Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The "Stablecoin Sandwich": How Conduit Fixes Cross-Border Payments
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The "Stablecoin Sandwich": How Conduit Fixes Cross-Border Payments
Why does it take five days and $30 to move money from Mexico to the US, or Nigeria to China? In a world of instant communication, the "black hole" of correspondent banking is still swallowing billions in fees and lost time.
Kirill Gertmann, CEO of Conduit, is a 20-year fintech veteran who spent years in traditional banking before diving into crypto. After surviving the 2022 DeFi collapse without losing a cent of client funds, he pivoted Conduit from a "yield" platform to a "utility" powerhouse. Today, Conduit is the "Money Movement Operating System" helping businesses and banks bypass the 1970s-era SWIFT architecture.
This episode deconstructs the strategic shift from speculative DeFi to practical cross-border execution. Kirill explains the "stablecoin sandwich" model, the reality of "hard mode" jurisdictions, how Africa is likely to be their biggest geography by end of 2026, and why the ultimate "SWIFT killer" isn't a new coin, but a superior distribution network. We explore why Tier 2 banks are the next big frontier for stablecoin adoption and why CBDCs are likely a dead end.
In This Episode, You Will Hear:
The Pivot: How the 2022 crypto crash forced a move from DeFi yield to solving the "on-ramp" problem in Latin America.
The "Stablecoin Sandwich": Why the most successful fintechs abstract crypto away so CFOs only see fiat-to-fiat results.
Bypassing SWIFT: Why Tier 2 banks are desperate for an alternative to the "bottleneck" of correspondent banking.
The Africa Growth Story: Why Nigeria has a "higher pain point" than Mexico, how partnering with local fintechs scales growth and how Africa will be their largest geography by end of 2026.
The Network Moat: Why Tether (USDT) dominates the Global South and why "distribution beats yield" every time.
The Compliance Hurdle: How to balance aggressive growth with the "boring stuff" like SOC2 and rigorous KYB.
Key Quote: "Most crypto use cases were speculative. We wanted to build something people would actually use every day... The only moat in payments is the network. Visa and Mastercard are successful because of their network and distribution, not secret technology."
Connect with Us:
Samora Kariuki (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/samorakariuki/
Kirill Gertmann (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirillgertman/
Frontier Fintech: https://frontierfintech.substack.com/
View all episodes
By Frontier FintechWhy does it take five days and $30 to move money from Mexico to the US, or Nigeria to China? In a world of instant communication, the "black hole" of correspondent banking is still swallowing billions in fees and lost time.
Kirill Gertmann, CEO of Conduit, is a 20-year fintech veteran who spent years in traditional banking before diving into crypto. After surviving the 2022 DeFi collapse without losing a cent of client funds, he pivoted Conduit from a "yield" platform to a "utility" powerhouse. Today, Conduit is the "Money Movement Operating System" helping businesses and banks bypass the 1970s-era SWIFT architecture.
This episode deconstructs the strategic shift from speculative DeFi to practical cross-border execution. Kirill explains the "stablecoin sandwich" model, the reality of "hard mode" jurisdictions, how Africa is likely to be their biggest geography by end of 2026, and why the ultimate "SWIFT killer" isn't a new coin, but a superior distribution network. We explore why Tier 2 banks are the next big frontier for stablecoin adoption and why CBDCs are likely a dead end.
In This Episode, You Will Hear:
The Pivot: How the 2022 crypto crash forced a move from DeFi yield to solving the "on-ramp" problem in Latin America.
The "Stablecoin Sandwich": Why the most successful fintechs abstract crypto away so CFOs only see fiat-to-fiat results.
Bypassing SWIFT: Why Tier 2 banks are desperate for an alternative to the "bottleneck" of correspondent banking.
The Africa Growth Story: Why Nigeria has a "higher pain point" than Mexico, how partnering with local fintechs scales growth and how Africa will be their largest geography by end of 2026.
The Network Moat: Why Tether (USDT) dominates the Global South and why "distribution beats yield" every time.
The Compliance Hurdle: How to balance aggressive growth with the "boring stuff" like SOC2 and rigorous KYB.
Key Quote: "Most crypto use cases were speculative. We wanted to build something people would actually use every day... The only moat in payments is the network. Visa and Mastercard are successful because of their network and distribution, not secret technology."
Connect with Us:
Samora Kariuki (Host): https://www.linkedin.com/in/samorakariuki/
Kirill Gertmann (Guest): https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirillgertman/
Frontier Fintech: https://frontierfintech.substack.com/