Fintechs Converging on Reusable Money Stacks
Kevin Kang, co-founder of Reap, on stablecoin-native business models in fintech
The strategic shift is that fintechs are being built less as single products and more as reusable money movement stacks. A company that starts with cards usually has to add P2P, wallet payouts, and account to account transfers, while a company that starts with cross border payments usually has to add cards, expense controls, and banking workflows. Reap is building around that shared core, then monetizing first on payment volume and later on higher priced software layered onto those flows.
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On the consumer side, cards are the first wedge because card networks are already accepted globally, but once users hold balances they expect to send money to each other and cash out to wallets. On the B2B side, the wedge is usually supplier payments or remittances, then cards and expense controls get added later.
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Airwallex shows the same bundling from the other direction. It started by undercutting banks on cross border transfers, then moved into white label cards, expense management, bill pay, and broader business banking. By March 2025, over 50% of its gross profit came from card and payments products rather than pure transfer volume.
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That convergence changes monetization. Traditional finance often earns on balances, spreads, and one off payment fees. Reap still earns on card spend, payment volume, and FX today, but stablecoin rails add new billable features like conditional payments, smart contract logic, and automated treasury workflows, which look more like software pricing on top of payments.
The market is heading toward fintech infrastructure providers that win by owning the common plumbing for cards, payouts, treasury, and compliance, then packaging it for different customer types. As stablecoin rails mature, the strongest platforms will look less like narrow payment processors and more like modular operating systems for moving and programming money across borders.