Sam Boboev

Stablecoins are often presented as a new way for consumers to pay. Daniel Lev believes their bigger opportunity lies behind the payment experience, connecting cards, bank accounts, wallets and local payment networks.

In this episode of the WRAP UP podcast, I sit down with @SirDigitalDan, Co-founder and CEO of @CoinflowLabs, to discuss how stablecoins can work as invisible payment infrastructure.

Daniel explains how a US customer can pay a UK merchant by card while Coinflow uses stablecoins to settle the transaction across borders. The merchant receives the money in around five seconds and can convert it into pounds without managing stablecoins directly.

Coinflow processes billions of dollars annually for marketplaces, remittance providers, gaming companies, e-commerce merchants and other businesses with complex flows of funds. We discuss the economics of faster settlement, including its impact on FX, payouts and reconciliation.

Daniel also compares Coinflow with Stripe. While Stripe added stablecoins to infrastructure built on traditional financial rails, Coinflow uses stablecoins and public blockchains as its core settlement layer. Daniel argues that this enables businesses to receive money in seconds rather than waiting one to three days.

We also explore why merchants and consumers may never need to know stablecoins are involved. They can simply see, withdraw and use their balance while the underlying infrastructure remains invisible.

Jensen Huang is stepping down as CEO of @nvidia after 33 years.

He co-founded the company in 1993 and built it from a graphics chip startup into a $4 trillion company that powers the AI boom. Few leaders have shaped an industry the way he has.

Founder-led companies can make long bets that others won't. Jensen pushed GPU computing and CUDA for years before the market understood why they mattered. When AI arrived, Nvidia was already ready. That kind of patience usually comes from someone who started the company and believes in where it's going.

I joined Nvidia GTC last month and saw how knowledgeable he is. He moved from chips to software to robotics with real depth, and he clearly knew the technology inside out.

Colette Kress now steps in as interim CEO with a strong team behind her. Jensen leaves behind a company, a culture and a vision that will shape tech for years to come.

Thank you, Jensen.

🚨 CRYPTO: BaaS bank Griffin raises £20m to add cards and stablecoin capabilities

UK Banking-as-a-Service bank Griffin has raised £20 million in a Series B funding round that values the business at over £100 million.

The round was led by Octagon Partners, with participation from Notion Capital, A+ Ventures, Nordic Ninja, Breega and others.

Since launching as a fully licensed UK bank two years ago, Griffin has grown from an initial cohort of five companies testing its systems to a clearing and embedded, or white-labelled, banking platform that now powers over 80 companies including Uber, Countingup, Anna Money, Yonder and Prosper.

The firm's platform now serves more than 300,000 underlying retail and business customers and processes nearly 10 million payments per year. As of September, it has seen 3.2X year-on-year recurring revenue growth.

With the new investment in place, it is now adding issuing capabilities so that customers can launch branded retail and corporate debit cards, and developing reserve capabilities to support businesses operating in the stablecoin market and integrating on-chain cross-border payments capabilities.

“Since launching as a bank two years ago, we’ve built the infrastructure that over 80 companies now rely on to bring banking products to their customers. This round lets us go further: cards and stablecoins are the natural next layer for our infrastructure, and the response from investors so far reflects the scale of the opportunity ahead of us," says David Jarvis, CEO, Griffin.

Source: Finextra

#Fintech #crypto #funding

The 1 business type winning big with stablecoins

I asked @SirDigitalDan which businesses are actually using stablecoins today, and his answer pointed straight to global marketplaces. Whether it's watches, shoes, or trading cards, these platforms have buyers and sellers everywhere and complex flows of funds that traditional payment rails struggle to handle. Daniel explains how stablecoins let marketplaces split payments, settle globally and instantly, hold balances, and plug into products like card issuance and lending. If you're building in fintech, payments, or ecommerce, this is a practical look at where stablecoin infrastructure is delivering real value.

@CoinflowLabs