Sam Boboev
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Founder at Fintech Wrap Up | Host at Wrap Up and @onthegroundpod Podcast
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Articles by Sam Boboev
Reports: How to build a stablecoin neobank; The Banking Expectation Gap; Building Trust in Agentic Commerce
This week’s fintech reports explore the rapid evolution of digital finance, highlighting growing stablecoin adoption in cross-border and business payments, APAC’s emergence as a leading stablecoin market, and the potential of tokenization to improve shareholder access, transparency, and efficiency. They also examine how banks must modernize their services, leverage AI while maintaining customer trust, and address the challenges of building stablecoin neobanks and secure agentic commerce.
Deep Dive: Why pausing withdrawals wasn’t enough in the $6.34 billion Binance hack
On 29 October, Binance paused customer withdrawals after attackers broke into its wallet infrastructure. The pause closed the route customers normally use to take money off the exchange. But the attackers had already given their own code permission to move assets from one of Binance’s Ethereum wallets. That permission was recorded on Ethereum. Binance needed a separate transaction on the blockchain to revoke it. At 23:56 UTC, a transfer of 2,961.9 ETH that had already been broadcast became final.
Reports: Regulatory clarity for digital assets; Open Finance Infrastructure; Quantum Computing and Cryptocurrencies
This week’s fintech developments highlight the growing convergence of digital assets, traditional finance, and AI. Quantum computing presents a future threat to cryptocurrency wallet security, while institutional adoption remains constrained by limited banking integration and collateral financing options. Meanwhile, crypto adoption is gaining momentum among non-holders, particularly underserved communities, with trusted financial institutions playing a key role in building confidence.
Deep Dive: How Stripe’s Link gives AI agents money they can spend
Giving an AI agent a task is straightforward. Giving it permission to spend your money is harder. The agent needs a budget, a way to pay, and clear limits on what it can buy. This week Stripe launched Link Balance, a new product that gives autonomous AI agents balances. The user decides how much authority to delegate before the agent starts buying. That could make instructions such as “buy this item if the price falls below $90” useful beyond sending a price alert.
The Payments Revenue Software Companies Are Missing - Ben Weiner (Global Head of Partner Channel, Nuvei)
Software companies have spent years embedding payments, yet many still earn nothing from transactions flowing through their existing customer base. Could that be their biggest missed opportunity? In this episode of WRAP UP, I sit down with Ben Weiner, Global Head of Partner Channel at Nuvei, to explore where payments growth comes from as AI changes the software business. Ben explains why winning new customers with payments built in is only part of the job.
Reports: The Future of Cross-Border Payments 2027; How Payments Companies Can Regain Investor Confidence; Quick Start Guide for New Card Programmers in the UK
This week’s reports explore key developments in digital payments, banking consolidation, and stablecoin adoption. The World Payments Report 2027 highlights intelligent payment instruments, while The Future of Cross-Border Payments 2027 emphasizes real-time liquidity and interoperability. BCG’s analysis stresses sustainable revenue growth, stronger customer relationships, and cost efficiency to restore investor confidence. Bain predicts further US banking consolidation by 2030.
Deep Dive: Why US banks are blocking third-party AI agents
How much authority should an agent have once it reaches a customer’s money? Major US banks are already answering that question by restricting outside agents. Their concern is understandable. An assistant using a customer’s login can look like the customer while making decisions the customer never specifically approved. But banks also have a commercial interest in controlling that access.
Deep Dive: Why US banks are blocking third-party AI agents
I was at NVIDIA GTC in Berlin this week, where the discussion around OpenShell brought me back to a question facing every bank building with AI: how much authority should an agent have once it reaches a customer’s money? Major US banks are already answering that question by restricting outside agents. Their concern is understandable. An assistant using a customer’s login can look like the customer while making decisions the customer never specifically approved.
The State of European Financial Services 2026;
European banks and fintechs expect payment rules to drive their biggest operational changes over the next two years, while KYC remains their largest source of pressure today. In its State of European Financial Services 2026 report, Sumsub asked which compliance areas created the greatest operational pressure over the past 12 months. KYC led at 32%. Sanctions screening followed at 27%, with AML transaction monitoring at 26% and payment processing requirements at 25%. The small gaps matter.
Deep Dive: Ant International’s Agentic Mobile Protocol
Software agents are transitioning from conversational text generators into autonomous economic actors capable of executing commercial workflows. Recent Global Payments research found that Americans expect AI agents to make 15% of their purchases within five years, up from 9% a year earlier. Research from 451 Research shows that 58% of organizations are actively seeking opportunities to implement AI agent capabilities.
Deep Dive: Ant International’s Agentic Mobile Protocol
Software agents are transitioning from conversational text generators into autonomous economic actors capable of executing commercial workflows. Recent Global Payments research found that Americans expect AI agents to make 15% of their purchases within five years, up from 9% a year earlier. Research from 451 Research shows that 58% of organizations are actively seeking opportunities to implement AI agent capabilities.
Reports: Evident AI Index for Banks; The state of euro stablecoins in 2026; Stablecoin Cards: The Infrastructure Race for the Next $100 Billion
This week’s Fintech Wrap Up explores how AI, stablecoins, and regulatory changes are reshaping financial services. The Evident AI Index reports a 26% increase in banks’ average AI scores, highlighting accelerated adoption but limited disclosure of measurable financial returns. Meanwhile, Europe’s e-invoicing mandates could modernize B2B payments and unlock embedded financing opportunities, while euro stablecoins and stablecoin-linked cards continue expanding digital payment infrastructure.
Deep Dive: Personal Agent Protocol and Agentic Commerce
The rapid rise of autonomous artificial intelligence agents acting on behalf of individual consumers has exposed fundamental limitations in traditional web infrastructure. Until recently, consumer AI agents interacted with businesses primarily by emulating human browsing behavior. These software proxies loaded standard web pages, parsed document object models, filled out form fields, and clicked navigation buttons.
Deep Dive: Personal Agent Protocol and Agentic Commerce
The rapid rise of autonomous artificial intelligence agents acting on behalf of individual consumers has exposed fundamental limitations in traditional web infrastructure. Until recently, consumer AI agents interacted with businesses primarily by emulating human browsing behavior. These software proxies loaded standard web pages, parsed document object models, filled out form fields, and clicked navigation buttons.
How Is the UK’s Largest Banking Group Approaching the AI Race? - Suresh Balaji (CMO, Lloyds Banking Group)
What happens when one of the UK’s largest banks puts AI at the centre of how it serves millions of customers? In this episode of WRAP UP, I sit down with Suresh Balaji, Chief Marketing Officer of Lloyds Banking Group, to discuss how Lloyds is approaching AI, agentic systems, customer trust and the future of banking.
Reports: European Spend Report 2026; The Connective Tissue of Digital Finance; State of Fraud Report 2026
European companies with 50 to 249 employees may be losing around €7 billion a year through avoidable SaaS pricing gaps. Duplicate tools could add another €2 billion. Spendesk’s analysis of 12 months of transaction data across 2,500 European companies shows how quickly software spend becomes hard to manage. The AI data is the clearest example. More than two-thirds of companies that pay for AI use at least two competing products.
Rain Seeks OCC’s Approval to Create National Trust Bank
Fintech Rain is seeking approval from the OCC to establish a national trust bank, marking a significant step toward bringing its financial infrastructure deeper into the regulated banking system. The move could give Rain a broader role in providing regulated financial services rather than operating solely as a fintech platform. It also highlights the growing trend of financial technology companies seeking direct access to regulated banking infrastructure.
Deep Dive: How Stripe’s Product Stack Changed In The Past 5 Years
If you run a software enterprise building generative AI applications today, your CFO spends far more time tracking GPU inference bills than traditional server expenses. Every user prompt hits upstream model providers, consumes tokens, and generates variable infrastructure costs. Meanwhile, your product team balances prepaid credits, usage thresholds, and multi-jurisdictional tax compliance across dozens of countries.
Deep Dive: How Stripe’s Product Stack Changed In The Past 5 Years
If you run a software enterprise building generative AI applications today, your CFO spends far more time tracking GPU inference bills than traditional server expenses. Every user prompt hits upstream model providers, consumes tokens, and generates variable infrastructure costs. Meanwhile, your product team balances prepaid credits, usage thresholds, and multi-jurisdictional tax compliance across dozens of countries.
Lloyds and Visa Test Faster, Round-the-Clock Cross-Border Settlement Using Stablecoins
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa are testing stablecoin-based infrastructure designed to enable faster, round-the-clock settlement for cross-border transactions. The initiative brings together one of the UK’s major banking groups and a global payments network to explore how stablecoins could operate alongside traditional financial infrastructure.
Reports: Distributed Ledger Technology and the Future of Payments in Canada; Benchmark AI Agents x Stablecoins; How to close the agentic adoption gap
This week’s reports explore how AI and digital-asset technologies are reshaping financial services, work, and payments. Agentic AI is moving from experimentation toward real operational use, creating new opportunities for banks and other financial firms while also raising challenges around governance, fraud, accountability, workforce change, and employee adoption.
Deep Dive: Anthropic’s In-House Payment Push Is Easier Said Than Done
Fast-growing software platforms eventually hit a financial scale where off-the-shelf payment software creates operational friction. Anthropic saw its annualized revenue run-rate jump from $787 million to nearly $45 billion within five months by May 2026. The company reached a $965 billion valuation during its Series H funding round. When transaction volumes grow this quickly, small pricing inefficiencies and billing delays multiply into major operational expenses.
Deep Dive: Structural Logic Behind Stripe’s Acquisition of OpenRouter AI Gateway
Stripe signed a definitive agreement to acquire OpenRouter for a total consideration exceeding $7.5 billion, structured as a combination of cash and stock with a $1.5 billion retention pool allocated for founders and key engineering personnel. The transaction occurred 82 days after OpenRouter finalized a $113 million Series B funding round at a $1.3 billion post-money valuation.
Quilter Cheviot hires investment veteran John Moore
Outgoing Brewin Dolphin investment manager John Moore Mr Moore will aim to strengthen the firm’s investment capability in Scotland and its support for advisers and high net worth clients across the region. He will report to Richard Taylor, head of the Edinburgh office at Quilter Cheviot. Mr Moore has joined Quilter Cheviot following a career spanning more than three decades in discretionary investment management.
Can Stablecoins Really Compete With Visa and Mastercard? - Jess Houlgrave (CEO, WalletConnect)
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.
Reports: Defining Agentic Global Payments; The global expansion of stablecoins; China’s Central Bank Digital Currency 2.0
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.
Deep Dive: Engineering the Agentic Control Orchestration in Banking
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.
Deep Dive: Engineering the Agentic Control Orchestration in Banking
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.
Ted Benna helped create the 401(k) system. Now, he says it's broken. – Yahoo Finance UK
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Deep Dive: The EU and UK Expense/Spend Management Companies Directory
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.
Why AXIS Capital (AXS) Stock Is Nosediving
What Happened? Shares of global specialty insurer AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE:AXS) fell 11.6% in the afternoon session after the company reported second-quarter results that missed Wall Street’s expectations for both revenue and earnings. The company posted adjusted earnings of $2.84 per share, falling short of the analyst consensus of $3.24.
Reports: The UAE Stablecoin Payments Playbook; AI and the future of retail financial services; Stablecoins and Macroeconomic Stability
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.
Revolut's Compounding Growth Strategy
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 optiistic and what was missing.
Deep Dive: Revolut’s Compounding Growth Strategy
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.
How AI agents will change payments, commerce, and fraud - Amir Sarhangi (CEO, Skyfire)
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.
Reports: Digital Wallets: A New Paradigm; Public Blockchains and Regulated Financial Institutions; The vision for account-to-account payments in Australia
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.
Deep Dive: How to Add Data Intelligence to a Multi-PSP Payment Stack
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.
Reports: How Acquirers Prepare for Agentic Commerce; Treasury 2.0: Built for a new era; Agentic commerce: The rise of the delegated buyer
This week’s reports explore how AI, blockchain, and evolving financial infrastructure are reshaping commerce and banking. A major theme is the rise of agentic commerce, with multiple reports highlighting the need for stronger identity standards, liability frameworks, interoperable payment rails, and programmable credentials before AI agents can transact at scale.
Deep Dive: A Definitive Strategic Guide to MiCA Compliance and Institutional Market Architecture
The transitional grandfathering window under Article 143(3) of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has officially expired across all 27 European Union (EU) and 30 European Economic Area (EEA) member states. This milestone marks the definitive end of the highly fragmented national Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registries and establishes a single, harmonized authorization framework for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs).
Deep Dive: A Definitive Strategic Guide to MiCA Compliance and Institutional Market Architecture
The transitional grandfathering window under Article 143(3) of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) has officially expired across all 27 European Union (EU) and 30 European Economic Area (EEA) member states. This milestone marks the definitive end of the highly fragmented national Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registries and establishes a single, harmonized authorization framework for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs).
Financing a rooftop energy revolution
The UK faces a sustained cost of living crisis, with energy bills consistently among the highest in advanced economies. High exposure to volatile international gas markets and underinvestment in domestic energy infrastructure have left households and businesses vulnerable to rising costs. Rooftop solar, particularly when paired with battery storage, offers a practical and rapid solution.
Cash At Record High, But ATMs Face Shortages. Here’s Why
India’s currency in circulation has climbed to a record Rs 42.54 lakh crore as of May 22, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. Yet, ATM operators are warning that some machines could run low on cash, raising concerns about access to physical currency. The Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi), which represents ATM operators, cash logistics firms and service providers, has reportedly flagged a significant gap between cash required for ATM replenishment and the amount available.
Covington increases property tax rates
The Covington Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to raise property taxes. The new real estate property tax rate is $0.287 per $100 of assessed property value. This is an increase from the previous real property tax rate of $0.277 per $100 of property valuation. The new personal, or tangible, property tax rate is $0.375 per $100 of assessed property value. The old rate was $0.326 for every $100 of assessed property value. Property taxes are broken down into several categories.
Deep Dive: Open USD vs Tether and Circle
The global payments landscape is undergoing a structural transition as onchain fiat instruments move from speculative retail instruments to institutional settlement rails.
‘It’s a bull market’: Wall Street sees more upside in stocks for the second half of 2026
The stock market’s performance last quarter has set Wall Street expectations for further gains in the second half of the year. “I think there’s just more to be excited about than there is to be nervous about,” Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield told Yahoo Finance. Mayfield pointed to falling oil and gasoline prices as an economic tailwind after the US and Iran suspended fighting, along with resilience in the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) and S&P 500 (^GSPC).
Deep Dive: Open USD vs Tether and Circle: By Sam Boboev
Home Currency Deep Dive: Open USD vs Tether and Circle: By Sam Boboev Currency 5 Mins read6 Share The global payments landscape is undergoing a structural transition as onchain fiat instruments move from speculative retail instruments to institutional settlement rails.
Deep Dive: Adyen’s universal translator for agentic commerce
The evolution of digital commerce has arrived at a critical structural pivot. Previous major channel transitions, such as the shifts to mobile interfaces, social commerce, and multi-tenant marketplaces, redefined front-end customer experiences but left the underlying transactional architecture largely intact.
Deep Dive: Tokenized Money Validates the Need for Unified Bank OS Infrastructure
The transition from traditional fiat messaging to tokenized asset execution represents the most significant architectural shift in the history of financial services. This evolution marks the end of the era of the ledger as a passive database and the beginning of the ledger as an active, programmable operating system. The key insight driving this shift is simple but profound: tokenized money is not a replacement for fiat it is a natural extension of it.
Deep Dive: Inside Wise’s Product Stack
On May 11, 2026, Wise began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker WSE, a dual listing alongside its existing London Stock Exchange presence. The moment was symbolic. Wise isn’t just adding liquidity or broadening its investor base. The Nasdaq move signals something more deliberate: Wise is reframing itself not as a consumer fintech, but as financial infrastructure, the kind institutions and regulators think about differently than apps.
Deep Dive: Structural Analysis Visa's Value-Added Services
The contemporary payments landscape is defined by the progressive decoupling of software intelligence from proprietary physical transaction rails. Historically, global card networks operated as unified utility systems, extracting rent primarily from transaction clearing and settlement routed exclusively over their own systems. Under this legacy framework, monetization was strictly tied to the proprietary network volume.
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