The Fintech Blueprint (Lex Sokolin)

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

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.

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!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.

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!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.

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!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.

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.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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.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.

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!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.

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

 

🔥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: 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

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

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.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.

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.

Excerpt

Lex 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?

 

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.

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.

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.

Subscribe now

Hope you enjoy, and do not hesitate to reach out here!

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.

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.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.

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.

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.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.

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!

Excerpt

Simon 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.

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.

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

 

🔥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: 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.

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!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.

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!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.

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.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.

In this conversation, we chat with Jarred Ward, CEO and co-founder of Twisp. Ward 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

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.

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.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.

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!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.

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!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.

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.

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!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.

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

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.

In this conversation, we chat with Kareem Saleh, CEO of Fairplay — FairPlay is the first Fairness-as-a-Service™ solution for financial institutions and a fascinating company.– 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.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.

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

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.

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

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.

Timestamp

1’24”: 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

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.

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.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.

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.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.

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.

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.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.

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.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.

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!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.

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.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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.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.

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. 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.

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.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.

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!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.

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!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.

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.

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

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.

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!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.

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.

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

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.

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!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.

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.

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!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.

In this conversation, we chat with David Shuttleworth, the managing director of token engineering at Binance. Prior to this, David was a Senior DeFi Economist at ConsenSys, where he focused on mechanism design, tokenomics, and protocol design. David’s experience is extensive and includes leading the development of the Medical Advanced Analytics team at GlaxoSmithKline and was a data scientist at various stage startups in FinTech and predictive analytics.  

David also conducted research in behavioral economics and health outcomes at the University of Pennsylvania and has published his work in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as JAMA, the Annals of Internal Medicine, and the Lancet.

 

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”: 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

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.

 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.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.

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. 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.

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

 

🔥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: 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.

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.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.

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

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.

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.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.

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!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.

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!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.

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!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.

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. 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.

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.

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.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.

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

 

🔥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: 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.

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!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.

Lex chats 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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.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.

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.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.

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

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.

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!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.

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.

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. 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.

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.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.

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

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.

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.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.

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.

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.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.

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

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

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

 

🔥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

 

1’24: 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.

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!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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.