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This week on This Week in Fintech, Sasha Pilch starts with the fallout from the Binance hack, which has seen around $6.3 billion in assets stolen from the world’s largest crypto exchange. Larry DiTore and Amethyst Martinez break down what happened, where the recovery effort stands, and why an attack of this scale raises much bigger questions about security, trust and coordination across the crypto industry. Then Sasha sits down with Daniel Simon, founder and CEO of Coast, to talk about a very different corner of financial services: the plumbers, landscapers, construction companies, transport operators and other businesses that make up what Daniel calls the physical economy. Coast is building expense management and payments software specifically for companies with employees out in the field, where controlling exactly how a company card is used can matter more than points or cashback. Daniel explains why these huge industries have been largely overlooked by fintech, how Coast is taking on decades-old fleet card providers, and how data from vehicles and telematics systems can help stop fraud in real time. He also shares what he learned from building and selling Bread, why vertical specialization can create a much stronger product, and why his team spends less time at fintech conferences and more time at events like World of Concrete and PestWorld. It’s an episode about two very different kinds of trust problems: protecting billions of dollars in digital assets, and building financial tools that actually understand how real-world businesses operate. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

What happens when the AI agent shopping for you gets blocked by the world’s biggest online marketplace? This week, Sasha Pilch is joined by This Week in Fintech reporter Amethyst Martinez to unpack Amazon’s decision to block Meta’s Muse shopping agent, and what it could mean for the future of agentic commerce. They discuss the tension between security, commercial interests and open access, and whether the dream of one AI assistant that can shop anywhere on the web could ultimately be undermined by competing platforms and walled gardens. Then, Sasha sits down with Adam Nash, co-founder and CEO of Daffy and former CEO of Wealthfront. Adam explains how Daffy is bringing donor-advised funds to a much broader audience, why donating public and private stock can be such a powerful way to give, and how modern fintech infrastructure can make charitable giving feel as simple as any other financial app. They also discuss Daffy’s rapid growth, its work with companies including Figma and OpenAI, and Adam’s prediction that within the next few years, many financial actions, including charitable giving, could increasingly be delegated to AI agents. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

In this sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, Katie Perry sits down with Krishna Bhagavatula, Chief Product Officer at Clover, to talk about how the platform is evolving far beyond payments. Krishna explains why small business owners need something very different from enterprise software. They are often acting as the CFO, CMO, COO and HR team all at once, which means the best technology has to hide complexity rather than add to it. That philosophy is behind Clover’s push to become a full operating system for SMBs, bringing together payments, inventory, payroll, staffing, loyalty, marketing and back-office tools in one place. The conversation also gets into how better connected data can help small businesses make smarter decisions around pricing, labor, inventory and cash flow, as well as how Clover uses its understanding of a merchant’s business to offer financing when they need it most. Katie and Krishna then look at what AI could change. From automatically building menus and product imagery to surfacing business insights and eventually running tasks through AI agents, Krishna lays out a future where a small business could have the equivalent of a virtual CFO, COO and CMO built into the software it already uses. This is a sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, produced in partnership with Clover. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

This week on This Week in Fintech, Sasha Pilch is joined by reporter Mary Ann Azevedo to unpack the latest twist at Better. Just two months after being removed as CEO, Vishal Garg has regained control of the company’s board, helped remove the directors who ousted him, and now says he does not actually want the CEO job back. Mary Ann explains how the power struggle unfolded, what Garg says he learned while he was out, and whether Better can realistically deliver on its plans to cut costs and reach breakeven. Then Sasha sits down with Rob Schoder, founder and CEO of Vinyl Equity, to dig into one of the more obscure corners of capital markets infrastructure: transfer agents. Rob explains why moving shares around an IPO can still involve paper mail, temporary PINs and days of phone calls, and why something that should be close to instantaneous can still take weeks. They also discuss the SEC’s push to modernize transfer agent rules, how Vinyl is trying to create a smoother bridge between cap tables, equity plans and brokerage accounts, and why Rob believes ownership records will eventually move on chain, even if the transition takes years rather than months. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

In this sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, Katie Perry sits down with Doug Ricket, founder and CEO of PayJoy, to talk about how the company is expanding access to credit for people who have historically been left out of the formal financial system. PayJoy began with a simple idea: use the smartphone itself as collateral. Customers can finance a device, build a repayment history, and then use that relationship as a stepping stone toward broader access to credit. Today, PayJoy has served more than 20 million customers across emerging markets, helping people finance everything from smartphones to everyday expenses and small business needs. Doug shares how his time in the Peace Corps, his work in emerging markets, and his experience with pay-as-you-go solar shaped the company’s approach. He also explains why PayJoy avoids compounding interest, how the business tries to align its economics with customer success, and why giving someone their first real access to credit can be far more valuable than simply giving them another bank account. The conversation also looks at what happens after that first smartphone loan, from digital payments and credit cards to financing for appliances and small businesses. Doug explains why PayJoy is choosing to stay focused on credit rather than becoming a super app, and why he believes the opportunity could ultimately extend to hundreds of millions, or even billions, of people across the Global South. This is a sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, produced in partnership with PayJoy. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

This week on This Week in Fintech, Sasha Pilch sits down with Daragh Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Imprint, to talk about how the company is helping major brands rethink credit cards, rewards, and customer loyalty. Imprint is building financial experiences directly into the brands consumers already know and love, replacing outdated bank-driven credit card programs with modern technology and personalized rewards. Daragh explains how Imprint is winning enterprise customers, why major retailers are rethinking their credit card partnerships, and why investing in risk management, compliance, and infrastructure has been critical to the company's growth. The conversation also explores the future of agentic commerce and how Imprint is developing safeguards that allow consumers to use AI agents to make purchases without giving them unrestricted access to their cards. Daragh shares how virtual card numbers, transaction alerts, and more flexible credit products could help bring more consumers into the financial system. Before that, Sasha is joined by This Week in Fintech editor Larry DiTore to unpack Iridium Credit’s $3 million funding round and its use of AI agents to automate invoice verification for factoring companies. They discuss how AI can help lenders catch discrepancies and potential fraud, reduce manual checks, and prevent businesses from financing the same invoice multiple times. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

In this episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, Nik Milanovic sits down with Allen Osgood, founder and CEO of Eisen, to unpack one of the seemingly least glamorous but most important parts of financial infrastructure: what happens when customer accounts go dormant. Allen explains the world of escheatment, the process that can require financial institutions to hand abandoned assets over to state governments after a period of inactivity. States are currently holding around $70 billion in unclaimed property, and for banks, brokerages, crypto platforms and fintechs, navigating dozens of different state rules can quickly become a major operational and compliance problem. The conversation gets into why Eisen is focused on preventing accounts from reaching that point in the first place, how outdated customer information can lead to assets being liquidated without their owners realizing it, and why crypto has made the problem even more complicated. Allen also shares how Eisen works with companies like Coinbase, Binance.US and other financial institutions to automate account offboarding, outreach and regulatory workflows at scale. Nik and Allen also discuss Eisen’s new Tax Center, the coming challenge of backup withholding for crypto platforms, and how AI could dramatically increase the number of financial accounts that institutions need to manage. They also get into where AI can help automate the back office, and where regulated financial services still demands systems that are deterministic, tested and 100 percent reliable. This is a sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, produced in partnership with Eisen. Connect Allen Osgood Linkedin Eisen Website About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

This week on This Week in Fintech, Sasha Pilch sits down with Rron Rexha, founder and CEO of Arca, to talk about how AI could modernize one of the most traditional corners of financial services. Arca is using AI to take administrative work off financial advisors’ plates, from account opening and money movement to preparing for client conversations, with the goal of giving advisors more time to focus on the relationships and decisions that actually matter. The company only emerged from stealth this year, but has already raised $64 million and is managing around $1 billion in client assets. Rron explains how Arca scaled so quickly, why wealth management still feels surprisingly outdated, and where he thinks AI should stop and humans should stay firmly in the loop. The conversation also gets into Arca’s approach to custody, its partnership with Altruist, and why better technology could make high-quality financial advice more effective and more accessible. Before that, Sasha is joined by This Week in Fintech reporter Amethyst Martinez to unpack a very different AI trend: why so many AI agents are suddenly being designed as cute, friendly characters, and what that tells us about how companies are trying to build trust in increasingly powerful technology. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

In this episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, Katie Perry sits down with Georgina Merhom, founder and CEO of SOLO, to explore why financial services still asks customers to prove who they are over and over again — and what it would take to make identity verification reusable. Georgina explains how SOLO is building a verification network that allows banks and fintechs to rely on identity checks that have already been completed elsewhere, provided those checks meet their own compliance standards. Rather than acting as another KYC provider, SOLO is positioning itself more like a clearinghouse for verification: auditing how information was verified, matching credentials against an institution’s policies, and managing the governance and economics around sharing that work. They also discuss recent regulatory guidance around verifiable digital credentials, what SOLO learned from a pilot involving banks and regulatory observers, and why Georgina believes the bigger challenge is no longer regulation but getting institutions comfortable trusting one another’s verification work. The conversation closes on consumer control, agentic commerce, and why the rise of AI agents could make persistent identity, permission, and revocation infrastructure even more important. This is a sponsored episode of This Week in Fintech Partnered, produced in partnership with SOLO. Connect Georgina Merhom Linkedin SOLO Website About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

This Week in Fintech is back with a new look, a new host and a new weekly format. Hosted by Sasha Pilch, each episode will dig into one of the biggest stories moving fintech before sitting down with a founder, operator or investor helping shape where the industry goes next. For our first episode, Sasha is joined by This Week in Fintech’s Larry DiTore and Amethyst Martinez to unpack the allegations of wash trading surrounding Kalshi, what the reporting has uncovered so far, and why the story may be far from over. Then, Sasha sits down with Warp founder and CEO Ayush Sharma to talk about building an AI-native payroll and employee management platform, the frustrations that inspired the company, and the extraordinary Series B that saw Warp raise $60 million in just six days. Ayush also shares why he still writes code as CEO, what he has learned about scaling a company beyond its earliest stages, and why AI may be changing the old rules about how hands-on founders can remain as their companies grow. Welcome to the new This Week in Fintech podcast. Subscribe for more conversations on fintech, payments, stablecoins, and the future of financial infrastructure. Connect with the Hosts & Guest Sasha Pilch Linkedin Ayush Sharma Linkedin About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

Host Justin Friedman sits down with Sophia Goldberg, Rain’s Head of Payments and founder of Ansa, the branded stored value platform acquired by Rain in 2026. They discuss how combining Ansa’s closed-loop, stored value infrastructure with Rain’s stablecoin-powered open-loop payment rails could change the way global brands build wallets, loyalty programs, and embedded payment experiences. Sophia explains why branded payments can be much more than the familiar coffee-shop wallet, from marketplaces retaining seller earnings to hotel and travel rewards that work consistently anywhere you go. She argues that stablecoins can collapse much of the complexity of launching financial products in new markets, allowing brands to create more consistent payment and loyalty experiences around the world. The conversation then turns to agentic commerce and the emergence of AI agents as a new shopper persona. Sophia and Justin unpack the questions this creates around identity, delegated authority, fraud, liability, and payment credentials, and why the payments industry may need to solve them collectively to enable the next era of e-commerce. Sophia explains why competitors are already collaborating on standards through the Agentic Payments Alliance as the industry prepares for the approaching paradigm shift. Learn More Visit Rain   Connect with the Host & Guest Justin Friedman Sophia Goldberg Follow Sophia on X Follow Rain on X About Crossing the Chasm Crossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers. Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

Host Justin Friedman sits down with Rachel Mayer, VP of Product at Circle and one of the masterminds behind Arc, to unveil Circle’s new layer one blockchain. Drawing on Rachel’s experience trading emerging-markets currencies on Wall Street, they start with the inefficiencies still embedded in traditional cross-border money movement. Rachel explains how Arc is designed as an “economic operating system” for on-chain finance, with stablecoins used for gas, opt-in privacy, and interoperability built into the network from the start. The conversation explores why privacy and auditability need to coexist, how a permissioned validator set including major banks and payments companies changes the model for public blockchain infrastructure, and whether instant settlement should always mean irreversible settlement. They also dig into Circle’s broader strategy for bringing foreign exchange on-chain, including the Circle Payments Network, which enables cost-effective and compliant global payments, StableFX on Arc, which aims to reduce counterparty risk for institutions by settling select stablecoin currency pairs on-chain, and Circle’s support for a growing ecosystem of non-USD stablecoins. Rachel makes the case that local currencies will remain relevant, and explains why deeper on-chain liquidity could eventually reshape cross-border payments and institutional FX. Learn More Visit: Arc.io Visit: Circle.com Connect with the Host & Guest Justin Friedman Rachel Mayer Follow Rachel on X Follow Arc on X About Crossing the Chasm Crossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers. Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

Presented by Clair. What if the best financial product is the one users never have to go looking for? In this episode of This Week in Fintech, Clair founder Nico Simko joins us to explain how a personal frustration with the US credit system turned into a profitable earned wage access business serving hundreds of thousands of businesses. Nico talks about Clair’s evolution from digital bank to embedded financial infrastructure, and why the company ultimately decided to work through payroll and workforce management platforms rather than build another standalone consumer app. The thesis is simple: people do not want another login. They want access to financial tools inside the systems they already use at work. The conversation also goes deep on the less visible work required to make earned wage access function at scale, from bank partnerships and state-by-state licensing to underwriting, repayment infrastructure and the build-versus-buy decisions facing large payroll providers. Nico explains why some of the simplest-looking fintech products can be among the hardest to build. They also discuss the human side of short-term liquidity, Clair’s ambition to help users eventually graduate beyond earned wage access, and why profitability gives fintech companies more freedom to build around real customer problems instead of chasing every new technology trend. A conversation about embedded finance, credit, regulation, payroll, product-market fit and what it takes to build financial infrastructure that actually works. Subscribe for more conversations on fintech, payments, stablecoins, and the future of financial infrastructure. Connect with the Hosts & Guest Nik Milanovic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikm/ Nico Simko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsimko/ About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

Host Justin Friedman interviews Blake Duncan, Alchemy’s Lead Agent Experience Engineer, about what happens when AI agents replace humans as the economic decision-maker. They start with fundamentals: What makes a smart wallet “smart” and how the x402 protocol will enable the pay-per-use Internet as agents increasingly outnumber human visitors. Blake argues that mainstream adoption will accelerate when wallets and applications turn on smart features and improvements in user experience, such as sponsored gas fees that enable embedded wallets to work seamlessly on-chain. Justin interrogates the potential for micropayments to reinvent the economics of the Internet, where fraction-of-a-cent transactions will fund API calls and research tasks that could never be possible using legacy methods of payment. Blake walks through Alchemy’s suite of solutions for agentic commerce: AgentCard (a payment card for agents); Agent Pay (enabling merchants to accept x402 payments); and Agent Wallet (a developer-facing embedded smart wallet). He articulates a vision for how smart wallets can enhance trust by integrating guardrails to properly scope what an agent is allowed to spend, and how that model can flex when an agent hits constraints on preset limits. They close on the potential for convergence between two parallel paths to crypto adoption: the familiar lane of stablecoin-linked cards and other familiar user experiences; and the AI-native lane, which imagines a future where humans can depend on their agents to perform tasks beyond simply shopping on the Internet, while spending money efficiently and responsibly. Learn More Alchemy: How to Build Onchain Agents: Wallets, Payments, and Real-Time Data - https://www.alchemy.com/blog/how-to-build-onchain-agents The Block: Alchemy and Privy roll out technical integration to smooth pain points of 'onchain finance' - https://www.theblock.co/news/business/2026-04-28-alchemy-and-privy-roll-out-technical-integration-to-smooth-pain-points-of-onchain-finance-399239 Connect with the Host & Guest Justin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/ Blake Duncan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-c-duncan/ Follow Blake on X: @BlakeCDuncan https://x.com/BlakeCDuncan Follow Alchemy on X: @Alchemy https://x.com/alchemy About Crossing the Chasm Crossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers. Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube

Host Sasha Pilch sits down with Vroon Modgill, Founder & CEO of Sokin, to explore how modern treasury infrastructure is transforming global payments. From slow settlement windows and fragmented banking relationships to stablecoins and real-time treasury management, Vroon breaks down why traditional treasury workflows are overdue for an upgrade. He shares how Sokin combines global bank accounts, stablecoin wallets, payment capabilities, and ERP integrations into a single platform that helps businesses move money more efficiently across borders. The conversation covers hybrid payment routing, the role of stablecoins as a treasury tool, the challenges of on- and off-ramping, and why licensing, banking partnerships, and infrastructure have become critical competitive advantages. Vroon also shares insights into Sokin's rapid growth and what enterprise customers are demanding as they expand globally. Whether you're interested in stablecoins, cross-border payments, embedded finance, or the future of treasury, this episode offers a look at how financial infrastructure is evolving for a more connected world. Subscribe for more conversations on fintech, payments, stablecoins, and the future of financial infrastructure. Connect with the Hosts & Guest Sasha Pilch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-pilch Vroon Modgill: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vroon-modgill/ About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. Follow The Financial News Network Linkedin X Instagram TikTok YouTube