Fintech is Back, Baby
November 21, 2024
FINTECH IS BACK, BABY. Klarna IPO. Robinhood & Stripe acquisitions. BTC ATH (don't mention ETH).
After a rough 2-3 years (the “dark years” of 2022-2024), the fintech and crypto worlds are finally letting out a collective sigh of relief. Part of this is because of global macro (interest rates lowering, business-friendly administration, etc.), but the big reason FINTECH IS BACK is that companies have actually done the hard work: refocusing on what matters and delivering real value to customers.
The late 2010s brought an explosion of fintech and crypto startups. Robinhood popularized retail trading. DeFi promised global financial inclusion. Neobanks like Chime and crypto exchanges multiplied overnight. But as the hype grew, the industry lost its way. Companies stopped innovating and started competing on unsustainable promises, particularly around yield. Many of these were started with good intentions in mind, but we ended up devolving into the competition to make a quick buck.
Neobanks fought to offer a 1% savings rate compared to the 0.001% at traditional banks, and DeFi protocols lured users with eye-popping returns. Instead of revolutionizing finance—making it smoother, cheaper, and global—fintech devolved into a race to attract users by giving away free money.
Fintech was supposed to rebuild the legacy financial system and make everything smoother, cheaper, and global. You were supposed to be able to participate in new (legal) offerings with the tap of a button. But instead, we got people competing to give away money to attract the most customers.
This yield-chasing distorted the market, fueling unsustainable growth and overshadowing the real benefits of fintech and crypto. But now finally in 2024, things look very different! Bridge built cheap, simple, and global payments all powered through stablecoins. Robinhood still has memestocks and crypto, but has expanded into 401ks, IRAs, custody, and wealth management. It's not just a stock gambling platform anymore, it's something you can actually use.
A lot of the "dumb" use cases of fintech and crypto still exist (like the Solana memecoin bonanza) and those are great ways to onboard users onto the platform through entertainment. But now there's also a lot of real utility on these platforms as well beyond the memes—Solana itself has Helius, Solanapay, and more real use cases that it serves.
I joke about the fintech dark years, and 2-3 years isn't that long, but they were legitimately a bad 2-3 years for anyone working in fintech and crypto. Many people churned out of the industry (including myself) because things seemed bleak. It’s good to be back—and even better to see fintech finally delivering on its original promise.