While fintech chases AI moonshots and DeFi dreams, five under-the-radar players are fixing credit deserts right now. Students wiring money home, teens learning to save, small businesses snagging loans—these tools make it real.
Stripe's dropping agentic network tokens from Mastercard and Visa into its Shared Payment Tokens, plus Affirm and Klarna BNPL. It's a quiet power move that could standardize payments in the AI agent economy.
Banks have tiptoed around crypto for years. SoFi's slamming the door wide open with a regulated hub for 24/7 dollar-stablecoin action. Expect the fintech world to scramble.
You're out $150 to your roommate for concert tickets. Cash App now lets you pay it back in installments — no bank hassle. But does this genius move mask a debt trap?