Episodios

  • Payment Processing Secrets: 13 Companies Merged Into One Platform
    Mar 31 2026
    Unified commerce and European payments are under pressure as merchants juggle fragmented vendors, local debit schemes, and country-by-country compliance. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Niv Liran, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Unzer, to break down how one platform serves over 85,000 merchants across Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Denmark.Niv explains how Unzer consolidated 13 acquired companies into a single system using a one-application-per-purpose rule, why local language sales and compliance expertise outperform global common-denominator approaches, and how open banking and the European Payments Initiative are creating new payment rails. The conversation gets specific on merchant migration tactics, daily workflow savings from eliminating multi-vendor reconciliation, and where AI-powered tools fit for small businesses within the next three to five years.FIND OUT MORE1️⃣ Gate your best features to the new platform so merchants have a reason to migrate without being forced.2️⃣ Ask prospects to walk through their daily actions before pitching; let the pain sell the solution.3️⃣ Set a one-app-per-purpose rule before consolidation starts to prevent political gridlock across acquired teams.4️⃣ Test every partnership against two filters: does it help the merchant, and will consumers actually adopt it.5️⃣ Connect directly to local accounting software in each market; it locks in retention and kills reconciliation overhead.GuestNiv Liran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nivliranUnzer: https://www.unzer.comFintech ConfidentialPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNotifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/accessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSupporters of Fintech ConfidentialUnder.io: Streamlines application and underwriting by digitizing PDFs for e-signature. under.io/FTCSkyflow: A zero-trust data privacy vault delivered as an API covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, SOC 2, and beyond. skyflowsecure.comDFNS: Wallets as a service, API first, multi-chain, secured with MPC across 50+ blockchains. fintechconfidential.com/dfnsHawk AI: Real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating. gethawk.comAbout the GuestNiv Liran is Chief Product and Technology Officer at Unzer. He entered fintech at Groupon in Berlin solving chargebacks on billions in monthly volume, then held leadership roles at Rocket Internet and AUTO1 Group, where he scaled the tech department from 5 to over 350 employees. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and an MBA from INSEAD.About UnzerUnzer is a payments and commerce platform serving more than 85,000 merchants across Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Luxembourg with unified online, in-store, and back-office solutions through its UnzerOne platform.About the HostTedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential. Produced by DD3 Media, Fintech Confidential brings you the people, tech, and companies that change how you pay and get paid.Chapters00:00 Episode Highlights01:02 Welcome to Fintech Confidential01:10 DFNS: Wallets as a Service (sponsor)02:32 Meet Niv Inbar05:08 Why Unified Commerce Is Hard07:02 Falling Into Payments09:46 Unser vs Stripe Adyen11:30 Localizing Across Europe12:44 One Platform Consolidation15:12 Merchant Migration Playbook17:43 Merchant Day to Day Example20:21 Skyflow - Your Privacy API (sponsor)21:18 Taming Local Debit Schemes23:29 Selling ROI and Reducing Risk26:29 Partnerships Open Banking EPI29:20 EPI and Digital Wallet Future31:06 Market Consolidation Ahead32:27 Crystal Ball Unified Commerce35:26 AI Agents for Small Business37:32 One Sentence Founder Advice39:11 Wrap Up Key Takeaways41:03 Hawk AI - Realtime Fraud Monitoring (sponsor)41:47 Disclaimer
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    42 m
  • Crypto Tax Secrets From an IRS Agent Who Audited 14 Platforms
    Mar 24 2026
    Crypto tax software flaws, IRS audit risk, and data manipulation are putting millions of investors in danger. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Janna Scott, founder and CEO of DeFi Tax and an IRS Enrolled Agent, to break down why the tools crypto investors trust may fail them in an audit.Janna conducted forensic audits of 14 major crypto tax platforms and 53 firms claiming crypto tax expertise. The same 70 transactions produced a $99 gain on one platform, a $2,990 gain on another, and a $351 loss on a third. She explains how platforms allow users to edit immutable on-chain data like dates, currency types, and cost basis, making reports inadmissible in audits the same way the IRS rejects QuickBooks files. Her peer-reviewed research, published in Tax Notes, was shared with the IRS crypto division and SEC FinHub, and contributed to pausing IRS crypto audits. With enforcement expected to resume within months, this is a wake-up call for anyone holding or trading crypto.FIND OUT MORE1️⃣ Screenshot your crypto tax reports now; platforms have silently changed algorithms, producing 25-35% different results on the same historical data without notifying users.2️⃣ Never edit immutable transaction fields like dates, spot prices, fees, or cost basis; the IRS treats altered reports the same way it treats manipulated bank statements.3️⃣ Connect every wallet and exchange login you have ever used, including discontinued US exchanges, so transfers are not misclassified as taxable income.4️⃣ Run your transaction data through multiple products and compare results; if the numbers diverge significantly, get professional review before filing.5️⃣ Ask any firm claiming crypto tax expertise whether they can manually calculate your transactions and defend the work in front of the IRS before you pay them.Guest LinksJanna Scott | DeFi TaxWebsite: https://defitax.us/X: https://x.com/defitax_usFintech Confidential LinksPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNotifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/accessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSupportersDFNS provides wallets as a service that is API first, multi-chain by design, and secured with MPC so you can launch across over 50 blockchains without managing private keys. Request a demo at fintechconfidential.com/dfnsSkyflow is a zero trust data privacy vault delivered as an API that lets you collect, secure, and tokenize personal information with built-in features for PCI, CCPA, GDPR, and SOC 2 compliance. Visit skyflowsecure.comHawk AI provides AI tools for real-time payment screening, ML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating to make compliance more effective and help fight fraud and financial crime. Visit gethawkai.comAbout the GuestJanna Scott is the founder and CEO of DeFi Tax, an IRS Enrolled Agent, and an MBA with over 20 years of experience in tax compliance, financial analysis, and government finance. Her forensic research across 14 platforms and 53 firms was peer reviewed, published in Tax Notes, and shared with the IRS and SEC.About the CompanyDeFi Tax is a crypto tax compliance platform that calculates obligations using direct blockchain data, locks immutable transaction fields, traces NFT basis through the chain of custody, and supports users through audit and tax court.About the HostTedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential. Produced by DD3 Media, Fintech Confidential brings you the people, tech, and companies that change how you pay and get paid.Chapters00:00 Episode Highlights01:07 Welcome to Fintech Confidential01:15 Dfns: Wallets as a Service (sponsor)02:37 Show Intro and Guest06:13 Jana Origin Story09:15 Inside Government View11:38 John Doe Summonses15:43 Forensic Platform Audits22:05 Transfers and 1099 Traps24:41 Variance and Real Costs29:04 Taking Findings to Regulators32:16 Terms Changes and Report Drift34:07 Building It Yourself34:59 Why Reports Fail Audits35:39 Sky Flow: Building Fast and Secure (sponsor)36:41 Cryto Tax and Quickbooks38:46 Editing Breaks Credibility40:27 Defi Tax Guardrails42:24 Validator Income Burn Fees43:25 NFT Basis Tracing45:08 Pricing Sources Averaging46:29 Self Transfer Verification48:53 Audit Packets Evidence49:41 Silent Algorithm Changes54:00 Enforcement Crystal Ball56:05 Middle Class Snowball59:08 Practical Wallet Tracking01:02:05 Recap And Next Steps01:05:09 Show Wrap01:06:18 Hawk AI (sponsor)01:07:04 Disclaimer
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    1 h y 8 m
  • Banking as a Service: Why Most Sponsor Bank Deals Fail Before Launch
    Mar 17 2026
    Banking as a service and embedded finance get a practical breakdown as Academy Bank's David Robinson explains how a family-owned Kansas City institution built a BaaS program from the ground up. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, and co-host Stephen Bishop sit down with David to unpack what it takes to launch, staff, and scale an embedded banking practice at a community bank.Find out more at fintechconfidential.comAcademy Bank, a subsidiary of Dickinson Financial Corporation, operates alongside Armed Forces Bank with roughly $4.8 billion in combined assets and a stated goal of reaching $6 billion. David walks through why the bank chose Treasury Prime as its middleware provider, how it integrated Lithic for card processing, and why keeping compliance and BSA functions in-house was a non-negotiable. The conversation gets specific about due diligence red flags, deals that fell apart mid-process, fee income versus deposit economics, and what changed internally when embedded banking finally showed up in every team's annual goals.1️⃣ Prepare for bank meetings like an earnings call; anticipate every compliance question before the first conversation.2️⃣ Build your AML, BSA, and fraud monitoring team before approaching a sponsor bank, not after.3️⃣ Bring your operations and compliance leads to early bank meetings, not just the founder.4️⃣ Treat banker feedback as a data point; show how you tested it and what you changed.5️⃣ Ask your bank partner if embedded work appears in the annual goals of their compliance, risk, and legal teams.GUESTDavid Robinson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmrembeddedbanking/COMPANYAcademy Bank: https://www.academybank.comAcademy Bank BaaS: https://www.academybank.com/business/banking-as-a-serviceFINTECH CONFIDENTIALPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNotifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/accessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSUPPORTERSSkyflow: Build fast without breaking privacy. A zero-trust data privacy vault delivered as an API. Visit https://skyflowsecure.com Under: Streamline your application and underwriting process by turning PDFs into smart, signable forms. Get started free at https://under.io/ftcHawk AI: Real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating to fight fraud and financial crime. Sign up for a demo at https://gethawkai.comABOUTGuest: David Robinson is Director of Fintech and Embedded Banking at Academy Bank. He brings over 20 years of financial services experience across State Street, UMB Bank, and now Academy Bank, where he built the embedded banking practice from the ground up starting in December 2022.Company: Academy Bank is a full-service community bank under Dickinson Financial Corporation, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Named one of Fortune's Most Innovative Companies in 2023, it operates over 70 branches across Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri.Host: Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential. The show is produced by DD3 Media and brings you the people, tech, and companies that change how you pay and get paid.CHAPTERS00:00 Episode Highlights01:24 Skyflow Sponsor Read02:26 Meet the Hosts03:39 Introducing David Robinson04:37 Defining BaaS and Embedded Finance05:29 Academy Bank Growth Strategy06:56 Rapid Fire: This or That08:11 Choosing Treasury Prime09:22 Future Programs and Segments09:53 What Stays In-House12:42 Managed vs. Bank-Owned Compliance14:35 Marketplace Shift and Multi-Platform16:53 Partnerships Are a People Business18:26 Under Sponsor Read18:56 How Banks Vet Fintech Fit19:25 Diligence and Fit20:21 Regulators and Scale21:30 When Deals Fall Apart23:23 Greenlights and Redlines24:23 Advice for Fintechs26:12 Why Academy Bank27:49 Top Tips and Misconceptions29:38 Fees vs. Deposits30:46 Internal Shift and Speed35:47 Crystal Ball and Closing36:54 Final Advice for Founders38:51 Wrap Up39:23 Hawk AI Sponsor Read40:09 Disclaimer
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    41 m
  • JP Morgan Changed Open Banking and No One Is Ready for What Comes Next
    Mar 10 2026
    Open banking fees, stablecoin regulation, and AI-first payment systems are reshaping how money moves in the US. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with David Glaser, CEO of Dwolla, to unpack what's changing, what's breaking, and what smart operators are doing about it right now.Find out more JP Morgan's decision to charge for open banking access is forcing the entire industry to rethink how apps connect to bank account data. Real-time payment rails like RTP and FedNow are live but adoption is slow because not every use case needs instant settlement. Dwolla scaled without hiring a single net-new employee in two years by mapping every process into what can be automated and what still needs a human. This episode covers the frameworks, the data signals, and the strategy shifts that matter most if you're building or running anything in payments today.TAKEAWAYS1️⃣ Build with AI from day one and treat new hires as a last resort, not a first instinct.2️⃣ Rework your product fast because major AI releases absorb startup features every six months.3️⃣ Attack your biggest operational bottleneck first, even if you can only automate half of it.4️⃣ Track every internal handoff to find where delays, errors, and hidden costs are piling up.5️⃣ Set team values that reward discomfort so your people adopt new tools without waiting for a mandate.GUESTDavid Glaser: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daglaserCOMPANYDwolla: https://www.dwolla.comDwolla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dwollaDwolla YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/dwollaplatformFINTECH CONFIDENTIALPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNotifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/accessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSUPPORTERSUnder.io: Digitize your PDFs and streamline application and underwriting processes. Get started free at under.io/FTCSkyflow: A zero trust data privacy vault delivered as an API covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, and SOC 2. Visit skyflowsecure.comDFNS: Wallets as a service, API first, multi-chain, secured with MPC across 50+ blockchains. Request a demo at fintechconfidential.com/dfnsHawk AI: Real-time payment screening and AML transaction monitoring to cut false positives. Sign up for a demo at gethawk.comABOUTGuestDavid Glaser is CEO of Dwolla with over 25 years of payments experience spanning global leadership roles at Mastercard, Worldpay, CyberSource, and Visa. He grew up in a small coal mining town south of Pittsburgh, originally planned to become a high school math teacher, and has since led teams through some of the industry's biggest deals including Worldpay's $10.4 billion merger with Vantiv. Outside of payments, he's completed multiple Ironman triathlons and 70.3 races.CompanyDwolla is a leader in account-to-account payments in the US, offering a full-service platform that replaces legacy technology with a unified solution supporting ACH, Same Day ACH, RTP, and FedNow. Over 500 businesses partner with Dwolla to improve payment security, data visibility, and cash flow.HostTedd Huff is CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential. With 25+ years in the industry, he brings entertaining and informative content focused on fintech insights, market trends, and stories from leaders, thinkers, and doers.DD3 MediaFintech Confidential is a production of DD3 Media. All rights reserved.CHAPTERS00:00 Highlights02:06 Under.io: Streamlining Application Processes02:35 Introduction to FinTech Leaders One-on-One02:48 Meet David Glaser, CEO of Dwolla05:29 Payment Industry Then vs. Now08:03 Open Banking and AI in Payments08:55 JP Morgan's Open Banking Fee Announcement14:06 Payment Methods and Account Access14:36 Scaling Operations at Dwolla15:03 Modernizing Homegrown Systems16:26 AI and Automation in Payments17:20 Skyflow: Your Privacy API18:31 Balancing Founder Mindset with Scale19:22 Automating Back Office Processes21:52 Identifying What to Systemize Next29:52 Economic Signals in Transaction Data31:01 Interest Rate Impact on Fintech32:43 Predicting Trends with Payment Data35:04 Centralizing Data for AI Readiness37:21 Account-to-Account and Real-Time Rails38:21 Real-Time Payment Use Cases41:00 DFNS: Wallets as a Service42:39 Choosing the Right Payment Method44:09 Orchestrating Across Multiple Rails46:58 Vertical SaaS and Embedded Payments48:37 The Future of Stablecoins50:23 AI and Stablecoins Together54:21 Advice for Fintech Founders58:07 Hawk AI: Real-Time Fraud Monitoring58:52 Disclaimer
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    59 m
  • The Truth About AI in Banking That Nobody Is Talking About
    Mar 3 2026
    AI in customer experience, fraud prevention, and back-office operations is moving fast in banking and financial services, and the firms that fall behind risk losing both customers and competitive ground. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Mamta Rodrigues, Chief Client Officer of Banking, Financial Services and Insurance at TP, one of the largest employers in the world with over 500,000 people globally. Mamta brings decades of hands-on experience across American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and Synchrony, and she holds a patent, a signal that she has spent real time building products, not just advising on them. The conversation covers practical AI use cases in fraud, collections, and compliance, along with what separates clients who get results from those who stall out after a pilot.The pressure on banks and fintechs right now comes from two directions at once. Consumer expectations keep rising because people interact with payment products every single day. At the same time, fraud is accelerating. Every time the industry catches up, fraudsters adapt faster and the cycle resets. That means fraud teams, product teams, and customer experience teams are all fighting for resources and attention at the same time. For treasury managers, CFOs, and compliance leaders, this creates a real tension: how do you invest in AI-powered fraud prevention and still deliver a smooth experience that keeps customers loyal?The numbers from inside TP's client work tell a clear story. Fifty percent of TP's solutions are now AI-led, with the heaviest concentration in back-office operations like fraud, financial crime, and claims management. Mamta describes a recent deployment of TP's AI blueprint, tp.ai fab, layered into an existing client's operations to prevent and predict fraud. The results showed significant improvement in key metrics. On the collections side, predictive analysis now arms agents before a call even starts with propensity to pay, likely timing, expected recovery percentage, and recommended remediation paths. That kind of preparation changes the entire tone of a collections interaction from adversarial to solution-oriented, and the outcome is measurable: increased repayment, stronger loyalty, product expansion, and reduced breakage.One of the clearest signals Mamta uses to gauge whether a client will actually get results versus abandon the effort after a test: the composition of who shows up. When the cross-functional team walks through the door, operations, product, IT, and data leaders together, that's when real progress happens. She describes a design thinking approach where the client provides a problem statement in advance, both sides bring the right people, and in a single day they can shape a solution direction. The typical pattern is that they start with one problem statement and end the session with additional problem statements and new opportunities they had not considered. Clients who send a single department to "explore AI" without bringing the other stakeholders rarely make it past the pilot stage.Looking three to five years out, Mamta expects advanced AI and predictive analytics to fundamentally reshape how customer experience operates, powered by stronger data foundations and more mature tech stacks. She predicts continued growth in AI-led back-office solutions, deeper fraud protection capabilities, and a rising focus on elevating talent rather than replacing it. The human factor, she says, will always remain because both the customers and the agents serving them are still people. Her single piece of advice to fintech executives and founders: "Be comfortable with the uncomfortable." The firms that try, pivot, learn, and avoid the belief that they already know everything will be the ones that pull ahead.Key HighlightsFraud Signals Your Phone RevealsEvery mobile transaction generates thousands of hidden data points including gyroscope movement, touch pressure patterns, key press timing, and screen angle behavior that machine learning models use to verify identity. IP address matching combined with geolocation checks can confirm whether the person making a payment is physically located where their device says they are, adding layers of fraud protection most consumers never realize exist.Automation Is Not Replacing AgentsTP proposes automation first in every client engagement, yet the goal is augmenting agent performance through AI-powered training, quality assurance, and workforce management tools. Mundane tasks like balance inquiries have already moved to apps, while new roles in data analysis, predictive modeling, financial crime investigation, and fraud prevention are growing faster than the positions being phased out.Consumer Behavior Now Drives FintechBanking and payments typically lead BFSI adoption cycles because consumers transact with payment products daily, while insurance interactions are infrequent and purpose-driven. That ...
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    49 m
  • Stablecoins Are Taking Over and Most Banks Are Already Behind
    Feb 24 2026
    Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Nik Milanović, Founder and FinTech Enthusiast in Chief of This Week in FinTech, a global community of more than 200,000 members, and the founder of StableCon, the first conference built exclusively around stablecoins and payments. Nik also serves as a General Partner at The FinTech Fund, where he invests in the next generation of FinTech startups.Stablecoins have spent years being called either the future of money or a passing trend. What's changed isn't just the hype cycle: it's the regulatory foundation underneath it. The passage of the GENIUS Act, the repeal of SEC guidance SAB 121 on crypto custody, and a visible shift in how banks and financial institutions are engaging with stablecoins have moved this conversation from theoretical to operational. Banks that were quietly watching are now building. Companies that had no public stablecoin strategy 12 months ago are now processing stablecoin transactions in more than 150 countries.But here's what's worth paying attention to: the version of stablecoins that actually reaches everyday people won't look like what the original crypto community envisioned. No seed phrases. No self-custody. No libertarian utopia. What mass adoption looks like is a Stripe-powered merchant settlement that runs on blockchain rails while the customer sees something that looks exactly like a credit card transaction. As Nik puts it, "the revolution has to become a lot more boring first."That's not a failure of the original idea. That's how every major technology shift has played out, from radio to the internet. The infrastructure gets built, the guardrails go in, the corporates arrive, and what was once radical becomes routine.The same pattern is showing up in how banks and FinTech companies are working together. The old model of banks acquiring technology companies and absorbing them in-house has largely failed. What's replacing it is a partnership model: tech-forward institutions like FinWise, Column Bank, and Cross River Bank figuring out how to extend their capabilities without overreaching their charters. The tension between "you're either a bank or a tech company" has given way to something more practical.That shift in thinking is exactly what Nik built StableCon around. After six years of running This Week in FinTech and hearing repeated calls to launch a conference, the case for yet another general FinTech or crypto event wasn't there. There are more than 250 conferences globally with FinTech in the title. What didn't exist was a conference sitting at the specific intersection of banking, FinTech, and crypto, focused entirely on stablecoins: not asset price speculation, not blockchain theory, but the actual infrastructure of how money moves.The conference was announced January 17, 2025. It ran May 29 in New York City. That's five months to plan, hire, sell tickets, and pull off an inaugural event in one of the most expensive cities in the world. At the start of May, only 400 tickets had been sold. In the final two weeks, 500 more sold as word spread and people realized they needed to be in the room. Final attendance: more than 1,000.What the event revealed was as important as the numbers. Attendees were so focused on meeting each other that many skipped the general sessions entirely. That's not a failure: that's what happens when you gather a thousand people who are actually working in the same ecosystem and give them a room for the first time. The feedback confirmed it: StableCon filled a gap that BTC Vegas, Token2049, Permissionless, Money 2020, Consensus, Finovate, and FinTech Nexus weren't filling.The next StableCon US is expanding to three days, moving to Washington, DC at the Gaylord at National Harbor, and shifting to September to avoid scheduling conflicts. The goal is to bring in policy participants, regulators, law firms, and accounting firms alongside the operators, reflecting where the stablecoin conversation is actually heading.The current phase of stablecoin adoption has a name: skeuomorphic. Just like early apps made digital wallets look like leather wallets to make them feel familiar, today's stablecoin products largely rebuild what already exists on traditional rails. ACH replaced by stablecoin settlement. Wires replaced by on-chain transfers. The form looks the same; the infrastructure underneath is different.What comes after that phase is where things get genuinely interesting. Programmable payments with instructions built directly into the transaction. Conditional transfers that can't be replicated on analog rails. On-chain escrow, disputes, and chargebacks managed without customer service departments. Collateral composed from tokenized holdings across multiple asset classes, combined into a single deposit without requiring conversion into dollars first.That future isn't fully visible yet. As Nik says, "the coolest products that are built with ...
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    58 m
  • Sponsor Bank 101: Everything Fintechs Need to Know Before Signing a Contract
    Feb 17 2026
    Banking as a service, community banks, and fintech partnerships are changing how small businesses access financial products. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, along with Stephen Bishop of amBaaSsador and Fintech Confidential, Confidential Informant, sits down with Lindsay Borgeson, President of Partner Banking at Core Bank, to unpack how a community bank in Omaha, Nebraska built a full BaaS platform from scratch without a top-five bank playbook to follow.The BaaS space has had its share of high-profile failures. Consent orders, compliance breakdowns, and program manager implosions have made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Core Bank took a different approach. They spent time reading every consent order before writing a single line of code. They went to their regulators, both the FDIC and the state, before building anything. They presented their strategic plan, invited regulators back multiple times outside of formal exams, and built a reputation for transparency before they ever onboarded a single fintech client."We are not the biggest name in BaaS," Lindsay admits. "Yet, we certainly aim to be a well-known, respected name, but for the right reasons."That mindset shaped everything about how CoreX, their BaaS brand, was built. They did not try to bolt new capabilities onto an existing tech stack with bubblegum and duct tape. When their initial technology partner did not work out, they stopped, went back to the board, and interviewed over ten vendors before selecting Core Bank as their Side core and Oscilar for transaction monitoring. They later added Cobalt Labs for AI-driven compliance workflows. Each decision was made with long-term strategic alignment in mind, not speed to market.The compliance model at CoreX offers two paths. Fintechs can choose managed compliance, where the bank handles transaction monitoring, KYB, and KYC. Or they can run customized compliance if they have the internal muscle to own those functions themselves. Either way, the expectation is the same: compliance is not a phase, it is a constant. Lindsay puts it simply: "Compliance first. I should probably consider removing it because it's compliance always."What makes CoreX different from other sponsor banks is the focus on who they want to serve. Their ideal customer profile centers on fintechs that support small businesses, particularly vertical SaaS platforms in industries Core Bank already understands. Construction, real estate, property management, unions, aviation, medical, and hospitality are all sectors where the bank already has deep expertise on the traditional side of the house. That knowledge transfers directly into how they evaluate fintech partnerships.The "dinner test" came up more than once. If you would not want to sit down for a meal with a potential partner, you should not get into a contract with them. When things go wrong, and they will, the quality of the relationship determines whether both sides can work through it or walk away bitter.For fintechs considering a community bank partnership, the advice is direct. Know what matters to you before you start talking to banks. Do not compromise on compliance or risk management just because someone promises speed or a lower price. And if a bank says they can have you live in three months and profitable in twelve, something is off. Building this correctly takes time.For community banks thinking about entering BaaS, the message is just as clear. Do not dabble. This is not a side-of-desk project. It requires dedicated people, a separate tech stack, a documented risk appetite, and full alignment from the board down. If your executive team is not excited about it, you will not have the patience to do it right."It's not for the faint of heart," Lindsay says. "But it is really a great avenue for community banks to thrive."Core Bank is now expanding into embedded lending, aiming to become a full-service partner for fintechs focused on serving the SMB market. They are hiring, growing their team, and preparing for what comes next in a regulatory environment that continues to shift.The episode covers how to build a BaaS program that lasts, how to evaluate tech stack partners, how to structure compliance models, and what separates the banks that survive from the ones that make headlines for the wrong reasons. If you are a fintech founder looking for a sponsor bank, or a community bank executive weighing whether to enter this space, this conversation offers a grounded, practical look at what it actually takes.Key HighlightsSilicon Prairie Is RealOmaha, Nebraska has earned the nickname Silicon Prairie for a reason. Community banks in the Midwest are building serious fintech infrastructure without the spotlight of coastal tech hubs. The talent is there, the regulatory relationships are strong, and the results speak for themselves.Bank Within A BankBuilding a BaaS platform means constructing an entirely separate operation inside...
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    35 m
  • Stablecoin Payments Hit $50 Trillion Beating Visa and MasterCard Combined
    Feb 10 2026
    Stablecoins hit $50 trillion in transaction volume, surpassing Visa and MasterCard combined. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Keith VanderLeast, General Manager of Americas at BVNK, at FinTech Nerd Con in Miami to unpack what's really happening as blockchain-based payments reshape cross-border infrastructure.The numbers tell a story that's hard to ignore. By the end of October 2025, stablecoin transaction volumes hit somewhere between $46 trillion and $50 trillion. BVNK alone processes about $20 billion in total volume, with the Americas business making up roughly a third of that amount. This isn't about speculative crypto trading anymore. The conversation has shifted to real payment infrastructure that moves money across borders 24/7 without the friction that's plagued traditional rails for decades.Stablecoins offer instant settlement around the clock, transparency that traditional banking can't match, and costs that make high-ticket cross-border transactions actually viable. Banks and payment companies are moving from pilot programs to actual implementation.Payouts have gained more traction early on because companies prefer to test the waters by pushing payments out rather than accepting them in. The gig economy has become a major beneficiary. Companies can now pay workers anywhere in the world without routing through legacy banking systems that charge hefty fees and take days to settle.The compliance conversation gets interesting when you compare on-chain monitoring to traditional banking. With blockchain-based payments, every transaction leaves a permanent record. You can see where funds originated, every wallet they touched along the way, and where they end up.Visa and MasterCard have been testing stablecoin settlements for their issuers and acquirers, primarily in European markets where regulatory clarity arrived sooner. For companies doing high volumes of original credit transactions on weekends, the ability to pre-fund with stablecoins eliminates the need for expensive lines of credit.One surprise in the market comes from the reverse flow. Manufacturers in Latin America want to pay their US suppliers using stablecoins. BVNK converts those stablecoin payments to dollars and pays out through traditional rails.KEY TAKEAWAYS:1️⃣ Train compliance teams on blockchain monitoring tools before piloting stablecoin payments because BSA-AML frameworks work differently on-chain.2️⃣ Calculate what you spend on lines of credit just to pre-fund weekend settlement accounts and compare that against stablecoin settlement costs.3️⃣ Set up ongoing monitoring using tools that track transactions after they exit your custody to catch compliance issues before they become problems.4️⃣ Build infrastructure to accept payments from unexpected directions like Latin America to US and convert to traditional rails on the receiving end.5️⃣ Use smart contracts to handle escrow requirements in lending situations instead of relying on intermediaries.LINKSGuestKeith VanderLeastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithvanderleest/BVNK Profile: https://bvnk.com/about-usCompanyBVNKWebsite: https://bvnk.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bvnk/HostFintech ConfidentialPodcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listenNotifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/accessLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidentialX: https://x.com/FTconfidentialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidentialFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidentialSUPPORTERSDfns - Wallets as a service offering API-first, multi-chain infrastructure with security, compliance, and blockchain integration for fintech platforms - https://fintechconfidential.com/dfnsSky Flow - Zero trust data privacy vault for collecting, securing, and tokenizing personal information with PCI, CCPA, GDPR, and SOC 2 compliance - https://skyflowsecure.comHawk AI - Real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating tools for fighting fraud and financial crime - https://gethawkai.comABOUTKeith VanderLeast is General Manager of Americas at BVNK, leading strategy and customer success across the U.S. market for stablecoin-powered payment solutions. With over 20 years in payment infrastructure across Western Union, First Data, American Express, and Cross River Bank, Keith specializes in instant payments, compliance, and helping traditional institutions bridge fiat and blockchain-based payment systems.BVNK is a London-based stablecoin infrastructure platform founded in 2021 that provides enterprise-grade payment services bridging traditional banking and blockchain networks. With over 25 regulatory licenses and processing over $30 billion in annualized payment volume, BVNK offers managed and self-managed payment solutions supporting SWIFT, ACH, SEPA, and major blockchains for fintechs, payment providers, and financial ...
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