This Week in Fintech

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152

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Jun 2026

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About the show

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.

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June 10, 202633 min

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 & GuestSasha Pilch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-pilchGaston Irigoyen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gastonirigoyen/About This Week in FintechThis 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.

June 4, 202635 min

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 & GuestJustin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/Larry Wade: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larryswadejr/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing 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.

May 27, 202651 min

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.

May 13, 202645 min

How MoneyGram Is Modernizing Global Payments with Stablecoins

Host Justin Friedman sits dow with Luke Tuttle, Chief Product and Technology Officer at MoneyGram to talk about the realities of building global payments infrastructure at scale. The conversation explores how stablecoins are changing cross-border settlement, why trust and compliance remain critical in remittances, and what it takes to deliver instant cash pickup across more than 200 countries.Luke breaks down the operational side of modern payments, from treasury management and liquidity challenges to cloud infrastructure, AI-native risk systems, KYC, AML, and local regulation. They also discuss why mainstream stablecoin adoption may come less from consumers demanding crypto products and more from institutions quietly upgrading the rails underneath global money movement.Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world.Connect with the Hosts & GuestJustin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/Luke Tuttle: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luketuttle/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing 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.

May 8, 20267 min

Coinbase Q1 '26 Earnings: A conversation with Coinbase Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal

This Week in Fintech’s Nik Milanovic sat down with Coinbase Chief Business Officer Shan Aggarwal to discuss Coinbase’s Q1 2026 earnings following the company’s latest earnings release.• Q1 highlights, including all-time high crypto trading volume market share • USDC growth on-platform and why stablecoin economics matter • How institutional and developer products reinforce retail liquidity • What the “everything exchange” means for tokenized markets • Early traction in retail derivatives, prediction markets, and integrated DEX trading • Why Base sees a 10x jump in stablecoin transaction volume • Agentic commerce on Base, the X402 protocol, and machine-to-machine payments • What Coinbase is prioritising through 2026

April 29, 202655 min

Western Union’s Stablecoin Moment

Presented by Rain.This episode of Crossing the Chasm, host Chiara Munaretto is joined by Malcolm Clarke to discuss how Western Union is bringing stablecoins into the real world with the launch of USDPT. Malcolm explains why Western Union believes the future of digital dollars is not about making consumers learn crypto, but about using blockchain behind the scenes to make cross-border payments faster, more efficient, and easier to scale.Chiara and Malcolm dig into the infrastructure challenges that still define global remittances, from liquidity and settlement timing to the need for reliable fiat off-ramps, and how USDPT can help reduce that friction. They also explore Western Union’s stablecoin-backed card experience, flexible custody options, interoperability across chains, and why trust and practical utility will be the deciding factors in bringing stablecoins to everyday users.Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world.Connect with the HostChiara Munaretto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaramunaretto/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing 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.

April 15, 202653 min

Stablecoins Are Going to Main Street

Presented by Rain.In this special series Crossing the Chasm, we explore when stablecoins stop being “crypto” and start functioning like real money, becoming familiar, fast, and cost-efficient. Justin Friedman is joined by Farooq Malik, founder and CEO of Rain, joins us to break down what true adoption looks like across payments, on-chain settlement, and card programs that integrate seamlessly into existing financial systems.Using a simple lens, technology wins when it improves infrastructure without changing user behavior, we trace the evolution from early experimentation to real-world adoption. Farooq shares how regulatory clarity, institutional demand, and interoperability are moving stablecoins beyond their early phase into mainstream use by banks, payment providers, and merchants.We also dig into what is holding adoption back, from internal inertia to underestimating urgency, and highlight a key insight: many businesses are already interacting with stablecoins without realizing it. Finally, we examine the global access challenge and how compliant stablecoin infrastructure could expand financial inclusion across borders.Subscribe for more conversations on what it actually takes to bring tokenized money into the real world.Connect with the Hosts & GuestJustin Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justingfriedman/Farooq Malik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fhmalik/About Crossing the ChasmCrossing 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.

April 6, 202646 min

BONUS: Reintroducing The Fintech OGs

Powered by Spade.Julie VerHage-Greenberg is back for Season 4 of The Fintech OGs, now joined by co-host Lauren Crossett, to sit down with the pioneers who built and transformed fintech. From the early days of digital finance to the innovations redefining money today, these are the stories behind the people who changed the industry.In episode one we sit down with Angela Hung and Dan Egan, two builders and researchers whose careers span policy research, Robinhood, Earnin, and Betterment. Together, they have helped shape how modern wealth and financial tools are designed and experienced.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.

March 31, 202653 min

Credit Beyond The Score with Andrew Endicott

Credit scores feel like destiny, but they’re built on a thin record of borrowing and repayment while ignoring income, cash on hand, and real assets. That blind spot blocks credit for immigrants, younger consumers, gig workers, and anyone whose financial life doesn’t fit the classic bureau file. In this episode, Nik sits down with Andrew Endicott, co-founder of Pedal and now co-founder and GP at Gilgamesh Ventures, to talk about how cash flow underwriting and open banking data change the game, and what it takes to build fintech that lasts.Andrew walks through his path from law and investment banking into founding a credit card company, including the post-financial crisis reality where regulation and risk constraints pushed banks to pull back. We unpack why fintech emerged to fill those gaps, what founders often underestimate about finance, and why areas like fraud, compliance, and risk management aren’t “later” problems. We also get into Andrew’s upcoming book, Finance Technology: Insights for Building an Enduring Fintech Company, and the framework he uses to map the ecosystem into four buckets: banking, payments, insurance, and infrastructure. Learn more about the book: https://www.amazon.com/Finance-Technology-Insights-Building-Enduring/dp/1954892225Subscribe for more founder-grade fintech conversations.Connect with the Hosts & GuestNik Milanović: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikmAndrew Endicott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewendicottAbout This Week in FintechThis 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. 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.

February 17, 202643 min

Okay, So You've Got a Stablecoin… Bhau Kotecha on What Happens After You Go On-Chain

This week, Stablecon’s Justin Friedman was joined by Bhau Kotecha, co-founder and CEO of Paxos Labs, for a discussion on the transformative potential of stablecoins and tokenization. Bhau and Justin examine how these technologies are redefining the way we think about financial tools, usability, interoperability, privacy, and the economics of stored value. Finally, Bhau offers predictions on whether stablecoin liquidity will consolidate into U.S. dollar-denominated assets or grow organically across the world’s currencies.