Money Code

In this episode of Money Code, Sanjib Kalita sits down with Maggie Wu, CEO and co-founder of VelaFi, to discuss the challenges of cross-border payments in Latin America and how stablecoins can help businesses move money faster and at lower cost.Maggie shares VelaFi's journey from Mexico to markets across Latin America, explaining how the company built its payment infrastructure around local licensing, banking relationships, and compliance. They also discuss the growing demand for stablecoin payments, why B2B businesses have a greater need for cross-border solutions, and what it takes to build financial infrastructure across multiple emerging markets.Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN00:00 - Maggie Wu and the origins of VelaFi02:45 - From crypto investing to stablecoin payments04:50 - Why VelaFi started in Latin America07:20 - Building compliant cross-border payment infrastructure09:50 - How customer feedback shaped the product12:20 - Expanding across Latin American markets14:35 - Building local teams and maintaining compliance16:20 - Why VelaFi focuses on B2B payments18:45 - The growing demand for stablecoin payments21:10 - Why emerging markets are adopting stablecoins23:35 - VelaFi’s competitive advantage25:35 - Growth, fundraising, and scaling the business27:55 - Maggie’s journey as an entrepreneur29:45 - What’s next: AI and building with agentsConnect with our Host and Guest: Sanjib Kalita: linkedin.com/in/sanjibkalitaMaggie Wu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-wu-164a0797/About StableconStablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.

In this episode of Money Code, host Sanjib Kalita sits down with Shan Aggarwal, Chief Business Officer and Head of Investor Relations at Coinbase, to unpack where crypto, stablecoins, and traditional finance are heading next. They explore Coinbase’s vision for an open financial system built onchain and why stablecoins are becoming an increasingly important piece of financial infrastructure.The conversation also dives into tokenized assets, agentic commerce, and the rise of machine-to-machine payments. Shan explains why stablecoins could be particularly well suited for AI-driven transactions and what needs to happen for onchain finance to become more seamless, accessible, and interconnected.Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN00:00 – Intro: Shan Aggarwal and Coinbase03:20 – From Venture Investing to Coinbase09:55 – Building a Global Crypto Platform12:56 – Stablecoins and the Future of Onchain Finance16:39 – Coinbase and the Rise of Agentic Commerce22:32 – Build, Buy, Partner or Invest?34:42 – Coinbase’s 5–10 Year Vision for Finance41:05 – The Convergence of Traditional Finance and Crypto46:57 – The Evolving U.S. Crypto Regulatory Landscape52:17 – Shan’s Outlook on the Future of FinanceConnect with our Host and Guest: Sanjib Kalita: linkedin.com/in/sanjibkalitaShan Aggarwal :https://www.linkedin.com/in/shan-aggarwal-2a314b49/About StableconStablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.

In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Manuel Godoy, co-founder and CEO of Felix, the WhatsApp-native remittance company that has processed north of $6B across Latin America.
They unpack how Felix turned an existing WhatsApp receipt-sharing habit into a remittance product, why stablecoins gave a small startup "economies of scale," and what it takes to build a broader financial companion for Latino immigrants in the US.

Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:
https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN

Chapters
00:00 Felix starts with trust, not rails
02:49 Why remittance still starts in cash stores
05:08 WhatsApp was already in the flow
06:17 The first Felix product ideas failed
09:03 Why senders trust recipients with the money
11:28 Leticia: from hesitant user to ambassador
13:21 Scaling trust beyond founder selling
17:40 The ugly TikTok video that unlocked growth
20:48 Felix passes $6B across Latin America
23:16 Why Felix is becoming more than remittances
31:44 Stablecoins as small-startup scale
38:18 What breaks in weak-liquidity corridors
41:42 WhatsApp as the product platform
45:58 The financial companion opportunity
Connect with the Hosts & Guest
Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com
Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz
Manuel Godoy: https://x.com/manueljgodoym
Felix: https://felixpago.com | https://x.com/Felixpago

About Stablecon
Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.
About BVNK
BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.

In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Pritpal Shokar, Head of Product for Digital Assets at Thunes, to trace how a global payment network moves money across 140 countries, 90 currencies, and 220 payment methods.
They unpack how stablecoins can reduce prefunding from days to hours, why local demand determines which corridors can adopt them, and why Pritpal says a capital-light network makes Thunes' core business stronger.

Chapters
00:00 Defining Thunes and the last-mile problem
03:22 Building a payment network one market at a time
05:31 Mobile wallets are the account
07:14 Why instant payouts still require prefunding
10:36 Stablecoins move funding from days to hours
13:49 Local demand determines viable stablecoin corridors
17:11 Thunes tested stablecoins in its own treasury
21:35 Tokenized deposits keep money inside banking
27:02 Supporting new forms of money without picking winners
30:29 Programmable settlement, DeFi, and on-chain yield
35:40 Capital was never the product
39:10 Preparing for agentic payments before demand arrives
42:55 Start with one corridor problem
Timestamps may change after final editing.

Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:
https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN

Connect with the Hosts & Guest
Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chuk_xyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com
Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz
Pritpal Shokar: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/pritpal-shokar | https://www.thunes.com/ | https://www.linkedin.com/company/thunespayments

About Stablecon
Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.
About BVNK
BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.

Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.

In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Benji Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, a remittance business for diaspora customers, and Rafiki, its B2B infrastructure arm for emerging-market payouts, collections, and stablecoin settlement.
They unpack how consumer remittance volume pushed NALA to own more of the rails, why 96 out of 100 stablecoin trades in its markets are USDT, and why licenses, liquidity, and local payout infrastructure decide what stablecoins can actually do.

Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:
https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN

Chapters
00:00 What NALA does: remittance, Rafiki, and emerging-market rails
01:56 Why Benji entered a "saturated" remittance market
04:56 The failed first version of NALA
06:35 Africa's fragmentation problem: 54 countries, 40 currencies
08:20 The FX loss that pulled NALA into infrastructure
12:48 The NALA stack: ledger, treasury, distribution
18:47 Where stablecoins actually help
20:43 Three stablecoin patterns Benji is watching
26:13 Local wallets: four customer problems inside one product
31:09 The liquidity problem behind stablecoin on/off ramps
35:29 "Solve my problem fastest": what users care about
36:10 The stablecoin hype Benji pushes back on
40:44 TAM has to follow customer behavior
44:39 Payments for the next billion
47:40 Why Rafiki scaled after everyone called it a distraction
49:56 Where to find Benji and NALA

Connect with the Hosts & Guest
Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com
Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz
Benji Fernandes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminf7/ | https://x.com/BenjiFernandes | https://www.nala.com | https://www.rafiki.com

About Stablecon
Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.

About BVNK
BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.