Fintech One-On-One Daren Guo, Co-Founder of Reap, on building stablecoin-powered infrastructure for global finance
Today, I sit down with Daren Guo, co-founder of Reap, the stablecoin infrastructure company and the world's largest stablecoin card issuer, processing over $6 billion annually. Daren shares his journey from being employee #90 at Stripe to building the next generation of financial rails based on stablecoin infrastructure, serving everyone from neobanks in Brazil and Africa to traditional financial institutions expanding globally.
The conversation explores why stablecoins represent more than just faster cross-border payments, they are the foundation for a fully tokenized economy where FX, bonds, equities, and real estate all move on-chain. Daren discusses Reap's recent MPI license in Singapore, their expansion into the US market, and how programmable money enables entirely new financial products like payroll streaming and on-chain escrow that simply weren't possible with legacy infrastructure.
In this podcast you will learn:
- Daren’s background setting up Stripe’s Asia business.
- Why he decided to leave Stripe to start his own company.
- Their initial product vision.
- His thesis around stablecoins and why they represent the future of payments.
- Why they decided to start with stablecoin-powered credit card infrastructure.
- Where they are a Visa Principal member and the markets they serve.
- The types of companies that Reap is working with today.
- How the flow of funds work for users of Reap’s credit card.
- Who is providing the stablecoin collateral.
- Reap’s expansion plans for the US market.
- Why they applied for a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license in Singapore.
- The product suite that they are working on right now.
- The scale that Reap is at today.
- How they are serving traditional firms as well as crypto-native companies.
- Daren’s vision for the next generation of money movement.
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