Show Notes
Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.
In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Benji Fernandes, founder and CEO of NALA, a remittance business for diaspora customers, and Rafiki, its B2B infrastructure arm for emerging-market payouts, collections, and stablecoin settlement. They unpack how consumer remittance volume pushed NALA to own more of the rails, why 96 out of 100 stablecoin trades in its markets are USDT, and why licenses, liquidity, and local payout infrastructure decide what stablecoins can actually do.
Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here: https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN
Chapters 00:00 What NALA does: remittance, Rafiki, and emerging-market rails 01:56 Why Benji entered a "saturated" remittance market 04:56 The failed first version of NALA 06:35 Africa's fragmentation problem: 54 countries, 40 currencies 08:20 The FX loss that pulled NALA into infrastructure 12:48 The NALA stack: ledger, treasury, distribution 18:47 Where stablecoins actually help 20:43 Three stablecoin patterns Benji is watching 26:13 Local wallets: four customer problems inside one product 31:09 The liquidity problem behind stablecoin on/off ramps 35:29 "Solve my problem fastest": what users care about 36:10 The stablecoin hype Benji pushes back on 40:44 TAM has to follow customer behavior 44:39 Payments for the next billion 47:40 Why Rafiki scaled after everyone called it a distraction 49:56 Where to find Benji and NALA
Connect with the Hosts & Guest Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz Benji Fernandes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminf7/ | https://x.com/BenjiFernandes | https://www.nala.com | https://www.rafiki.com
About Stablecon Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you're building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.
About BVNK BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.
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Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.
Presented by Stablecon; Powered by BVNK.
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