Simon Taylor

With 20+ years in banking, finance, and Fintech, I've done a little bit of everything. Some of the things I saw made me get a little Ranty, hence this newsletter.

Western Union Doesn't Want to Rent Your Stablecoin

Apr 29, 2026

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12 min read

Western Union Doesn't Want to Rent Your Stablecoin

AND European clearing banks go live on stablecoin rails under MiCA

Shwetabh Sameer, +1

🎙️ Ep. 80. Every Fintech is Launching a Stablecoin Product

Apr 28, 2026

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7 min read

🎙️ Ep. 80. Every Fintech is Launching a Stablecoin Product

Ft. Nick Philpott (Zodia Markets) and Paul Frambot (Morpho)

Simon Taylor

DoorDash Brings Stablecoin Payouts to 40 Markets with Tempo

Apr 22, 2026

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16 min read

DoorDash Brings Stablecoin Payouts to 40 Markets with Tempo

AND Europe's Qivalis Picks Fireblocks, Expands to Twelve Banks

Shwetabh Sameer, +1

🎙️ Ep. 79. Should Banks Fear Stablecoin Yield?

Apr 21, 2026

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5 min read

🎙️ Ep. 79. Should Banks Fear Stablecoin Yield?

Ft. Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) & Nikil Viswanathan (Alchemy)

Simon Taylor

Apr 15, 2026

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14 min read

The Yield War Reaches a Breaking Point

Plus; Hong Kong licences banks to mint digital money

Shwetabh Sameer, +1

Apr 14, 2026

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10 min read

Ep. 78. Blockchain's Threat to Banking

Prabhakar Reddy (OpenFX) and Thomas Cowan (Galaxy) break down the FX liquidity gap stablecoins haven't solved, why Dimon now wants JP Morgan's own blockchain, and what Galaxy's onchain shareholder vote means for tokenized equities.

Simon Taylor

The White House Just Dismantled the Bank Lobby's Best Argument Against Stablecoin Yield

Apr 8, 2026

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22 min read

The White House Just Dismantled the Bank Lobby's Best Argument Against Stablecoin Yield

AND JPMorgan's CEO Just Gave Every Bank Board the Cover to Take Blockchain Seriously

Simon Taylor, +1

🎙️ Ep. 77. Stablecoins Will Stop Retail From Subsidizing Wall St Ft. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe

Apr 7, 2026

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10 min read

🎙️ Ep. 77. Stablecoins Will Stop Retail From Subsidizing Wall St Ft. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe

Mike Belshe (BitGo) and Sam Broner (Better Money Company) on why banks suppress retail yields, how stablecoin clearing is going live, and where tokenized securities liquidity actually stands.

Simon Taylor

OpenFX Raises $94M to Fix the Corridors That Correspondent Banking Forgot

Apr 1, 2026

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28 min read

OpenFX Raises $94M to Fix the Corridors That Correspondent Banking Forgot

AND Aave V4 Goes Live as DeFi's First Institutional Credit Layer

Shwetabh Sameer, +1

🎙️ Ep. 76. How Do Tokenized Equities Work? Ft. BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets

Mar 31, 2026

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9 min read

🎙️ Ep. 76. How Do Tokenized Equities Work? Ft. BlackRock’s Head of Digital Assets

BlackRock's Robert Mitchnick, Dragonfly's Rob Hadick, and a16z's Noah Levine on the mechanics, market structure, and reality of tokenized equities

Simon Taylor

Nasdaq Gets SEC Approval as NYSE Names Its Tokenization Partner

Mar 25, 2026

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25 min read

Nasdaq Gets SEC Approval as NYSE Names Its Tokenization Partner

AND Tether Engages a Big Four Firm for Its First Full Audit

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 75. Tempo Head of Product: From First Line of Code to Mainnet in 7 Months

Mar 24, 2026

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8 min read

🎙️ Ep. 75. Tempo Head of Product: From First Line of Code to Mainnet in 7 Months

Liam Horne (Tempo) and Raj Parekh (Monad Foundation) on MPP, Tempo's mainnet, and why the smartest people they know are all locked in

Simon Taylor

Mastercard Pays $1.8B for BVNK - The Card Network's Stablecoin Playbook Comes Into Focus

Mar 18, 2026

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22 min read

Mastercard Pays $1.8B for BVNK - The Card Network's Stablecoin Playbook Comes Into Focus

AND Stripe's Tempo Hits Mainnet in Seven Months Flat

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 74. KAST Raise $80M for Stablecoin Neobank

Mar 17, 2026

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8 min read

🎙️ Ep. 74. KAST Raise $80M for Stablecoin Neobank

On Ep. 74 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Raagulan Pathy, CEO & Co-Founder @ KAST and Homam Maalouf, Co-Founder & Chief Products Officer @ Lead Bank to discuss KAST raise $80m for stablecoin neobank, Lead Bank's role in enabling stablecoin card programs and more!

Simon Taylor

KAST Raises $80M to Build the Global Neobank on Stablecoin Rails

Mar 11, 2026

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22 min read

KAST Raises $80M to Build the Global Neobank on Stablecoin Rails

AND Nasdaq and Kraken Partner to Rebuild Capital Markets Distribution on DLT

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 73. Will AI Agents Use Stablecoins or Virtual Cards?

Mar 10, 2026

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10 min read

🎙️ Ep. 73. Will AI Agents Use Stablecoins or Virtual Cards?

On Ep. 73 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Tanner Taddeo, CEO & Co-Founder @ Stable Sea and Alfonso Gómez-Jordana, Founder @ Crossmint to discuss stablecoin-linked cards, AI agent exclusive virtual cards, Morgan Stanley applying for national trust charter and more!

Simon Taylor

Visa and Bridge Launch Stablecoin Cards in 100 Markets

Mar 4, 2026

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23 min read

Visa and Bridge Launch Stablecoin Cards in 100 Markets

AND Circle Builds the Settlement Layer for the Agentic Economy

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 72. Meta Is Coming for Stablecoins

Mar 3, 2026

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10 min read

🎙️ Ep. 72. Meta Is Coming for Stablecoins

On Ep. 72 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo is joined by Nicole Sandler, Chief Ecosystem Officer @ Ubyx and Fredrik Haga, Co-Founder @ Dune to discuss onchain data showing stablecoin supply and exchange holding trends, Blueprint raising $4.25M and more!

Simon Taylor

Meta Returns to Stablecoins - This Time as the Distribution Layer

Feb 25, 2026

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23 min read

Meta Returns to Stablecoins - This Time as the Distribution Layer

AND Stripe Eyes PayPal in a $3.6 Trillion Digital-Dollar Super-Stack

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 71. Command Line Commerce & Payoneer Launches Stablecoin Payments

Feb 24, 2026

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10 min read

🎙️ Ep. 71. Command Line Commerce & Payoneer Launches Stablecoin Payments

On Ep. 71 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Davis Hart, Founder & CEO @ Omnia and Robert Morgan, Head of Stablecoins @ Payoneer to discuss Payoneer's partnership with Bridge, why stablecoin companies are pursuing federal trust charters and more!

Simon Taylor

Stripe's Bridge Is Becoming a Federally Chartered Bank

Feb 18, 2026

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25 min read

Stripe's Bridge Is Becoming a Federally Chartered Bank

AND The NY Fed Builds the Case for Tokenized Deposits

Simon Taylor

🎙️ Ep. 70. Erebor: Palmer Luckey’s Bank for Stablecoins

Feb 17, 2026

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9 min read

🎙️ Ep. 70. Erebor: Palmer Luckey’s Bank for Stablecoins

On Ep. 70 of Tokenized, Simon Taylor, GTM @ Tempo and Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto @ Visa, are joined by Diogo Mónica, GP @ Haun Ventures and Chris Maurice, CEO @ Yellow Card to discuss BlackRock offering DeFi trading with Uniswap tokens, Erebor Bank receiving its full OCC charter and more!

Simon Taylor