Watch the previous episode with Svitlanka Sergiichuk: https://youtu.be/IXBNVHBoSDA

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

01:30 – What changed the industry

02:43 – What changed customer needs

04:05 – History of stablecoins

07:24 – What problem Merge solves

10:55 – Difference between stablecoins and fiat

12:22 – What makes Merge stand out

14:05 – Challenges of scaling

19:07 – How to collaborate with banks and regulators

23:23 – Business use cases for stablecoins

26:31 – The magic of stablecoins

Follow Igor Tomych on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/igortomych

Follow Fintech Garden on LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/fintechgarden

Follow Kebbie Sebastian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kebbiesebastian/

Visit DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com/

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea explore: 

💡 Why orchestration matters for CFOs, CTOs, and fintech founders

💡 What makes it different from PSPs and payment gateways

💡 How companies can go from scattered payment flows to centralized, automated systems

💡 Real cases, smart routing, settlement automation, and more

🎯 If you’ve ever juggled 5 PSPs, manual Excel reports, and high payment fees, this one’s for you.

Listen now and subscribe!

In our Fintech Garden Podcast, host Igor Tomych and guest Jonny Fry break down the key differences between E-Money and D-Money—and why it matters for fintech innovators. 

Key takeaways:
📍E-Money is the digital version of traditional banking—still reliant on legacy systems.
📍D-Money (blockchain-based) enables instant, secure, and programmable payments.
📍The future? Faster settlements, lower costs, and fewer intermediaries.

Banks and card networks must adapt or be disrupted. Are stablecoins, CBDCs, and tokenized assets the next frontier for financial services? 

Don’t miss this must-listen episode!

Join Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea as they discuss:

✅ Banking as a Service (BaaS) vs. core banking vs. embedded finance.

💡 What is a core banking solution, and when do you need one?

🔍 BaaS providers and platforms—who are the top players?

💳 Embedded finance examples—how businesses are embedding financial services.

📈 The future of the banking-as-a-service market and where it’s headed.

If you’re in fintech, SaaS, or financial services, this episode is packed with insights!

Lex's insight on how sanctions slowed Grinex trading, but users increasingly turned to centralized exchanges to keep things moving: http://bit.ly/49f05Zo

From Bulgaria to Romania to Greece, tbi has grown into a digital-first, profit-driven fintech player by doing what most neobanks didn’t: combining a physical presence with seamless digital services.

🔍 Key topics:

✅ Why tbi blends physical service centers with mobile-first experiences

✅ How post-crisis roots shaped a sustainable fintech strategy

✅ The role of merchant-led BNPL in building long-term value

✅ How trust, empathy, and local presence still win customers

✅ What it takes to run a profitable, credit-led fintech bank in 3 countries

📌 Whether you’re building a digital bank, designing a BNPL strategy, or exploring expansion in Southeast Europe—this episode is full of strategic insight.

Brett was named #1 on Fintech Magazine's Fintech Influencer list this year; Fintech Garden host Igor Tomych came in at #9 on the same list. Brett also co-founded LumaBrush AI, an AI-powered smart toothbrush with an intraoral camera for at-home oral health monitoring, and recently published Branch Today, Gone Tomorrow, a new edition of his thesis on the disappearing bank branch.

In this episode, the conversation looks ten years forward. The challenger bank revolution is largely over — the top 20 retail fintechs now have 4.1 billion customers between them, up 200% in five years, while the top 20 traditional retail banks grew just 3% in the same period. The next shift, Brett argues, is bigger: the banking app itself disappears. The primary interface to financial services becomes a personal AI. Products dissolve into contextual utility. Trust migrates from brand to utility. And by the 2040s, the role of money in its current form starts to decline.

Timestamps:

01:27 – The challenger bank revolution: 4.1B customers and 200% growth

03:51 – Why digital banks won: CAC under $1, UX, and onboarding in minutes

06:48 – The next interface: your personal AI replaces the banking app

10:18 – Will OpenAI inherit the customer relationship from Apple and Google?

12:14 – Bank 1.0 through 5.0: Brett's framework for banking evolution

15:53 – Will we hit human-level AI in the next ten years?

20:42 – The payments future: real-time rails, stablecoins, and CBDCs

24:17 – Why trust has moved from brand to utility

27:30 – Data control as the next foundational layer

28:57 – Bank 5.0 (November) and LumaBrush AI

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts and guest:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Brett King https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettking/

Meet Ronel David, independent non-executive board member at PayInc. Ronel is a strategic commercial leader with 20+ years of experience in banking, fintech, and technology, helping businesses scale at pivotal inflection points. Her career has been defined by driving growth, market expansion, and transformation across international markets, with a consistent focus on client outcomes and people-first leadership.

Timestamps:

00:04 – Intro

01:04 – Fintech vs bank cultural gap

02:50 – Ecosystem shift and Brex example

06:02 – Strategy: customers, competition, and market shifts

08:01 – How banks evaluate fintech partnerships

10:07 – API example: different perspectives

11:14 – Internal decision-making complexity

13:35 – AI impact on financial services

14:30 – AI and human “placement”

16:23 – Accountability in AI systems

18:41 – Talent shifts and ex-bankers

20:18 – Institutional knowledge gap

23:03 – Experience vs disruption

24:01 – Brex and resilience lessons

26:24 – Inclusion in fintech today

28:39 – Structural bias and retention

33:21 – Advice for fintechs working with banks

35:10 – Co-creation and partnerships

36:05 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Ronel David https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronel-david/

DashDevs founder and CEO, Igor Tomych, alongside Novafin founder Dumitru Condrea, are back with another episode of Planted Wrong. The executives use this format to discuss some of the biggest failures in fintech.

Finn by Chase was a digital-only mobile banking service launched by JPMorgan Chase in 2018, targeting millennials with no-fee, smartphone-based checking and savings accounts. It focused on spending control and savings, but was shut down in August 2019 due to low demand and a shift toward integrating its features into the main Chase app.

How Tally’s Mission Struggled to Take Root | Planted Wrong №1: https://youtu.be/s9Pkd_Jczzg

AI in fraud is no longer offense vs defense, with Andre Isoni | Fintech Garden Podcast 149: https://youtu.be/oQcgLFY_cK8

Revolut record profit and customers? AI in PayPal & G7 currency stablecoins | Weekly Harvest: https://youtu.be/Y_T5oF_G5Jo

Timestamps:

​​0:00 – Why Chase’s Finn failed (Intro)

0:45 – The bold idea behind Finn by Chase

1:40 – The neobank boom Chase tried to copy

2:30 – Why big banks struggle to innovate

3:20 – Finn’s hybrid model explained

4:10 – The fatal assumption Chase made

5:00 – Why the US wasn’t ready for Finn

5:50 – The UX mistake that killed the product

6:40 – Copying old banking into a new app

7:30 – Why Revolut worked (and Finn didn’t)

8:20 – “Digital ≠ better” in fintech

9:10 – The missing value proposition

10:00 – The wrong target audience

10:50 – Why users saw no difference

11:40 – The myth of generational behavior

12:20 – Tech is not your advantage

13:10 – Growth vs retention: the real problem

14:00 – Same product, new branding = failure

14:50 – Was Finn doomed from the start?

15:40 – What Chase actually learned

16:30 – Was this an intentional experiment?

17:20 – Finn vs Chase: scale comparison

18:10 – Finn vs Revolut: key differences

19:00 – Biggest lesson for fintech founders

20:00 – Final takeaway: what really matters

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

The two executives take a no-holds-barred approach to explaining what it's like bringing a fintech company to the big leagues. You'd think the conversation would focus on technologies and trends, but the reality may surprise you.

Whether compliance can be sold as a product, or it’s a map that tells how to get from point A to point B, its absence is duellly fielt. Just ask the crypto industry. Listen to our hosts talk about the ‘wild west’ of crypto and how its biggest scandals are pushing people to demand more safety. 

You’ll hear about:

• How M-Pesa sparked Africa’s fintech revolution.

• Why telcos like MTN MOMO are ahead of banks in payments.

• The shift from remittances and crowdfunding to embedded finance.

• Indelible’s Pay2Nature embeds micro-donations into everyday payments.

• The role of central banks, regulation, and partnerships in scaling fintech.

• Why biodiversity and sustainability are the next frontier for fintech founders.
  

👉 Whether you’re curious about African fintech, embedded finance, or impact investing, this episode is packed with insights from someone who has built businesses across the continent for nearly two decades.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉https://bit.ly/45HPDb8

Meet Andre Isoni, Chief AI Officer at AI Technologies, a company specializing in machine learning and data-related problems. Andre is also the author of 'Machine Learning for the Web'. With a background spanning cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise consulting, he focuses on turning AI from a technical capability into a scalable, ROI-driven business solution.

His work cuts across industries, including financial services, defense, and the public sector, where he leads AI project design, deployment, and governance. Alongside his executive role, he contributes to global AI standards through his involvement with ISO and advises on AI investments, bringing a practical, security-first perspective to how organizations adopt and manage emerging technologies.

AI will change how businesses operate, with Juan José López Murphy | FG Podcast х MoneyLive 2026: https://youtu.be/AKD98V6U660

AI systems do not hallucinate. Humans hallucinate, with Tony Fish | Fintech Garden Podcast 146: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

The magic of AI will really open up, with Norman Tambach | FG x Finovate Europe 2026: https://youtu.be/tWcevDDxaQA

Timestamps:

00:04 – Intro

01:28 – AI vs CTO: responsibilities and project success

03:39 – AI in fintech fraud: offense vs defense

05:13 – Cybercrime evolution and AI adoption

07:45 – Shift to smaller, more powerful AI models

09:59 – Why smaller models increase security risks

10:49 – Deepfakes, identity fraud, and malware evolution

12:35 – Code morphing and detection challenges

13:37 – Prompt injection and AI vulnerabilities

14:28 – AI risks in KYC and identity verification

15:27 – Why human oversight is still critical

18:59 – Static vs dynamic fraud prevention

20:08 – Why AI detection tools are not enough

22:11 – No “silver bullet” in fraud prevention

23:04 – Data, behavior, and fraud detection systems

27:25 – AI economics: cost, efficiency, and security

28:30 – Regulation, open-source AI, and risk

29:31 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guests:

Andre Isoni https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaisoni20/

Meet Germain Bahri, Co-Founder & CGO of Zazu, a company aimed at redefining business banking for Africa’s SMEs. As they share a common professional background, Germain and Novafin's Dumitru Condrea look at how different regions such as Africa defy the fintech playbook usually used in established markets such as Europe and North America.

Previous episodeCyber security is not an IT problem, with Dennis Winter: https://youtu.be/wbdyR8BY7ns

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

00:40 – The Silicon Valley playbook

02:14 – European markets vs African markets

04:38 – Fundraising myths

07:34 – Regulatory landscapes

09:44 – Zazu's mission

14:57 – The African market challenge

19:07 – The trust game

22:15 – The African fintech playbook

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest

Germain Bahri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/germainbahri/

In this episode, Igor Tomych speaks with Fraser Stewart, founder of Lyfeguard, a fintech platform helping users manage personal information, visualize their financial health, and share critical data securely with family or advisers.

They discuss: 💡 Why managing personal information today is broken

💡 How Lyfeguard bridges personal finance, data storage, and estate planning 💡 Using open banking to connect accounts, loans, and pensions

💡 The evolution from B2C to B2B2C through advisers and legal partners

💡 How privacy, encryption, and access control define user trust

💡 Future plans: AI agents for automated data management

💡 Lessons from building fintech around life’s hardest conversations

📚 Book Recommendations:

• The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

• Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉⁠https://bit.ly/45HPDb8⁠

He spent close to a decade as a UK police detective, including managing a financial crime investigation team at City of London Police — the UK's national lead force for economic crime — and was an operational member of the UK's Joint Money Laundering Intelligence Taskforce (JMLIT). He went on to lead corporate and institutional banking financial crime compliance in EMEA at JP Morgan, then served as Global Director of Financial Crime Strategy at NICE Actimize before joining Fenergo in late 2025 to lead its financial crime product line.

In this episode, host Dumitru Condrea and Adam unpack what has actually changed in AML and financial crime over the last three to four years — and what hasn't. The regulatory frame is moving from "technical compliance" (do you have the systems, are you generating alerts) to "outcome-based" (are you actually stopping crime).Banks are still working through the legacy of siloed KYC systems. Information-sharing legislation is finally moving in Europe, Canada, and the US. Sanctions still matter, but the battleground has shifted to evasion through neutral countries.

AI is genuinely useful — but use-case driven, not a silver bullet. And the honest answer to the question "are the good guys winning?" turns out to be: we're holding the line. Adam's view on what the next decade looks like — shared KYC databases, collaborative monitoring, real-time pattern analysis — closes the conversation.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

AI agents are changing payment security, with Dr. Ruth Wandhöfer | FG Podcast x MPE 2026: https://youtu.be/8X2D57pAeR4

AI vs Fraud: Inside Device Fingerprinting with Catherine Woneis | Fintech Garden Episode 135: https://youtu.be/TiPQQItHgQk

Timestamps:

01:00 – AML compliance over the last 10–15 years

04:00 – Tick-box compliance to outcome-based regulation (FATF)

06:00 – "Do I understand my customer?" — the foundational question

08:58 – The real gap: data, not technology

12:30 – Do we still need a sanctions list?

17:39 – DNFBPs: the professional services network around organised crime

20:46 – The "Escobar Ltd" anecdote

21:00 – Where is AI overhyped?

23:56 – Crypto: easier and harder to investigate at the same time

24:30 – The travel rule problem with decentralised currency

27:33 – The 10-year vision: collaborative, real-time, expensive (for criminals)

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts and the guest:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Adam McLaughlin https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-mclaughlin-4a269031/

The guest, Amber Harsin, Vice President of Credit Unions at Mambu, is not shy to point out the chinks in credit union armors and why they lag behind alternative lending institutions.

Meet Tony Fish, author of Decision Making In Uncertain Times. A self-described strategic sense-maker who helps directors and C-suite leadership ask questions they didn't know they had to ask. Tony boasts 30 years of navigating uncertainty as a serial entrepreneur, bringing cross-sectoral foresight that has positioned him ahead of multiple technical revolutions. Tony challenges conventional wisdom through systems thinking and complexity.

AI vs Fraud: Inside Device Fingerprinting with Catherine Woneis: https://youtu.be/TiPQQItHgQk

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

01:11 – AI & Data Governance

02:36 – How AI is changing how we think of things

05:44 – AI in fintech

10:07 – AI hallucinations

18:17 – Compliance is a grey zone

21:43 – Explainability in AI

26:01 – 20% of your company needs to break the rules

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Where to find us

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Watch TIkTok: tiktok.com/@fintechgarden

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Where to find Tony:

Tony Fish https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonyfish/

Newsletter https://opengovernance.net/

Dennis shares his perspective and expertise on the importance of driving security-aware culture across all levels of an organization. On top of that, the guest highlights what it's like to put the customer at the focal point when establishing security protocols.

Criminals don’t steal money. They steal identities. With Dan Feaheny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj8mop_z1_o

AI vs Fraud: Inside Device Fingerprinting with Catherine Woneis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiPQQItHgQk

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

02:01 – Let's talk security

04:05 – Human-centric security risks

07:33 – Proactive vs reactive security

11:08 – Security 10 years ago vs now

14:45 – Keeping humans at the frontlines of security

21:09 – The AI talk

24:59 – Post-quantum cryptography

The Fintech Garden podcast is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin.

All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow Igor Tomych on LinkedIn:Linkedin.com/in/igortomych

Follow Dennis Winter on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/denniswinterberlin/

Follow Fintech Garden on LinkedIn:Linkedin.com/in/fintechgarden

Visit DashDevs:https://dashdevs.com/

Theo was named one of American Banker's Most Influential Women in FinTech, ranked No. 1 Women in Finance by Onalytica, and is a regular contributor to Forbes, FinTech Futures, BBC News, MIT Tech Review, and Harvard Business Review. Her work focuses on the intersection of financial services, technology, and humanity — particularly inclusion, longevity, and the populations that get left behind when industries restructure.

In this episode, Theo and Igor unpack what the AI-native era actually means for digital banks. The conversation moves from Theo's own "iPhone moment" — buying the first-gen iPhone in 2007 and racking up $300 in roaming charges because she couldn't stop checking the weather app — to the harder, present-tense question: banks built their value around being the institution customers turn to.Today, 53% of US consumers consult AI tools for financial advice, and the entire conversation — user to frontier model — happens without the bank in the loop. What does an AI-native bank actually look like, what should banks do in the next two to three years, and what happens to the people the industry leaves behind?

Episode with Brett King https://youtu.be/L_ghYX-whCg

Customers now have all the tools, with Theodora Lau | FG x Finovate Europe 2026: https://youtu.be/u6EroRKGd1M

Timestamps:

00:42 – Topic framing: digital banks in the AI-native era

04:00 – Intent and context: what banks know vs. what they need to know

06:58 – What banks should do in the next two to three years

09:00 – Data strategy, system updates, and organizational change

13:00 – Trust as guardrails: the highway analogy

13:25 – What does an AI-native bank actually look like?

15:00 – Where AI should not replace humans: wealth, credit, regulator-facing decisions

17:00 – The Wells Fargo phone-call culture and the "do I want to talk to a bot?" debate

19:37 – Why people call credit union call centers and it's not for answers

20:30 – The big shift: banks becoming irrelevant in AI conversations

22:00 – Who owns the new "street"? Apple, Anthropic, OpenAI?

23:32 – 53% of US consumers consult AI for financial advice (JD Power)

25:00 – From SEO to GEO: the wild west of AI-native discovery

27:00 – Who's getting left behind?

28:30 – Layoffs, shareholder value, and the human cost

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts and guest:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Theodora Lau https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/

This conversation puts into perspective how tax systems are becoming increasingly complex due to factors such as overseas investments and the introduction of key regulatory systems. In the meantime, banks are struggling to keep up with the everyday demand of end-to-end tax workflows with lower costs and fewer specialists, to which Roman provides a solution. 

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://bit.ly/45HPDb8

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea explore what it really takes to build a productive, structured engineering team in a fintech environment.

🔍 Key topics: 

✅ Defining roles beyond job titles

✅ Inputs, outputs, and internal suppliers

✅ What every CTO should understand about team capacity and capability

✅ How to avoid overengineering and misalignment from day one

If you're scaling or launching your fintech product, this episode is your team design blueprint.

🎧 Listen now!

🔍 Key topics:

✅ How tokenization enables continued payments even after cards expire

✅ Why wallets are growing faster in GCC and Southeast Asia

✅ The role of super apps like Revolut in defining the modern wallet

✅ What Europe’s Vero initiative means for Visa/Mastercard dominance

✅ How network effects—not features—are driving wallet adoption

📌 Whether you're building a wallet, integrating with one, or watching where the payments industry is heading, this episode is a must-listen.

This episode unpacks the distinct dynamics between innovative fintech startups and established financial corporations, shedding light on their unique approaches to growth and success. While startups enter the market with disruptive ideas and agile innovation, legacy institutions focus on scalability, sustainability, and effective risk management to maintain their edge.

David is one of the most established commentators on digital money and digital identity globally — author of Identity Is The New Money, Before Babylon Beyond Bitcoin, The Currency Cold War, Digital Money: A Practitioner's Guide, and most recently The Everything Token: How NFTs and Web3 Will Transform the Way We Buy, Sell, and Create.

He has written 100+ columns for The Guardian and has been named one of the top 10 most influential voices in banking by Financial Brand, one of Europe's "Power 50" in digital financial services, and Europe's most influential commentator on emerging payments by Total Payments magazine.

In this episode, David and Igor take a step back from the noise around stablecoins to ask what is actually happening. The conversation opens with a striking historical parallel — England's industrial revolution had stablecoins too, made of copper — and unfolds into the deeper strategic point that most of the industry is missing: BlackRock and the big institutional players are not in stablecoins for the payments. They are in for the 80% cost reduction hiding in the pathfinder to digital assets.

David also walks through why AI, not humans, will likely be the dominant user of stablecoins, why the "next generation financial market infrastructure" the BIS is describing still has a missing digital identity layer, and why — over a longer horizon — money as we know it may simply disappear, replaced by continuous exchange of digital assets.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

David Birch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgwbirch/

Bringing Stablecoins to Everyday Users, with Giovanni Sanna, Kleos | FG x Money20/20: https://youtu.be/3INUxVsjVhg

OpenPayd: Why Stablecoins Won't Beat Fiat — They'll Marry It, with Barry O'Sullivan |FG x Money20/20: https://youtu.be/5nGdUFxP8ZQ

Stablecoins as the New Dollar Hegemony, and Where Europe Fits, with Marieke Flament |FG x Money20/20: https://youtu.be/9xQe_gSEkAM

Timestamps:

01:06 – Historical parallel: England's industrial revolution had stablecoins too

04:07 – The pattern: private tokens → state takeover → the institutions stay

05:53 – The trigger for stablecoins: money that works with new technology

07:45 – Cryptocurrency demand was proxy demand for dollars

08:15 – AI as the dominant future users of stablecoins

10:25 – The AI abstraction layer: users won't care about chains

12:35 – Regulatory fragmentation: US vs UK vs EU

15:41 – AI redefines what interoperability means

18:59 – Why banks were slow on blockchain

19:30 – Swift vs stablecoin: the architectural difference

20:33 – Why BlackRock is really interested...

23:03 – The trust layer vs the execution layer

24:17 – Banks are regulated institutions — cautious for a reason

25:54 – The 5-year view: financial services vanish behind bots

29:38 – What David wants listeners to think about

30:30 – NFTs come back with real utility

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

He joined AFS as CEO in January 2021 after serving as Managing Director for the Middle East at Network International. He brings more than 25 years of international experience across banking and payments, and currently sits on the boards of Diners Club Egypt and Levant, AUB Acquiring, and the advisory board of UnionPay International, representing the Middle East.

In this episode, Dr. Samer walks host Igor Tomych through what is actually happening with open banking and open finance across the MENA region — where adoption is driven by the regulator rather than the market, why the UAE Open Finance License is reshaping the competitive landscape, and what the Uber-equivalent moment looks like for financial services.

The conversation covers the three near-term commercial use cases (payment initiation, credit scoring, financial planning), the structural problem of "garbage in, garbage out" in open banking data, the layered infrastructure dominance argument (Google, Apple, Musk/Starlink) applied to financial services, and what the marriage of AI and open finance actually unlocks. Dr. Samer Soliman also shares concrete advice on how fintechs should position themselves relative to incumbents — drawn from his own decision to build AFS's open finance platform now, even before it is profitable.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Timestamps:

01:00 – Open finance in MENA — UAE, Bahrain, and the regulator-led model

03:00 – Open finance vs open banking — and why scope matters

05:28 – Three near-term use cases: payment initiation, credit scoring, financial planning

08:20 – Who owns the customer in an open finance world?

10:30 – From custodial bank to financial services vendor

14:30 – Launching the UAE's first digital bank — "my bank" in the early 2000s

17:00 – Resistance from incumbents, and the value of regulator deadlines

20:13 – AI + open finance: when you marry them, "boom"

25:00 – Whoever knows the data first wins: the Bezos / Musk infrastructure layer

27:17 – Closing advice for fintechs: collaborate, don't rebuild from scratch

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

In this episode, the conversation moves from the foundations of behavioral science to the specific reasons it has become decisive in fintech: digital money is more abstract, payment journeys are more frictionless, and the unconscious drivers behind 35,000 daily decisions now sit at the center of how products convert, retain, and either help or harm their users.

Anna and Noemi unpack the perceived value framework, psychographic segmentation in banking, the COM-B model, the Save More Tomorrow program, the Monzo and Revolut case studies, and where embedded finance crosses from elegant design into dark pattern territory.

If you build, fund, regulate, or market financial products, this is one of the most practical episodes we've recorded on what behavioral science actually changes inside a product team.

Product vs Engineering: The Hidden Bottleneck in Fintech Teams | Fintech Garden Podcast 152: https://youtu.be/iUuqZkRpals

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Timestamps:

01:07 – What behavioral science actually is, and why it matters now

05:12 – What traditional product thinking misses

11:27 – Why financial services is uniquely sensitive to behavioral influence

14:48 – Designing for the unconscious: Monzo, Save More Tomorrow, gamification

18:22 – Beyond demographics: the COM-B model and psychographic segmentation

20:59 – The Revolut case: control, perception, and translation

26:41 – Embedded finance and the pain of payment

29:26 – Strategic friction, dark patterns, and the regulatory lag

31:42 – Where product and engineering teams should start

33:19 – Closing thoughts on trust and long-term thinking

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, CEO of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Connect with our guests:

Anna Nyvelt https://www.linkedin.com/in/annanyvelt/

Noemi Orsolya Molna https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemiorsolyamolnar/

Meet Ezequiel Canestrari, COO at ClearBank Europe — a clearing and embedded banking platform at the intersection of fintechs, payment rails, and regulation.

In this episode, we go beyond the surface of Banking-as-a-Service and embedded banking to unpack what actually drives success in modern fintech infrastructure. From the trade-off between speed and trust to why operational readiness matters more than ever, this conversation explores how fintech has evolved from “build fast” to “build right.”

We also dive into how regulation (DORA, SEPA Instant, MiCA) is shaping innovation in Europe, why resilience and uptime are becoming core product features, and how embedded banking changes the relationship between fintechs and banks.If you’re building or scaling fintech products — this is a must-watch.

ClearBank is a purpose-built, technology-enabled clearing and embedded banking platform. Through its banking licence and intelligent, robust technology solutions, ClearBank enables its clients to offer real-time payment and innovative banking services to their customers.ClearBank https://clear.bank/

AI systems do not hallucinate. Humans hallucinate, with Tony Fish | Fintech Garden Podcast 146: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro

01:12 – BaaS is more than APIs

03:54 – Why speed is no longer enough

05:19 – Market shift: from growth to stability

07:24 – Operational readiness explained

12:32 – What embedded banking really is

20:54 – The future of embedded finance

24:17 – ‘Trust as the new commodity’

27:18 – Building with regulation in mind

30:13 – Why regulation enables innovation

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Ezequiel Canestrari https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecanestrari/

Meet Noah Buchman, Co-Founder, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Propel Holdings. Noah works cross-functionally across the entire company, championing major initiatives and ensuring the company executes on its strategic plan. Noah leads teams in Strategy, Corporate & Business Development, Communications, Marketing and Customer Acquisition. He also oversees and leads all areas of the numerous and varied bank programs on the Propel platform.

Previous episode: Africa's Fintech: Local belief changes everything, with Germain Bahri https://youtu.be/R6mDAqJ4hpI

Scaling Without Illusions with Nikolay Popandopulo https://youtu.be/cEoy2aloFwI

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

00:59 – Why pursue a full banking license

08:15 – How to enter the US market

13:23 – How licensing unlocks the ecosystem

18:54 – Fintech-banking collaboration

21:15 – Tradeoffs of a licensed bank

27:10 – What can this bank do?

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest

Noah Buchman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-buchman-bbb3079/

They explore:

– What stablecoins are and why USDT/USDC dominate

– Custodial vs non-custodial wallets (made simple)

– Why Stripe and others are embracing stablecoins

– Real-world use cases: DeFi, cross-border payments, tokenized assets

– The UX and regulatory barriers still holding mass adoption back

💡 “People don’t want to manage keys. They just want to pay for coffee.”

👉 Subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with someone curious about the future of money.

This episode explores:

📊 The biggest trends of 2024, including embedded finance, BaaS, and AI in fintech.

🌍 Global milestones: PSD3, blockchain progress, and digital identity breakthroughs.

🚀 Success stories from Kaspi Bank’s Nasdaq IPO to NuBank hitting 100M customers.

🌐 Emerging fintech markets in Ukraine, Turkey, and beyond.

Whether you’re an innovator, a fintech professional, or just curious about the industry, this episode has something for everyone. 🎧

He is a lecturer at the FinTech Circle Institute, and a member of the British Blockchain Association, Crypto Valley Association, Global Tech Advocates, Tech London Advocates, and the Institute of Directors. Across more than three decades in finance, engineering, and maritime industries — and now sitting at the intersection of AI, blockchain, and financial technology — Jerry has become one of the most-followed independent commentators on where AI is actually heading, and one of the few willing to push back on both the abundance narrative and the doom narrative in equal measure.

In this episode, Jerry walks through the economics of AI (why for every $1 OpenAI and Anthropic take in, they spend roughly $1.50 producing it), the bubble that is now forming and the bust that follows, the concentration of power around a handful of billionaires deciding the future for 8 billion people, the physical constraints (energy, water, cooling) that half of new data centre projects have already run into, Europe's move toward sovereign AI, the MAD-style regulatory framework that Jerry argues we now urgently need, and the human cost that is already visible in tech layoffs and student job prospects.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Timestamps:

01:20 – What is AI, actually? Jerry's working definition

02:30 – The data problem: cameras on foreheads, synthetic data, and 80% of code written by AI

04:30 – IQ scaling: models at 114–150 now, and where this goes

05:30 – The bandwidth bottleneck: humans can't keep up with the tokens per second

06:00 – What AI should be used for: nuclear fusion, AlphaFold, Alzheimer's, cancer

08:25 – Defining "humane tech" and what it means in practice

09:00 – 8 billionaires deciding the fate of 8 billion people

10:00 – DeepMind and AlphaFold: the open-sourced Nobel Prize

12:00 – The AI realist position: neither abundance nor doom

13:30 – Will capitalism cap the data centres?

18:00 – The bubble, the bust, and who survives

20:00 – Why we need MAD-style AI regulation

22:00 – Europe's move toward sovereign AI

24:00 – The Anthropic responsible-scaling moment

25:00 – The generational close: what future are we giving our children?

27:00 – The 142,000 tech layoffs and the mental wellbeing crisis

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.gardenCheck out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.comCheck out Novafin: https://novafin.co/

Connect with our hostsIgor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

In this first episode of our new Planted Wrong series, we dive into the story of Tally, a San Francisco-based fintech startup that set out to eliminate credit card debt with a robo-refinancing app — and raised millions from top VCs like a16z.

🎯 So why did it shut down in 2024?

We unpack what went wrong, from skyrocketing CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) to weak financial strategy — and how even great products can fail without a solid business model.

📚 Books Mentioned:

– The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith

– Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter Drucker

💬 What do you think caused Tally to fail? Drop your thoughts in the comments — we’d love to hear your take.

Highlights:

💡 Real-world applications from Amazon to Apple Pay that showcase the value of embedded finance.

📊 Why metrics like conversion rates are game-changers for businesses.

🔑 Building trust and simplifying compliance with digital identity.

Embedded finance isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a smarter, more connected way to do business. This episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Listen now and discover how to make embedded finance work for your business.

They cover the Revolut license expansion, the Wise evolution into wealth management and personal finance apps, and the Monobank case as a showcase of Eastern Europe fintech adoption. The conversation highlights how super apps, stablecoin banking, and crypto fintech are reshaping the industry.

Most importantly, they examine how digital trust, compliance, and the US vs EU banking innovation gap define the fintech future. Whether you’re interested in the Mercury bank model for SMEs or how neobanks integrate wealth management and personal finance apps, this is an essential listen.

They share two real-world cases where two nearly identical applicants received different decisions—one approved, one rejected. Why? Because AI isn't always fair— and even human-designed systems can carry unintended bias.

🔍 Key topics:

✅ How ML-based scoring systems can discriminate unintentionally

✅ The role of data, segmentation, and local bias in shaping credit decisions

✅ Regional differences in AI scoring logic

✅ The thin line between personalization and profiling

✅ How to evaluate and build ethical AI models

📌 Whether you're working with scoring systems or building AI-driven products, this is a must-listen.

Meet Greg Palmer, the VP of Strategy and host of Finovate, a fast-paced, demo-first showcase of the latest innovations in financial and banking technology from across the globe. 15 years with Finovate have given Greg a unique, bird’s-eye view of the Fintech industry as it has exploded into prominence, allowing him to watch not only individual innovations as they gain traction, but also the high-level trends that continue to shape the industry. Greg is also a seasoned demo and speaking coach in addition to his own work as an emcee and speaker.

Previous episode with Tony Fish: https://youtu.be/xJTZ2avYiNk

Finovate Spring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/

Finovate Fall: https://informaconnect.com/finovatefall/

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

03:17 – Are fintech founders actually successful?

06:16 – What matters to a fintech founder

08:53 – Creating products that the market actually needs

11:13 – Success beyond funding

15:07 – Timing and gatekeepers

21:43 – Fintech Success in 2026

22:08 – How to keep up with market changes

28:05 – Is it getting harder to succeed in B2C?

34:17 – Outro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Guest:

Greg Palmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

They unpack how Klarna, Nubank, and Monese are re-architecting around AI, why regulation is racing to keep up, and how fintech leaders must balance innovation with transparency, risk, and resilience.

🔍 Key Topics:

✅ What makes a fintech truly AI-native—not just AI-enabled

✅ Embedded AI in onboarding, compliance, lending, and risk

✅ How the EU AI Act and UK sandboxes shape the future

✅ Fragility vs. adaptability: hidden risks in AI-first platforms

✅ Ethical product design in AI-driven financial services

📌 Whether you're building AI-powered products, scaling embedded finance, or aligning with upcoming AI regulations, this episode lays out the real blueprint.

✅ The evolution of team structure in modern fintech

✅ Why engineers today must become AI-native prompt engineers

✅ How to hire and scale when deep expertise and cross-functional thinking are both critical

✅ Why regulated digital banks require more than just domain knowledge

✅ How next-gen wealth tech products will demand T-shaped thinking by default.

Watch the full episode and discover why this hiring mindset might define the next wave of fintech growth.

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea welcome Anna Kovalenko, VP of HR at DashDevs, to uncover the key ingredients of high-performing fintech teams.

💡 What you’ll learn:

👥 The biggest team-building mistakes fintech leaders make.🔑 How to transform individuals into an effective unit.

⚠️ The hidden challenges in hiring and retaining top talent.

🏗️ Why fintech projects require a unique team-building approach.

 Whether you’re scaling a startup or optimizing a corporate team, this episode is a must-listen!

🎧 Listen now

You’ll hear about:*Founding one of the first U.S. robo-advisors in 2009*Lessons from AdvisorEngine’s growth and acquisition by Franklin Templeton*Building research and products at ConsenSys during the rise of DeFi*Scaling MetaMask to 100M+ users worldwide*Why stablecoins are a strictly better substitute for open banking and embedded finance*What the Synapse collapse teaches about counterparty risk*Book recommendations for understanding the future: Accelerando by Charles Stross & Silo by Hugh Howey

Timestamps:

0:05 – Intro

0:24 – Chris Mason background & career

02:20 – Evolution of payments

03:28 – Why cross-border payments are still broken

04:08 – Founding Orbital & the original problem

05:05 – Early adoption of stablecoins at Orbital

06:12 – Stablecoins 7 years ago vs today

07:27 – Emerging markets vs Western markets

09:54 – Why stablecoins solved a real customer problem

11:50 – Stablecoins as a market-driven solution

14:19 – Regulation, MiCA, and compliance trade-offs

16:05 – Blockchain transparency vs traditional banking opacity

19:20 – Swift, correspondent banking, and compliance inefficiency

21:29 – Liquidity in stablecoin payments explained

23:02 – Premiums, regulation gaps & currency controls

25:04 – Governments vs technology (“shield and spear”)

25:41 – Future of digital money & stablecoins

27:04 – Market hype vs material progress

Disclaimer: The views and information shared here are for general informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, legal, or other professional advice. Authors do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the content. Products and services mentioned may not be available in all jurisdictions and are subject to applicable regulations. Listeners and readers should conduct their own due diligence and consult with a qualified advisor before making any financial decisions.

_____

The Fintech Garden podcast is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow Igor Tomych on LinkedIn:Linkedin.com/in/igortomych

Follow Chris Mason on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-mason-24957614/

Follow Fintech Garden on LinkedIn:Linkedin.com/in/fintechgarden

Visit DashDevs:https://dashdevs.com/

Meet Svitlanka Sergiichuk, CEO and co-founder of Novafin Solutions, a lending infrastructure platform that enables fintechs, non-bank lenders, and merchants to launch and operate embedded credit products such as term loans, revolving credit lines, and Buy Now, Pay Later. Along with our host, Igor Tomych, the conversation highlights the way lending is evolving and why structure is more important than cash flow.

Watch the previous episode: https://youtu.be/Qj8mop_z1_o

Busting Credit Union Myths with Amber Harsin: https://youtu.be/s7ljOEGmUHU

Follow Igor Tomych on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Follow Fintech Garden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechgarden/

Follow Svitlanka Sergiichuk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svitlanaromaniuk/

Visit DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com/

They discuss why traditional finance fails to connect with real human behavior, and how technology can help people make smarter, more confident financial decisions.

This episode explores:

• How emotional intelligence improves financial planning

• Why cultural context matters in fintech design

• AI’s role in democratizing personalized advice

• Balancing empathy and automation in financial products

• What “inclusive wealth management” really looks like

They discuss where AI genuinely improves efficiency, and where legacy systems, data silos, and regulatory complexity still hold it back. From automation to ethics, Rob shares insights drawn from 25 years in global payments and treasury.

This episode explores:

• The difference between AI agents and traditional automation

• The data problem is slowing AI adoption in finance

• The future of developers in the AI era

• The ethical and legal lines AI must not cross

This episode serves as a genuine guide to up-and-coming fintech startups and their founders. Knowing what steps to take to acquire funding, how to spend funding, and all while navigating common hurdles, such as regulations, can be the deciding factor of a company’s success.

Meet Dan Feaheny, an expert in bridging strategic infrastructure across payments, digital identity and financial risk, with professional experience spanning decades. Going back-and-forth with our host Igor, Dan takes the opportunity to highlight two things: First, digital banks still have a long way to go. Second, identity theft is a far bigger threat than financial theft.

Subscribe on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@fintechgarden

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ua/podcast/fintech-garden/id1777608140

Follow Igor Tomych on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Follow Fintech Garden on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintechgarden/

Visit DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com/

Dan Feaheny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danfeaheny/

Igor Tomych sits with Domenico Scaffidi, Member of the Bank of England Standard Advisory Panel and CEO of DS Payments, to talk about the state of real-time payments in 2025. The two fintech executives agree that real-time payments have shifted the entire banking industry towards a new trajectory. 

Dome highlights the role European regulators played in placing the EU at the forefront of the real-time payments world. As the host and guest predict the coming year in the industry, they come to an agreement that innovations such as CBDC and stablecoins are direct results of consumers’ need for better security. 

AI is transforming financial services, but many fintechs struggle to separate marketing buzz from real impact. In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea discuss the practical applications of AI and Machine Learning in fintech, focusing on security, risk, and efficiency.

Key Topics:

• The difference between AI & ML and when to use each

• Fraud detection & risk scoring: AI’s role in preventing financial crime

• AI-driven credit scoring: How ML improves decision-making

• Regulatory risks: What fintechs need to know

Listen now for a clear and practical discussion on AI’s real business value in fintech.

Discover more at Dashdevs.com

This episode explores:

📊 How Banking as a Service (BaaS) is reshaping financial innovation.

🌐 Comparative insights: BaaS vs. traditional banking models.

💼 Licensing and compliance: Key considerations for BaaS adoption.

🚀 Real-world success stories, including PaybyMe’s pioneering solutions.

🔍 The future of BaaS and its role in embedded finance.

Whether you’re a fintech professional, a startup founder, or simply intrigued by the latest industry trends, this episode offers invaluable perspectives. 🎧

There is no guest this time. The episode is an explainer designed to give listeners a structured grounding in CBDCs before the topic dominates fintech conversations over the next two to three years.

The conversation starts with a simple framing: €100 can already exist in five different forms — cash, retail bank balance, e-money institution balance, stablecoin, and CBDC — and each one operates under a completely different model of custody, regulation, and trust. From there, the hosts cover the wholesale vs retail CBDC distinction, the geopolitical context driving Europe's response to US stablecoin policy, the digital euro timeline, GDPR's role as Europe's differentiator, the implications for Visa and Mastercard, and the engineering challenge of making CBDC work offline.

Timestamps:

01:06 – The five forms of €100, explained

04:27 – Five countries with live CBDCs, and the wholesale vs retail split

09:32 – The digital euro: timeline, geopolitics, and the US stablecoin pivot

13:00 – Why CBDC could disrupt Visa and Mastercard

17:07 – The hardest question: how CBDC works offline

19:50 – Device-to-device payments, cryptographic signing, and double-spend prevention

22:41 – The Diners Club parallel and what happens during a blackout

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Choosing the right vendor model can make or break a fintech product. In this episode of Fintech Garden Podcast, Igor Tomych sits down with DashDevs VP of Business Development, Artem Boboshko, to explore the best engagement models for fintech success.

💡 What you’ll learn:

✅ The difference between software outsourcing, product outsourcing, and dedicated teams.

 ✅ Why some fintechs struggle with vendors—and how to avoid common mistakes.

✅ How accountability and flexibility impact vendor success.

✅ When to outsource, when to build in-house, and how to scale efficiently.

🎧 Listen now and learn how to get vendor partnerships right!

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea explore how digital banks are scaling, why Revolut license milestones matter, and what payment innovation in Europe says about the global fintech future.

They cover the rise of SEPA instant payments, the importance of settlement T+1 for merchants, and how local wallets and payment gateways are transforming European commerce. The conversation also looks at the Klarna IPO, FedNow news from the U.S., and the growing role of AI shopping and agentic commerce in retail.

Most importantly, they discuss how payments compliance, digital trust, and cross-border systems will define the future of fintech in Europe and beyond. Whether you’re tracking travel payments, crypto fintech adoption, or the next personal finance apps, this episode is packed with insight.

In this episode, Igor Tomych welcomes Rutger van Faassen, CEO of Informationbanker, to explore the real-world impact of stablecoins—from policy to product.

Why is the U.S. suddenly leading in stablecoin adoption? And what role will remittances, Shopify, freelancers, and cross-border payments play in their mass adoption?

🔍 Key Topics:

✅ U.S. regulatory clarity: Stablecoin & GENESIS Acts

✅ Real-world use cases: Remittances, freelancers, payroll

✅ How stablecoins act as a store of value in high-inflation regions

✅ Risks and auditability of fiat-pegged tokens

✅ Lessons from Apple Pay’s trust curve

📌 Whether you're building crypto payments, watching regulation, or scaling fintech globally, this is essential listening.

Kristy immigrated from Seoul, South Korea to the United States at age 11. She studied at UC Berkeley, went into investment banking in San Francisco, and — despite doing everything the American dream playbook prescribed — was repeatedly rejected for an apartment, and then for a car loan. Not because she couldn't afford it, but because she had no credit history in a system that only understands borrowing, not saving.

TomoCredit was built to serve the roughly 30 million Americans in the same position. The company has since evolved from a credit card for the credit-invisible into a broader AI-powered financial wellness platform, most recently launching TomoIQ — an AI agent that shifts personal finance from reactive management to proactive guidance. Kristy is a Forbes Finance Council member, a UC Berkeley guest lecturer on entrepreneurship, and one of the more compelling founders in immigrant-focused fintech today.

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Kristy dig into what fintech gets wrong about first-generation Americans, why "cash rich, credit poor" is a positioning statement rather than a diagnosis, how save-first cultures collide with a borrow-first system, and where cash-flow underwriting actually goes over the next three years. Kristy also shares her operational take on the regulatory line between AI-driven coaching and AI-driven decisioning, why the US fragmentation that everyone complains about is actually a gift to startups, and the closing line that has become an internal mantra at TomoCredit: "I don't have to outsmart Jamie Dimon at everything — just at this."

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

TomoCredit: Rejected for Credit, So She Built Her Own, with Kristy Kim | FG x Money20/20: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX-WXEpChS4

Timestamps:

01:00 – Why we're talking about immigrant fintech

03:29 – Why the US credit system is uniquely tough on newcomers

04:04 – The changing customer: cash-rich, credit-poor

06:07 – Cultural context: save-first cultures meet a borrow-first system

06:51 – "Cash rich, credit poor" as product positioning

09:18 – Coming in as an outsider — the mindset that helped

11:56 – AI as coaching, not decisioning: the regulatory line

14:36 – Expat, immigrant, native: three profiles, three different products

16:55 – Why two customers with the same credit score are not the same customer

17:50 – Cash flow underwriting hits the mainstream — no more hard-selling banks

19:53 – The immigrant-focused fintech wave and what changes in the next 2–3 years

22:33 – Fragmented US market vs super-app Korea: which is better for founders?

24:43 – Focus, not scale: the closing takeaway

25:04 – The Jamie Dimon line: specialists beat generalists

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden

He has built one of the most active fintech communities in the Mediterranean region from the ground up — starting with a post-COVID drinks invitation that grew from 10 to 50 to 800 LinkedIn members before being formalised into the Cyprus Fintech Society. He has more than 30,000 followers on LinkedIn and is one of the more recognised voices on community-building in European fintech.

In this episode, Igor and Stavros unpack a topic the podcast has not covered before: how fintech ecosystems and communities are actually built, why the traditional association model is broken, and what a data-driven, member-first community looks like in practice. The conversation covers the genesis story of the Cyprus Fintech Society, how vertical committees produce real outcomes, why face-to-face gatherings still matter, and what kind of business cases actually emerge when the right people share a room. Stavros closes with his five-year view on what will drive fintech next — and the answer is not what most of LinkedIn is talking about.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

OpenPayd: Why Stablecoins Won't Beat Fiat — They'll Marry It, with Barry O'Sullivan |FG x Money20/20: https://youtu.be/5nGdUFxP8ZQ

Timestamps:

00:30 – Defining community: the playground analogy

03:13 – What's broken with traditional fintech associations

05:00 – The data-driven model: ask members what they want

07:30 – Vertical committees and member-driven initiatives

10:20 – AI in the community: committee-driven, not top-down

14:30 – Why face-to-face bonds still produce business outcomes

18:30 – The five-year driver question

19:09 – Differentiate. Don't chase AI. Focus on compliance, blockchain, stablecoins

22:00 – Why most people focus on the wrong aspects of technology

22:30 – Closing: community as expertise, not marketing

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden

With 20 years working across cards, e-money, prepaid, and emerging payments — and a reputation for asking the questions employed panelists are not allowed to ask — David brings a sharp, operator-level view of where open banking and recurring payments are actually heading.

In this episode, the focus is on cVRP — Commercial Variable Recurring Payments — the UK scheme designed to compete with both card-on-file and direct debit. David walks through Phase 1 and Phase 2 economics, why utilities and charities are leading adoption, how cVRP's user controls structurally beat card-on-file, the integration reality for merchants, the open debate about which merchants count as "safe," and what's happening globally with Pix, Wero, and the next wave of alternative payments.

CBDC: What you need you know? | Fintech Garden Podcast 155: https://youtu.be/H1MSjbLdlZ4

Why merchant leaders ignore 90% of fintech trends, with David Parker | FG Podcast x MPE 2026: https://youtu.be/XPebDDKS8ys

Timestamps:

01:37 – From promise to performance: where cVRP sits today

06:22 – Push vs pull: why card networks didn't build these controls

07:55 – What merchants gain in Phase 1

13:00 – Customer experience: consent management inside the banking app

15:28 – Why utilities care: AIS pre-checks fix the broken 25% of direct debits

19:15 – Phase 2 and the "who counts as safe" debate

23:00 – Global view: Pix, Wero, and concentration vs fragmentation

24:36 – Why stablecoins remain a B2B story

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our host:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

She is Country Ambassador for France at the European Women Payments Network (EWPN), France Representative of AEFI Spain and AFIP Portugal, and co-author of The PAYTech Book (Wiley, 2020).

She publishes an annual whitepaper on European payments and regularly contributes to industry forums on regulation, instant payments, open banking, and European sovereignty.

In this episode, Andréa maps where European payments are today: a market moving from accumulated legislation to operational execution, from political ambition to concrete infrastructure. The conversation covers three concurrent evolutions — technology, regulation, and sovereignty — and what each means for banks, fintechs, and operators building in the European ecosystem.

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Digital euro is not crypto. It is digital cash, with Rainer Olt | Fintech Garden Podcast 145: https://youtu.be/nF3zZ1BCVMo

Timestamps:

01:42 – Where European payments are today: three concurrent evolutions

06:00 – Why collaboration across stakeholders is now structural

11:00 – Beyond cards: instant payments as the "new normal"

14:00 – Wero, EuroPA, and the rise of European wallets

17:00 – SEPA Direct Debit and country-by-country trust differences

22:00 – Country-specific fraud patterns and the role of AI

25:00 – DORA and operational resilience

30:00 – PSD3, open banking harmonization, and the path to open finance

33:00 – Can Europe deliver? Sovereignty as execution

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, and how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts and guest:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Andréa Toucinho https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9a-toucinho-95102597/

What really slows down fintech products?

In this episode of the Fintech Garden Podcast, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea discuss one of the most common bottlenecks in fintech product development: when teams build without a shared understanding of value, risk, feasibility, and ownership.

They break down why engineering without product direction rarely creates a strong business model, why product without engineering cannot turn ideas into working systems, and why compliance is not a side function in fintech — it is part of the product architecture.

The conversation covers speed vs quality, who should have veto power, how teams should approve features before development, and why “move fast” can become dangerous when money, regulation, fraud, and customer trust are involved.

If you are building a fintech product, managing delivery, or trying to align product, engineering, and compliance teams, this episode gives a practical look at where the real friction starts.

Fintechs sell products. Banks absorb responsibility, with Ronel David | Fintech Garden Podcast 148: https://youtu.be/jq6QuFP7Az8

Agentic payments explained: the next fintech shift already started | Fintech Garden Podcast 151 https://youtu.be/ImMCSpvEI9M

Timestamps

00:30 – Product vs engineering: where the tension starts

01:04 – What engineering means in digital products

02:50 – What product teams actually own

03:25 – Can engineering work without product?

07:24 – Roles vs responsibilities in fintech teams

10:11 – What defines product success

14:30 – Why compliance cannot be treated as optional

15:33 – What “know your customer” means in practice

20:30 – When speed creates risk

23:50 – A two-stage approval model

27:10 – How to diagnose misalignment inside teams

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, CEO of Novafin. All conversations explore how fintech products are built, how teams make decisions, and what it takes to scale in a regulated market.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

What if payments no longer required humans in the loop?

In this episode, Igor Tomych and Dumitru Condrea break down one of the most talked-about emerging topics in fintech: agentic payments.

This isn’t about AI making suggestions — it’s about systems that can initiate and execute payments autonomously based on rules, goals, and context. From machine-to-machine payments and API monetization to treasury automation and subscription management, agentic payments introduce a new layer of financial infrastructure.

We explore how this differs from traditional automation, what’s already happening in the market, and why trust, regulation, and user behavior will define whether this model actually scales.

The fintech shift nobody's talking about, with Ezequiel Canestrari | Fintech Garden Podcast 150: https://youtu.be/kd7xZyzdvrI

Why merchant leaders ignore 90% of fintech trends, with David Parker | FG Podcast x MPE 2026: https://youtu.be/XPebDDKS8ys

Timestamps:00:20 – What are agentic payments?

01:25 – Agency vs automation

04:15 – Machine-to-machine payments explained

07:00 – Agentic vs automated payments

08:00 – What made agentic payments possible

12:03 – SCA and regulatory challenges

14:29 – Can banks support agentic payments?

17:33 – Cost optimization and routing

18:29 – Trust as the main barrier

22:00 – Existing protocols and early players

24:00 – How this market will evolve

26:20 – “Concrete” analogy for payments future

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin.All conversations explore how fintech products are built, how infrastructure evolves, and where the market is heading next.

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Olt also worked for the European central bank as Senior Market Infrastructure Expert in DG Market Infrastructure & Payments.

Finally, Olt boasts 15 years experience in commercial and central banking. All of that brings us the conversation about the future of money in Europe

Subscribe to the Fintech Garden Newsletter 👉 https://fintech.garden

Timestamps:

00:05 – Intro

01:11 – Why focus on the digital Euro now 

05:04 – Digital Euro vs Stablecoins

10:45 – How the digital Euro works

19:22 – Merchant access to the digital Euro

21:15 – How is the digital Euro tokenized?

32:06 – Latest updates on the digital Euro

The Fintech Garden is hosted by Igor Tomych, founder and CEO of DashDevs, and Dumitru Condrea, founder of Novafin. All conversations revolve around the world of fintech, movers and shakers, how decisions are made. Make sure to tune in to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to how the world of finance is evolving before our eyes. 

Follow us: https://fintech.garden

Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com

Connect with our hosts:

Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/

Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/

Rainer Olt https://www.linkedin.com/in/rainer-olt/