How Crypto Neobanks Make It Easier to Earn Passive Income - Ep. 930

Unchained

Laura Shin

Tech News, Business News, News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Neobanks changed how fintech thinks about money. Now, crypto builders want to do the same, without custody. In this episode, Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi, argue the real shift isn't about "crypto cards," it's about who controls your assets. EtherFi’s and Ready’s self-custodial apps merge saving, spending, and investing. The result: faster settlement, lower fees, and more transparency, but also new challenges around compliance, credit, and security. Itamar Lesuisse and Mike Silagadze explain how layer 2 networks made crypto cards economically viable after years of failed attempts and how Africa’s FX markets could become the breakthrough use case for crypto banking. Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Thank you to our sponsors! Mantle Binance Guests: Itamar Lesuisse, Co-founder and CEO of Ready (formerly Argent) Mike Silagadze, Founder and CEO of EtherFi, and Founder of Top Hat Links: The Block: Best crypto cards with token rewards in 2025 Bitcoin Starknet Staking Post by Ready (Formerly Argent) Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 💳 1:57 What crypto neobanks are, and why they’re suddenly booming ⚖️ 6:19 Custody as the real divide between traditional and crypto banking 🏦 8:07 From Argent to Ready, turning wallets into full neobanks 💳 10:05 Why early crypto cards failed, and how L2 settlement fixed them 💰 18:49 Credit without credit scores: the rise of collateralized cards 🔒 32:52 How smart accounts and recovery improve wallet security 🌍 44:29 Onchain FX and the next profit frontier for crypto banks 🚀 55:36 How self-custody could reach mass adoption 🔚 58:19 Closing thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I mean, I think the big difference, the one, if you could say, like, what is the dividing line between this, whatever you call it,
0:05.7	the DeFi Bank, Cryptoneo Bank, and a normal bank is custody.
0:09.6	So crypto alternatives do not take custody of user assets, which the reason that's important is it means nobody can come in and just take all your money.
0:17.9	And the level of transparency is, you know, extreme compared to, you know, anything that
0:23.6	a traditional bank would provide.
0:25.6	You know you put in a dollar, you know exactly where that dollar is.
0:28.6	Hi, everyone.
0:32.6	Welcome to Unchained, you're no hype resource for all things crypto.
0:35.6	I'm your host, Laura Shin.
0:38.3	Mantle is pioneering blockchain for banking, a revolutionary new category at the intersection of Tradfai and Web3.
0:46.3	Follow Mantle underscore official to learn more.
0:49.3	Finance is the world's number one crypto exchange, trusted by over 290 million users.
0:56.0	With industry leading liquidity, security, and a wide range of digital asset products,
1:01.0	finance is the place to buy, sell, trade, and earn crypto.
1:05.0	Download Binance today to get started.
1:08.0	Today's topic is Cryptoneobanks.
1:10.0	Here to discuss our Itamar Leswis, co-founder and CEO
1:13.9	of Reddy, formerly Argent, and Mike Siligodzai, founder and CEO of Etherfi and founder of Top Hat.
1:20.6	Welcome, Itamar and Mike.
1:22.1	Hello, for having me. So this year has seen so many different sectors of crypto just take off.
1:27.8	It feels like there's kind of these little mini gold rushes happening everywhere,
1:32.2	obviously in stable coins, in perps, in debts, even maybe everything apps.
	...

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