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The Fintech Blueprint

The Fintech Blueprint

Lex Sokolin 202 Episodes Sep 28, 2026

Finance is being transformed by frontier technologies like AI, blockchain, DeFi, mixed reality, chatbots, neobanks, and roboadvisors. This podcast provides a blueprint for navigating the shift, exploring how these innovations are reshaping the industry. Host Lex Sokolin offers insights into the future of finance.

Episodes

How Stripe's Tempo is Rebuilding On-Chain Cash Settlement, with Head of Market Development Simon Taylor
How Stripe's Tempo is Rebuilding On-Chain Cash Settlement, with Head of Market Development Simon Taylor Sep 28, 2026 00:47:02 In this episode, Lex chats with Simon Taylor, who heads up market development at Tempo, the payments-native blockchain built by Stripe as a high-performance settlement layer for stablecoins and tokenized money. Simon is also the founder of Fintech Brain Food, one of the sector's most widely read newsletters. They discuss why there is no Fedwire for the internet, and why the next wave of on-chain v
How zerohash won Morgan Stanley's crypto business
How zerohash won Morgan Stanley's crypto business Sep 10, 2026 00:47:25 In this episode, Lex chats with Edward Woodford — Founder and CEO of zerohash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform that lets banks, brokers, and fintechs embed digital-asset trading, payments, and tokenization through a single API. Four years on from their last conversation, zerohash has settled over $65 billion in volume across 7 million customers, gone global under MiCA and EMI licen
Building the AI Distribution Layer for 5000+ Banks, with Fiserv Co-Head of Financial Solutions Srini Krish
Building the AI Distribution Layer for 5000+ Banks, with Fiserv Co-Head of Financial Solutions Srini Krish Aug 10, 2026 00:40:40 In this episode, Lex chats with Srini Krish — Co-Head of Financial Solutions at Fiserv, one of the original fintechs, in business for nearly five decades and sitting at the intersection of commerce and banking. Lex and Srini discuss how Fiserv acts as the technology backbone for 5,000+ US banks and credit unions that lack the wherewithal to match JPMorgan or Wells Fargo on their own, and how the f
How Perplexity's Computer Is Replacing the Family Office, with Perplexity Finance’s Jeff Grimes
How Perplexity's Computer Is Replacing the Family Office, with Perplexity Finance’s Jeff Grimes Jul 20, 2026 00:49:02 In this episode, Lex chats with Jeff Grimes — who is Head of Live Events Products at Perplexity, the AI company that has evolved from an "answer engine" into an "agent platform" built around Perplexity Computer, its multi-agent digital worker. They discuss how Perplexity has shifted financial research from the how to the what, letting a user describe an outcome in a single sentence while Computer
Inside the $1B-a-Day Stablecoin Market Maker for 1,500 Institutions, with B2C2's Cactus Raazi
Inside the $1B-a-Day Stablecoin Market Maker for 1,500 Institutions, with B2C2's Cactus Raazi Jun 22, 2026 00:43:31 In this episode, Lex chats with Cactus Raazi — CEO Americas at B2C2, one of the original and largest institutional market makers in digital assets, serving roughly 1,500 institutions and pricing across more than 40 exchanges globally. They discuss what a market maker actually does, how balance sheet and signal generation underpin roughly $1 billion a day of stablecoin flow at B2C2, and why the two
How Marqeta Built the $400B Modern Card Issuing Platform, with CEO Mike Milotich
How Marqeta Built the $400B Modern Card Issuing Platform, with CEO Mike Milotich May 25, 2026 00:44:49 In this episode, Lex chats with Mike Milotich — Chief Executive Officer of Marqeta, the modern card issuing platform that processed nearly $400 billion in payments volume in 2025, and is certified to operate in 40+ countries, growing over 30% for the third straight year. They discuss how Marqeta's separation of bank, processor, and brand armed fintech's largest winners across buy now pay later, on
The $6B Decentralized AI Network, with Yuma CRO Evan Malanga
The $6B Decentralized AI Network, with Yuma CRO Evan Malanga May 15, 2026 00:36:54 In this episode, Lex chats with Evan Malanga — Chief Revenue Officer of Yuma, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group focused on growing the Bittensor ecosystem. They discuss how Bittensor's $6 billion protocol incentivises AI builders worldwide through token emissions across 128 competing subnets, and why the network has produced real commercial outputs — including a 72 billion parameter model tra
Inside Mercury's $650M Revenue Machine, with CEO Immad Akhund
Inside Mercury's $650M Revenue Machine, with CEO Immad Akhund Apr 27, 2026 00:44:40 In this episode, Lex chats with Immad Akhund, CEO and founder of Mercury, a leading neobank for businesses. Immad shares his entrepreneurial journey, explaining how frustrating banking experiences inspired Mercury's creation. They discuss Banking as a Service, open banking, embedded finance, and core banking systems. Immad details Mercury's product philosophy, team structure, and migration away fr
How Polygon Became the Payments Chain Moving $2.3T in Stablecoins, with CEO Marc Boiron
How Polygon Became the Payments Chain Moving $2.3T in Stablecoins, with CEO Marc Boiron Mar 30, 2026 00:49:46 In this episode, Lex chats with Marc Boiron — CEO of Polygon Labs. Marc shares his journey from law to blockchain, discussing the challenges of navigating crypto’s evolving legal landscape and the complexities of structuring compliant DeFi projects. He explains Polygon’s strategic pivot to focus on stablecoin payments, leveraging its proven blockchain and global partnerships. Marc highlights Polyg
Building Privacy Infrastructure for 35+ Global Financial Institutions, with Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski
Building Privacy Infrastructure for 35+ Global Financial Institutions, with Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski Mar 13, 2026 00:40:28 In this episode, Lex chats with Alex Gluchowski — Cofounder and CEO of Matter Labs, about the transformative impact of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK proofs) on blockchain scalability and privacy. They discuss Matter Labs’ evolution, the development of zkSync, and how ZK proofs enable secure, private, and efficient blockchain transactions. The conversation explores enterprise adoption, regulatory shift
How Alpaca built the API brokerage for 300+ global fintechs across 45 Countries, with CEO Yoshi Yokokawa
How Alpaca built the API brokerage for 300+ global fintechs across 45 Countries, with CEO Yoshi Yokokawa Mar 5, 2026 00:46:38 In this episode, Lex chats with Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO of Alpaca — a brokerage infrastructure company that provides API-based trading and custody services to fintechs and developers globally. The conversation begins with their shared experience at Lehman Brothers during the 2008 financial crisis, where Yoshi worked in fixed income securitization and learned that even when market participants sense a
Building the $3B Ethereum Treasury Company, with SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom
Building the $3B Ethereum Treasury Company, with SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom Feb 20, 2026 00:53:51 In this episode, Lex chats to Joseph Chalom, CEO of SharpLink, a Nasdaq-listed leader in digital asset treasury management focused on Ethereum. Joseph shares his journey from BlackRock and the Aladdin platform to pioneering digital asset strategies, including staking and tokenization. The discussion explores the evolution of fintech, the integration of crypto into institutional finance, and the fu

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