Josh Fraser, the Co-Founder of Origin Protocol, founded the company in 2017 to bring NFTs and DeFi to the masses. Josh started coding at the age of 10. Prior to Origin, he co-founded 3 other venture-backed companies: EventVue, Torbit (acquired by Walmart Labs) & Forage.

Today, Origin Story has powered multiple record-breaking NFT sales for top creators. Origin Dollar (OUSD) is the first stablecoin that earns competitive DeFi yields while sitting in your wallet.

We covered all about NFTs and Stablecoins at #FrontierFintech Podcast:
*The difference between building Web2 vs Web3 startups
*Building NFT launchpad (Origin Story) for artists and getting 3LAU and Paris Hilton as advisors
*How OriginDollar is an innovative take on stablecoin

Tayo Koonprasert and Tansaya Kunaratskul are Senior Specialists at the Central Bank Digital Currencies team at the Bank of Thailand.

Both of them have been instrumental in creating the Central Bank Digital Currency. We’ll cover all about the use cases for CBDC, different models of CBDC and it will be used in the future at #FrontierFintech Podcast.

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in September 2021 and may not reflect the current status of the Bank of Thailand’s CBDC projects.

“History Rhymes But Never Repeats”

Yoshi Yokokawa is the CEO & Co-founder of Alpaca, a company that powers more than 100 fintech applications around the world. When Robinhood came out in 2013, Yoshi, in Japan at the time, couldn’t download the app or invest in U.S. stocks. Ten years later, nothing’s changed.

Alpaca is based on the idea that every single person on the earth should have access to financial markets like Americans do. Today, Alpaca has raised series B from notable investors to offer equities and crypto trading software via API.

We covered all about “why investing in U.S. stocks is so hard for non-Americans” at #FrontierFintech Podcast.

Sherry Jiang is the Co-Founder & CEO of Bluejay Finance, a protocol that creates stablecoins pegged to Asian currencies. By providing local currency stablecoins, Bluejay is laying the infrastructure to support the next billion users to use Web3 products.

Sherry has always been passionate about building products for people in emerging markets. She has founded a social impact company, Code for Community, to provide non-profit organizations with technical help. Fascinated by how technology is bringing financial access to people in ways that financial institutions cannot do, she joined Google Pay and brought payment innovations to India. Today, she’s building Bluejay to provide a seamless way for people in Southeast Asia to use Web3.

We talked about Local Currency Stablecoins and more at #FrontierFintechPodcast:
*Why do we need local currency stablecoins
*What are the challenges for local stablecoins to take off
*What is Bluejay doing differently than others
*How does Bluejay solve the liquidity issue?
*What will be the catalysts for local stablecoin adoption
*When will the market be ready for this

Amrita Vir is the Head of Driver Lending at Grab. She manages over 20 financial programs, including cash loans, BNPL, and fuel financing, for Grab drivers across 6 markets in Southeast Asia. She’s also the host of The Greenroom, a SEA fintech podcast.

Amrita found her passion for fintech from a young age. She founded a non-profit microfinance company in college to help the low-income access financial services in the U.S. where she grew up. It was her mission to improve financial inclusion and her roles at various fintech companies took her from LATAM, Africa, Middle East, to SEA.

We talked all about “financial access and inclusion” and more at #FrontierFintech Podcast:
*Challenges of microfinance in SEA vs US
*Data availability and collection infrastructure as prerequisites for digital lending
*The missing pieces of digital lending in SEA
*How to improve financial health, not just financial access

"Foreign exchange will always be here to stay"

Jason Tay, the Regional Director of Business Development at M-DAQ, talks to us about how M-DAQ uses data and algorithms to allow merchants around the world to sell goods in foreign currencies and not lose out when the FX rate changes.

M-DAQ is creating the world without currency borders. The 11-year old fintech company is the first startup to be funded by Affinity Equity Partners who joined other notable investors, including Ant Group and Samsung.

M-DAQ is the FX solution that powers leading e-commerce platforms and stock markets around the world. With increasing cross-border e-commerce trades, sellers are forced to quote prices in foreign currency. The problem is you don’t know when the product will sell, hence, the FX risk falls on the sellers. Sellers markup a lot more than usual and the ultimate losers are the consumers.

Wouldn’t it be better if the platform takes care of that and ensures sellers’ bottom line is fixed? That is what M-DAQ does. It gives power back to consumers by giving power to sellers.

We talked all about foreign exchange amidst the cross-border world and more at #frontierfintechpodcast:
*How M-DAQ helps sellers sell goods in foreign currency
*How buyers can get refunds at the same rate after 3 months of purchase
*How M-DAQ does this at ⅙ of the banks with 3 months’ guarantee
*The role of FX and e-commerce

Welcome to “NFT Party”, the inaugural episode of 3-Peas in a Pod-Cast where we dissect current events and big themes in the world of fintech & crypto. This episode is hosted by Nat Wittayatanaseth, Diana Shih and Jason Tay.

As Russia is invading Ukraine, all our financial portfolios have gone red. While Diana keeps a strict Warren Buffett’s philosophy of checking her portfolio once a year, Jason can’t do that because his NFT portfolio is on the verge of being rug-pull.

This is the only episode you need to listen to to get started on NFT. We talked all about:

*What to look for when evaluating which NFT to buy

*How to start buying your first NFT

*What scam techniques are out there

*NFT fraud vs. pop culture

About our hosts:

*Nat Wittayatanaseth is the founder of Frontier Fintech Podcast and an angel-operator in Web3

*Jason Tay is the a prolific fintech moderator and the Regional Director Of Business Development at M-DAQ Global

*Diana Shih is the founder of The Curious About Podcast and a marketer in Web3

Iwan Kurniawan, the Co-Founder & COO of Funding Societies (Modalku), has spent the past 6 years building Funding Societies into the largest SME lender in SEA. The company’s  raised funds from top-tier investors, including SoftBank and Sequoia India. He also serves as the Vice Chairman of Indonesia Fintech Association.

We talked about *What’s next for P2P lending in SEA* at #FrontierFintechPodcast:

*How to start a fintech startup (hint: Every company starts with a hook)

*How to think about credit risks vs growth

*Why being the first mover in lending business is advantageous

*Is lending business in SEA saturated yet

*What’s next for P2P lending in SEA

“We do need banking, but we don’t need banks.”

Samir Chaïbi, Principal at Insignia Ventures Partners, talked to us about the fintech landscape in Southeast Asia, from banking API, lending, to insurance business.

Samir, a French Algerian, went to the U.S. to explore the startup and VC landscape before joining Insignia, a $450M+ AUM SEA-based VC fund, to help improve the startup ecosystem in SEA. At Insignia, he leads investments in fintech, insurtech, and proptech. Prior to this, Samir was a VC at STRIVE, a Tokyo-based VC fund.

We covered all about the fintech landscape in SEA and more:
*Fintech revolution in SEA
*The holy trinity of consumer fintech companies
*Why consumer fintech companies should be a media company
*Community as the new approach for marketing
*Regulatory hurdles for fintech vs banks
*Market gap Samir wishes someone would tackle: lending for healthcare and personal financial management app for debt
*Insurance exclusions and opportunities in insurtech

About Insignia Ventures

Insignia Ventures Partners is an early-stage technology venture capital firm with US$450 million+ AUM partnering with unstoppable founders to build great companies in Southeast Asia. Since 2017, we have invested in 70+ emerging technology companies across industries and geographies in the region, including unicorns Carro, Ajaib, GoTo, and Appier, and category leaders including Payfazz, Shipper, tonik, and Flip. We partner early with founders and support them from seed through growth stage as their companies create meaningful impact for millions of people in Southeast Asia and beyond. With our team of 30+ investment and operating professionals who bring together decades of experience and proprietary networks, we equip our founders with the tools they need for growth. Learn more on our website and Insignia Business Review. Follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

“When you make your passion your profession, it’s not your job anymore.”

Bala Subramanian, Chief of Staff at Brankas, talks to us about scaling teams from 20 to 100. Since the pandemic started, Brankas has 5x its team in a remote first culture. We dig into frameworks on how to suss candidates for remote first culture, how to augment your process to 5x your team, and how to avoid the great resignation.

Founded in 2016, Brankas offers a roster of more than 10 “banking-as-a-service” embedded APIs, including ones for opening online bank accounts, credit scoring, identity verification, e-commerce transactions and gig economy payments.

We covered all about #talent and more:
*Remote first culture: The why, the issues, the process, the culture
*Why every employee should be an HR person
*Why there’s no lack of talent and how companies can augment process to get the right talent
*How to avoid the great resignation

Ryan Chew is the Co-Founder of Tribe Accelerator, Singapore’s first government-backed blockchain accelerator.

Tribe was founded in 2018 because Ryan and his co-founder noticed that funding opportunities for blockchain startups were very limited. Fast forward to 2021, Tribe has now supported startups with over $300 million in funding and it is in the forefront of shaping the blockchain ecosystem in Singapore.

This episode was extra special because we also had Jason Tay as a co-host and he brought tons of laughters (and sound effects) with him.

We covered all about Blockchain Use Cases & the Metaverse at #FrontierFintechAsia:
*How Tribe is bridging the gap between blockchain startups & corporate
*How enterprise is adopting blockchain technology
*Is the metaverse hype or here to stay
*Why decentralization is a crucial for the metaverse

Raymon Hsu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cabital, a simple elegant platform that allows anyone anywhere to earn passive income as much as 12% APY from crypto without the crazy.

Raymond started his career helping people access mobile payments in Kenya at a global bank. Having witnessed first hand how hard it is for people in Africa to send and receive money, he then joined Airwallex to drive the expansion of global payment networks. At Airwallex, his passion for technology grew and led him to found his own startup.

Raymond launched Cabital with the conviction that no one should be left behind when it came to innovation in financial services. Cabital is backed by leading global funds, such as SIG Susquehanna, Dragonfly Capital, and GSR Ventures.

We covered in-depth about earning yields on DeFi:
*What’s behind the high yields in DeFi
*How can you get high yields without the downside risks
*The role of stablecoins in DeFi yields
*How DeFi will evolve going forward
*Central banks vs DeFi

“My life is not that long and the only thing I want to do is making a big impact”

Brian Ma is the Managing Partner of Iterative Capital, a YC-style accelerator focusing on increasing Southeast Asia’s GDP. He is also the Founder of Divvy Homes, a $2B company that allows customers to build equity credits as they rent. This episode is so special as we went through his founder journey and lessons learnt from founding 2 failed startups and 1 unicorn.

Brian is a third culture kid who moved to the U.S. when he was 8. He got into college at the age of 15. When he graduated, like many of us, he didn’t know what to do. One thing he knew was he wanted to make a ‘big impact’ and starting a company would allow him to do that. At 17, he joined Zillow as an early employee and helped the company grow from 13 to 300 people. He then left to start his own company at 21.

Those companies failed, but the lessons he learned paved the way for Divvy Homes, a company that reflects his passion for the real estate market. The idea was incubated at Max Levchin’s incubator HVF where Brain spent 6 months validating if this idea was going to be big enough.

Today, Divvy Homes is disrupting the way people buy homes in the U.S. and the company is valued at $2B. Through the journey, what made a difference was being intentional about finding a really ‘big problem’. Having clarity on the end goal helped him figure out steps he needed to take and who he needed to hire.

There are so many valuable lessons in this episode. This is just a glimpse of what founders can learn at Iterative Capital, a Southeast Asia-based accelerator program. His next goal? Increasing SEA’s GDP.

U-Zyn Chua is an early pioneer of Bitcoin (fun fact: he interacted with Satoshi back when Bitcoin originated!). He also designed, developed and launched the world's first retail Central Bank Digital Currency for the Central Bank of the Bahamas.

Today, he’s  the Co-Founder & CTO of DeFi Chain and Cake DeFi, a non-Turing complete blockchain that enables decentralized finance on Bitcoin. In addition, he is bringing decentralized finance to the people through cakedefi.com which is a consumer application built on top of DeFi Chain.

We covered all about Bitcoin as an infrastructure for DeFi, and more:
*Why Bitcoin is an attractive and secure infrastructure for DeFi
*Trade-offs for using Bitcoin blockchain for DeFi
*How DeFi Chain provide infrastructure for DeFi protocols to be built on Bitcoin

Jeffery Liu, CEO & Co-founder of Xanpool, talks to us about decentralized market makers. Anyone can turn themselves into money changers and earn 25%APY on idle money on their bank accounts and crypto wallets.

Xanpool was created to be a payment or liquidity network (think Visa or Mastercard), but instead of being a close network, it’s an open network made up of businesses and individuals, therefore settlements are faster and cheaper.

What’s special about Xanpool is it has built API that connects to bank accounts, e-wallets, crypto wallets that allow people to earn yields from facilitating the settlements without having to do anything.

We talked about:
*The mechanics behind Xanpool
*How you can participate and earn yields from your idle cash
*The future of payments
*Why CBDC will accelerate crypto adoption (and more!)

Vidit Agrawal is the CEO and Co-Founder of Gajigesa, a financial health platform that provides Indonesian employees with financial education and early access to their salaries.

Vidit was the first hire at Uber Asia and he’s also a technology veteran with experiences across many leading startups, including Uber, Stripe, and Carro.

Together with his Co-Founder Martyna Malinowska, they are helping blue-collar workers in Indonesia access their financials and equip them with tools to free them from the vicious loan shark cycle.

We talked all about earned wage access in Indonesia and more:
*How Gajigesa is helping help blue-collar workers across Indonesia
*How does earned wage access work on the backend
*How does Gajigesa positively contribute to employers and companies
*The future of earned wage access in SEA
*Challenges of starting a company amidst the pandemic

Stephane de Baets is the Founder of Elevated Returns & XSpring. He is the first person to launch the world’s first real estate tokenization, Aspen Coin, and Thailand’s first real estate tokenization, SiriHub.

He foresees that we’re going to see the biggest hyper-inflation we’ve ever seen. Money depreciates all the time. That is why this is the right time to create a collateralized form of assets - assets for payment. You can hedge your future spending with assets that generates yield instead of value-losing cash.

We talked about:
*The processes and challenges behind the world’s first real estate tokenization
*Why tokenization is more attractive than REITs
*Why this is the right time for asset tokenization
*How to overcome the liquidity problem
*Why people will hold assets for payments instead of cash which is a value-losing cash

Samuel Rhee is the Founding Partner & CIO of Endowus, a Singapore-based wealth platform that lets you invest towards your life goals and provides you exclusive access to best-in-class funds from around the world at low costs.

Samuel has been in finance his whole life, 27 years to be exact. He spent most of his time in the public equity market at Morgan Stanley Investment Management - starting as a portfolio manager, then as a CIO, and eventually as a CEO. He found two major gaps in Fintech, particularly in wealth management and capital markets which inspired him to co-found Endowus.

We talked about “The Future of Wealth Management” covering:
*How roboadvisory platforms are not solving the problem of low-cost investments
*How funds and brokers make money and what makes Endowus different
*Why the distribution model in wealth management should change
*How Endowus finds yields for customers
*The biggest generational challenge our society faces
*How Endowus bridges the gap for SEA customers to access global institutional funds

Michael Shaulov is the CEO and co-founder of Fireblocks, an all-in-one platform that helps enterprises store, transfer, and issue digital assets without getting hacked.

Michael was an expert in cybersecurity before he founded Fireblocks.  North Korean hackers, the Lazarus Group, stole $7M from Bithumb, a South Korean exchange in 2017. Michael, along with Fireblocks' co-founders, was a part of the task force that investigated this massive cyber breach. This led him to found Fireblocks with the mission to build a transparent, efficient, and fraud-free financial system for blockchain-based assets.

Today, Fireblocks has facilitated $1 trillion in digital asset transfers and is trusted by the world’s top banks and institutions, including BNY Mellon and Siam Commercial Bank.

Other areas of discussion:
*What’s needed for institutions to adopt crypto?
*How much capital is sitting on the sideline?
*What is the infrastructure that institutions need to adopt crypto
*Where we are in the crypto adoption curve by institutions
*What will prime brokerage in the crypto world look like?
*How Fireblocks is helping institutions get access to DeFi

Ian Lee is the Founding Team and Associate Director of Merkle Science, a provider of blockchain transaction monitoring and intelligence solutions.

Ian started out as a capital markets lawyer. During that time, many people came to him to ask about how to engage with crypto in a legally compliant way. He saw the vision of what crypto can become and decided to join Merkle Science to create an infrastructure that would bridge the gap between crypto and the traditional world.

We talked about:
*How Merkle Science helps companies and financial institutions deal with crypto
*The effect of AML and crypto adoption
*The need for coordination between the regulatory bodies on a global scale
*Southeast Asian regulators’ stance on crypto
*How Merkle Science help regulators protect against AML issues
*What we need to do to promote crypto usage while keeping regulators happy