00:10:58 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:10:58] S1: So whenever you started this, you started, like, with different partners who have, like, licenses and and are regulated to accelerate, like, the setup. Is it something long term that you want to internalize? Or do you feel like some of the features you're developing are fine with with partners? [00:11:19] S0: So we want to lean hard into the future of stablecoins. And I think because the... Inherently, when you deal with the blockchain and you deal with stablecoins, everything is transparent and open, and there's not a lot of you can't really fake much. So the more we lean into that, the fewer in house things we have to do. Because everything is on chain, and it's actually the people are the ones that have the money, and are moving the money, and so on. So our first answer is that long term, we wanna be more on chain, and take advantage of the the the good that stablecoins bring. I think in the short term, we are very invested in partners that have already figured all that stuff out. And our bread and butter, again, isn't really on payment processing. We don't even call ourselves payment processor, people call us that, but it's it's more that we've integrated the right partners and have available the right features that let people do that. And we don't have to get the licensing because they all have it, and they've been working in the last ten, fifteen years on that, and we can focus on other parts of the business journey that we feel we're better at.
00:11:19 · Steven Schwartz, Guillaume Moubeche
[00:11:19] S0: So we want to lean hard into the future of stablecoins. And I think because the... Inherently, when you deal with the blockchain and you deal with stablecoins, everything is transparent and open, and there's not a lot of you can't really fake much. So the more we lean into that, the fewer in house things we have to do. Because everything is on chain, and it's actually the people are the ones that have the money, and are moving the money, and so on. So our first answer is that long term, we wanna be more on chain, and take advantage of the the the good that stablecoins bring. I think in the short term, we are very invested in partners that have already figured all that stuff out. And our bread and butter, again, isn't really on payment processing. We don't even call ourselves payment processor, people call us that, but it's it's more that we've integrated the right partners and have available the right features that let people do that. And we don't have to get the licensing because they all have it, and they've been working in the last ten, fifteen years on that, and we can focus on other parts of the business journey that we feel we're better at. [00:12:29] S1: And can you explain for people, like, the difference of Tether versus, I don't know, USD that you would process? Like, what's the difference and what makes it... [00:12:39] S0: The difference of Tether and USDC or USD? [00:12:41] S1: No. You... Like, fiat currency, like, normal Well,
00:12:41 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:12:41] S1: No. You... Like, fiat currency, like, normal Well, [00:12:44] S0: there's actually no difference of of Tether and and USD. But the real value of Tether is that if you are in a country that doesn't support bank accounts, which is a lot of people in the West take advantage of the fact that we have a bank account with Chase and Bank of America. But if you're gonna go to Latin America, and you're gonna go to Guatemala, you're gonna go to Morocco, or you're gonna go to Nigeria, or wherever other country, or Thailand, they have way less infrastructure that lets them build credit and and have a real bank account. And they they don't even... Oftentimes, they get rejected for for no reason. I mean, there's not even a there's not even a pathway for them to open a bank account. So the the... What Tether unlocks is a open network that everybody in Thailand, and and Morocco, and Nigeria, and Latin America can all use. And if you wanna send money from from Thailand to Morocco, you can do that. But if you don't have Tether, then you have to have the local banking rails, which is like kind of a huge pain in the ass. You think there's money, a Nigerian bank isn't gonna talk to a bank in Thailand, like it's gonna be weeks, and then you're gonna pay huge percentages in Forex fees, so it's just a nightmare. And Tether is a... Is an open network that lets those transactions happen without intermediaries. Nice. [00:14:00] S1: And it's fast. Yeah. And how exactly did you build that partnership? Because I'm assuming that a lot of people want to partner with Tether. No?
00:14:00 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:14:00] S1: And it's fast. Yeah. And how exactly did you build that partnership? Because I'm assuming that a lot of people want to partner with Tether. No? [00:14:11] S0: Yeah. I think so. I I would say that we got connected through through mutual relationships, and we already have a huge amount of people that are earning money. And I mean, we have almost 40,000 people a month that are earning over $300,000,000 now each month. So that's like a pretty sizable amount of people and sizable amount of earnings. And I'd say that Tether wants to make sure that they're partnering with the platforms that really care about their growth, and are ambitious, and are trying to build the future that is more open. And I don't know how many platforms are like that. So so I think I think because of that, it's it's likely eagerness to work with us, and and vice versa with them. [00:14:58] S1: You talked a lot about internationalization and the fact that you had, like, people a bit all over the globe. So how do you build a company with so many different region and geographies?
00:14:58 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:14:58] S1: You talked a lot about internationalization and the fact that you had, like, people a bit all over the globe. So how do you build a company with so many different region and geographies? [00:15:10] S0: It's hard. There's there's... You kinda just have to do it. You know? I mean, there's different requirements, different rules in different countries. We have to have different entities in different countries. There's different payment methods in different countries. You have to change the language on the site to different countries. And you can use AI to translate, but you're gonna miss all the the local slang and lingo, and we therefore have to have people manually go translate all the different parts of the site. So I mean, there's a huge checklist of items that we have to basically follow if we wanna enter a new market, and it's a pain in the ass. But we have to do it, and we're doing it. So that's how. [00:15:44] S1: So, you've hired, like, people in many different regions?
00:15:44 · Guillaume Moubeche, Steven Schwartz
[00:15:44] S1: So, you've hired, like, people in many different regions? [00:15:48] S0: We have hired people in many different regions, that's right. And we have an awesome team that is focusing on expansion, and they travel a lot. I don't know how they do it. Mean, going new country every single week, and talking to different people the different regions, and the different business owners, and looking at the types of businesses that are flourishing in Spain versus Morocco, or Colombia, or whichever country, very different. And it's very cool to... For us to see HQ, like, wow. This this city is lighting up today. I think Greece was the highest growth country yesterday, and I don't think people think about what kind of business is actually conducted in Greece versus conducted in The USA, but it's very different. So I... It's really fun to see what the globe is doing from a business perspective. [00:16:36] S1: And from a playbook perspective, like, do you run the same playbook in every country that you want to open, or how is that structured?