Money Code

Stablecoins Change the Math on Building Neobanks w/ Ryan Bozarth (Dakota)

In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Ryan Bozarth, co-founder and CEO of Dakota, to unpack how Dakota went from building its own neobank to selling the regulated infrastructure layer behind the next generation of stablecoin-native fintechs. They dig into why building a neobank has shifted from a 12-18 month, multimillion-dollar project to something teams can test in weeks, and why the next bottleneck is domain expertise, distribution, and knowing which underserved market is worth building for. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Dakota's path from neobank to infrastructure 01:18 What "neobank" means on stablecoin rails 03:39 The new build math: weeks, not years 05:48 Community banking comes back through niches 08:28 Global rails, niche markets, and real experiments 10:47 Dakota's earned pain: onboarding and compliance as code 13:45 AI-native builders and marketplace distribution 17:48 When the neobank becomes a feature 21:57 Distribution is still the hard part 27:42 GENIUS, PACE, and the payment-institution lane 31:29 Why non-bank payments companies could win 34:49 Banks have to choose their game 37:15 Who benefits from the regulatory shift 41:33 Money becomes code 44:45 The offline niches nobody on crypto Twitter sees 46:00 Where to find Ryan and Dakota Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Ryan Bozarth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbozarth | https://x.com/ryanbozarth Dakota: https://dakota.xyz | https://x.com/dakotaxyz About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Identity Is the Agentic Commerce Unlock w/ Amir Sarhangi (Skyfire)

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Amir Sarhangi, CEO and co-founder of Skyfire and former Ripple VP of Product, building the identity layer that lets AI agents transact on the existing web. They unpack why payments is the easy step in agentic commerce, how Skyfire's KYA token threads the existing web security stack instead of replacing it, and why "anonymous is not a good thing" in the world of AI. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Access, login, checkout: the three problems agents must clear 02:32 The Bose headphones demo: what actually breaks for agents 06:04 KYA: binding human, agent, and enterprise into one token 08:07 Three layers an agent must clear: bot detection, fraud, login 10:35 "Agentic commerce has been happening. It's just been illegal." 14:11 Why Skyfire pivoted from anonymous crypto payments to identity 21:30 Experian's trust score: credit reporting for agents 24:39 Bank logins and the enterprise access problem 27:50 The Plaid analog for long-tail bank access 30:30 Same KYA token, three architectures: web, MCP, agent-to-agent 35:37 Three adoption phases and OpenAI's buy-button problem 41:04 The white space: vertical execution layers 43:37 Where to find Amir and Skyfire Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Amir Sarhangi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asarhangi/ | https://x.com/amirsarhangi | https://x.com/trySkyfire | https://skyfire.xyz About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

MoneyGram Is Becoming an Open Network w/ Anthony Soohoo (MoneyGram)

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Anthony Soohoo, Chairman and CEO of MoneyGram, who joined the company to refound its 85-year-old network for the stablecoin and AI era. They unpack how MoneyGram's network of 500,000 retail locations across 200 countries is becoming an API layer for stablecoins, why "cash is our inventory" reframes treasury for the blockchain era, and why building this kind of regulated footprint takes "three or four decades" to map the world. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Refounding MoneyGram: thinking like a founder at 85 05:30 "Stablecoin is the killer app for crypto" 09:18 500,000 retail locations: Starbucks, McDonald's, Subway combined 14:19 Cash is our inventory: turning T+N settlement into 24/7 18:57 The switchboard in the middle: stablecoin as another currency 21:29 Programmable money needs a programmable network 23:10 The Kraken off-ramp: stablecoins to cash in 100 countries 26:10 Why easier off-ramps make stablecoins worth more 30:33 The licensing moat: three or four decades to map the world 33:35 "You can't Claude code 500,000 retail locations" 39:50 AI magnifies dysfunction: fix the org first 45:30 From closed to open: what MoneyGram does next 47:50 Where to find Anthony and MoneyGram Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | http://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Anthony Soohoo: https://x.com/anthonysoohoo | https://x.com/MoneyGram | https://www.moneygram.com | https://www.moneygram.com/us/en/ramps About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Going Global Means Going Local w/ Irina Chuchkina (Wallet in Telegram)

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, host Chuk Okpalugo sits down with Irina Chuchkina, Chief Growth Officer at Wallet in Telegram, the only wallet natively integrated into a billion-user messenger, and a 20-year payments veteran who launched GrabPay across eight countries in Southeast Asia. They unpack why "distribution is an outcome, not a strategy" when scaling crypto products globally, how running custodial and self-custodial wallets simultaneously works as a coverage strategy for 150 million users, and why the winner of the stablecoin race won't be the next issuer but the infrastructure that makes hundreds of national stablecoins interoperable. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 Why distribution is an outcome, not a strategy 03:44 Connecting the dots: a user in Thailand and a user in Mexico 05:30 Telegram isn't a messenger, it's an economy 10:31 "People wake up with it and go to bed with it" 13:54 From simple bot to financial platform: tokenized stocks from $1 21:38 Maslow's hierarchy of financial needs 24:35 Two wallets, one app: custodial vs. self-custodial as a go-to-market decision 30:10 The Gift Fest playbook: 2M daily players, 1M new wallet users 33:38 Tether partnerships and watching what Binance does 38:44 Non-USD stablecoins: "every country will have a national stablecoin" 41:24 The real winner won't be an issuer 43:38 Where to find Irina and Wallet in Telegram Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | http://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Irina Chuchkina: https://www.linkedin.com/in/irinachuchkina/ | https://x.com/pogodasuper | https://x.com/wallettg About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

It's Not Stablecoins vs. Banks. It's Stablecoins With Banks. w/ Kirill Gertman (Conduit)

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK. In this episode of Money Code, host Chuk Okpalugo sits down with Kirill Gertman, co-founder and CEO of Conduit, the cross-border payments orchestrator building stablecoin infrastructure across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. They unpack why the stablecoin sandwich is actually a "spaghetti-filled taco" — where chain selection, local rail access, and geography-specific liquidity make cross-border payments far messier than the narrative suggests — how non-USD stablecoins only work when "designed to move, not to hold," and why the winners won't be banks or crypto companies alone, but the T-shaped players who specialize deeply and stay open to everyone else. Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN Chapters 00:00 The stablecoin sandwich is actually a spaghetti-filled taco 03:21 "Within 10 years, vast majority of cross-border will be blockchain-based" 08:58 What Conduit actually does: orchestration across LatAm, Africa, and SE Asia 12:05 Bottom-up adoption: individuals hedging, then SMEs, then enterprise 18:52 The K-shaped market: enterprise buyers on one end, vibe coders on the other 20:26 "The UI is super nice… but the money doesn't move": compliance as the real bottleneck 27:28 Three unsolved problems: trade finance, identity, and AI deepfake fraud 37:20 Why a stablecoin skeptic changed his mind on non-USD stablecoins 42:00 The BBRL walkthrough: fiat → mint → on-chain swap → off-ramp in seconds 49:12 Don't build your own chain: why banks should be T-shaped, not vertically integrated Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | http://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Kirill Gertman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirillgertman/ | https://x.com/kirillgertman | https://conduitpay.com About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens. About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.