Welcome to the Fintech Garden Podcast—conversations with founders, investors, and industry experts shaping the future of financial technology. Explore emerging trends, practical insights, and the ideas transforming finance.
Discover more fintech insights, events, and resources at https://fintech.garden
Travel Rule is reshaping how crypto transactions move, and most VASPs are still figuring out how to comply with it.
In this episode of Fintech Garden, Igor Tomych sits down with Emeka Mgbenu from Sumsub to break down what Travel Rule actually requires, how it differs from standard AML/KYC, and why self-hosted wallets are the industry's hardest open question. They cover what data has to travel with a transaction, how VASPs attribute wallet ownership without a SWIFT-style lookup, what happens when names don't match, and how to design a risk-based compliance engine that doesn't collapse under false positives.
Timestamps:
00:31 AML vs. Travel Rule: what's actually different
01:06 Where Travel Rule came from (FATF, the SWIFT comparison)
03:03 What data must travel: names, DOB, IDs, local vs. international thresholds
5:23 Why crypto can't verify payees the way banks do
06:17 How VASPs attribute wallet ownership
08:01 Self-hosted wallets: anyone can spin one up
08:40 Verifying ownership: signatures, Satoshi tests, self-declaration
10:18 HD wallets and the attribution puzzle
10:54 Hot wallets, clustering, and VASP attribution at scale
13:11 Transparent ≠ simple: the complexity under the hood
14:15 Risk-based approach: handling mismatched names
19:29 Receiving funds with no Travel Rule message
22:43 Building the decision engine: automation vs. compliance team
23:18 From compliance-heavy launch to automated screening
25:02 Where to start: three steps for any VASP
Book your discovery call with Fintech Core team today: https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast (https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast)
Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/ (https://fintech.garden/about-us/)
Follow us: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com (https://dashdevs.com)
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/ (https://www.novafin.co/)
Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/)
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/)
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
🎙 Podcast Credits
Manager: Olha Koistryk / https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/)
Video Editing: Arsen Harin / Nazar Gecha, Olha Koistryk
Sound Editing: Arsen Harin / Nazar Gecha
Thumbnail Design: Maryna Manoilo / https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/)
Marketing / Social Media: DashDevs Marketing Team
29 Sept 2026
Euro Stablecoin: Built by Europeans for Europe, with Jan-Oliver Sell, Qivalis| FG Podcast 175
99.8% of stablecoin transactions today run in US dollars. Jan-Oliver Sell, CEO of Qivalis, a euro stablecoin project backed by a growing consortium of European banks, joins Igor Tomych to explain why that gap matters and what it will take to close it. They cover the difference between the ECB's retail digital euro and the electronic money token Qivalis is building, why MiCA regulation finally gave banks the confidence to get involved, why liquidity, not technology, is the real bottleneck, and why Jan-Oliver sees Europe's dependence on dollar stablecoins as a genuine dollarization risk if it isn't addressed.
Book your discovery call with Fintech Core team today: https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast (https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast)
Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/ (https://fintech.garden/about-us/)
Digital euro is not crypto. It is digital cash, with Rainer Olt | Fintech Garden Podcast 145: https://youtu.be/nF3zZ1BCVMo (https://youtu.be/nF3zZ1BCVMo)
Timestamps:
00:55 – What is the digital euro, and how Qivalis differs from the ECB's version
03:10 – Why now: how MiCA opened the door for bank-issued stablecoins
05:36 – The gap: 99.8% of stablecoins are dollars, yet 25% of activity starts in Europe
06:13 – Why Qivalis was founded, and the three-year path to launch
08:52 – The goal: putting a liquid euro in every builder's hands
10:01 – Why the euro is uniquely positioned to compete with the dollar
11:56 – Europe's push for monetary autonomy
14:15 – Learning from Stripe's Bridge acquisition and the US stablecoin race
17:33 – Europe's monetary stack: retail digital euro, wholesale CBDC, and stablecoins
20:18 – Debunking the myth that stablecoins are anonymous
23:27 – Is Asia catching up on stablecoin adoption?
25:42 – The real risk: dollarization of Europe's financial system
28:49 – Where the euro stands by 2030
Follow us: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com (https://dashdevs.com)
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/ (https://www.novafin.co/)
Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/)
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/)
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
🎙 Podcast Credits
Manager: Olha Koistryk / https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/)
Video Editing: Nazar Gecha, Olha Koistryk
Sound Editing: Nazar Gecha
Thumbnail Design: Maryna Manoilo / https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/)
Marketing / Social Media: DashDevs Marketing Team
22 Sept 2026
GCC Is Not One Market, with Omar El Gammal | Fintech Garden Podcast 174
Omar El Gammal, EVP of Global Business Development at Paymob, has spearheaded payment expansion across four GCC territories—securing regulatory approvals in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, where Paymob made history as the first foreign fintech fully licensed by the Central Bank of Oman.
He joins Igor Tomych to dissect regional expansion strategy and the reality of cross-border execution:
🌱The Monolith Myth: Why approaching the GCC as a single, homogeneous market is a foundational misstep for founders.
🌱Regulatory Divergence: The practical differences between navigating licensing in the UAE versus Saudi Arabia.
🌱Direct Market Intelligence: Why founders who bypass high-fee advisors to gather boots-on-the-ground insights save both substantial capital and execution time.
Book your discovery call with Fintech Core team today: https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast (https://dashdevs.com/fintech-core/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=qr&utm_campaign=fg_podcast)
Want to become a guest? Need a consultation from DashDevs or Novafin? Please fill in the form here: https://fintech.garden/about-us/ (https://fintech.garden/about-us/)
Timestamps:
01:38 – Why "GCC" is not one market
04:47 – Where should founders launch first?
06:25 – Saudi Arabia's licensing evolution: TSP to retail payment services
09:23 – Why regulators are allies, not just gatekeepers
10:57 – The underserved markets outside Riyadh, Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai
12:21 – Paymob's compliance playbook across UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman
15:13 – Why hands-on market experience beats hiring a consultant
16:51 – What's coming next: open finance, crypto, and pay-by-bank
19:24 – Open banking vs. open finance, explained simply
20:15 – Will new BNPL regulation constrain the region's most valuable fintech category?
21:34 – What Omar would do differently starting over
Follow us: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
Check out DashDevs: https://dashdevs.com (https://dashdevs.com)
Check out Novafin: https://www.novafin.co/ (https://www.novafin.co/)
Connect with our hosts
Igor Tomych https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/igortomych/)
Dumitru Condrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcondrea/)
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://fintech.garden (https://fintech.garden)
🎙 Podcast Credits
Manager: Olha Koistryk / https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/olha-koistryk/)
Video Editing: Arsen Harin, Olha Koistryk
Sound Editing: Arsen Harin
Thumbnail Design: Maryna Manoilo / https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/marina-manoylo/)
Marketing / Social Media: DashDevs Marketing Team
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact Fintech Garden Podcast
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Fintech Garden Podcast?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
