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paytech

Crypto DAOs decentralized finance Investing Metaverse / xR paytech

·Dec. 3, 2021

Origins of Metamask’s 20 million Web3 users, with co-founder Dan Finlay

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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central bank / CBDC digital transformation paytech stablecoins

·Dec. 1, 2021

What will Stripe do in crypto?

In this discussion, we explore ways that Stripe — arguably the best American fintech company full-stop, although who would want to mess with Square — could be entering the crypto space. We consider approaches similar to the payment onramps, then discuss the underlying market structure powering those experiences, and highlight more generally the role of gateways relative to protocols. We touch on the role of custodians, banks, and wallets, as well as Square’s attempt, the tbDEX, where KYC/AML comes down to forms of opt-in identity. Finally, we address questions about Circle and USDC, and how stablecoins differ from the rails on which they travel.

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Africa crowdfunding Crypto Investing paytech

·Nov. 26, 2021

Powering the FX behind Africa’s trillion-dollar growth, with Aza CEO Elizabeth Rossiello

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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digital lending digital transformation Embedded Finance mega banks neobank paytech

·Nov. 19, 2021

Digitizing banks with better BNPL, Underwriting, and Anti-Fraud Tech, with Amount CEO Adam Hughes

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.

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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Embedded Finance neobank Open Banking paytech

·Nov. 10, 2021

Plaid’s payments ecosystem & Affirm’s decoupled debit card reveal embedded finance Trojan Horse

In this analysis, we want to update the discussion of card networks, money movement, and the potential existential threat — or perhaps evolution — to existing infrastructure. It continues the thread on articles like Is Plaid cheap at $5.3 billion for $500 billion Visa? and Marqeta's $300MM of revenue & Ethereum's $20B in ann. transaction fees highlight opportunity and industry structure, and Who are the customers of Embedded Finance, and what do they reveal about Stripe, Affirm, DriveWealth, and Green Dot?, and more generally in this research section. We map Plaid’s progress in building out a payments ecosystem, and highlight Affirm’s debit card product powered in a novel manner through open banking. The analysis visualizes a likely evolution of the space with the introduction of Web3, and highlights a couple of early symptoms.

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central bank / CBDC China paytech super app

·Oct. 22, 2021

How China is winning the race in Fintech, Payments, and CBDCs, with Fintech expert Richard Turrin

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.

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Embedded Finance neobank paytech

·Sep. 29, 2021

Will Paypal’s digital wallet beat Google Pay and Square Cash App on shopping & banking?

PayPal just launched what it calls a super app. It has a cash account with a 0.40% interest rate, direct deposit, money movement, bill pay, and remittance features. It also integrates shopping functionality with rewards and cash back. In this analysis, we compare this offering with Google Pay and Square Cash App, as well as trace the DNA of PayPal to understand whether such an offering will succeed where others failed.

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big tech digital lending neobank paytech Social / Community

·Sep. 20, 2021

Unlocking Demand-side growth with Square’s payment network and Goldman’s GreenSky acquisition

Square upgrades Cash App into a payment processing powerhouse, completing the loop between the consumer and merchant side of the house. Goldman Sachs acquires GreenSky, adding a lending business at the point of intent. This analysis connects these symptoms into a framework explaining the increasing integration between commerce and finance, and the increasing role that demand generation plays. That in turn explains how the attention and creator economies interconnect with financial services.

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civilization and politics Crypto exchanges / cap mkts paytech regulation & compliance

·Sep. 13, 2021

The principle behind Mastercard’s CipherTrace acquisition, L1 growth, and IRS getting your bank data

Paying attention is the path to seeing and doing. Mastercard has bought CipherTrace to see blockchain-based finance, to launch new businesses, and to plug in more networks into its nexus. The crypto networks proliferate at every layer, creating more computation on Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Fantom, and Solana. The US executive seeks to see more too, asking the banks for their records of financial transactions to enforce taxation compliance.

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civilization and politics decentralized finance mega banks paytech philosophy regulation & compliance

·Aug. 30, 2021

OnlyFans bank-forced adult content ban, its failure, and the Metaphysics of Finance

We talk about OnlyFans, and how its bank vendors pressured it to try to ban adult content, and how and why that failed. We also discuss the crypto tax provisions in the Senate version of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, and their impracticality. These themes are tied together with a metaphysical hypothesis about the role of financial services, anchored in a discussion of the Platonic model of the mind. How are rationality, emotion, and social context involved to define the shape of our industry?

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