Donny Hoye

Banking, Data, Member Exclusive

What a bank-client relationship looks like when banks control the data behind the UX

• Client–bank relationships have long revolved around a destination model: clients log in, navigate dashboards, export data, assemble insights. Grasshopper Bank is rewriting that dynamic by moving from a destination to a ‘layer’.
• The digital bank has launched its MCP server to bridge a critical gap: letting clients use modern AI tools with their financial data without sacrificing banking security or control.

Payments, Podcasts

How Paze is betting bank trust can crack the digital wallet market

• The digital wallet space is crowded, but Paze is betting that consumer trust in banks — not tech giants — is the unlock.
• In this episode, Serge Elkiner, General Manager of Paze at Early Warning Services, breaks down how the bank-backed wallet is building toward critical mass through merchant expansion, issuer growth, and a deliberate focus on the consumers other wallets haven't won yet.

Artificial Intelligence, Business of Fintech, Payments

In the world of Stripe: Acquisitions, agentic AI, and stablecoins

• Stripe is making moves to dominate every layer of payments, from a potential PayPal acquisition to AI billing tools and stablecoin infrastructure.
• Stripe processed $1.9T in volume, its new AI billing tool tracks LLM usage in real time, and its x402 integration lets AI agents send and receive stablecoin payments autonomously.

10-Q, Member Exclusive

PayPal doesn’t have a growth problem – it has a positioning problem

• At a time when payment winners must command either infrastructure or interface, PayPal is awkwardly positioned between the two.
• The questions now are: Where does PayPal sit in the payments ecosystem, and does that position still matter? What unique role does it play in a stack that increasingly bypasses middle layers?

Building a platform, Future of Investing, Member Exclusive

How two Gen Z women founders are making wealth-building accessible

• Two Gen Z women entrepreneurs founded Alinea Invest with a clear goal: to make investing approachable and relevant from day one for young investors.
• The firm is carving out its path in a niche of finance, guided by a clear value proposition and a willingness to question the usual rules of the game.