully founded and sold two start-ups and led a fast-growing division of financial software company Intuit, he is committed to helping customers compete and thrive in a rapidly changing world. Alex brings deep expertise in leading high-growth businesses, global product strategy, and customer-driven innovation to his role as PayPal’s President and CEO.Prior to joining PayPal, Alex held various roles of increasing responsibility at Intuit. He most recently served on Intuit’s executive leadership team as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit’s Small Business and Self-Employed Group where he

Welcome back to this week in FinTech and another episode of the FinTech OGs. This week I'm joined by two guests whose careers have helped shape. The evolution of modern wealth management. We have Charles Birnbaum partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and Cynthia Loh, who is a senior vice president at Capital One.Charles and Cynthia first crossed paths in the early days of Betterment. This is back when robo-advisors were just starting to redefine how everyday consumers invest and have spent, over a decade building in, investing in and advising some of the most influential FinTech companies out there. It's a great conversation and I'm excited for you to dive in!I also want to take a moment to send out a special thanks to our sponsors this week. 100% of what we got in ads for this episode is going towards Texas Flood Relief. Those of you that know me know that I am based in Austin, Texas, and while thankfully my daughter is too young to go to a sleep away camp, it hits close to home with friends having kids that go to camps that were hit along the river. The two guests this week, Charles and Cynthia, also both have kids, and it's just unimaginable what these parents are going through. I ask all of you to keep these families in your prayers. With that, I'll also tell you a little bit more about our sponsors. I have a feeling you guys are very familiar with all of them but just in case you're not. First up is Lithic, who is a modern payments infrastructure provider that enables technically ambitious teams to build better payments products. Lithic's cutting edge technologies cover issuing and processing, end-to-end fraud prevention, dispute management, and cardholder support implemented as either fully managed offerings or self-service tools.Learn more at lithic.com.Next up we have Rho, which is the all-in-one banking platform for startups and the accountants who support them. Thousands of startups switching to Rho because they don't have time to wait days to open an account or the patience for email support queues when they just need real help.Rho is building a new standard for business banking. With Rho, you get fast banking setup, up to 2% cash back on cards and yield on idle cash. Everything you need all in one platform from day one. Every client gets real dedicated support from a team that goes to the end of the earth to help you win. Head to rho.co/startups to learn more. That's rho.co/startups. Rho is a FinTech company, not a bank or an FDIC. Insured depository institution checking account and card services are provided by Webster Bank NA member FDIC. See rewards terms for complete cash back details.Last but not least, we have Spade. It’s 2025 and fintechs can spin up cards in minutes and move money in real time. But we still can’t decipher the transactions on a bank statement. Most still show up as a jumble of letters and numbers — no clear name, no location. Just noise and guesswork. That’s why so many fintechs and banks are turning to Spade. Spade’s API maps messy transaction strings to verified businesses — returning real merchant names, categories, and store locations in real time. So if you want reliable transaction data across cards, ACH, and more, head to spade.com. 

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with Firdaus Bhathena, CTO of FIS.FIS is one of the world's largest financial technology companies, building solutions for leading financial institutions, businesses, and developers. Their scale is incredible...Over $16Tn moves through their systems annually. They process $75 billion of transactions globally, serve tens of thousands of clients, and employ over 50,000 people worldwide. In today's episode, Ryan and Firdaus discuss:2:44 - Firdaus' long path from venture-backed startups and F500 healthcare to CTO of FIS.5:53 - Managing innovation at a global giant like FIS and his trusted adage for the Build Buy Partner debate.12:31 - How FIS balances hiring industry insiders vs. outsiders to best serve their customers (some of whom they've served for 50+ years).15:15 - A deep dive into The Harmony Gap, an in-depth report from FIS and Oxford Economics exploring the use of AI by businesses to combat the sources of financial, operational and technological disharmony.30:35 - His thoughts on the great COBOL migration problem facing institutions today, and where AI can and cannot help.32:46 - A rapidfire round including his first job, CTO role model, and more.--This episode was brought to you by Capchase. You know how B2B payments feel like they're stuck in 2005? Capchase is changing that, fast. Capchase is where contract financing meets digital payments. It lets your customers pay for software or hardware, monthly, quarterly, or even extend net terms while you still get the full contract value upfront. That's right - more flexible terms for them, but immediate cash flow for you.  If you are in sales or finance, you already know long sales cycles and rigid terms kill deals and stall growth. Capchase fixes that - no discounts, no collections, no friction.  Over 2000 SaaS companies are already using it to pay flexibly, close faster, boost TCVs, and make the buying process feel way more modern. Bottom line, Capchase helps you sell like it's 2025, not 2005.  Check it out now and see how smarter payments can power your growth.Firdaus Bhathena serves as FIS’ Chief Technology Officer. In this role, Firdaus is responsible for driving the company’s technology and infrastructure initiatives across the enterprise. He is also responsible for leading the company’s digital transformation efforts to advance FIS’ global solutions portfolio while also leveraging technology investments to drive profitability.Prior to FIS, Firdaus spent 25+ years driving innovation and large-scale digital, business, and cultural transformations across technology startups as well as Fortune 50 corporations. Recent roles include general manager at Noom (the fastest-growing pre-IPO consumer digital health company), enterprise chief digital officer at CVS Health; and chief digital officer at Aetna. Firdaus also currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Tufts Medicine, where he is the chair of the Digital Transformation Committee.Firdaus holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has been granted eight patents for software and distributed systems.

You know you’ve found true fintech OGs when your guests were almost roommates before “fintech” was even a buzzword. That’s exactly the case with today’s guests, Sheel Mohnot and Amit Kumar—two longtime friends and collaborators who’ve not only seen the fintech industry evolve over the last decade-plus, but have helped shape it.In this episode, we dig into their early startup days—FeeFighters, CardSpring, and Twitter M&A tales—plus what it was like building before infrastructure existed, the bets they wish they’d made sooner, and why they believe fintech is still one of the most promising sectors to build in today.We also get into:What Apple Pay did accomplish—and what it still hasn’t replacedWhy a modern global Venmo still doesn’t existWhat Sheel looks for in the next 10 years of fintech innovationAnd why Amit advises CS students to do their “master’s degree at Stripe”Whether you’re a founder, investor, or just love hearing two friends go deep on the evolution of a category they’ve helped pioneer, this episode is packed with insights and reflections. 

🎙️ Welcome back to Season 3 of the Fintech OG series on This Week in Fintech!To kick things off, we’re joined by two of the most influential voices shaping the future of financial infrastructure: David Marcus, CEO of Lightspark and former head of Libra at Facebook, and Dan Kimerling, founding partner at Deciens Capital and early pioneer in banking-as-a-service.We cover everything from the rise—and regulatory fall—of stablecoins, to why Bitcoin might just be the TCP/IP of global money movement, to what it really takes to endure the emotional highs and lows of building in fintech.And before we dive in, a big thank you to our sponsor Persona, the adaptable identity platform helping businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust from the very first interaction.Let’s get into it.

"It's going to be a great decade to be a banker. But probably a better decade to be a customer of a bank."In today's episode, Ryan Zauk is joined by Junta Nakai, Global Vice President at Databricks. Junta leads the Financial Services, Cybersecurity, Sustainability, and Public Sector Go-To-Market (GTM) for one of the world's largest and most exciting startups at the beating heart of AI. Databricks has become a household name in tech, with 60% of the F500 and well over 10,000 customers worldwide, plus a robust open source suite. They recently raised an unprecedented $10Bn Series J financing at a $62Bn valuation - The round was led by a who's who of investors including Thrive, a16z, DST, GIC, ICONIQ, and more.But did you know that financial services is their largest business line? Databricks has become critical to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, insurance firms, and fintechs helping power their AI, cloud, machine learning, and big data initiatives. Some clients include Capital One, S&P, Mastercard, Coinbase, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, KPMG, and more.Episode Timeline3:04 - Junta's path to Goldman Sachs and how he gained the conviction to join Databricks7:45 - What exactly Databricks does and how it helps global enterprises scale12:45 - How Junta and his team think about GTM16:20 - How Databricks works with the world's largest financial institutions23:35 - Junta's role, how he tracks his team, and the importance of training his salesforce for a technical sale29:05 - A few quotes from prior interviews that Junta extrapolates on, covering AI governance, security, deployment, and macro32:30 - AI's potential effect on the global economic future. Trends in population decline and productivity gains and how they may affect the macro environment39:27 - His passion project, Brooklyn Kura, a Brooklyn Sake brewery42:23 - Rapid fire round including his must-try restaurants, his news diet, the value of your network, the startup that caught his eye, and moreEnjoy the show.Junta Nakai is a Global Vice President at Databricks, leading the Financial Services, Cybersecurity, Sustainability, and Public Sector Go-To-Market (GTM). In this role, he is responsible for the global adoption of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform across capital markets, banking, insurance, and federal, state, and local governments. Additionally, he oversees the GTM strategy for sustainability and cybersecurity solutions across all industry verticals. Before joining Databricks, Junta spent 14 years at Goldman Sachs, holding various leadership positions within the Equities Division. Junta has a B.A. in Economics & International Studies from Nor

In the final installment of our AI series, we explore one of the most unexpected yet explosive areas for AI innovation: accounting. Julie and Jillian sit down with Alex Hagerup, CEO and co-founder of Vic.ai, and Chris Sluty, co-founder of FloQast, to discuss how automation is reshaping the finance function—from ERP integrations and auditability to real-time data for CFOs.We unpack why accounting is more complex than it seems, what makes it uniquely suited for AI, and how founders are building defensible products in a competitive space. You'll hear about the challenges of ERP integration, the shift from preparers to reviewers, and the growing importance of finance transformation roles. Whether you're thinking about AI's short-term wins or long-term potential, this episode offers a candid look into the future of finance operations—and why trust, nuance, and accuracy matter more than ever.Thanks to Capchase for sponsoring this episode! Capchase is where contract financing meets digital payments. It lets your customers pay for software or hardware, monthly, quarterly, even extended net terms while you still get the full contract value upfront. Check it out at Capchase.com/thisweekinfintech and see how smarter payments can power your growth.

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk is joined by Christina Cacioppo, Co-Founder & CEO of Vanta.Ryan and Christina recorded this episode live at Newcomer's Breaking the Bank Summit in San Francisco. The Summit was an invite-only, one-day summit for fintech founders, builders, and investors to explore the future of finance and technology. Breaking the Bank was a phenomenal event, with speakers including Jackie Reses, Zach Perret, Eric Glyman, Matt Harris, Josh Reeves, William Hockey, Annie Lamont, and many more.And if you're looking for more fintech events, check out Stablecon in NYC coming May 29th.Now back to the episode...Vanta has been a "center of the valley" company for years now, becoming one of the fastest companies to hit $100M ARR. Christina is at the heart of this great success story and was a phenomenal guest. She shared a lot of insight (and laughs) talking through lessons scaling from $0 to $100M ARR as well as how Vanta helps companies turn compliance into a competitive advantage.In this episode, Christina and Ryan discuss:0:58 - What sparked her journey to technology and startups 4:03 - What exactly Vanta does, how it serves startups, and how they can quote a 526% ROI over 3 years for clients10:13 - Why auditors, consultants, and lawyers can be friends instead of foe for Vanta11:33 - Vanta's differentiation in a hot market14:12 - Why shipping quickly is critical to staying relevant in software and the AI wave16:43 - Vanta's in-house AI use and what her engineers love (and really don't love)18:06 - Her top advice for founders facing hypergrowth and her views on Silicon Valley hyperscale lore21:30 - The forever 'human' aspect of selling (and buying) software22:38 - Hiring their first "Founder in Residence" and why it may be the new hottest job in the AI era24:42 - Where differentiation will still exist in the AI era26:45 - Raising from Sequoia and her advice to founders on how to vet your VCs (and why it's so critical to diligence them back) + the one thing founders really want from VCs at the early stage. It's simple, but not easy!30:44 - A fun rapid fire round including the origin of the Vanta llama, favorites of her Ohio roots, their craziest marketing stunt attempt, her favorite books, a startup she's most excited about, and much more.Enjoy the show.--Vanta is the leading trust management platform backed by Sequoia, Craft, YC and Crowdstrike Ventures. Over 10,000 companies, including Atlassian,

Welcome back to our weekly fintech podcast!This week, I had the chance to sit down with Sumant Shringari, the CEO and Co-Founder of Pontus, and Sandeep Sood, the Founder and CEO of Kunai. Pontus was established in 2023 to automate the large, difficult, and often fragmented back-office operations critical to large enterprises – such as the Global 2,000 banks that they count as customers. It was interesting to hear Sumant's perspective from his time working with banks about the difficulty in automating regulated workflows and breaking down data silos. For all the hype around generative AI, the risk is real when it comes to financial services use cases, and it speaks to the necessity for strong partners that can provide dependable implementation.It's worth taking a look through Pontus' outcomes library as well. Fintech founders will recognize a lot of the solutions here, such as Automated Account Reconciliation, Predictive Budget Forecasting, and Enterprise Risk Assessment. All of these functions today either require massive internal teams or significant vendor integration. Pontus' goal is to replace the need for both.You can find both companies here:https://www.pontus.so/https://kunaico.com/

KYB might not be the buzziest acronym in fintech—but maybe it should be. In this episode, we’re joined by Will Lawrence, CEO of Greenlite, and Kurt Ruppel, CTO and Co-founder of Middesk, two leaders rethinking how financial institutions identify and monitor business customers. We cover the evolution from manual checks to AI-powered automation, the difference between KYC and KYB, and why ongoing monitoring is the next big frontier. Plus, Will and Kurt share how they’re navigating risk, regulation, and real-world AI implementation—from OCC audits to sanctions alerts—and where they see the biggest opportunities for innovation in compliance and fraud prevention.And thanks to our sponsors, Newline by Fifth Third and Wolf & Company! Backed by a leading financial institution, Newline empowers enterprise companies to effortlessly launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank. And if you're looking for a partner who really gets fintech, Wolf & Company is a national accounting & advisory firm with over 100 years of experience working with financial institutions and decades scaling tech companies from startup to IPO.

Welcome back to our weekly fintech podcast! This week, I had the chance to sit down with Peter Hazlehurst, Co-Founder and CEO of Synctera, and Matt MacDonald Financial Technology Service Leader & IT Assurance Senior Manager at Wolf & Company.The conversation was wide-ranging, starting with Wolf & Synctera's partnership to build a compliant bank-fintech partnership model that Synctera has scaled for their customers. We spent a lot of time talking about compliance and regulation not as a restraint, but as a strategy, and as a driver of growth. In light of the last couple years, in which the BaaS model has come under stress, we also spent some time talking about the future of the bank-fintech partnership model, and what changes Matt and Peter wish that startup founders would make.Any fintech builders and founders will find the conversation interesting – I easily could have gone over the hour! Before getting into it, here is a little more background on Wolf & Co. and Synctera themselves.Wolf & Company P.C. is a national CPA and business consulting firm with a regional feel offering clients a wide range of services custom-tailored to suit their industry's unique needs. Since 1911, Wolf has provided clients with industry-leading assurance, tax, risk management, business consulting, and WolfPAC Integrated Risk Management services. They pride themselves on delivering customized solutions with deep involvement by their team of dedicated professionals and leaders.Synctera’s platform gives companies of all sizes the technology infrastructure, sponsor bank connection, and compliance framework they need to launch FinTech or embedded banking products. With a single set of powerful APIs, companies are able to quickly launch and scale products such as debit cards, bank accounts, charge cards, lines of credit, and money movement. Whether you are a FinTech company or an established business wanting to embed banking into your existing product set, Synctera can help you bring your vision to life.

In this episode, we sit down with Lukas Haffer, CEO and Co-founder of Casca, and Ryan Hildebrand, Chief Innovation Officer at Bankwell, to explore how AI is transforming small business lending—starting with SBA loans. They discuss the challenges of building on top of legacy banking systems, the stress-test of the COVID-19 PPP era, and how a human-in-the-loop approach is key to deploying AI responsibly in financial services. You’ll hear how their partnership evolved from a small pilot into a full-stack platform that slashes loan processing times from 90 days to 3. We also dive into fraud prevention, the reality of deploying AI agents in banking, and why trust—not hype—is the foundation of true innovation.Thanks to Fundbox⁠ for sponsoring this week's episode. With over a decade of experience, ⁠Fundbox⁠ delivers customizable credit solutions including invoice financing, lines of credit, term loans, payroll protection, and more.

We hosted an insightful live conversation and podcast at New York Fintech Week, hosted by This Week in Fintech and PingPong.​Key Topics:​Real-Time Payment Rails: Exploring the latest innovations in real-time payments and how they’re reshaping cross-border transactions.Cross-Border Money Movement: Analyzing the challenges and opportunities in facilitating smooth cross-border B2B payments.​Speakers:​Nik Milanovic: Founder of This Week in Fintech​David Messenger: CEO, Global Businesses at PingPong​About PingPong:​PingPong was founded in New York in 2015 to solve the immense challenge of scaling enterprise businesses globally. Fast-forward to today, and PingPong has become one of the world’s leading global cross-border payments platforms, processing more than $250 billion USD. Our API-first cross-border payments solution integrates with enterprises to send, manage, and receive money faster on a global scale.​PingPong currently has 37 offices in 15 countries and over 1,000 employees. Our international presence helps businesses solve complex payment needs in every major economy across all time zones.

In today's episode, Ryan Zauk is joined by Art Levy, Chief Business Officer at Brex.Brex is the modern finance platform that empowers growing companies to spend smarter and move faster in 120+ countries. Brex combines global corporate cards, expense management, banking, and travel. Their platform is trusted by 30k+ companies including ServiceTitan, DoorDash, ScaleAI, and Wiz.In this episode, Art & Ryan discuss:2:23 - The exact decision making framework he uses (and we all probably should) to assess career opportunities in tech, including the "Five F**k Ups Rule"4:50 - The 3 things that gave him confidence in Brex after assessing hundreds of companies as a VC...and the role Michael Tannenbaum + Sam Blond played8:29 - His definition of what a CBO does, how he tracks himself, and his 'CBO Role Model'10:39 - Brex's specific positioning in this massive, ultra-competitive global market and the types of customers Brex serves14:54 - How his team balances product decision-making tactics across building their own roadmap, responding to competitor products, and listening to customers16:25 - His Partnership Playbook and why "Rabbits, Deer, and Elephants" help him focus. How to think about value maximization vs. long-term partnership.23:56 - What it would take for Brex to buy (or partner with) your startup 30:48 – Brex, Pedro, and Henrique going 'Founder Mode' and why it was the perfect movement for Brex in 202435:20 - Filling your team with 'spikes'36:48 - Why you must always get on the plane39:18 - An all-time rapid fire round including who he would box, why he invested in Bridge.xyz (acq by Stripe), his favorite apps, Brex team shoutouts, and more.Enjoy the show.--Art Levy is the Chief Business Officer of Brex leading business development, strategic partnerships, and M&A. Over the past six years, Art has led Brex's key partnerships with companies like Navan, Coupa, Apple, AWS, Zoom, and JetBlue and its M&A deals across the US and EMEA. Arthur started his career at Centerview Partners in tech investment banking and has spent the last 15 years operating and investing. Art is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University.Ryan Zauk is the Host of the This Month in Fintech Podcast and Bay Area lead for the broader This Week in Fintech platform. In his day job, Ryan is an investor at OMERS Ventures, the direct investing arm of one of the world’s largest pension plans with over $130Bn in net assets. Prior to OMERS, he worked in Morgan Stanley’s Tech Investment Banking team focused on M&A and capital markets. He is based in the Bay Area. You can find him on Linkedin or Twitter.

In this episode of the This Week in Fintech podcast, hosts Julie and Jillian are joined by Rex Salisbury (Founder of Cambrian Ventures) and Erica Dorfman (Head of Financial Products at Brex) for a wide-ranging conversation that sits at the intersection of AI, fintech innovation, and practical applications across startups and scale-ups.From agentic AI to OCR replacements, from startup go-to-market strategies to the rebundling of consumer financial services, Rex and Erica unpack the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence—what's hype, what's real, and what it means for operators, investors, and builders alike. Whether you're navigating new tools inside your fintech product or simply trying to keep up, this episode is full of sharp insights, tactical examples, and honest takes.This Week in Fintech is brought to you by our friends at Solda.ai and Fundbox. Putting your sales process on autopilot with AI phone agents that sound just like the real thing. Thanks to Solda.ai for supporting the show and helping leading FinTech teams drive revenue with smarter, scalable customer engagement.And with over a decade of experience, Fundbox delivers customizable credit solutions including invoice financing, lines of credit, term loans, payroll protection, and more.

TWIF host Nik Milanovic sat down with Prashant Fuloria, CEO, and Anchit Singh, CBO, of Fundbox, a pioneer in embedded finance for SMBs since 2013.Fundbox has partnered with platforms like QuickBooks and FreshBooks to provide fast access to over $5 billion in capital to 125,000 small businesses.Prashant, Anchit, and Nik discussed the evolution of embedded finance, emphasizing the importance of data integration and innovative underwriting methods, such as cash flow underwriting.They also highlight the potential for future partnerships with banks and other platforms to enhance small business lending.[This is a sponsored episode]

Welcome back to the Fintech AI Series! Today’s episode dives deep into one of the most critical topics in both Fintech and AI—Compliance. We’re joined by two amazing guests: Reggie Young, Chief of Staff at Lithic, and Jesse Reiss, CTO and Co-founder of Hummingbird. Between Reggie’s legal background and Jesse’s technical expertise, this episode offers a unique and practical look at how regulated companies are approaching AI, from internal tooling to external regulation, and everything in between.Whether you’re building in Fintech, managing risk, or just trying to make sense of your company’s AI policy, you’re going to get a ton out of this one. Don’t forget to rate, follow, and share wherever you get your podcasts. Let’s get into it!Thanks to And thanks to ⁠Paddle⁠ and ⁠Fundbox⁠ for sponsoring this episode! Paddle operate as the Merchant of Record (MoR) for digital products, managing payments localization, fraud prevention, retention logic, customer billing support, and complying with every local privacy law and sales tax rule on your behalf.And with over a decade of experience, Fundbox delivers customizable credit solutions including invoice financing, lines of credit, term loans, payroll protection, and more.

In March, we traveled to the inaugural HumanX conference in Las Vegas to meet founders, builders, and investors at the bleeding edge of AI. The conference was a great success, and we're excited for it to relocate to San Francisco next April. While at the conference, I had the chance to sit down with Shannon Scott, SVP and Global Head of Product at Airwallex. Airwallex is the global payments and financial platform for modern businesses. Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex has become a dominant global player in financial infrastructure, serving some of the world's largest cross-border companies like Canva, Brex, Navan, Rippling, SHEIN, and more. Airwallex was last valued at $5.6Bn in 2022 and is backed by investors such as Sequoia, Index, Tencent, Salesforce Ventures, Lone Pine, Greenoaks, Mastercard, and more.In this episode, Shannon and I discuss:His transition from Palantir to Airwallex and lessons learned from Silicon Valley cultureAirwallex's global product suite and vision for building a global financial platform through products like multi-currency wallets and the new 'Airwallex Spend'Airwallex's use of AI in fraud management, customer onboarding, and process automationScaling great teams in fintechAnd much more. Enjoy the show.--Airwallex is a leading global payments and financial platform for modern businesses, offering trusted solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, treasury, and spend management to embedded finance. With our proprietary infrastructure, Airwallex takes the friction out of global payments and financial operations, empowering businesses of all sizes to unlock new opportunities and grow beyond borders. Proudly founded in Melbourne, Airwallex supports over 150,000 businesses globally and is trusted by brands such as Brex, Canva, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more.Shannon Scott is SVP, Global Head of Product at Airwallex. Shannon is responsible for product strategy and delivery across all Airwallex domains including card issuing, online payments, business accounts, and platform infrastructure. He was an early employee of Palantir Technologies, where he founded Palantir's international operations in both Australia-New Zealand and Europe. He was responsible for building out the initial business development and delivery teams in both regions, where clients spanned both government and large commercial enterprises. Shannon has a combined degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University or Melbourne and has focused on the intersection of software engineering and technical business development throughout his career, including in an advisory capacity to numerous Australian startups.Ryan Zauk is the Host of the This Month in Fintech Podcast and Bay Area lead for the broader This Week in Fintech platform. In his day job, Ryan is an investor at OMERS Ventures, the direct investing arm of one of the world’s largest pension plans with over $130Bn in net assets. Prior to OMERS, he worked in Morgan Stanley’s Tech Investment Banking team focused on M&A and capital markets. He is based in the Bay Area. You can find him on Linkedin or 

In March, we traveled to the inaugural HumanX conference in Las Vegas to meet founders, builders, and investors at the bleeding edge of AI. The conference was a great gathering of AI leaders, and we're excited for it to relocate to San Francisco next April. While at the conference, I had the chance to sit down with May Habib, Co-Founder and CEO of Writer. If you've been around AI x FS over the last few years, or drive the 101, you've likely come across Writer. Writer is the leading Gen-AI platform for enterprises, and has been one of the few AI companies to find repeatable, scaled success with the enterprise. They help large enterprises deploy secure + reliable AI applications and agents that transform mission-critical workflows. Writer’s platform is supported by Palmyra – Writer’s state-of-the-art family of LLMs – alongside its industry-leading graph-based RAG, customizable AI guardrails, and suite of development tools. Palmyra LLMs include one of the world’s highest-benchmarked frontier models, topping leaderboards for natural language understanding and generation, as well as top specialized models in finance and healthcare.Their customer list speaks for itself, including household names like Vanguard, Salesforce, Qualcomm, Accenture, Franklin Templeton, Intuit, Dropbox, Hubspot, Prudential, L'Oreal, and the list goes on...When you meet May, you can see why. She is a phenomenal leader, communicator, and executor who lays out why Writer's full-stack technology and deep appreciation for how large enterprises function allow them to have such success.Writer is fresh off a $200M Series C valuing the company at $1.9Bn. They are supported by investors including ICONIQ, Radical, Premji Invest, Adobe Ventures, B Capital, Citi Ventures, IBM Ventures, Workday Ventures, Insight, Vanguard, and others...quite a long list of strategics.Enjoy the show.--May Habib is the CEO and co-founder of Writer, the full-stack generative AI platform delivering transformative ROI for the world’s leading enterprises. May is an expert in natural language processing and AI-driven language generation. She has led Writer to become one of the world’s fastest-growing generative AI companies, securing its position as a Forbes 50 AI company and inclusion in the World Economic Forum's Unicorn Community. May graduated with high honors in Economics from Harvard University. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and a recipient of Inc.'s Female Founder Award.Writer is the full-stack generative AI platform delivering transformative ROI for the world’s leading enterprises. Its fully integrated solution makes it easy to deploy secure and reliable AI agents that automate mission-critical work. Writer’s suite of development tools is supported by Palmyra – Writer’s state-of-the-art family of LLMs – alongside its industry-leading graph-based RAG and customizable AI guardrails. Hundreds of customers like Accentu

TWIF founder Nik Milanovic talks to Bits About Money writer ⁠Patrick McKenzie⁠, on topics ranging from agentic payments, to generative AI-enabled fraud, to deposit insurance and the banking crisis of 2023, to the epistemology of synthetic IDs.

The intersection of AI and traditional finance (TradFi) is an angle we haven't explored yet in our AI series. Today, we change that by taking a deep dive into how AI is transforming large financial institutions. Jillian and I are joined by two experts shaping the future of AI in finance:Stevi Petrelli – Head of Blackstone Innovations Investments, where she leads early-stage strategic investments in cutting-edge financial technology.John Nay – Founder & CEO of Norm Ai, a company pioneering the use of AI in regulatory compliance and policy automation.Together, they discuss the real-world applications of AI in financial services, what it takes to successfully sell AI solutions to financial institutions, and why workflow integration, compliance, and data infrastructure are critical to adoption.They also tackle common misconceptions, explore overhyped vs. underhyped AI trends, and share their insights on where the fintech and AI landscape is headed in 2025.This is an episode you don’t want to miss. Let’s dive in!

On March 4th, This Week in Fintech had their debut event in Canada, bringing together hundreds of people across the tech ecosystem for an evening of networking, food and drinks, panels from local leaders, and even a magician working the crowd. We had nearly 500 people register when it was all said and done, showing the enthusiasm and depth of the Toronto tech ecosystem. We don’t know how it took us this long to get to Canada, but we’re glad we did. This will be the first of many…This episode is the recorded version of our panel featuring Rasha Katabi, Founder & CEO of Brim Financial.--Brim is a leading fintech infrastructure company transforming the credit card platform and payment automation space. Brim's modular platform and highly scalable product suite fully empowers financial institutions, fintechs, and large international brands to run / evolve their product platforms to meet their customer and market needs. Brim Financial is one of the fastest growing enterprise technology companies, according to Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 in North America. Brim's Credit-Card-as-a-Service platform has been recognized as best-in-class for product capabilities by Aite-Novarica Group in their analysis of global CCaaS providers.Ryan Zauk is the Host of the This Month in Fintech Podcast and Bay Area lead for the broader This Week in Fintech platform. In his day job, Ryan is an investor on the Ventures team at OMERS, the direct investing arm of one of the world’s largest pension plans with over $130Bn in net assets. Prior to OMERS, he worked in Morgan Stanley’s Tech Investment Banking team focused on M&A and capital markets. He is based in the Bay Area.You can find him on Linkedin or Twitter.

On March 4th, This Week in Fintech hosted their debut event in Canada, bringing together 150+ people across the tech ecosystem for an evening of networking, panels from local leaders, and even a magician working the crowd. We had nearly 500 people register, showing the enthusiasm and depth of the Toronto tech ecosystem. We don’t know how it took us this long to get to Canada, but we’re glad we did. This will be the first of many…Headlining the event was a live podcast with Adyen’s Head of Canada, Sander Meijers, and Notch CEO Jordan Huck.Sander, Jordan, and I discussed their rich product offerings for Canadian businesses, how Adyen’s platform has provided Notch with unique structural advantages, how each leader balances local and global perspectives when scaling teams, and more.--Adyen is a global financial technology platform helping the world’s leading businesses achieve their ambitions faster. Since its founding in 2006, Adyen has built one of the world's leading platforms to help enterprises accept payments, protect revenue, and control their finances. Adyen processed ~$1Tn in transaction volume last year across for companies like Microsoft, McDonalds, Uber, Loreal, Spotify, eBay, Gap and more.Notch is an accounts receivable automation software, designed to simplify managing invoices and payment collection. With Notch you can automate the entire AR process from invoice creation to payment processing speeding up payment collection (up to 3x faster) and improving cash flow.Ryan Zauk is the Host of the This Month in Fintech Podcast and Bay Area lead for the broader This Week in Fintech platform. In his day job, Ryan is an investor on the Ventures team at OMERS, the direct investing arm of one of the world’s largest pension plans with over $130Bn in net assets. Prior to OMERS, he worked in Morgan Stanley’s Tech Investment Banking team focused on M&A and capital markets. He is based in the Bay Area.You can find him on Linkedin or Twitter.

In my latest interview, I spent some time with North's SVP of Product, Preet Patel, to talk about his journey from Citi to AmEx to North, what's changed in the company since he joined (hint: they were previously known as NAB), and how he takes a consumer products mentality to his merchant payments product work at North.Preet Patel has served as the Senior Vice President of Product Management at North since September 2019, after previously holding the position of Vice President of Product Management.Prior to his tenure with North, Patel worked at Yapstone, where he led product strategy for significant marketplace partnerships, most notably with HomeAway, enhancing client relations in Austin, TX.His career also includes high-profile roles with American Express, where Preet held the position of Senior Manager of Product Development, focusing on the development of consumer co-brand card relationships while leading partner negotiations. Additional prior employers also include Elavon and Citi.Founded in 1992, North builds frictionless payment processing designed to simplify and grow business. They offer comprehensive solutions, from the front door to the back office, that include point of sale (POS) hardware, a fully integrated payment platform, and comprehensive merchant services to manage inventory, employees, and more.North is re-imagining the payment experience. As a leading payment technology innovator, North has a diversified product platform that provides a modern end-to-end infrastructure to enable globally-preferred payment types. North’s superior solutions deliver seamless payments experiences in mobile, ecommerce, and in-store environments. Serving hundreds of thousands of businesses and with over $100 billion per year in electronic transaction volume, North delivers functional, feature-rich, and frictionless solutions for the evolving merchant economy.Enjoy the conversation!

In this episode of our Fintech and AI series, Julie and Jillian dive into the evolving world of lending with two industry leaders shaping the space. Tim Li, CEO of LendAPI, and Justin Potts, CTO of Canopy Servicing, break down AI’s impact on everything from underwriting and fraud detection to loan servicing and borrower experience. They explore the regulatory shakeups affecting fintech, the rise of cash flow-based lending, and where AI is still underutilized in credit decisioning. Plus, they share insights on the future of lending, from data portability to fractionalized assets.And thanks to Method Financial and Fundbox for sponsoring this episode! Method is an account connectivity solution that powers seamless checkout and loyalty experiences. Visit methodfi.com to learn more! And with over a decade of experience, Fundbox delivers customizable credit solutions including invoice financing, lines of credit, term loans, payroll protection, and more.