Fintech Wrap Up

I built a structural map of the US spend management category because the space has quietly split into distinct business models that get lumped together under one label. Some of these companies are regulated issuers running their own card programs. Others route every card through a partner bank and never touch a BIN. This guide breaks down 22 platforms across five segments, with license type, card networks, card types, features, and regional coverage for each.

Why would someone pay with stablecoins when they already have a Visa or Mastercard? Jess Houlgrave, CEO of WalletConnect, joins me to discuss where stablecoin payments make sense and what is holding them back. WalletConnect works with around 700 wallets and 80,000 applications, reaching about 800 million end users.

The reports highlight major shifts across fintech, with AI governance, tokenisation, stablecoins, CBDCs and agentic payments moving from experimentation toward wider adoption. Banks are increasing AI use but still face governance and risk gaps, while tokenisation could streamline asset markets through automation and more efficient settlement.

Banks often fail to derive meaningful value from AI because they tend to layer sophisticated automation on top of rigid, inefficient legacy workflows. While billions are spent on advanced tools, the actual impact remains minimal as these applications merely mask manual bottlenecks like compliance and security checks rather than resolving the underlying structural flaws.

I built a structural map of the spend management category because the space has quietly split into distinct business models that get lumped together under one label. Some of these companies are regulated e-money institutions issuing their own cards. Others are pure software layers that never touch a BIN. This guide breaks down 22 platforms across five segments, with license type, card networks, card types, features, and regional coverage for each.

This week’s reports highlight how financial services are entering a new phase of transformation driven by AI, stablecoins, and payment modernization. Banks are investing heavily in fraud prevention, data quality, and instant payment infrastructure, while regulators are developing frameworks to support the safe growth of stablecoins.

Did you read the “Algorithm That Keeps Compounding” case study by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)? If not, do not worry; I did it for you. In this deep dive, I take analysis by a16z as the core, share my comments on what they got right, what was too optimistic, and what was missing.

What happens when AI agents stop recommending products and start buying them for you? In this episode of WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with Amir Sarhangi, CEO of Skyfire, to explore what the rise of the machine economy means for payments, banking, and e-commerce.

The latest reports highlight how digital financial infrastructure is evolving across payments, identity, and blockchain technology. The World Bank’s Digital Wallets: A New Paradigm positions digital wallets as foundational infrastructure for securely storing verifiable credentials while enhancing privacy through selective disclosure.

For the past decade, the global e-commerce and fintech sectors have operated under a singular directive: maximize payment optionality. Merchants have been instructed to expand their payment stacks by integrating multiple Payment Service Providers (PSPs), deploying redundant local acquirers, supporting diverse regional payment methods, and configuring dynamic routing paths. On the surface, this architecture of optionality has delivered significant operational value.