Criptolawyer

Head of Institutional BD @blend_money.
Stablecoins @noon_capital.
Previously: @reserveprotocol & @MoonwellDefi.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

most neobanks will not survive the next 18 months.

not because demand disappears. $245M in top-ups in a single week proves demand is the least of your problems, they will die because of what they built underneath:

i review compliance infrastructure for a living since 2017. here is the full map of what actually holds this market together, layer by layer, and who is powering each one right now

cards

your card program is a three-party compliance relationship: you, your issuer, and the network. the network's enhanced due diligence sits on top of your issuer's requirements. if either loses confidence in your stack, the card stops. not slowly. overnight

@binance lost Visa in Europe July 2023. lost @Mastercard in latam two months later. gone by December. @ready_co gave non-EEA users one hour's notice in June 2026 when their issuer relationship broke. one hour

what the network actually wants to see: account-level OFAC and sanctions screening, not batch, not periodic, continuous. a transaction monitoring system that produces real alerts. a KYC layer defensible across every jurisdiction you operate in. one audit trail running through every product the customer touches

Starlingbank had a system that produced zero individual sanctions alerts for six months. £29M fine. that is the floor

the infrastructure powering this layer right now: @raincards (Visa and Mastercard principal member, BIN sponsor for 200+ programs, one API for issuance, compliance, FX and onchain settlement), @pomelo_latam ($160M raised, powers bbva , santander , @Bancolombia , @WesternUnion , Binance across latam, just launched global stablecoin card across 150+ countries), @marqeta ($383B processing volume in 2025), @lithic, @GalileoFintech, @unit_co_, @treasuryprime, @Adyen, @Stablecoin @eldoradoio @Uglycash

the compliance layer that makes the issuer relationship survivable is what @blend_money is built around: screening, audit trails, per-jurisdiction reporting, the infrastructure that keeps the card program intact at scale

on and off ramps

every ramp is a compliance event before it's a UX event

on-ramp: you are opening a new account. source of funds, identity verification, risk scoring before a single dollar moves

off-ramp: withdrawal with a clean audit trail, documented source of funds, per-jurisdiction reporting. this is where most teams underinvest because users don't see it. regulators do

best practice: per-account screening on every transaction, not customer-level screening on signup and never again. your banking partner will pull a sample during their quarterly review. if the trail isn't clean per transaction, you find out at the worst moment

the infrastructure powering ramps right now: @moonpay (eliminated fees on stablecoin onramps, enterprise stablecoin services live), @Transak (published the Q2 2026 compliance cliff report, most serious public documentation of what payment companies need before july), @Stablecoin (acquired by Stripe for $1.1B, trust charter approved february 2026), @belo_app @AlchemyPay, zerohashx, @Bitso , @RipioApp @daimo @dakota_xyz @RampNetwork @tazapay

earn

(im biased here just a little bit)

the most misunderstood compliance surface in the stack

shared vaults feel like a product architecture decision. they are actually a legal structure decision. commingled user funds create fiduciary exposure, insolvency complexity, and a direct failure point in any serious institutional diligence process

the question that kills shared vault structures is simple: show me the ledger entry for user X's balance. if the answer requires reconstructing it from pool accounting, you don't have an answer

best practice: isolated per user from day one. each account its own ledger entry. yield calculated individually. never commingled. this isn't conservative. it's the only structure that survives the question above from a banking partner, a regulator, or an institutional LP doing diligence on your cap table

this is the architecture @blend_money runs. isolated accounts, clean ledger, never commingled

for the institutional layer on top: @noon_capital brings the DeFi stack diversification and insurance coverage that makes yield products viable for institutions. diversified protocol exposure across @MorphoLabs, @eulerfinance, @pendle_fi, tokenized treasuries, CLOs and private credit. insurance gating on every deployment, no capital deployed without coverage. that is the version that survives institutional diligence

the broader earn infrastructure: @opentrade_io (RWA-backed yield-as-a-service, bank-grade legal structure with bankruptcy-remote SPC, powers Littio, Kredete, Criptan), @OndoFinance, @maplefinance, @goldfinch_fi, @SuperstateInc

in europe, MiCA Article 50 prohibits interest on euro-denominated stablecoins. the compliant path runs through tokenized T-bills and RWA wrappers. yield from an underlying asset, not from the stablecoin itself. whoever builds this first owns european earn

cashback and rewards

every rewards program with monetary value has reporting obligations

(ps @itstuyo set the new standart here: buy now pay maybe)

the cleanest structure: rewards funded from interchange revenue, paid in a regulated stablecoin, accounting that reconciles per user per period, tax-reportable from day one in every jurisdiction

paying rewards in your own token introduces volatility risk for the user and securities classification risk for you. the question "is this a security?" becomes harder to answer the moment the token fluctuates and users expect returns

compliance screening, the layer underneath all of it

most teams assemble this reactively. something breaks, a regulator asks a question, a banking partner flags a transaction. then the compliance stack gets built. that is the wrong order

the teams that survive build it preventively. before the card. before the ramp. before the earn product. one continuous audit trail across every product the customer touches

the point tools doing parts of this well: @chainalysis (blockchain analytics, OFAC and sanctions screening, regulator-accepted in US, EU and UK), @elliptic, @trmlabs, @Sumsubcom (KYC, AML and Travel Rule in one integration, MiCA and FATF ready), @ComplyAdvantage, @notabene_id, @sardine, @unit21inc, @jumio, @Onfido

but point tools create point gaps. your KYC vendor does not talk to your transaction monitoring. your transaction monitoring does not feed your sanctions screening. your sanctions screening does not generate the audit trail your banking partner needs to read. every gap is a reconciliation problem you find at the worst moment

what @blend_money built is the integrated layer. AML screening, OFAC checks, KYC, transaction monitoring, per-jurisdiction reporting, all running together as preventive infrastructure before a single user touches a product. not a compliance dashboard bolted on top. the foundation the card, the ramp and the earn product sit on

IDmerit's February 2026 breach of approximately 1 billion records made this clear: your compliance infrastructure is now a counterparty risk decision, not just a regulatory one

the right order of operations

1) screening and transaction monitoring, then issuer relationship, then card

2) source of funds framework, then ramp, then volume

3) isolated ledger, then earn product, then institutional partners

4)interchange accounting, then rewards, then retention

teams that invert this order ship faster in year one and rebuild in year two. sometimes year two doesn't come

the $245M is not a card story. it's not a yield story. it's a survival story

the neobanks still standing when this market hits $2.45B will be the ones that figured out compliance is not the last thing you build. it's the only thing that lets you build everything else

WaveCrest taught this lesson in 2018. Wirecard taught it in 2020. Ftx in 2022. Binance in 2023. Ready in 2026

the lesson does not change. only the names do.

[Paymentscan @Paymentscan]

JUST IN: Neobanks set a massive all-time high this past week, with over $245M in top-ups.

This is 18% higher than ever recorded.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Regulación en LATAM: ¿Hacia dónde Vamos? hoy moderé este panel en la Digital Assets Conference, algunos takes que me llevo de @alvarezfields @santamariammili @gabibattiatod:

1) La región avanzó muchísimo en la creación de reglas del juego más claras. Eso es positivo. Pero claridad no siempre significa accesibilidad. Brasil es un buen ejemplo: cumplir localmente puede exigir licencias, capital, estructura y equipos que una small/medium fintech que quiere operar con stablecoins simplemente no puede costear. El riesgo es terminar concentrando el mercado.

2) Un “MiCA latinoamericano” luce improbable, por no decir descartado. Nuestras diferencias ideológicas, institucionales y geopolíticas hacen muy difícil un marco único. Lo más realista sería avanzar hacia interoperabilidad y estándares mínimos comunes.

3) La próxima frontera es Know your agent (KYA): compliance 3.0 para un mundo en el que agentes ejecutarán acciones y transacciones. El control tendrá que vivir en la execution layer, antes y durante la operación, no llegar de forma reactiva cuando todo ya ocurrió. (Aún bastante temprano, no existe reconocimiento jurídico hacia el agente, más si existen esfuerzos por atribuir a quien le pertenecen.

4) Hubo bastante convergencia en que Argentina hoy ofrece mejores oportunidades. Pero también enfrenta un reto importante: implementar la Travel Rule, que exige transmitir datos del originador y beneficiario, respetando principios de minimización, finalidad y transferencias internacionales de datos.

Más información no siempre significa mejor compliance si no está bien gobernada.

5) El Salvador sigue apareciendo como una de las mejores jurisdicciones sobre el papel. En la práctica, la relación bancaria continúa siendo complicada y todavía existe escepticismo desde la banca tradicional. Tener licencia no garantiza acceso a rails.

6) una pregunta que todavía no está bien resuelta: ¿qué ocurre con las stablecoins emitidas por entidades no reguladas localmente? ¿Quién responde por las reservas, la redención, los bloqueos, la insolvencia y la protección del usuario? Regular al distribuidor local no elimina el riesgo del emisor offshore.

7) La próxima fase no es simplemente más regulación. Es mejor regulación y compliance embedded desde la infraestructura.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@Cheskacsk Yo cuando no consigo pirulin:

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@roberrtsun @criptopepe1 es el MEJOR

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@justnotchu @crecimientoar @Tangem @tangem_spanish Feliz de! Sale tutorial y review próxima semana ❤️❤️ graciassssss por el onboarding

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Ahora en la Digital Assets Conference por @crecimientoar siendo onbordeada por @Tangem y @justnotchu. Primera self custodial wallet con diferentes tipos de backup y seguridad.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@mitko_wtf Lol we’re close, i almost rent that apt haha

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@mati Let’s grab a coffee whenever u land in Buenos Aires!

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

the more i think about stablecoin adoption, the less convinced i am that the end state is better ramps, faster cash-outs or more crypto cards. i think the real end state is much more radical: you stop needing to leave crypto in the first place.

today, on/off-ramps, cards and banking infrastructure are incredibly important because we are still connecting two financial systems that largely operate separately.

the flow still looks something like this:

local currency → on-ramp → stablecoin → onchain activity → off-ramp → bank/card/merchant settlement

a user receives local currency, converts it into a stablecoin, moves value onchain, and eventually someone converts it back into local currency so it can actually be spent.

and every time that happens, the transaction re-enters a regulatory perimeter built primarily around fiat.

bank → requirements
payment processor → requirements
card issuer → requirements
@Visa / @Mastercard → another layer of requirements
on/off-ramp → KYC + AML + sanctions + transaction monitoring

that architecture makes those intermediaries enormously powerful compliance chokepoints.

but the more interesting question is:

what happens when crypto adoption becomes deep enough that users don't need to exit the system after every transaction?

imagine this instead:

salary in USDT/USDC
↓
merchant
↓
supplier
↓
contractor
↓
treasury

or even more simply:

user → merchant → supplier → contractor → treasury
same asset.

value stays onchain.

the merchant doesn't immediately cash out.
the supplier doesn't immediately cash out.
the company keeps part of its treasury onchain and uses those balances for payments, working capital or yield.

at that point, the stablecoin is no longer primarily an asset that needs to be converted into "real money" before it becomes useful.

it becomes part of the monetary infrastructure itself.

we can already see early versions of this behavior in countries such as venezuela, where stablecoins are used not only as a savings mechanism but for payments, commercial settlement and transfers between individuals and businesses.

i've spent years working across latin america, and i think this distinction matters enormously.

today we tend to measure crypto adoption by how effectively crypto connects to the traditional financial system:

→ how good is the off-ramp?
→ can i attach a card?
→ how quickly can i settle into a bank?

but mature adoption might eventually be measured by exactly the opposite question:

how often does the user actually need to leave crypto at all?

that doesn't mean fiat ramps disappear.

you still need a bridge when value enters from pesos, reais, dollars or euros and you still need another one when someone wants to exit.

but their role changes.

today:

fiat → crypto → fiat → crypto → fiat

mature stablecoin economy:

fiat → crypto → crypto → crypto → crypto
　　　　　　　　　　　↓
　　　　　　　　fiat when needed

ramps move from the center of the transaction architecture toward the edges, and from a regulatory perspective, this is where things get much more interesting.

because removing a bank or a card network from a transaction does not remove compliance.

it changes where compliance has to live.

if economic activity increasingly happens onchain, regulators cannot rely exclusively on banks and payment companies as the places where identity, sanctions screening, source of funds and transaction monitoring happen.

the compliance perimeter starts moving closer to the infrastructure itself:

→wallet screening
→ onchain transaction monitoring
→ blockchain analytics
→ stablecoin issuer controls
→ risk scoring
→ identity + account attribution
→ programmable transaction limits
→ sanctions enforcement
→ persistent audit trails

audit trails that follow an account across products rather than having to be reconstructed afterwards by a bank.

@FATFNews is already beginning to grapple with this problem: its work on stablecoins and unhosted wallets recognizes that widespread stablecoin usage can allow value to circulate and goods to be purchased without transactions necessarily passing through the traditional fiat intermediaries on which much of the existing AML framework historically relied.

to me, that is one of the most important regulatory questions of the next decade.

not: will crypto become less regulated? i don't think it will.

if anything, economically significant crypto networks will probably attract substantially more regulatory attention.

the real question is:

where will the regulatory control points sit?

today:

banks
↓
issuers
↓
acquirers
↓
payment processors
↓
ramps

tomorrow, an increasing part of that perimeter may sit around the infrastructure that controls, observes or facilitates digital asset movement:

VASPs

→ stablecoin issuers
→ wallets
→ transaction monitoring
→ blockchain analytics
→ programmable compliance

so my thesis isn't that on/off-ramps are going away.
it's that successful stablecoin adoption eventually makes us depend on them less.

ramps become edge infrastructure.

compliance becomes increasingly crypto-native infrastructure.

and there is something almost paradoxical about that outcome.

after more than a decade of building banking integrations, card programs and fiat bridges to make crypto usable, the mature version of the technology may move us closer to the original idea behind digital cash:

one party → value → another party

without a traditional financial institution having to intermediate every single transaction.

not an unregulated financial system.
a differently intermediated one.
and, eventually,

a differently regulated one.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Another global neobank choosing @blend_money.

What a week. We’re delivering nonstop.

@surfcashx is building financial access for the people traditional banking still struggles to serve: freelancers, remote workers and globally mobile users across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

That’s why this launch matters.

Our mission at Blend is simple: bring onchain finance to the masses, with compliance and user ownership built into the infrastructure from day one.

Now SurfCash users can access Earn through their own non-custodial accounts, remain the sole signer and withdraw whenever they need.

This is how onchain finance reaches the real world.

[SurfCash | getsurf.cash @surfcashx]

Your USDC should keep working even when you are not spending it.

Today, @blend_money is live in SurfCash.

You can now access institutional-grade earning opportunities directly inside the app.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Es hoy, es hoy @crecimientoar

[Crecimiento 🌞 @crecimientoar]

SPEAKER OF LATAM DIGITAL ASSETS CONF

Meet Ana Ojeda. @criptolawyer is Head of Institutional BD at @blend_money, the infrastructure that lets neobanks, fintechs and payroll platforms offer onchain yield and stablecoin rails to their users without ever taking custody of their money.

She came to that role from the legal side. Ana has practiced as a crypto lawyer since 2018, advising exchanges and wallet providers on entering Latin America and working with regulators on how digital assets fit into existing law.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@mbeaudroit Lady Gaga

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@itszach Literally

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@Benjamin918_ Onchain credit
Onchain earn

Compliant.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Eventually, every asset, stock, feature and tech will be inside blend, sooner or later all neofinance apps will integrate blend to access the best of DeFi and TradFi.

Onchain finance,
Compliant.

@CapApp

[Blend @blend_money]

https://t.co/y8R7m5a82b

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@chocolatenailet @crecimientoar Bajajajaja AMÉN

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Solo faltan 2 días para ser parte de la LATAM DIGITAL ASSETS CONF by @crecimientoar, un evento que reunirá a bancos, fintechs, reguladores y apps de pagos.

Contenta de sumarme como speaker, nos vemos pronto.

[Crecimiento 🌞 @crecimientoar]

DAY ONE — LATAM DIGITAL ASSETS CONF

Here's the full agenda.

Doors are open. Today runs on stablecoins, payments, banking and the real economy.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Great things are coming to @noon_capital, @SuiNetwork and @CurrentSUI are the natural step for one of the most atractive yield bearing stablecoin in the market.

Higher!

[Noon @noon_capital]

5 days until $sUSN is live on @SuiNetwork.

@CurrentSUI for supplying, borrowing and looping.

@bluefinapp for the $sUSN/$USDC pool.

Incentives on both from day one.

August 24.

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@kbulychev_ @blend_money @Zebec_HQ 👀💛

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

Now i can share it 🔥@blend_money is now powering Earn inside the @Zebec_HQ SuperApp. Zebec moves $500M+ in annual payroll for 250+ enterprise clients and 50K+ people monthly.

This goes beyond adding earn. It connects payroll, stablecoins, spending and productive balances.

Where I’m from (Veneezuela) getting paid meant watching money lose value before you could use it.

This is institutional adoption: compliant, non-custodial infrastructure embedded at scale in products people already use.

[Zebec Network @Zebec_HQ]

Zebec enables users to get paid by the second. Now, we’re expanding what users can do with their earnings.

Blend Yield, powered by @blend_money, is now live within Earn in the Zebec SuperApp.

Eligible users can put stablecoins and ETH to work without leaving Zebec. 🧵

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@Gallardo_Mati @crecimientoar Te veo mi querido 💛

[Criptolawyer @criptolawyer]

@IgnacioAFCMO Absolutely