This Week in Fintech

This Week In Fintech
  • 4.9 (10)
  • Business
  • Updated Weekly

This Week in Fintech Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. Hosted by Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech and General Partner at The Fintech Fund, the show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. ⭐Top 40 Best Financial News Podcasts! ⭐ according to https://blog.feedspot.com/financIf you’re looking to expand your network and knowledge of fintech, look no further than the This Week In Fintech podcast. 

  1. 1d ago

    Rain is Building Embedded Financial Services for Your Global Brand

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

    Rain is Building Embedded Financial Services for Your Global Brand

  2. Sep 2

    Circle's Arc: The Economic Operating System for the Internet

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

    Circle's Arc: The Economic Operating System for the Internet

  3. Aug 28

    Nico Simko on Building Clair, Embedded Earned Wage Access and the Future of Payroll

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

  4. Aug 19

    Alchemy Is Building the Wallet Layer for Agentic Commerce You Can Trust

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

    Alchemy Is Building the Wallet Layer for Agentic Commerce You Can Trust

  5. Jun 17

    Sokin's Blueprint for Global Treasury

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

  6. Jun 10

    How Pomelo Is Rebuilding Fintech Infrastructure in LATAM

    Host Sasha Pilch sits down with Gaston Irigoyen, co-founder and CEO of Pomelo, to unpack why waiting a full year to launch a card program became the startup thesis behind one of Latin America’s fastest-growing fintech infrastructure companies. Drawing from his experience scaling fintech in LATAM, Gaston shares how infrastructure bottlenecks around issuing, processing, and credit card management pushed Pomelo to rethink how modern payments infrastructure should work. The conversation explores how banks and fintechs across the region are racing to launch products faster, from co-branded cards and remittances to crypto-linked offerings, while moving away from legacy providers. Sasha and Gaston also dive into Latin America’s increasingly “multi-rail” payments ecosystem, where cash, cards, real-time payments like Pix, and stablecoins all coexist. They discuss stablecoin settlement, cross-border payments, and what early agentic commerce experiments reveal about the future of tokenized money movement and fraud prevention. Subscribe for more conversations on fintech, payments, stablecoins, and the future of financial infrastructure. Connect with the Hosts & Guest Sasha Pilch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-pilch Gaston Irigoyen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gastonirigoyen/ About This Week in Fintech This Week in Fintech’s Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. The show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future.

  7. Jun 4

    PayPal’s Stablecoin Playbook

    Presented by Rain. Host Justin Friedman sits down with Larry Wade to unpack how PayPal brought PYUSD from concept to real-world payments while balancing innovation, regulation, and consumer trust. The conversation explores PayPal’s early move into crypto, why on-chain transfers became critical for interoperability, and what changes when a global payments company shifts from supporting digital assets to issuing its own stablecoin. Larry also breaks down the compliance and operational realities behind PYUSD, from regulatory oversight and reserve attestations to product-market fit and cross-border payments. The episode dives into how PayPal is thinking about merchant settlement, payouts, and reducing friction in global money movement, as well as why the company expanded beyond Ethereum to networks like Solana, Stellar, and Arbitrum as it builds toward mainstream stablecoin adoption. Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world. Connect with the Hosts & Guest Justin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/ Larry Wade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larryswadejr/ About Crossing the Chasm Crossing the Chasm is a special series with Rain focused on what it actually takes for stablecoins to become the default for everyday payments. Instead of rehashing benefits or highlighting pilots, the series breaks down the real work behind winning on Main Street, from upgrading payment rails and navigating regulation to embedding stablecoins into products people already use. Through conversations with builders and operators, we explore how tokenized money moves from early adoption to practical, widespread use across businesses and consumers.

    PayPal’s Stablecoin Playbook

  8. May 27

    The Fintech OG Series: Shanthi Shanmugam and Natasha Vernier

    Powered by Spade. Money moves faster than ever, but the hardest moments in fintech still happen when something goes wrong: a confusing transaction, a disputed charge, a fraud claim, or a control that fails when regulators come calling. Hosts Julie VerHage-Greenberg and Lauren Crossett talk with Shanti Shanmugam, CEO and co-founder of Casap, and Natasha Vernier, CEO and co-founder of Cable, about what it takes to build trust in those high-stakes edge cases and how modern AI is changing the playbook for banks and fintechs. We also get candid about founder life: the highs, the gut-punch lows, and the practical ways they stay resilient, from building a support network to separating identity from the company. Finally, we debate how agentic AI could drive more niche consumer finance products, what creates real loyalty, and what advice actually helps new grads entering fintech now. Go to https://www.thisweekinfintech.com/the-fintech-ogs to subscribe!  And be sure to subscribe to all of the This Week in Fintech podcasts to stay up to date on the latest conversations shaping the future of finance.

    The Fintech OG Series: Shanthi Shanmugam and Natasha Vernier
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4.9
out of 5
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About

This Week in Fintech Podcast is where the decision makers shaping the future of finance come to talk candidly about what’s working, what’s breaking, and what’s coming next in fintech. Hosted by Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech and General Partner at The Fintech Fund, the show goes beyond headlines to unpack the real stories behind product decisions, regulation, and market shifts with leading founders, C-suite execs, and ecosystem veterans. This is your front-row seat to the people and ideas moving money into the future. ⭐Top 40 Best Financial News Podcasts! ⭐ according to https://blog.feedspot.com/financIf you’re looking to expand your network and knowledge of fintech, look no further than the This Week In Fintech podcast. 

Information

  • Creator
    This Week In Fintech
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    157
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 This Week in Fintech
  • Show Website
    This Week in Fintech

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