Fintech Confidential

DD3, Media
  • 4.2 (5)
  • BUSINESS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Entertaining information focused on Fintech industry insights, market trends, news, and life stories from Fintech leaders, thinkers, and doers.

  1. Cross-Border Payments Explained: Why 50 US Jurisdictions Still Can't Agree

    APR 28

    Cross-Border Payments Explained: Why 50 US Jurisdictions Still Can't Agree

    Open finance infrastructure, agentic banking, and cross-border payments converge as Prometeo connects 7,500+ financial institutions across Latin America and the US through a single API. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Ximena Aleman, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Prometeo, to unpack what it takes to standardize fragmented banking systems across 30 countries and bring that playbook to the American market. Tedd and Ximena cover why US banking infrastructure is more fragmented than most people realize, how Prometeo's account verification now covers 85% of US bank accounts, and what agentic banking looks like when AI agents operate real bank accounts with built-in compliance controls. The conversation also addresses the open banking pricing debate, CFPB 1033 as a US expansion accelerant, the Nacha preferred partner announcement, and why only 2 to 3% of VC funding reaches female-led startups. Find out more 1️⃣ Disaggregate your payment stack layer by layer; calling it "mature" hides gaps that cost you money. 2️⃣ Build infrastructure for corridors, not single countries, starting with the highest-volume trade routes your customers operate. 3️⃣ Bring non-bankers onto your product team to challenge workflows that insiders have normalized for decades. 4️⃣ Give smaller financial institutions a revenue stream tied to open banking adoption instead of pricing them out. 5️⃣ Pitch the outcomes your infrastructure enables, not the technical specs of what you built. LINKS Guest: Ximena Aleman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ximena-aleman-7913439a/ Company: Prometeo Website: https://prometeoapi.com Prometeo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prometeo-openbanking Fintech Confidential: Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential SUPPORTERS Under.io: Streamlines application and underwriting by digitizing PDFs for e-signature. under.io/FTC Skyflow: A zero-trust data privacy vault delivered as an API covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, SOC 2, and beyond. skyflowsecure.com DFNS: Wallets as a service, API first, multi-chain, secured with MPC across 50+ blockchains. fintechconfidential.com/dfns Hawk AI: Real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating. gethawk.com ABOUT Guest: Ximena Aleman is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Prometeo. She started her career in journalism before moving into marketing and tech leadership, completing an MBA at Universidad ORT Uruguay. She was named one of the Top 100 Women in FinTech in 2024 and is a World Economic Forum Agenda Contributor. Company: Prometeo is an open finance infrastructure company providing a single API for cross-border banking, connecting 7,500+ financial institutions across Latin America and the US. The company is backed by PayPal Ventures, Samsung Next, and Antler. Host: Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and host of Fintech Confidential. The show is produced by DD3 Media, delivering entertaining and informative content focused on the people, tech, and companies changing how you pay and get paid. DD3 Media is a multimedia and marketing agency founded by Tedd Huff specializing in content creation and production for the fintech and payments industry. As the production company behind Fintech Confidential, DD3 Media produces podcasts, live streams, video content, and onsite events for global audiences. CHAPTERS 00:00 Episode Highlights 00:54 Welcome to Fintech Confidential 01:03 Dfns: Wallets as a Service (sponsor) 02:25 Meet ProMateo Founder 04:39 Outsiders Spot the Gap 06:38 Infrastructure Before Open Banking 10:21 Borderless Banking Explained 16:21 Why US Banking Feels Messy 18:56 Standardizing Fragmented Systems 20:42 Agentic Banking Kickoff 23:34 Limiting Agent Liability 24:49 Compliance and B2B Accountability 27:32 Monitoring Agents Like Card Rails 30:07 Sky Flow: Building Fast and Secure (sponsor) 30:30 Skyflow Privacy Vault 31:10 AI Bookends And Middle 32:01 US Credibility Milestones 33:06 Account Verification Playbook 35:56 FDATA Advocacy Meets Sales 39:51 Crystal Ball Agentic Payments 41:39 Open Banking Pricing Debate 48:44 LatAm Vs US Open Finance 51:27 Strategic Investors And Trust 53:42 Women In Fintech Funding Gap 55:36 Founder Advice And Farewell 57:43 Show Wrap And Sponsor Reads 58:29 Hawk AI - Realtime Fraud Monitoring (sponsor) 59:15 Disclaimer This has been a production of DD3 Media with all rights reserved. This content is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. © DD3 Media. All Rights Reserved.

    1 hr
  2. 78% of ADA Lawsuits Target Small Business

    APR 21

    78% of ADA Lawsuits Target Small Business

    Website compliance, ADA accessibility lawsuits, and privacy law enforcement are creating real financial exposure for small and mid-sized businesses. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Michael Williams, co-founder and CFO of Clym, to unpack the growing wave of website regulation hitting SMBs and why most operators have no idea they are at risk. Watch episode here Over 5,100 federal ADA lawsuits were filed in 2025, up 30% from the prior year, with 78% targeting small businesses. Twenty US states now have active privacy laws, GDPR fines hit $1.2 billion globally, and California's CCPA issued a record $1.35 million penalty. Michael breaks down how enforcement works based on consumer location rather than business headquarters, why third-party scripts and chatbots create hidden liability, and how compliant websites saw roughly 30% more search visibility over the past year. New HHS enforcement requires healthcare organizations to meet elevated accessibility standards, with fines up to $150,000 per incident starting within weeks. Find out more 1️⃣ Audit every third-party script, tracking pixel, and embedded tool on your website to identify consent gaps before a plaintiff's attorney does. 2️⃣ Map your customer traffic by state and match it against the 20 active US privacy laws to build compliance around your actual footprint. 3️⃣ Run accessibility and privacy fixes through your marketing budget since compliant sites rank higher and capture customers competitors are losing. 4️⃣ Profile your own business first, including headcount, revenue, locations, and data collected, before evaluating any compliance vendor. 5️⃣ Require audit-ready, timestamped consent records from day one so you have receipts when a regulator or attorney comes knocking. GUEST LINKS Michael Williams LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-williams-clym/ COMPANY LINKS Clym Website: https://www.clym.io/ Clym LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clym Learn More: https://fintechconfidential.com/climb FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential SUPPORTERS Under.io streamlines application and underwriting by digitizing PDFs for digital signature: under.io/FTC Skyflow is a zero trust data privacy vault delivered as an API, covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, SOC 2, and beyond: skyflowsecure.com DFNS provides wallets as a service that is API first, multi-chain by design, and secured with MPC: fintechconfidential.com/dfns Hawk AI offers real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating: gethawk.com ABOUT THE GUEST Michael Williams is the co-founder and CFO of Clym. He started his career as a state and local tax attorney at Ernst & Young before serving as CFO of a global travel management company, where a failed $100,000 GDPR consulting engagement inspired the creation of Clym in 2018. Michael holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law. ABOUT CLYM Clym is an all-in-one website compliance platform founded in 2018 that covers 160-plus regulations, catalogs over 1,200 third-party services, and integrates with WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Magento, and other major platforms. ABOUT THE HOST Tedd 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. CHAPTERS 00:00 Episode Highlights 01:03 Welcome to Fintech Confidential 01:12 DFNS: Wallets as a Service (sponsor) 02:30 Meet Michael Williams and Clym 03:41 Why Compliance Gets Ignored 05:24 SMB Lawsuit Reality Check 06:49 ADA CCPA and GDPR by the Numbers 08:21 How Big Is the Problem Really 09:13 Consumer Location Based Enforcement 10:12 Third Party Script Risks 11:55 Compliance as a Growth Lever 14:19 Restaurant Menus Losing Customers 15:16 New ADA Enforcement Wave 17:27 Will Enforcement Follow FTC Pattern 18:36 Why Clym Goes Broad 20:25 Clym Origin Story 22:52 Staying Ahead of 160 Regulations 24:32 Beyond Basic Cookie Banners 26:38 Skyflow: Zero Trust Privacy Vault (sponsor) 27:40 Edge Cases and Flexibility 28:38 Company Intake Profiling 29:54 Five Minute Setup Promise 30:52 Ecommerce Platform Gaps 32:34 Vibe Coding Compliance Risks 33:49 Why Copying Big Brands Fails 35:42 Trusted Advisor Partnerships 37:29 Compliance as a Service Response 39:05 Lawsuit Economics and Dress Shop Story 40:45 Audit Ready Litigation Support 42:25 Shared Liability Hosted Pages 43:28 Third Party Script Tracking 45:51 Enforcement Trends Ahead 47:45 Crystal Ball Future Outlook 49:49 Browser Companies Wont Fix It 51:01 Proactive Compliance Benefits 52:49 Wrap Up and Resources 54:19 Hawk AI: Realtime Fraud Monitoring (sponsor) 55:05 Disclaimer

    56 min
  3. Credit Scores vs Bank Data: Why Lenders Are Switching

    APR 14

    Credit Scores vs Bank Data: Why Lenders Are Switching

    Cash flow underwriting, explainable AI, and credit risk analytics are changing how lenders approve borrowers and set loan terms. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Jamie Twiss, CEO of Carrington Labs, and Kasey Kaplan, Chief Product and Commercial Officer, to break down how behavioral signals in bank transaction data outperform traditional credit scores. Over 50 percent of loan applicants cannot produce a reliable credit score, leaving self-employed workers, gig earners, and younger borrowers locked out of the system. Carrington Labs uses billions of lines of transaction data to build personalized, explainable machine learning models per lender, per product, and per customer segment. The conversation covers their "control point" approach to AI, lifecycle underwriting beyond origination, open banking friction in the US, and a five-year outlook on embedded, agent-driven lending. FIND OUT MORE 1️⃣ Map analytics to every step of your lending funnel to find exactly where borrowers drop off and why. 2️⃣ Buy best-of-breed origination and servicing tools instead of building proprietary underwriting tech in-house. 3️⃣ Start with off-the-shelf models, lend small, collect performance signal, then shift to custom models fast. 4️⃣ Offer higher loan limits to borrowers who sync more accounts through open banking. 5️⃣ Track how borrowers respond to financial scarcity and build those behavioral patterns into your credit criteria. Guest Jamie Twiss LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-twiss/ Kasey Kaplan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaseykaplan/ Company Carrington Labs: https://www.carringtonlabs.com/ Carrington Labs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/carringtonlabs/ Beforepay Group: https://www.beforepaygroup.com Fintech Confidential Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential About the Guests Jamie Twiss is CEO of Carrington Labs and Beforepay Group. He began his career at McKinsey & Company, held senior banking roles including Chief Data Officer at a major Australian bank, and now leads the development of explainable AI credit risk models for lenders globally. Kasey Kaplan is Chief Product and Commercial Officer at Carrington Labs. With over 15 years across payments, program management, and fintech lending, he leads commercial execution across credit risk scoring, cash flow underwriting, and loan limit solutions. About the Company Carrington Labs is the AI and enterprise software division of ASX-listed Beforepay Group. The company builds explainable AI credit risk scoring, cash flow underwriting, and loan limit solutions for banks and non-bank lenders worldwide, having powered over 4 million loans through its sister business. About the Host Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential. With 25+ years in fintech and payments, he brings entertaining and informative conversations focused on the people, tech, and companies that change how you pay and get paid. DD3 Media Fintech Confidential is a production of DD3 Media, a media creation, management, and production company delivering engaging fintech content globally. Chapters 00:00 Episode Highlights 01:04 Welcome to Fintech Confidential 01:13 DFNS: Wallets as a Service (sponsor) 02:34 Meet Carrington Labs 04:48 Casey FinTech Origin 06:05 Jamie Credit Risk Path 07:59 Mission Beyond Scores 10:16 Cashflow Underwriting 13:35 Alternative Data Behaviors 17:37 Built Inside Beforepay 21:01 AI Control Points 24:07 Deterministic Vs Inference 28:35 Keeping Bias Out 34:48 Real Client Turnaround 36:44 Funnel Friction Signals 38:25 Optimizing Drop Off 39:21 Sky Flow: Building Fast and Secure (sponsor) 40:21 Product Specific Risk Models 42:32 From Shelf To Custom 43:34 Model Retraining Workflow 47:05 Siloed Versus Consortium 48:59 Cashflow Behavior Insights 50:25 Feature Engineering Matters 51:41 Macro Shocks In Data 56:07 Lifecycle Servicing Signals 57:36 Limit Management Uplift 58:55 Open Banking Pushback 01:03:53 Crystal Ball AI Lending 01:09:11 Advice And Wrap Up 01:13:24 Hawk AI: Realtime Fraud Monitoring (sponsor) 01:14:10 Disclaimer

    1h 15m
  4. Bitcoin Yield Without Custody Risk: Inside Lightning's Payment Infrastructure

    APR 7

    Bitcoin Yield Without Custody Risk: Inside Lightning's Payment Infrastructure

    Bitcoin Lightning payments, self-custody yield, and stablecoin interoperability are converging on one infrastructure layer, and the companies building it are already seeing massive demand. Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and founder of Fintech Confidential, sits down with Jesse Shrader, co-founder and CEO of Amboss Technologies, to break down how Lightning Network infrastructure is reshaping payment processing, treasury strategy, and compliance for fintech operators worldwide. Card networks charge 2% to 5% per transaction. Lightning brings that to 0.29%. Square just announced zero Bitcoin processing fees for its entire retailer network. The Genius Act is flooding the market with stablecoins, but those assets live on blockchains that do not talk to each other. Jesse explains how Taproot Assets on Lightning can unify fragmented stablecoin systems through cross-asset, in-flight currency exchange. He also walks through how Rails, a self-custodial Bitcoin yield product with over 2,600 on its waitlist, lets companies earn yield from payment routing without giving up custody. The conversation includes real founder lessons on fundraising, board strategy, and preparing for a future where AI systems pay each other. FIND OUT MORE 1️⃣ Lightning payment processing at 0.29% is a 10x reduction from card network fees; run the math on what your business saves annually. 2️⃣ Self-custody yield is now possible on Bitcoin without handing your asset to a third party; Rails automates the infrastructure so you do not need to be an expert. 3️⃣ Build your board with the smartest people you have ever met, and replace anyone who is not fully invested in your success. 4️⃣ Map your fiat compliance obligations into decentralized payment environments now, before a sanctions violation forces the conversation. 5️⃣ Start designing guardrails for AI agents with spending authority; machine-to-machine payments are expected within three to five years. LINKSGuest Jesse Shrader on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shraderjesse/ Company Amboss Technologies: https://amboss.tech/ Amboss Space (Lightning Network Explorer): https://amboss.space/ Rails: https://www.amboss.tech/rails Amboss on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ambosstech Fintech Confidential Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential Supporters DFNS 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/dfns Skyflow 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.com Hawk 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.com About Jesse Shrader is the CEO and co-founder of Amboss Technologies. He holds a degree in Environmental Resources Engineering from Humboldt State University and previously worked in highway asset management at the Oregon Department of Transportation. His experience handling calls for class action lawsuits against banks exposed him to predatory overdraft practices and pushed him toward building decentralized payment infrastructure. Amboss Technologies is a payment infrastructure and data analytics company built on Bitcoin's Lightning Network, founded in 2021. Its products include Magma (liquidity marketplace), Rails (self-custodial yield), Reflex (compliance automation), and Amboss Space (network explorer). Tedd Huff, CEO of fintech advisory firm Voalyre and host of Fintech Confidential. Fintech Confidential is a production of DD3 Media, bringing you the people, tech, and companies that change how you pay and get paid. Chapters 00:01:02 DFNS: Wallets as a Service (Sponsor) 00:02:20 Welcome to Web3 with FTC 00:02:51 Meet Jesse Shrader and Amboss 00:05:32 Rails Launch and Bitcoin Yield Demand 00:06:37 From Engineering to Bitcoin Infrastructure 00:09:18 Stablecoins, Genius Act, and Interoperability 00:12:39 Self-Custody Yield with Rails 00:16:40 Why Lightning Over Layer One 00:19:08 Amboss Product Suite 00:21:45 Compliance, Sanctions, and Reflex 00:24:15 Skyflow: Data Privacy Vault (Sponsor) 00:25:17 How Rails Generates Yield 00:29:31 Lower Fees and Merchant Adoption 00:35:24 Founder Lessons and Fundraising 00:39:30 Build Your Board Strategically 00:41:50 Crystal Ball: AI Paying AI 00:45:18 Voltage Partnership Announcement 00:47:12 Hawk AI: Fighting Financial Crime (Sponsor) 00:47:57 Disclaimer

    48 min
  5. Payment Processing Secrets: 13 Companies Merged Into One Platform

    MAR 31

    Payment Processing Secrets: 13 Companies Merged Into One Platform

    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 MORE 1️⃣ 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. Guest Niv Liran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nivliran Unzer: https://www.unzer.com Fintech Confidential Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential Supporters of Fintech Confidential Under.io: Streamlines application and underwriting by digitizing PDFs for e-signature. under.io/FTC Skyflow: A zero-trust data privacy vault delivered as an API covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, SOC 2, and beyond. skyflowsecure.com DFNS: Wallets as a service, API first, multi-chain, secured with MPC across 50+ blockchains. fintechconfidential.com/dfns Hawk AI: Real-time payment screening, AML transaction monitoring, and dynamic customer risk rating. gethawk.com About the Guest Niv 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 Unzer Unzer 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 Host Tedd 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. Chapters 00:00 Episode Highlights 01:02 Welcome to Fintech Confidential 01:10 DFNS: Wallets as a Service (sponsor) 02:32 Meet Niv Inbar 05:08 Why Unified Commerce Is Hard 07:02 Falling Into Payments 09:46 Unser vs Stripe Adyen 11:30 Localizing Across Europe 12:44 One Platform Consolidation 15:12 Merchant Migration Playbook 17:43 Merchant Day to Day Example 20:21 Skyflow - Your Privacy API (sponsor) 21:18 Taming Local Debit Schemes 23:29 Selling ROI and Reducing Risk 26:29 Partnerships Open Banking EPI 29:20 EPI and Digital Wallet Future 31:06 Market Consolidation Ahead 32:27 Crystal Ball Unified Commerce 35:26 AI Agents for Small Business 37:32 One Sentence Founder Advice 39:11 Wrap Up Key Takeaways 41:03 Hawk AI - Realtime Fraud Monitoring (sponsor) 41:47 Disclaimer

    42 min
  6. Crypto Tax Secrets From an IRS Agent Who Audited 14 Platforms

    MAR 24

    Crypto Tax Secrets From an IRS Agent Who Audited 14 Platforms

    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 Links Janna Scott | DeFi Tax Website: https://defitax.us/ X: https://x.com/defitax_us Fintech Confidential Links Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential Supporters DFNS 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/dfns Skyflow 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.com Hawk 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.com About the Guest Janna 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 Company DeFi 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 Host Tedd 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. Chapters 00:00 Episode Highlights 01:07 Welcome to Fintech Confidential 01:15 Dfns: Wallets as a Service (sponsor) 02:37 Show Intro and Guest 06:13 Jana Origin Story 09:15 Inside Government View 11:38 John Doe Summonses 15:43 Forensic Platform Audits 22:05 Transfers and 1099 Traps 24:41 Variance and Real Costs 29:04 Taking Findings to Regulators 32:16 Terms Changes and Report Drift 34:07 Building It Yourself 34:59 Why Reports Fail Audits 35:39 Sky Flow: Building Fast and Secure (sponsor) 36:41 Cryto Tax and Quickbooks 38:46 Editing Breaks Credibility 40:27 Defi Tax Guardrails 42:24 Validator Income Burn Fees 43:25 NFT Basis Tracing 45:08 Pricing Sources Averaging 46:29 Self Transfer Verification 48:53 Audit Packets Evidence 49:41 Silent Algorithm Changes 54:00 Enforcement Crystal Ball 56:05 Middle Class Snowball 59:08 Practical Wallet Tracking 01:02:05 Recap And Next Steps 01:05:09 Show Wrap 01:06:18 Hawk AI (sponsor) 01:07:04 Disclaimer

    1h 8m
  7. Banking as a Service: Why Most Sponsor Bank Deals Fail Before Launch

    MAR 17

    Banking as a Service: Why Most Sponsor Bank Deals Fail Before Launch

    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.com Academy 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. GUEST David Robinson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmrembeddedbanking/ COMPANY Academy Bank: https://www.academybank.com Academy Bank BaaS: https://www.academybank.com/business/banking-as-a-service FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential SUPPORTERS Skyflow: 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/ftc Hawk 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.com ABOUT Guest: 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. CHAPTERS 00:00 Episode Highlights 01:24 Skyflow Sponsor Read 02:26 Meet the Hosts 03:39 Introducing David Robinson 04:37 Defining BaaS and Embedded Finance 05:29 Academy Bank Growth Strategy 06:56 Rapid Fire: This or That 08:11 Choosing Treasury Prime 09:22 Future Programs and Segments 09:53 What Stays In-House 12:42 Managed vs. Bank-Owned Compliance 14:35 Marketplace Shift and Multi-Platform 16:53 Partnerships Are a People Business 18:26 Under Sponsor Read 18:56 How Banks Vet Fintech Fit 19:25 Diligence and Fit 20:21 Regulators and Scale 21:30 When Deals Fall Apart 23:23 Greenlights and Redlines 24:23 Advice for Fintechs 26:12 Why Academy Bank 27:49 Top Tips and Misconceptions 29:38 Fees vs. Deposits 30:46 Internal Shift and Speed 35:47 Crystal Ball and Closing 36:54 Final Advice for Founders 38:51 Wrap Up 39:23 Hawk AI Sponsor Read 40:09 Disclaimer

    41 min
  8. JP Morgan Changed Open Banking and No One Is Ready for What Comes Next

    MAR 10

    JP Morgan Changed Open Banking and No One Is Ready for What Comes Next

    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. TAKEAWAYS 1️⃣ 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. GUEST David Glaser: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daglaser COMPANY Dwolla: https://www.dwolla.com Dwolla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dwolla Dwolla YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/dwollaplatform FINTECH CONFIDENTIAL Podcast: https://fintechconfidential.com/listen Notifications: https://fintechconfidential.com/access LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechconfidential X: https://x.com/FTconfidential Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fintechconfidential Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fintechconfidential SUPPORTERS Under.io: Digitize your PDFs and streamline application and underwriting processes. Get started free at under.io/FTC Skyflow: A zero trust data privacy vault delivered as an API covering PCI, CCPA, GDPR, and SOC 2. Visit skyflowsecure.com DFNS: Wallets as a service, API first, multi-chain, secured with MPC across 50+ blockchains. Request a demo at fintechconfidential.com/dfns Hawk AI: Real-time payment screening and AML transaction monitoring to cut false positives. Sign up for a demo at gethawk.com ABOUT Guest David 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. Company Dwolla 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. Host Tedd 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 Media Fintech Confidential is a production of DD3 Media. All rights reserved. CHAPTERS 00:00 Highlights 02:06 Under.io: Streamlining Application Processes 02:35 Introduction to FinTech Leaders One-on-One 02:48 Meet David Glaser, CEO of Dwolla 05:29 Payment Industry Then vs. Now 08:03 Open Banking and AI in Payments 08:55 JP Morgan's Open Banking Fee Announcement 14:06 Payment Methods and Account Access 14:36 Scaling Operations at Dwolla 15:03 Modernizing Homegrown Systems 16:26 AI and Automation in Payments 17:20 Skyflow: Your Privacy API 18:31 Balancing Founder Mindset with Scale 19:22 Automating Back Office Processes 21:52 Identifying What to Systemize Next 29:52 Economic Signals in Transaction Data 31:01 Interest Rate Impact on Fintech 32:43 Predicting Trends with Payment Data 35:04 Centralizing Data for AI Readiness 37:21 Account-to-Account and Real-Time Rails 38:21 Real-Time Payment Use Cases 41:00 DFNS: Wallets as a Service 42:39 Choosing the Right Payment Method 44:09 Orchestrating Across Multiple Rails 46:58 Vertical SaaS and Embedded Payments 48:37 The Future of Stablecoins 50:23 AI and Stablecoins Together 54:21 Advice for Fintech Founders 58:07 Hawk AI: Real-Time Fraud Monitoring 58:52 Disclaimer

    59 min
See All (139)

4.2
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Entertaining information focused on Fintech industry insights, market trends, news, and life stories from Fintech leaders, thinkers, and doers.

Information

  • Creator
    DD3, Media
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    139
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 DD3 Media
  • Show Website
    Fintech Confidential

You Might Also Like