Fintech Stacks

Three seismic launches dropped on the same Wednesday and we're breaking all of them down. Robinhood just handed AI agents the keys to your brokerage account and credit card. SoFi became the first U.S. national bank to put a stablecoin inside a consumer app. And Airwallex crashed the billing party with a direct shot at Stripe. This is the episode you send to whoever still thinks fintech is boring.

Uber just launched its first credit card globally — and it happened in Mexico, not Silicon Valley. JPMorgan Payments, which moves $12 trillion a day, published a piece today about why it has to think like a fintech to survive. And Block's head of IR dropped a thread this morning that quietly asks: what happens when the AI you fired people for starts sending you bills? We break down all three and what they mean for the next chapter of fintech.

Robinhood just lost the executive who built its crypto operation — right as crypto revenue fell nearly half. Fidelity International launched its first tokenized fund and it's not a pilot program, it's live with a Moody's AAA rating. And China's securities regulator formally wound down Tiger Brokers' mainland business, giving investors a two-year countdown clock. Three stories, three very different vibes — all pointing to the same thing: fintech is in a moment of reckoning.

Webull just posted its best quarter ever and nobody was paying attention — $24 billion in customer assets, self-clearing approval, and a PDT rule change coming June 4 that could rewrite retail trading. Revolut went full meme economy with a Dogecoin-themed crypto debit card that actually solves a real payments problem. And CFSB just got hit with an OCC consent order that should have every fintech riding a sponsor bank charter quietly sweating through their hoodies. It's Memorial Day weekend — we kept it tight.

Yesterday three companies quietly signaled where all of consumer finance is headed. Plaid dropped a guaranteed payments product and a cash-flow credit score at its annual Effects conference — and if you don't know why that matters, this episode will fix that. Klarna stopped building AI for itself and embedded its entire merchant network inside ChatGPT. And Liberty Mutual tested getting you auto insurance quotes without you ever leaving a chat window. We break down all three and what they mean for the fintech stack you already own.

Intuit beat earnings yesterday and then announced it's cutting 17% of its workforce in the same breath — classic AI-era move. Mercury raised $200M at a $5.2B valuation and is on the doorstep of a full bank charter. And SoFi quietly acquired Peach Finance to keep stacking its lending infrastructure empire. Plus: Trump dropped a fintech executive order that's either great news or a payday lender's dream — we break it all down.

Chime's CEO just called a bank charter "a when, not if" — and the fintech world is paying attention. We break down what that means for the freshly public neobank, why NMI's acquisition of Dwolla is the most important payments infrastructure deal nobody's talking about, and how Monzo just posted $2.15 billion in revenue while quietly exiting the US. Today's episode is a masterclass in what disciplined fintech strategy actually looks like.

US investors keep sleeping on LATAM fintech — and today's episode is the wake-up call. We break down XP Inc.'s R$1.5 trillion client asset milestone and its R$1.5 billion capital return announcement, StoneCo's gutsy decision to hold full-year guidance through margin pressure and rising credit losses, and DLocal's absolutely absurd 73% TPV growth quarter that almost nobody in the US is talking about. Three companies, one thesis: the Global South is the most underappreciated fintech story on the planet right now.

Nubank just posted its best quarter ever — $5 billion in revenue, 135 million customers, and an efficiency ratio that makes U.S. banks look embarrassing. Then OpenAI dropped a personal finance tool that connects directly to your bank account. And Schwab started selling Bitcoin to 35 million clients the same week crypto regulation cleared a major Senate hurdle. This week in fintech was not subtle — we break down what all three moves mean for your portfolio.

BNPL is having its moment. Klarna just posted $1 billion in revenue and its first profitable quarter in over a year, Affirm embedded itself into Google's AI shopping layer, and the Senate Banking Committee finally advanced the Clarity Act — sending Coinbase surging 8% in a single session. We break down what each move means for your portfolio and why Thursday, May 15th might be the day fintech stopped playing defense.