Fintech Business Weekly

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Hey all, Jason here. In this episode, I had the chance to speak with Maple cofounder and executive chairman Joe Flanagan . We had the chance to discuss: * Building in the crypto space over seven years of ups & downs * Increasing institutional adoption of cryptocurrency and stablecoins * Maple’s new partnership with Robinhood * And more! A reminder,...

In this episode, I had the chance to speak with Cross River Bank’s chief AI officer, Pravesh Rijal , following the bank’s announcement earlier this week of its expanded partnership with Stripe to support agentic commerce . Pravesh and I had the chance to talk about: * Cross River’s announcement this Wednesday of its expanded partnership with Stripe to support card issuing for agentic commerce * Wh...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * What industry stakeholders — fintechs, banks, and debt capital providers — can learn from the abrupt collapse of SMB credit card startup Parker card * Prediction market grab bag: Polymarket allegedly ran fake ads, Meta plans to launch “Arena,” the CFTC proposes a rule * The debanking debate just won’t go away * And, as always, what Alex and...

In this episode, I had the exclusive chance to chat with Current’s CEO Stuart Sopp and CTO Trevor Marshall on the company’s $80 million Series E, led by Springcoast Partners, announced earlier today. We also discussed: * Current’s expanded product suite and impressive 70% growth for the third year in a row * The role AI has played across the company’s business and how Stu and Trevor think about co...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * Why seemingly every bank, crypto, and stablecoin company wants to become a bank (and what it could mean for their valuations) * A return to BaaS Island: CFSB’s consent order, and how it compares to those of other fintech partner banks * President Trump’s fintech- and banking-related executive orders * And, as always, what Alex and I just can...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with Edward Woodford , the founder and CEO of crypto, stablecoin, and tokenization infrastructure platform zerohash . Edward and I had the chance to talk about: * Why zerohash is applying for a national trust bank charter * How the CLARITY Act (crypto market structure legislation) may impact the U.S. crypto industry * What Edward is hearing from non-financ...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with merchant connectivity platform Knot’s cofounder and CEO Rory O’Reilly . Rory and I had the chance to discuss: * Rory dropping out of Harvard to start his first company * How Knot became the industry’s go-to solution for card switching * Expanding from its initial card switching product to building the merchant connnectivity layer, and how Knot complem...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * If there’s one idea fintech founders can’t quit, it’s solving personal financial management. There’s a new wave of AI-powered tools. But can they solve some of the fundamental challenges that have prevented a breakout company from emerging in the category? * Bolt, the one-click checkout turned financial “super app,” is in headlines, again, w...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * Rent rewards and neighborhood loyalty startup Bilt’s rocky transition from Wells Fargo to Column and Cardless * The “graduation problem” in banking-as-a-service * The New York legislature’s decision to * And, as always, what Alex and I just can’t let go of Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subsc...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with Tyler Allen, the chief operating offier at Unit21. We had the chance to discuss: * How fintech, financial crimes compliance, and software engineering have evolved since Tyler joined Unit21 back in 2019 * The limitations of addressing compliance challenges by throwing bodies at them * How regulators are thinking about agentic AI * What an AI-first appr...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with S.P. “Wije” Wijegoonaratna , the cofounder and CEO of Aliya Financial Technologies . We had the chance to discuss: * The challenges different segments of consumer lenders are facing today * How AI-powered infrastructure is fundamentally reshaping how financial institutions think about making decisions * How Aliya is thinking about its go-to-market app...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * Block’s plan to sell access to its proprietary Cash App credit score * So-called “no KYC” crypto cards * Stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge’s apparent derisking * The brewing internecine fights over regulating prediction markets * And, as always, what Alex and I just can’t let go of Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbus...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with Modern Treasury cofounder and CEO Matt Marcus , as well as the company’s recently joined lead counsel, Matt Janiga . We had the chance to discuss: * Modern Treasury’s newly launched payment service provider offering * What kinds of companies can benefit from payment orchestration * Use cases driving the explosive growth of stablecoins * How Modern Tre...

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Hey all, Jason here. Alex Johnson , creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap , where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto. In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * The HBO drama “Industry” tackles banking and fintech...

In this episode, I had the chance to chat with Castellum. AI’s cofounder and CEO, Peter Piatetsky about what has undeniably been one of the hottest topics in fintech, banking and compliance: agentic AI. Peter and I had the chance to discuss: * How compliance leaders should approach evaluating agent-based solutions . * What regulators are signaling when it comes to adoption of AI agents and how to...

Alex Johnson of Fintech Takes and I had the chance to discuss the WILD story of Y Combinator- and Coinbase-backed Kontigo : * Some context setting and clarifications on the difference between AML vs. sanctions and the impact of sanctions on the everyday people of the countries they’re enforced against * Explaining Kontigo’s retail user service and its value proposition * Talking through what also...

In this year-end episode, Alex and I took a look back at major themes and stories from 2025 and look ahead to 2026. We had the chance to discuss: * The major shifts in the US banking regulatory landscape * The explosive growth of interest in stablecoins * Open banking’s setbacks * Why everything seems to be gambling now * Fintech IPOs * Our predictions for 2026, such as they are * And, as always,...

In this episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * The latest developments in the “do over” of the CFPB’s open banking rule * Apple’s fledgling Digital ID * Green Dot going private * And, as always, what Alex and I just can’t let go of Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Alex Johnson , creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap , where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto. This episode is brought to you by Cross River Bank, the bank behind the bold. In this abbreviated episode, Alex and I had the chance to discuss: * The 14,000 or so comments on the...

Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify Hey all, Jason here. In this episode recorded live in Las Vegas this Tuesday during Money20/20, I had the chance to talk with Oscilar cofounder and CEO Neha Narkhede . We had the chance to discuss: * Neha’s background as co-creator of Apache Kafka and cofounder of Confluent, which eventually scaled to a $10 billion IPO * How Oscilar is helping both...

Hey all, Jason here. In this episode, I had the chance to talk with Brian Reshefsky , founder and CEO of cashflow analytics platform EDGE , Timothy Li , cofounder and CEO of orchestration platform LendAPI , and Vincent Zhang, chief growth and strategy officer at Braviant Holdings . We had the chance to discuss: * How different stakeholders across the lending value chain are driving change * What g...

In this episode, I had the chance to talk with Unit21’s head of product Kunal Datta . Kunal and I had the chance to discuss: -The recent guest post Kunal published in Fintech Business Weekly -The new fintech playbook: eliminating work instead of just streamlining it. -How fintechs use AI to differentiate by solving for frequency instead of friction. -How fintechs, banks, and credit unions are usin...

In this episode, I was joined by Charles Calomiris , Henry Kaufman Professor Emeritus of Financial Institutions in the Faculty of Business and Professor Emeritus of International and Public Affairs at Columbia Business School, Stephen Haber , A.A. and Jeanne Welch Milligan Professor, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Professor of Hi...

This episode was recorded live during last week’s MX Money Experience Summit in Park City, Utah. During the event, I had the chance to sit down with Brian Reshefsky , founder and CEO of cashflow analytics platform EDGE , and Matt West , chief revenue officer of open banking infrastructure company MX . We had the chance to discuss: * What makes EDGE unique among cashflow analytics platforms, includ...

Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify Hey all, Jason here. Alex Johnson , creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap , where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto. This episode is brought to you by Fintech NerdCon , the fintech event by operators, for operators. Use promo code...