Around The Coin

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Jeff Winner is CEO of Happy Money, a financial technology company on a mission to bring people greater happiness through financial tools and services. Prior to his appointment in August 2021, he was Chief Operating Officer, overseeing Engineering, Member Experience, Operations, Product, Science, and Technology. He joined the company in 2020 as Chief Techn...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Ryan Lee, Founder & CEO of Nautical Commerce, the marketplace enablement platform. Ryan has an extensive background in payments, logistics, and commerce. He led the Apple team in launching Apple Pay international and held leadership roles at Visa, Turvo, and ModoPayments. Ryan is skilled at developing and driving a full-stack cloud technology vision a...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Roneil Rumburg, Co-founder and CEO of Audius, a digital streaming service that connects fans directly with artists and exclusive new music. Audius is fully decentralized, owned and run by a vibrant, open-source community of artists, fans, and developers all around the world. Founded in early 2018, Audius serves millions of users every month, making it one...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Will Graylin, Founder and CEO of OV Loop, Inc., a Universal Wallet and Commerce Messaging platform for frictionless commerce experiences everywhere. He is also CEO of Indigo Technologies, an Electric Mobility company with breakthrough affordable EVs for fleets & drivers. Prior to OV Loop, Will was the Global Co-GM of Samsung Pay, and Founder of LoopPa...

In this episode, Mike Townsend chats with Ozan Özerk, founder of OpenPayd. Ozan is a serial fintech entrepreneur. Trained as a medical doctor, Ozan’s entrepreneurial career seeds were sowed in the late 1990s during which time he successfully built and sold multiple tech businesses. In 2015, Ozan made the shift to the fintech industry which also marks the founding of OpenPayd, which provides busine...

In this episode, Mike Townsend interviews Dan Raju, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Tradier. Dan has the overall responsibility of Tradier and the company’s strategy and direction. Under his leadership, Tradier has grown rapidly from an innovative product to an essential infrastructure fabric that powers 200 plus investing platforms globally and serves some of the most active traders...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Teddy Woodward, Co-Founder of Notional Finance. Notional is a decentralized protocol on Ethereum that enables users to lend and borrow crypto at fixed interest rates. Before starting Notional, Teddy was an interest rate swap trader at Barclays Investment Bank. He got into crypto in 2018 and has been hooked ever since. Learn more about your ad choices....

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Sean Rach, Co-Founder of hi. He was the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Crypto.com, leading the charge to create the FinTech startup’s first 3 million customers across the globe.  A Doctor of Business Administration candidate at Warwick Business School, Sean has also served in executive marketing roles for a number of top global companies including Pr...

In this episode, Mike Townsend interviews Andy Bromberg CEO of Eco, a consumer financial app creating a single place for your entire financial life — giving you market-leading rewards on saving, spending, and more. Eco has raised more than $90 million from an array of leading investors, including L Catterton, Activant Capital, a16z Crypto, Founders Fund, and others. Prior to Eco, Andy was Co-found...

In this episode, Mike Townsend chats with Snehal Fulzele, Founder & CEO of CION Digital. Snehal is a successful technology entrepreneur, investor, and innovator in the financial services industry. Prior to founding CION Digital, he co-founded Cloud Lending Solutions, a global lending technology platform used by leading financial institutions globally. As the CEO, he led the growth and talent s...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Matt Oppenheimer, Co-founder, and CEO of Remitly. He co-founded Remitly in 2011 and in addition to being CEO, he is also a member of the board of directors. Prior to co-founding Remitly, Matt worked for Barclays plc, a multinational bank, and financial services company, from August 2009 to May 2011. He has served on the board of directors of BECU since 20...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Ioannis Giannaros, CEO and Co-Founder of Wyre. Ioannis has been involved in the management and growth of Wyre since founding the company in 2013. He has led the company through multiple fundraising rounds and has overseen all accounting, foreign exchange operations, risk management, banking, and compliance operations at Wyre since early 2013. Ioannis h...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Abdul Akel, CEO and Co-founder of T-CETRA, a leading financial technology enabler that converts cash payments into secure, auditable, cashless transactions at over 10,000 retail locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico that primarily serve cash preferred customers. Its payment solutions bridge the digital divide for these underserved communities and are used...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Brian Bondy, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Brave Software. Prior to Brave, Brian worked at Khan Academy where he focused on developing the interactive learning environment for the programming section. Previously, he worked at Mozilla on the Firefox browser. Before joining Mozilla, Brian co-founded two companies in the backup software space: R...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Sir John Hargrave, CEO of the media and communication company Media Shower. His company publishes the blockchain investor website, Bitcoin Market Journal which reaches 100,000 blockchain investors monthly. He is the author of the bestselling investing book Blockchain for Everyone (Simon & Schuster, 2019), as well as Blockchain Success Stories (O’Re...

In this episode, Mike Townsend interviews Bryce Deeney, Founder, and CEO of equipifi, which is modernizing the way consumers interact with their money. equipifi’s mission is to support banks and credit unions’ ability to deliver experiences that help foster growth and engagement for existing and new customers.equipifi provides seamless white-labeled integrations for banks and credit unions to offe...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Ahmed Siddiqui, Chief Payments Officer at Branch, where he spearheads product innovation, development, and strategy. Bringing nearly a decade of payments experience, he also leads Branch’s strategic partnerships with major financial services and technology providers including Mastercard, Visa, Evolve Bank & Trust, and Marqeta. Ahmed has held a wide ra...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Ivan Smirnov, Co-Founder, and CTO of Elude. Prior to founding Elude, Ivan was a software engineer at Google, leading projects to improve their core “Search” feature along with Google Ads, Google Assistant, and Google Cloud. Ivan is a builder, problem solver, and engineer passionate about creating code-based solutions to technological problems. While wo...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Rami Essaid, CEO & Co-Founder of Finmark. Rami is a three-time startup founder and passionate entrepreneur, has been building companies for over a decade. He was the founder and CEO of Distil Networks, acquired by Imperva in 2019, before starting his latest venture Finmark, financial modeling software for startups. At Distil Networks, he saw firsth...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Arnab Naskar, Co-founder of STOKR, the EU’s pioneering digital marketplace for alternative assets, where smart investors connect with and fund forward-thinking founders. Arnab oversees STOKR’s business strategy and is dedicated to promoting open and decentralized capital markets. He is a regular speaker at major blockchain conferences and webinars in Euro...

 In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Jack O'Holleran, CEO/Co-Founder Skale. Jack is a veteran entrepreneur with a deep background in machine learning, AI, security, and blockchain. Prior to co-founding SKALE, Jack was a founder at multiple Silicon Valley based enterprise technology companies including IncentAlign, a digital currency platform, and Aktana, the leading Machine Learning An...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Liran Zelkha, Co-Founder and CTO of Lili, the all-in-one banking app designed for freelance workers. He has over 20 years of tech industry experience, including as a freelancer, which inspired him to create a solution for independent workers’ unique pain points. From strategic management to hands-on coding, Liran specializes in turning lofty ideas into...

In this episode, Mike Townsend speaks with Sohaib Zahid, Chief Executive Officer at Railz. Sohaib is a serial entrepreneur with a decade of successful experience in building teams, products, and companies. He focuses on Sales and Marketing. Prior to founding Railz, Sohaib founded Vanhawks, where he led product, sales, and operations. Vanhawks was acquired in 2016. Originally from Pakistan, Sohaib...

In this episode, Mike Townsend interviews Tron Black, President of Ravencoin Foundation. Tron is a freedom advocate, crypto developer, entrepreneur, and founder of two startups that were sold to publicly traded companies.  Tron holds a BS in Computer Science and a Master's of Business Administration.  Since early 2013, Tron has been working in the cryptocurrency space as a miner, developer, i...

In this episode, Mike Townsend sits down with Richard Groome, executive chairman, and CEO at ALT 5 Sigma. He leads the firm’s global business and support to clients worldwide including financial institutions, institutional investors, and corporate clients. After 36 successful years in the securities industry, starting two leading securities firms from scratch, completing over 600 financings raisin...