This episode of The New Money Podcast features Henri Stern, co-founder and CEO of Privy, the wallet infrastructure enabling embedded wallets and secure key management for modern crypto apps, recently acquired by Stripe. Henri unpacks the hard-won lessons from his first startup, the co-founder dynamics that powered Privy, and why truth-seeking beats ego when navigating pivots. He traces Privy’s shift from data tokenization to embedded wallets, the evolution of wallet UX, and the rise of stablecoins drawing fintechs into crypto. Henri also explains how Privy remains fast inside Stripe, why serving both crypto-native and fintech customers compounds product quality, and how to think about chain fragmentation and interoperability. A timely conversation for builders deciding custody models, developer experience, and product bets in the stablecoin era.

Key Chapters

00:30 From Shout to Privy lessons learned

04:23 Grit versus quit in startups

07:41 Pivoting from data to wallets

13:14 Staying fast post-acquisition

15:13 Wallet UX shifts and embedded wins

19:19 Stablecoins, fintechs, and strategy bets

24:42 Privy's architecture, TEEs, and 4337

30:56 Inside the Stripe deal and chain strategy

34:59 Quickfire Insights on Fintech and Crypto Trends

This is NOT financial, tax, or legal advice

Music by Marcelo Cataldo - http://www.marcelocataldo.com