In this episode of the On the Ground Podcast, I break down the most important developments shaping fintech, banking, payments, AI, and digital assets.

This week’s biggest stories include:

• Wise moving its primary listing from London to Nasdaq
• Circle raising $222 million from BlackRock and Apollo Global Management
• Kraken exploring fundraising at a $20 billion valuation
• JPMorgan Chase expanding tokenization and digital banking in Europe
• Fiserv partnering with OpenAI
• Klarna reporting strong results driven by AI efficiencies
• Bank of England reconsidering stablecoin rules
• Plaid integrating with OpenAI to power personalized financial advice

Welcome to the first episode of "On the Ground Show", where we break down the biggest stories shaping fintech, payments, crypto, and financial infrastructure.

In this episode, we cover PayPal and Coinbase cutting thousands of jobs as both companies restructure around AI, signaling how automation is reshaping financial services. We analyze a wave of major acquisitions, including Kraken’s $600 million purchase of stablecoin payments firm Reap, Bullish’s $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti to build tokenized securities infrastructure, and the $6.3 billion take-private of Amex Global Business Travel.

We also discuss Ramp’s potential $40+ billion valuation and what it says about the rise of AI-powered CFO software, the UK FCA’s rare competition probe into Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal, Robinhood’s struggles compared with Interactive Brokers, and why UK fintech funding is rebounding as capital concentrates into late-stage winners.

If you want to understand where fintech is heading—from stablecoins and tokenization to AI-driven finance and regulatory change—this episode provides the context and key insights you need.