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Miguel Armaza sits down with Sophia Goldberg, entrepreneur and author of the recently published The Field Guide to Global Payments, a great book about the complex and multifaceted payments industry where Sophia gives a great overview of the different payments systems around the world, the players who make this space go round, as well as some of the exciting innovations driving the future of payments.

I’m almost done reading it, and I highly recommend you pick up a copy, especially if you’re a fintech and finance operator, investor, or have aspirations to join the industry. Every page will make you smarter and you’ll gain a deeper appreciation of the complexity of one of the most important technologies in our economy.

In this episode, we discuss:

Understanding why there are only six dominant payment networks (Visa, Mastercard, etc) worldwide and why Square and PayPal might become the next major networks.

“They [Networks] serve this really important force multiplier between billions of humans and millions, if not a billion merchants globally. And how do you get people to pay each other? And how do you get people talking in the right way? How do you build trust into it? And so it is really hard to both build that two-sided relationship and also the trust and usage to make it work.”

Real-Time Payments (RTP). Understanding the downsides and opportunities of this technology and why we probably won’t move to a world of full RTP.

“I would be surprised if we ever have full RTP for everything. I think it's also why we won't see crypto takeover as the payment rail for everything... I think there's a lot of utility in that delay and there's a lot of downsides… But on the other side, a lot of money is made by the system on that delay.”

The world of crypto payments and why Sophia is not ready to endorse it just yet… and a lot more!

“I'm not super bullish on large decentralized groups of people making quick and expedient decisions that are good for a financial system. And I know that's probably very unpopular.”

Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today’s global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.

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Previous Episodes You May Enjoy:

Jimmy Soni: The Inside Story of PayPal – Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, and the Company that Shaped the Modern Internet

Arjun Sethi, Tribe Capital Co-Founder – The State of Crypto and How We Got Here, Pursuing N-of-1 Fintechs, & How Tribe Uses Data to Deploy Capital

Balderton Capital General Partner, Rana Yared – Europe’s Massive Fintech Opportunity, Balderton’s Sustainable Future Goals, & Portfolio Reflections for VCs

General Atlantic’s Martín Escobari – Three Traits of the Best Entrepreneurs, 42 years of Global Investment Lessons & How the Regret Minimization Framework Changed his Life

Alexa von Tobel, Co-Founder at Inspired Capital – The Future of your Wallet, Global Fintech Trends, & How to Look for Exceptional Founders

Abby Levy, Co-Founder of Primetime Partners – Harnessing Fintech Innovation to Invest for Retirement & Improving the Quality of Life for Older Adults

Eric Glyman, Ramp Co-Founder/CEO – From Zero to $4 Billion in 30 Months, The Future of Business Banking, & Why you need to Double Down on your Strengths and Hire for Your Weaknesses

Jackie Reses and Lauren Weinberg, Self-Made Bosses - Tools And Advice For Helping Small Businesses Start, Run, And Grow

Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.

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Sophia Goldberg, The Field Guide to Global…