OnlyFintechs

Stablecoins make money settle like cash again: pay, and it's done. Rain CEO Farooq Malik argues on the World Economic Forum's site that finance should embrace the upgrade.

In his Oct 12, 2026 op-ed, Malik says electronic rails "separated payment from settlement," forcing banks to prefund accounts and reconcile after the fact. Capgemini estimates as much as $4 trillion sits trapped in settlement and liquidity accounts for cross-border payments. With a stablecoin, "the transfer and the record of it are the same event." That could free idle capital and make more markets "economic to serve." He also asks who benefits from the delay: institutions that earn on the float. The views are Malik's own, not WEF's, and Rain sells stablecoin payments infrastructure. Its OCC trust bank application from S2E23 is still pending.

What you'll learn:

• Why cash's "payment and settlement at the same time" is the property stablecoins bring back
• Where the up to $4 trillion in trapped capital comes from, per Capgemini
• Why sending $200 to sub-Saharan Africa costs 8.46% on average, per the World Bank
• Who profits from slow money, and why incumbents need to adapt
• The BIS "singleness, elasticity and integrity" hurdles, and how the stablecoin case answers them

Keywords: stablecoins, cross-border payments, Rain, Farooq Malik, World Economic Forum, settlement, correspondent banking, BIS, remittances.

#Stablecoins #Payments #CrossBorderPayments #Rain #Remittances #Fintech #OnlyFintechs

OKXICE, the 50/50 joint venture between OKX and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has notified the SEC that it plans to run a 24/7 venue for 63 tokenized U.S. stocks. It is a notice, not an approval, and trading can't start before Nov 3 at the earliest.

The Oct 4 notice, filed under the SEC's Sept 17 "Innovation Exemption," describes permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX's X Layer blockchain, where verified wallets would trade tokenized Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, SpaceX, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Coinbase, Circle and more against USDC, USDG or USDT. An unnamed third-party "Tokenizer" would hold the real shares one-for-one through a broker-dealer, with dividends and voting rights passed through. Cerebras has already objected to having its stock tokenized, and tight SEC volume caps keep the experiment small. Eleven days after NYSE signed its tokenized-stock MOU with Blockchain.com on Sept 23, ICE's other crypto partnership has moved to an actual filing. Catch up on that story in S2E11: NYSE × Blockchain.com.

What you'll learn:

• What OKXICE actually filed, and why "notified the SEC" isn't "approved"
• How a permissioned DeFi pool with soulbound-token access is supposed to trade real stocks
• Who issues the tokens (an unnamed Tokenizer), and what holders would get
• The 30-day clocks, issuer objections like Cerebras's, and the 0.25% volume cap
• The risks the notice itself flags: price gaps overnight, no clearing agency, admin keys, SIPC uncertainty
• How this fits ICE's two tokenization tracks, after S2E11 and S2E2

Keywords: OKXICE, OKX, Intercontinental Exchange, ICE, NYSE, tokenized stocks, Tokenized Securities Venue, SEC Innovation Exemption, Uniswap v4, X Layer, USDC, USDG, USDT, Cerebras, Andrew Cuomo, Star Xu, 24/7 trading.

#Tokenization #TokenizedStocks #OKX #ICE #NYSE #SEC #Stablecoins #CapitalMarkets

Frank Rotman's "Kepler Correction" says the rational customer banking waited eight years for has finally arrived, and it's an AI agent.

In 2018, QED Investors co-founder Frank Rotman argued in "The Copernican Revolution in Banking" that banks can't be everything to everyone, and that share would move to best-in-class providers once customers could compare everything. Now at 37Maru, he grades that thesis himself in a 64-slide 2026 deck, "Banking In The Agentic Era." His conclusion: customers had the information but didn't act. Friction was the missing term, and AI agents that act on a customer's behalf could remove it.

• The 2018 model, problem, prediction and question, plus Rotman's own scorecard (Big Tech: D)
• The "Inertia Tax," the profit banks earn when customers don't act on what they know
• Three Keplerian laws: path of least resistance, banks fight back, agents become the channel
• The "Quiet Run": why deposit beta could approach 1.0 when agents compare rates daily
• Permission, recourse and trust, and Rotman's case for a licensed, fiduciary AI Delegate

Agent savings stories cited in the deck are self-reported. Rotman discloses that he is building a company in agentic finance.

Read Frank Rotman's original work: "Banking In The Agentic Era: The Kepler Correction" (LinkedIn) and "The Copernican Revolution in Banking" (2018). Only Fintechs is independent commentary and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Frank Rotman, 37Maru or QED Investors.

Keywords: Frank Rotman, 37Maru, QED Investors, Kepler Correction, Copernican Revolution in Banking, AI agents, agentic finance, deposits, deposit beta, inertia tax, Mercury, Nubank, Chime, open banking

#Fintech #AIAgents #Banking #AgenticAI #Deposits #OpenBanking #OnlyFintechs

Samsung announced on Oct 7, 2026 that Samsung Wallet will add USDC for eligible U.S. Galaxy users starting the last week of October, putting stablecoin accounts inside the wallet on 82 million compatible U.S. devices, with no extra app and no private keys to manage.

USDC is the first and only stablecoin at launch. The accounts run on Bastion, with Coinbase as sub-custodian through Coinbase Prime Vault, and Solana and Sui provide network support. Samsung says it is not a bank, money transmitter, or custodian. Users will be able to send USDC to compatible crypto wallets with no Samsung transfer fee, and to bank accounts in more than 60 countries in local currency, with fees that vary and are shown in the app. Paying online or by tapping in store is only a possible future feature. It isn't live yet, and Samsung hasn't disclosed remittance fees or FX spreads.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we cover what Samsung announced and what is still unknown:

• Why distribution is the moat when the wallet ships on the phone
• Who does what: Samsung, Bastion, Coinbase, Solana and Sui, and why Circle isn't named
• Remittances first, payments later, and why the fee screens matter
• The regulatory timing, with stablecoin rules still being finalized
• From Samsung's self-custody Blockchain Keystore to a KYC'd custodial account

Keywords: Samsung Wallet, Samsung, USDC, stablecoins, Bastion, Coinbase, Coinbase Prime, Solana, Sui, Galaxy, cross-border payments, remittances, digital wallet, stablecoin custody.

#SamsungWallet #USDC #Stablecoins #Payments #Crypto #Remittances #Fintech #PodcastDrop

Payments infrastructure company Modern Treasury applied to the OCC on Oct 5, 2026 to set up Modern Treasury National Trust Bank. It is a filing, not an approval: nothing has been approved yet.

If approved, the proposed limited-purpose national trust bank would add federally supervised digital asset custody and related fiat services to Modern Treasury's payments platform, giving customers one way to custody and move stablecoins and fiat. Modern Treasury says the bank would not make loans or issue stablecoins, and that its existing software and payment service provider business would keep running separately. The filing landed the same day as Rain's OCC trust-bank application, and three days after the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC, arguing that national trust charters for crypto firms are a "side door" into banking without CRA duties, capital and liquidity standards, or FDIC insurance.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through what was filed and what is still pending:

• What Modern Treasury actually filed for, and why "filed" isn't "approved"
• What a limited-purpose national trust bank can and can't do
• Why a payments software company wants its own federally supervised custodian for stablecoins
• Two trust-bank filings in one day: Modern Treasury and Rain
• The bank lobby's case against the trust-charter wave, and the lock-in question for customers

Keywords: Modern Treasury, Modern Treasury National Trust Bank, OCC, national trust bank, trust charter, stablecoin custody, digital asset custody, Matt Marcus, ICBA, Rain, payments infrastructure, fintech charter.

#ModernTreasury #OCC #TrustBank #Stablecoins #BankCharters #Payments #Fintech #PodcastDrop

Stripe agreed on Sept 30, 2026 to acquire Parafin, the embedded-lending company behind small-business financing at platforms like DoorDash, Gusto, Jobber and Mindbody. The price wasn't disclosed, and the deal hasn't closed yet.

Parafin lets software platforms offer pre-approved financing to the businesses that run on them. Offers are underwritten on the sales data the platform already sees, and repayments flex with sales. Parafin says it has funded more than $3 billion to more than 60,000 small businesses since its first cash advance in 2021. Stripe already lends through Stripe Capital. If the deal closes, Stripe says the platforms that build on it would get a wider range of credit products, and Parafin's existing platform programs would come with it. Critics ask why Stripe needs a second lender, what happens when some of Parafin's partners compete with Stripe, and how much state-by-state lending compliance Stripe would take on. Both companies say the deal is expected to close in the coming months, subject to customary closing conditions and any required regulatory clearances.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through what was agreed and what is still pending:

• What Parafin actually does, and how embedded, sales-based financing works
• Why Stripe wants it when it already runs Stripe Capital
• What Parafin says won't change for platforms and borrowers
• Stripe's acquisition run: Bridge, Privy, Metronome, OpenRouter, and now Parafin
• The skeptics' case: partner conflicts, integration, and sales-based financing rules

Keywords: Stripe, Parafin, Stripe Capital, embedded finance, embedded lending, small business financing, merchant cash advance, revenue-based financing, DoorDash, Gusto, Sahill Poddar, Vineet Goel, Neetika Bansal, fintech M&A.

#Stripe #Parafin #EmbeddedFinance #SmallBusiness #FintechMA #Payments #Fintech #PodcastDrop

Coinbase and Citi announced on Sept 28, 2026 a deeper stablecoin payments tie-up: stablecoin checkout for Citi's big merchant clients, and fiat-to-stablecoin accounts for fintechs.

The deal has two halves. Coinbase Virtual Accounts, which turn incoming dollars into stablecoins automatically, run on Citi's Virtual Account Wallet, part of Citi's Banking-as-a-Service offering. Separately, Citi's institutional clients are set to accept stablecoins at checkout through Spring by Citi: Coinbase converts the tokens to fiat, and Citi settles as the bank of record, so the merchant never holds a token. Both companies say it launches in the U.S. first, with more capabilities in the coming months. Independent coverage is more cautious: no merchants or volumes were named, Virtual Accounts are still in private beta, and Citi has given no launch date for Spring stablecoin acceptance.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through what was announced and what is still to come:

• How the Virtual Accounts half and the Spring by Citi checkout half each work
• What changed since the two companies' October 2025 "intent to collaborate"
• Why "the merchant never touches the token" matters to corporate treasurers
• How new this really is, given Coinbase's existing merchant payments engine
• The politics: a bank lobby chaired by Citi CEO Jane Fraser pushed to ban stablecoin rewards, as reported by BeInCrypto and the WSJ
• What still hasn't been disclosed: named merchants, volumes and launch dates

Keywords: Coinbase, Citi, Citigroup, stablecoin payments, Spring by Citi, Virtual Account Wallet, virtual accounts, Banking-as-a-Service, merchant acquiring, bank of record, stablecoin rewards, CLARITY Act, fintech.

#Coinbase #Citi #Stablecoins #Payments #BaaS #Fintech #OnlyFintechs #PodcastDrop

Stablecoin payments platform Rain filed an application with the OCC on Oct 5, 2026 to set up Rain National Trust Bank in New York. It is a filing, not an approval: nothing has been approved yet.

If approved, the proposed uninsured national trust bank would hold digital assets and U.S. dollars in custody, manage reserves for permitted stablecoin issuers under the GENIUS Act, and issue and redeem dollar-backed stablecoins for institutional clients. Rain says it would not take deposits, offer consumer accounts, make commercial loans, or carry FDIC insurance. Rain itself would stay a payments platform, with the trust bank as a separately capitalized subsidiary. The filing comes three days after the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC over crypto national trust charters, arguing the agency went beyond its authority. The OCC review includes a public comment period, and no decision date has been given.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through what was filed and what is still pending:

• Exactly what Rain filed, and why "filed" is not "approved"
• What a national trust bank can and cannot do: custody and trust powers, no deposits, no loans
• How the filing fits the GENIUS Act path for uninsured national banks as stablecoin issuers
• Where Rain sits in the OCC's recent trust-charter wave, from Circle to Bastion, Agora and Catena
• Why bank trade groups, including ICBA, are fighting the charter model in court

Keywords: Rain, Rain National Trust Bank, OCC, national trust bank, trust charter, stablecoin, GENIUS Act, custody, reserve management, Brandon Soto, Farooq Malik, ICBA, Bank Policy Institute, fintech charter.

#Rain #OCC #TrustBank #Stablecoins #GENIUSAct #BankCharters #Fintech #PodcastDrop

TabaPay plans to buy Denver's Transact Bank and rename it TabaBank, but nothing is approved or closed yet. Fed comments are due Oct 14, 2026.

The payments processor announced the plan on Sept 2, 2026. The deal needs approval from the Federal Reserve Board and the OCC. The Fed application appeared in the Federal Register on Sept 14, and the public comment window runs through Oct 14. TabaPay says a national bank charter would bring its payments products under one bank, with direct access to Fed services like FedNow and ACH. The purchase price has not been disclosed, and skeptics point to the regulatory road ahead.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through what was announced and what is still pending:

• What TabaPay announced on Sept 2, and what is still pending
• What the Federal Register notice says, and who can comment until Oct 14
• Why a payments processor wants a charter instead of relying only on sponsor banks
• What TabaPay says stays the same, and what skeptics say
• What still has to happen: Federal Reserve Board and OCC approval, with no closing yet

Keywords: TabaPay, Transact Bank, TabaBank, bank charter, OCC, Federal Reserve, bank holding company, FedNow, sponsor banks, banking as a service, fintech bank acquisition, payments.

#TabaPay #BankCharter #FintechM&A #Payments #FedNow #BaaS #Fintech #PodcastDrop

The Fed says FedNow will support cross-border payments, but only the U.S. leg is instant, and it is planned, not live.

On Sept 23, 2026, Federal Reserve Financial Services said FedNow will carry the U.S. domestic leg of an international payment, while established correspondent banking arrangements move the international portion, the same model the Fedwire Funds Service uses. A group of early adopters will test the new message formats first. No date is set for a wide launch, and the whole plan depends on the Federal Reserve Board approving changes to Regulation J and Operating Circular 8. It is not live yet.

In this OnlyFintechs episode we walk through the Sept 23 FedNow Explorer post and the pending rules behind it:

• What "one leg out" means: enhanced ISO 20022 messages that tell the correspondent bank the ultimate sender or receiver is outside the U.S.
• Why a rule change is needed: under current Regulation J, a FedNow transfer can include only two U.S. banks, and the Board's April 8 proposal would allow intermediaries
• Who is testing: Payall is the only early adopter named so far, and the use cases include international payroll, property transfers, insurance claims and treasury
• What the skeptics say: Stuart Cook and Erika Baumann on the last mile, plus The Clearing House and the Bank Policy Institute on real-time sanctions screening
• How Finovate frames it against stablecoins, which the Fed's own post never mentions
• Domestic scale and the January 1 FedNow discount program that comes before any cross-border push

Keywords: FedNow, Federal Reserve Financial Services, Federal Reserve Board, Regulation J, Operating Circular 8, cross-border payments, instant payments, correspondent banking, ISO 20022, Payall, RTP, The Clearing House, stablecoins, fintech.

#FedNow #FederalReserve #CrossBorderPayments #InstantPayments #Payments #ISO20022 #Fintech #PodcastDrop