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The Fintech Blueprint

The Fintech Blueprint

By: Lex Sokolin
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Finance is being pulled apart by the forces of frontier technology. From AI, to blockchain and DeFi, mixed reality, chatbots, neobanks, and roboadvisors — the industry will never be the same. Here is the blueprint for navigating the shift.2021 The FinTech Blueprint Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Personal Finance
Episodes
  • 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
    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 future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and AI-powered financial agents. Joseph highlights SharpLink approach to making Ether productive for investors and the growing institutional adoption of blockchain technologies. NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS: SharpLink’s scale and “productivity” pitch for ETH We hear that SharpLink (Nasdaq listed since July 2025) has raised a little over $3B in equity, holds ~$3B of ETH, and claims it stakes nearly 100% of its ether—framing itself as a public equities “one click” way to get both ETH upside and yield.A rare behind the scenes look at BlackRock’s crypto playbook We get specifics on how BlackRock approached digital assets through three pillars—Circle/USDC reserves, the Coinbase integration (announced Aug 4, 2022) to make crypto trading “boring” for institutions, and tokenization via BUIDL on Ethereum with Securitize, which he calls the largest tokenized fund.The next wave thesis AI agents + Ethereum rails Chalom argues the underestimated unlock is autonomous AI agents using Ethereum for programmable settlement, continuously reallocating capital across staking, lending, liquidity, and DeFi while monitoring smart contract risk—replacing manual “yield farming” with always on optimization. TOPICS Sharplink, BlackRock, FutureAdvisor, Ethereum, ETH, Buidl, Aladdin, digital assets, treasury management, decentralized finance, tokenization, Bitcoin, AI, AI Agents, Roboadvisors, Autonomous Agents ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT 🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2 🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV 👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin TIMESTAMPS 1’05: SharpLink’s Ethereum Treasury: $3B Raised to Make ETH Productive 4’53: BlackRock’s iShares Era and Aladdin Explained: Risk Tech at $14T Scale 9’07: From Aladdin to Robo Advisors: Why 320,000 Advisors Couldn’t Scale 16’32: The FutureAdvisor Culture Lesson: Balancing Product Builders and Institutional Know How 18’31: BlackRock’s Three Pillar Crypto Bet: Circle Coinbase and Tokenization 25’21: Why BlackRock Picked Coinbase: Making Crypto Trading “Boring” and Institutional 28’44: From Six Week Retirement to ETH Treasury: Why SharpLink Holds “Permanent Capital” 34’12: The Treasury Trade After the Hype: Why SharpLink Beats ETH ETFs on Staking 38’55: NAV Discounts and Mean Reversion: SharpLink’s Plan to Double ETH per Share 43’39: Ethereum’s Next Growth Stack: $300B Stablecoins $14T Tokenization and Institutional DeFi 48’23: From Copilots to Autonomous Agents: Ethereum as the Rails for Machine Finance 52’21: The channels used to connect with Joseph & learn more about SharpLink Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, DaniellaWant to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.
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    54 mins
  • The Quiet Fintech Behind $85 Billion in Transactions, with Payoneer CEO John Caplan

    The Quiet Fintech Behind $85 Billion in Transactions, with Payoneer CEO John Caplan
    Feb 2 2026
    In this episode, Lex speaks with John Caplan — CEO of Payoneer, a public fintech company driving over $85 billion in annual cross-border payment volume. With roots as a prepaid card provider, Payoneer has evolved into a global financial operating platform serving 2 million entrepreneurs across 190 countries.Caplan shares insights from his entrepreneurial journey—from building OpenSky and scaling it to $50 million in revenue before its acquisition by Alibaba, to now leading Payoneer’s transformation into a full-service banking alternative for global SMBs.We explore how Payoneer is addressing the complex financial needs of international businesses, competing in a dynamic payments landscape, and preparing for a future that includes stablecoins, workforce management, and potentially $1 trillion in annual volume.NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:Payoneer’s Strategic Evolution from Payout Processor to Global SMB Bank AlternativeUnder John Caplan’s leadership, Payoneer expanded beyond marketplace payouts to become a comprehensive cross-border financial platform, offering AR/AP, intra-network transfers, cards, and global workforce management. This shift has significantly increased customer retention, take rate, and profitability—highlighting how product expansion and upmarket focus can unlock durable growth in fintech.Execution Over Hype in Global Fintech InfrastructurePayoneer operates in 190 countries with 100+ banking partners and 7,000 payment routes—demonstrating the importance of deep regulatory compliance, local licensing, and multi-entity support in building resilient cross-border infrastructure. Unlike crypto-native entrants, Payoneer emphasizes last-mile utility and customer trust as core differentiators for scaling in complex markets.Profitable Scale and Global Demand for SMB Financial ServicesWith $1B+ revenue, $200M+ EBITDA, and $7.5B in customer funds held, Payoneer is proving that serving cross-border SMBs is not just a mission, but a highly profitable business. Their customer base spans from Bangladeshi freelancers to European firms doing $1M+ in volume, signaling massive, underserved global demand for modern financial tools outside the traditional banking system.TOPICSPayoneer, Alibaba, OpenSky, Stripe, Wise, Airwallex, Mercury, NuBank, digital banking, embedded finance, stablecoins, blockchain, regtech, B2B payments, SPAC, supple chain, ecommerce ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin TIMESTAMPS1’06: John’s Career Journey: From OpenSky to Alibaba to Payoneer6’18: Inside OpenSky: Serving Global Sellers and Financing the Supply Chain9’54: Finding Traction: Failure, Product Market Fit, and China’s E‑Commerce Leap13’42: Global Distribution: Universal Ambitions, Local Execution15’52: Behavior Change Beats Legacy: Why Users Digitize When It Matters17’21: Payoneer at $85B Volume and $1B Revenue: A Platform for Global SMBs20’49: From Prepaid Cards to Core Operating Account: Evolving Payoneer’s DNA25’32: Inside Payoneer’s Architecture: Global Bank Network and Internal Ledger28’26: Global Growth Corridors: LatAm, APAC, and Take Rate Expansion31’13: Staying the Course: Payoneer’s Post-SPAC Journey Through Volatile Markets34’03: Misunderstood Value: Stablecoins, Interest Revenue, and Payoneer’s Real Strengths38’44: Where Global Commerce Bends: Regulation, Platforms, and Resilience40’58: Path to $1 Trillion: Payoneer’s Strategy for Organic and Inorganic Growth43’22: The channels used to connect with John & learn more about Payoneer Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, DaniellaWant to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.
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    44 mins
  • Building DeFi's $25B Liquidity Engine, with Curve Founder Michael Egorov

    Building DeFi's $25B Liquidity Engine, with Curve Founder Michael Egorov
    Jan 5 2026
    In this episode, Lex speaks with Michael Egorov - Founder of Curve Finance and YieldBasis. Kicking things off about his journey from experimental physicist to founder of Curve Finance and YieldBasis, highlighting how theoretical physics concepts influenced his creation of financial invariants in DeFi protocols.Curve pioneered fully automated concentrated liquidity for stablecoins and introduced veTokenomics, a governance model rewarding long-term commitment with voting power and protocol fees. Egorov defends veTokenomics against criticisms of unlock-driven volatility, citing that most CRV locks average over 3 years and behave like permanent commitments. YieldBasis expands Curve’s approach by offering impermanent gain strategies to counter impermanent loss in volatile markets like Bitcoin, aiming to scale toward a $50B market ceiling.The discussion closes with reflections on DeFi token market structure challenges and Egorov’s call for protocols to connect token value to real economic flows by activating fee-sharing mechanisms.NOTABLE DISCUSSION POINTS:veTokenomics Drives Long-Term Alignment and Token Sink EfficiencyMichael Egorov introduced veTokenomics in Curve to address short-termism in token governance by requiring users to lock CRV tokens for up to 4 years to gain voting power and protocol rewards. This mechanism has proven effective in practice, with the average CRV lock time exceeding 3 years, effectively removing tokens from circulation. Egorov notes that veTokenomics removed 3x more tokens from supply than buybacks would have, highlighting its material impact on protocol stability and investor alignment.YieldBasis Aims to Neutralize Impermanent Loss via Engineered Impermanent GainYieldBasis builds on Curve’s AMM infrastructure by combining two layers: a Curve pool experiencing impermanent loss, and a complementary structure engineered to capture “impermanent gain”. This dual-layer approach statistically delivers net profit in volatile assets like Bitcoin, assuming mean-reverting price movements. Egorov estimates the market ceiling for this strategy at $50 billion, positioning YieldBasis as a scalable solution for volatility-based yield generation.DeFi’s Market Structure Issues Stem from Uncertain Token-Economics LinkagesEgorov critiques much of DeFi for failing to connect protocol economics to token value. While Curve distributes fees directly to CRV lockers, most protocols (like Uniswap) have not activated fee-sharing mechanisms (”fee switches”), creating valuation uncertainty. Egorov argues that unless projects “turn the switch on” and reduce economic ambiguity, token pricing will remain volatile and fragile, hindering broader adoption and investment confidence.TOPICSCurve Finance, YieldBasis, Uniswap, MakerDAO, Convex, StakeDAO, Threshold Network, NuCypher, AladdinDAO, Athena, Yearn, DeFi, veTokenomics, AMM, Stablecoin, Tokenomics, Governance, CRV Token, Ethereum, ETH, Bitcoin, BTC ABOUT THE FINTECH BLUEPRINT🔥Subscribe to the Fintech Blueprint newsletter to stay at the forefront of Fintech and DeFi: https://bit.ly/3hyhlC2🤝 Partner with Fintech Blueprint through sponsorships: https://bit.ly/3UZllsV👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexSokolin TIMESTAMPS1’17: From Laser Cooling to Stablecoin Swaps: Michael Egorov on Physics-Inspired DeFi and Writing the “Laws” of Money9’12: On-Chain Macro Labs: Designing Economies at Speed14’58: Lockups vs. Liquidity Wrappers: When “Commitment” Becomes a Market for Illiquidity18’57: Delegate Democracy on Chain: Vote Aggregators, Campaign Politics, and Why Ve-Style Governance Drives Higher Participation23’52: Beyond TVL: Why Stablecoin AMMs “Need Less,” and How Yield Basis Targets Bitcoin’s Volatility to Neutralize Impermanent Loss31’00: Who Earns the Volatility Yield: Wrapped Bitcoin Deposits, Market-Maker Liquidity, and the Long Runway Before Strategy Saturation36’58: The Altcoin Valuation Trap: Why Buybacks Barely Move Prices—and Locking Can Shrink Supply40’32: Fixing Token Market Structure: Connecting Cashflows, Killing Uncertainty, and Why “Turning the Fee Switch On” Matters47’23: The channels used to connect with Michael & learn more about Curve and YieldBasis Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, DaniellaWant to discuss? Stop by our Discord and reach out here with questions.
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    49 mins
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