Crypto's freedom narrative versus geopolitical tradeoffs

Alex Johnson of Fintech Takes and I had the chance to discuss the WILD story of Y Combinator- and Coinbase-backed Kontigo:

* Some context setting and clarifications on the difference between AML vs. sanctions and the impact of sanctions on the everyday people of the countries they’re enforced against

* Explaining Kontigo’s retail user service and its value proposition

* Talking through what also was happening behind the scenes to make Kontigo’s service possible

* The responsibility of “infrastructure” providers, like Rain, Checkbook, Bridge, and Stripe, as well as underlying bank partners, which include JPMorgan Chase and Lead Bank

* The parallels between “stablecoin infrastructure” and banking-as-a-service, including third-party risk management (TPRM)

* What lessons industry should learn from the Kontigo situation

* And, as always, what Alex and I just can’t let go of (about this story)

This episode is brought to you by Spade. Leading banks and fintechs use Spade’s transaction enrichment API to improve authorization, personalize rewards, and build smarter AI models on clean transaction data. Learn more at spade.com.