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The future of finance is being built onchain. But what will it take to bring the next generation of financial infrastructure to the mainstream? Welcome to Season 2 of Money Code, with brand-new hosts Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, and Nick van Eck, Founder & CEO of Agora. To kick off the new season, they sit down with Mike Cagney, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Figure, to explore how blockchain technology is reshaping lending, capital markets, and the financial system itself. From tokenized assets and onchain lending to the opportunities and challenges facing traditional financial institutions, Mike shares his perspective on where financial infrastructure is headed, what it will take to drive adoption, and why the next chapter of finance may look very different from the one we know today. Money Code is back for Season 2, bringing together the founders, investors, and operators building the future of money. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN 00:00 Cold Open 00:10 Welcome to Money Code Season 2 01:19 Mike Cagney’s Journey from SoFi to Figure 05:00 SoFi’s Evolution and the Challenges of Traditional Lending 09:01 Why Figure Bet on Blockchain 14:05 The Future of Tokenized Equities and Stock Lending 23:49 Stablecoins, Payments, and the Future of Banking 36:59 Figure’s HELOC Business and DeFi Lending 44:05 Navra and Making DeFi Accessible to Institutions 47:08 AI, Entrepreneurship, and Building the Next Generation of Finance 52:00 Building Companies with Family and Advice for Founders Connect with our Hosts and Guest:  Nick van Eck: https://x.com/Nick_van_Eck https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-van-eck-17036212a/ Rob Hadick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-hadick/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecagney/ Mike Cagney:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecagney/ Presenting Sponsor: Transak This season of Money Code is presented by Transak, the payments infrastructure that connects traditional money with stablecoins and crypto. Through a single API, any financial app can enable its users to onboard, fund, and withdraw stablecoins and crypto without leaving the app.  Whether you’re building a wallet, exchange, neobank, remittance app, payroll platform or any other financial app, Transak carries the licenses, compliance and local banking across key markets, so your users can move between cash and stablecoins wherever they are. If you’re building a fintech app, learn more at transak.com/moneycode.

In this episode of Money Code, Sanjib Kalita sits down with Maggie Wu, CEO and co-founder of VelaFi, to discuss the challenges of cross-border payments in Latin America and how stablecoins can help businesses move money faster and at lower cost.Maggie shares VelaFi's journey from Mexico to markets across Latin America, explaining how the company built its payment infrastructure around local licensing, banking relationships, and compliance. They also discuss the growing demand for stablecoin payments, why B2B businesses have a greater need for cross-border solutions, and what it takes to build financial infrastructure across multiple emerging markets.Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN00:00 - Maggie Wu and the origins of VelaFi02:45 - From crypto investing to stablecoin payments04:50 - Why VelaFi started in Latin America07:20 - Building compliant cross-border payment infrastructure09:50 - How customer feedback shaped the product12:20 - Expanding across Latin American markets14:35 - Building local teams and maintaining compliance16:20 - Why VelaFi focuses on B2B payments18:45 - The growing demand for stablecoin payments21:10 - Why emerging markets are adopting stablecoins23:35 - VelaFi’s competitive advantage25:35 - Growth, fundraising, and scaling the business27:55 - Maggie’s journey as an entrepreneur29:45 - What’s next: AI and building with agentsConnect with our Host and Guest: Sanjib Kalita: linkedin.com/in/sanjibkalitaMaggie Wu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-wu-164a0797/About StableconStablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.

In this episode of Money Code, host Sanjib Kalita sits down with Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer and Head of Investor Relations at Coinbase, to unpack where crypto, stablecoins, and traditional finance are heading next. They explore Coinbase’s vision for an open financial system built onchain and why stablecoins are becoming an increasingly important piece of financial infrastructure.The conversation also dives into tokenized assets, agentic commerce, and the rise of machine-to-machine payments. Shan explains why stablecoins could be particularly well suited for AI-driven transactions and what needs to happen for onchain finance to become more seamless, accessible, and interconnected.Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN00:00 – Intro: Shan Aggarwal and Coinbase03:20 – From Venture Investing to Coinbase09:55 – Building a Global Crypto Platform12:56 – Stablecoins and the Future of Onchain Finance16:39 – Coinbase and the Rise of Agentic Commerce22:32 – Build, Buy, Partner or Invest?34:42 – Coinbase’s 5–10 Year Vision for Finance41:05 – The Convergence of Traditional Finance and Crypto46:57 – The Evolving U.S. Crypto Regulatory Landscape52:17 – Shan’s Outlook on the Future of FinanceConnect with our Host and Guest: Sanjib Kalita: linkedin.com/in/sanjibkalitaShan Aggarwal :https://www.linkedin.com/in/shan-aggarwal-2a314b49/About StableconStablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Manuel Godoy, co-founder and CEO of Felix, the WhatsApp-native remittance company that has processed north of $6B across Latin America. They unpack how Felix turned an existing WhatsApp receipt-sharing habit into a remittance product, why stablecoins gave a small startup "economies of scale," and what it takes to build a broader financial companion for Latino immigrants in the US. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Felix starts with trust, not rails 02:49 Why remittance still starts in cash stores 05:08 WhatsApp was already in the flow 06:17 The first Felix product ideas failed 09:03 Why senders trust recipients with the money 11:28 Leticia: from hesitant user to ambassador 13:21 Scaling trust beyond founder selling 17:40 The ugly TikTok video that unlocked growth 20:48 Felix passes $6B across Latin America 23:16 Why Felix is becoming more than remittances 31:44 Stablecoins as small-startup scale 38:18 What breaks in weak-liquidity corridors 41:42 WhatsApp as the product platform 45:58 The financial companion opportunity Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Manuel Godoy: https://x.com/manueljgodoym Felix: https://felixpago.com | https://x.com/Felixpago About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Pritpal Shokar, Head of Product for Digital Assets at Thunes, to trace how a global payment network moves money across 140 countries, 90 currencies, and 220 payment methods. They unpack how stablecoins can reduce prefunding from days to hours, why local demand determines which corridors can adopt them, and why Pritpal says a capital-light network makes Thunes' core business stronger. Chapters 00:00 Defining Thunes and the last-mile problem 03:22 Building a payment network one market at a time 05:31 Mobile wallets are the account 07:14 Why instant payouts still require prefunding 10:36 Stablecoins move funding from days to hours 13:49 Local demand determines viable stablecoin corridors 17:11 Thunes tested stablecoins in its own treasury 21:35 Tokenized deposits keep money inside banking 27:02 Supporting new forms of money without picking winners 30:29 Programmable settlement, DeFi, and on-chain yield 35:40 Capital was never the product 39:10 Preparing for agentic payments before demand arrives 42:55 Start with one corridor problem Timestamps may change after final editing. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Pritpal Shokar: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/pritpal-shokar | https://www.thunes.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/thunespayments About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Benji Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, a remittance business for diaspora customers, and Rafiki, its B2B infrastructure arm for emerging-market payouts, collections, and stablecoin settlement. They unpack how consumer remittance volume pushed NALA to own more of the rails, why 96 out of 100 stablecoin trades in its markets are USDT, and why licenses, liquidity, and local payout infrastructure decide what stablecoins can actually do. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 What NALA does: remittance, Rafiki, and emerging-market rails 01:56 Why Benji entered a "saturated" remittance market 04:56 The failed first version of NALA 06:35 Africa's fragmentation problem: 54 countries, 40 currencies 08:20 The FX loss that pulled NALA into infrastructure 12:48 The NALA stack: ledger, treasury, distribution 18:47 Where stablecoins actually help 20:43 Three stablecoin patterns Benji is watching 26:13 Local wallets: four customer problems inside one product 31:09 The liquidity problem behind stablecoin on/off ramps 35:29 "Solve my problem fastest": what users care about 36:10 The stablecoin hype Benji pushes back on 40:44 TAM has to follow customer behavior 44:39 Payments for the next billion 47:40 Why Rafiki scaled after everyone called it a distraction 49:56 Where to find Benji and NALA Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Benji Fernandes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminf7/ | https://x.com/BenjiFernandes | https://www.nala.com | https://www.rafiki.com About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

In this special crossover episode from Stable Pulse, host Nik Milanović sits down with Chairman French Hill to discuss the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the future of stablecoin regulation in the United States. They explore how stablecoins are reshaping payments, what clear regulation means for banks and non-bank issuers, and why the distinction between stablecoins and tokenized deposits matters. Chairman Hill also shares his perspective on reserve standards, compliance, and how policymakers are balancing innovation with consumer protection. The conversation concludes with a look at the future of asset tokenization, blockchain-based financial markets, and what it will take for the U.S. to remain a global leader in digital finance. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Stable Pulse for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of stablecoins, payments, and digital finance.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Jack Chong, co-founder and CEO of Checker, a stablecoin liquidity network for regulated financial institutions that processed more than $3B over the last 12 months. They unpack why "USD is not the same in different countries," how stablecoins are creating a correspondent banking 2.0 layer, and why stablecoin payments still depend on local liquidity, settlement timing, and the bottlenecks around them. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Checker’s stablecoin network for financial institutions 01:48 Convert and trade vs send and receive 04:30 Why one API is not enough 09:33 Demand side, supply side, and who actually provides liquidity 13:26 "USD is not the same in different countries" 17:15 Correspondent banking 2.0 for emerging-market fintechs 20:27 How Checker expands beyond convert and trade 23:11 Float, settlement financing, and money at rest 28:09 Why USDT and USDC are not always one-to-one 35:09 What makes a stablecoin liquid 38:54 Start with the customer’s P&L, not the token 46:02 Showing up: what Jack learned in Lagos and Brazil 50:47 Where to find Jack and Checker Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Jack Chong / Checker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-chong/ | https://www.checker.finance About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Mark Frey, Group President of Corpay Cross-Border Solutions, which moves money to almost 200 countries in 145 currencies, and Keith Vander Leest, US General Manager at BVNK, fresh off the two companies launching embedded stablecoin wallets for Corpay's corporate clients. They unpack why cost "is not really a big driver" for stablecoin adoption when in-country payments already cost pennies, why the real prize is moving trapped liquidity 24/7 after wire cutoffs, and why "no one's really asking for stablecoins" even as providers route more volume onto them. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 What Corpay manages across 145 currencies and 200 countries 03:08 The launch: embedded stablecoin wallets for corporate clients 05:38 Blockchains as the fourth generation of payment rails 08:38 "Cost is not really a big driver": the 24/7 unlock 10:15 "Swift is sleeping": instant rails that don't interoperate 14:36 "No one's really asking for stablecoins" 21:24 Blockchain will disintermediate SWIFT 26:55 Why stablecoins need more than dollars 31:17 "We wanted to get on offense": how an incumbent ramps up 34:56 The 80/20 problem: stablecoin volume is still mostly crypto trading 38:14 Public stablecoins and private bank chains, hand in glove 43:06 "Why are we talking about yield on balances?" 46:48 Where to find Mark, Keith, Corpay, and BVNK Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Mark Frey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-frey-cross-border-payments/ | https://www.corpay.com Keith Vander Leest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithvanderleest/ | https://bvnk.com About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Alfonso Gómez-Jordana and Rodrigo Fernández Touza, co-founders of Crossmint, a financial infrastructure company building wallets, stablecoin orchestration, and agentic commerce tools. They unpack why launching fintech globally can move from country-by-country banking integrations to a single API, how compliance shifts to infrastructure providers with economies of scale, and why the loudest agentic-payment narratives still have little volume compared with B2B procurement and payment collection. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Crossmint's evolution from NFT checkout to financial infrastructure 02:12 No API for economic activity 04:14 The monastery origin story behind Crossmint 07:51 Why NFT checkout became stablecoin infrastructure 10:02 Embedded finance: turning remittance receivers into wallet customers 13:23 Stablecoins as the universal API for global fintech 16:12 The regulatory-arbitrage objection 21:10 Four compliance surfaces in stablecoin programs 23:55 MoneyGram: reducing costs and turning receivers into customers 25:59 Marshall Islands: replacing cash-by-boat with stablecoin wallets 30:44 Agentic finance: real usage versus narrative heat 37:10 Why agents need multi-rail infrastructure 43:27 How Crossmint decides what to build next 48:39 Building enterprise trust in a frontier market 53:14 Where to find Alfonso, Rodri, and Crossmint Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Alfonso Gómez-Jordana: https://x.com/alfongj Rodrigo Fernández Touza: https://x.com/rodrifernandezt Crossmint: https://www.crossmint.com | https://x.com/crossmint | https://www.linkedin.com/company/crossmint-io About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Thierry Edde, Head of Crypto at Deel, to unpack what five years building global payroll infrastructure taught him about where stablecoins add value. They break down why workers want dollar balances inside payroll apps, why compliant stablecoin salaries still run through local fiat rails, and how Deel is using Akai agents to clean up the payment failures deterministic code misses. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Deel's payments surface: 40,000 businesses, 150 countries 02:19 Why a late salary becomes an escalation 04:14 RFIs, SWIFT, and the missing status problem 06:44 Argentina showed every withdrawal path was in play 10:21 "Just people getting paid": hiding the chain 11:56 The wallet works because the off-ramps already exist 17:13 Businesses fund in stables, employees get paid compliantly 20:18 Reversing the stablecoin sandwich 23:29 DLUSD, card demand, and rewards behavior 28:36 Fiat payment scars matter for stablecoin scale 33:05 Akai agents and the last 1% of payout automation 36:37 Building Deel as an AI-native payment stack 40:31 Wallet expansion and where Deel goes next Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Thierry Edde: https://x.com/thierryEdde44 | https://www.deel.com/ | https://x.com/deel About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh talk with Miles Suter, Bitcoin product lead at Block, about Cash App's new stablecoin experience and Block's long-running push to make Bitcoin everyday money. Miles explains why stablecoins now belong inside the same Cash App dollar balance as ACH and wires, why more than 40% of Lightning payments are being funded by dollars, and how Lightning could become the "global lingua franca" connecting stablecoins, Bitcoin, and merchants. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Cash App's stablecoin launch in one balance 03:44 Block's Bitcoin mission is bigger than Cash App 10:08 Dollars on Lightning proved the stablecoin UX 13:19 Why crypto complexity blocks adoption 15:04 Stablecoins as the bridge to Bitcoin 17:30 El Salvador lesson: people want stable digital value 20:33 Trust is built by what Cash App refuses to ship 25:04 Stablecoins and Cash App's global path 29:27 Stablecoins become another Cash App rail 30:59 Why replacing cards is harder than fees 37:31 Bitcoin purists, stablecoins, and internal resistance 39:48 Lightning bridges Bitcoin and DeFi 44:15 Bitcoin as savings, stablecoins as checking 48:43 Where to find Miles and Bitcoin at Block Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Miles Suter: https://x.com/milessuter | https://block.xyz/bitcoin About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo sits down with Ben Milne, founder and CEO of Brale and founder of Dwolla, to talk about the stablecoin shift hiding inside payments P&Ls. Ben explains why issuance becoming "a non event" changes who can compete, how prefunding can turn stablecoins into a balance-sheet tool, and why payments companies may need to stop monetizing money movement and start building higher-margin services on top. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Why stablecoin issuance changes banking strategy 01:14 From credit card fees to payment infrastructure 02:31 Brale's pitch: issue a stablecoin in a minute 03:58 From $100M to $1: issuance becomes a non-event 05:45 The four markets pulling stablecoins forward 07:57 Prefunding: the hidden P&L lever in payments 10:01 Capital efficiency changes who can compete 12:49 "There is no basis point" in internet payments 14:33 Bank cores, protocols, and better financial infrastructure 18:21 Regulation gives banks permission to move 22:14 Why bank pilots now take weeks, not years 25:49 Non-USD stablecoins need local distribution 29:01 Where to find Ben and Brale Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Ben Milne: https://x.com/bpmilne | https://www.linkedin.com/in/bpmilne/ | https://benmilne.com | https://brale.xyz About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Ryan Bozarth, co-founder and CEO of Dakota, to unpack how Dakota went from building its own neobank to selling the regulated infrastructure layer behind the next generation of stablecoin-native fintechs. They dig into why building a neobank has shifted from a 12-18 month, multimillion-dollar project to something teams can test in weeks, and why the next bottleneck is domain expertise, distribution, and knowing which underserved market is worth building for. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Dakota's path from neobank to infrastructure 01:18 What "neobank" means on stablecoin rails 03:39 The new build math: weeks, not years 05:48 Community banking comes back through niches 08:28 Global rails, niche markets, and real experiments 10:47 Dakota's earned pain: onboarding and compliance as code 13:45 AI-native builders and marketplace distribution 17:48 When the neobank becomes a feature 21:57 Distribution is still the hard part 27:42 GENIUS, PACE, and the payment-institution lane 31:29 Why non-bank payments companies could win 34:49 Banks have to choose their game 37:15 Who benefits from the regulatory shift 41:33 Money becomes code 44:45 The offline niches nobody on crypto Twitter sees 46:00 Where to find Ryan and Dakota Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Ryan Bozarth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbozarth | https://x.com/ryanbozarth Dakota: https://dakota.xyz | https://x.com/dakotaxyz About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Amir Sarhangi, CEO and co-founder of Skyfire and former Ripple VP of Product, building the identity layer that lets AI agents transact on the existing web. They unpack why payments is the easy step in agentic commerce, how Skyfire's KYA token threads the existing web security stack instead of replacing it, and why "anonymous is not a good thing" in the world of AI. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Access, login, checkout: the three problems agents must clear 02:32 The Bose headphones demo: what actually breaks for agents 06:04 KYA: binding human, agent, and enterprise into one token 08:07 Three layers an agent must clear: bot detection, fraud, login 10:35 "Agentic commerce has been happening. It's just been illegal." 14:11 Why Skyfire pivoted from anonymous crypto payments to identity 21:30 Experian's trust score: credit reporting for agents 24:39 Bank logins and the enterprise access problem 27:50 The Plaid analog for long-tail bank access 30:30 Same KYA token, three architectures: web, MCP, agent-to-agent 35:37 Three adoption phases and OpenAI's buy-button problem 41:04 The white space: vertical execution layers 43:37 Where to find Amir and Skyfire Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Amir Sarhangi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asarhangi/ | https://x.com/amirsarhangi | https://x.com/trySkyfire | https://skyfire.xyz About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.