Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner featuring Kiah Haslett (whose inaugural Fintech Takes Banking newsletter is officially live – subscribe here to stay dangerously informed and entertained).

First up: big banks are asking the OCC to write one uniform rulebook that overrides conflicting state rules. We unpack OCC vs the state regulators’ group (CSBS), why it’s harder to cut a Fed master account off from payment rails, and how crypto-related trust charters and 50-state licenses tangle the map.

Next: a fintech fraud story is embedded within the Aspiration x Kawhi Leonard saga. A bankruptcy filing lists an LLC tied to Kawhi getting a reported $24M in cash for little or no work plus $20M in equity, while Clippers owner Steve Ballmer had invested in Aspiration a year earlier (definitely an awkward look under the NBA’s salary cap).

And since we’re already in fraud-land, a quick detour to Lisa Cook: the administration’s attempt to remove a Fed governor over alleged mortgage fraud, an FHFA records sweep of old mortgage files, what counts as “cause,” and why markets barely blinked.

And finally: hear Kiah ruminate on tokenized deposits (think regular bank dollars recorded on a blockchain). Banks pitch them for big-company payments and shared visibility; Kiah asks if that’s better than today’s rails or just a faster path for scammers. We separate practical plumbing from analyst bait and who should actually care.

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

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