I would argue that few if any digital bank CEOs were thinking seriously about crypto back in 2015. Fewer still were thinking they should start a digital bank with the goal of incorporating crypto opportunities into the very fabric of their bank. And none would be so crazy as to create their own banking core from scratch with crypto very much central to this process.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Stuart Sopp, the CEO and founder of Current. He did all those things and now he leads one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the country. And they are poised to take full advantage of the many opportunities that crypto and DeFi provide.

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Making news this week was ConsenSys, Microsoft, European Parliament, Apple, the CFPB, Quadrata, Inc., Green Dot Corporation, Plaid, OppFi, American Express and more.

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Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) has become quite popular these days with dozens of banks offering different services to fintechs and tech companies. But almost all these banks were not originally conceived this way, they are adding BaaS as a new product offering.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Wendy Cai-Lee, the CEO and Co-Founder of Piermont Bank. The bank only began operations in 2019 but it is a fully chartered bank that has been built from the ground up to take advantage of the BaaS opportunity.

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We have seen this stat so many times. If you add up all the community banks and credit unions in the United States their scale would make them a top-five bank. Sure, but that really doesn't make much sense because all these community institutions are separate companies. But what if you could combine some of the marketing and product offerings and streamline it across hundreds or even thousands of institutions? Then you might see some real advantages.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Gabe Krajicek, the CEO of Kasasa. This is exactly what Kasasa is doing. By providing a unified product and marketing program community banks and credit unions can take advantage of their collective scale and have offerings to compete with even the largest of the megabanks.

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On today's show we discussed the President's executive order on crypto and big fintech news from American Express, PayPal, Coinbase, Better, Marqeta, Acorns, Best Egg, Upgrade, Inc., Roofstock and more.

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The crypto space is having a moment. Most of us saw the Superbowl ads from a variety of crypto firms and the war in Ukraine is focusing more attention on crypto than ever before. People often compare the surge in crypto to the dot.com era but there is a big difference. Many of the large firms in crypto today are already profitable and have been able to raise almost infinite amounts of money.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Nicolas Cary, the vice-chairman and co-founder of Blockchain.com. While they did not take out a Superbowl ad they are one of the leaders in crypto and have been around longer than pretty much all their competitors.

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On today's show we covered news from Visa and Mastercard, the role of crypto in the Russia-Ukraine war, SoFi, Chime, PayPal, Cash App, Zip Co, Sezzle, Klarna, Goldman Sachs, Nubank and more.

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One of the most dynamic spaces in fintech today is identity verification. The way we verify ourselves online keeps changing as the tools improve and we try to stay ahead of the fraudsters.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Rick Song. He is the CEO and Co-Founder of Persona. Again and again on the show, Rick talked about the importance of customization for the way identity is verified. There should be no one-size-fits-all approach today as companies need to change their approach depending on the risk factors being presented by the user.

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Another busy week of fintech news where we discussed Sultan Meghji and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), SoFi and Technisys, Citi, Nubank, Chime, ETHDenver, Clearco, the #metaverse, #bitcoin and more.

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The lending space has come a long way since the original online lending pioneers came on the scene 15 years ago. Today, so much underwriting is done instantly, disbursements can be instant (even on weekends) and the loan application experience is quick and easy. Many lenders have expanded into new product lines to keep their customers engaged.

Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Tom Burnside, the CEO and Co-Founder of LendingPoint. Tom was last on the show back in 2018 and obviously a lot has changed since then. LendingPoint has added many products beyond the simple term loans and is one of the few consumer lenders to have expanded into business lending.

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