On The Ground

AI is replacing bankers at JPMorgan; Big Tech wants to control how you spend money

Mon, 25 May 2026 17:28:00 GMT

JPMorgan says the future of Wall Street needs fewer bankers and more AI engineers. Klarna is bringing shopping directly into ChatGPT. Google wants to follow your shopping behavior across the entire internet. Revolut just launched a physical crypto card. Meanwhile, stablecoins are moving deeper into the financial system while regulators struggle to keep up.

NOTICE:

Nothing in this video is financial advice. All opinions are our own.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Intro

01:02 Will AI Replace Bankers? JP Morgan's $20B Bet

07:32 Monzo's Record Profits — and the Revolut Threat

11:16 Revolut's LED Crypto Card: Hype or Habit?

14:56 Klarna Brings Shopping Inside ChatGPT

17:57 Google's Universal Cart vs. the AI-Search Shift

21:42 Trump Tells the Fed to Open Up to Fintech

25:02 The SEC's Tokenized-Stock U-Turn

30:17 Why the ECB Is Saying No to a Global Digital Euro

34:57 Mercury's $200M Raise & the Race for a Bank Charter

38:02 Wrap-Up & What We're Watching

JPMorgan expands Chase across Europe; Circle Raises $222M; OpenAI Integrates Plaid and Fiserv;

Mon, 18 May 2026 10:00:00 GMT

In this episode of the On the Ground Podcast, I break down the most important developments shaping fintech, banking, payments, AI, and digital assets.

This week’s biggest stories include:

Wise moving its primary listing from London to Nasdaq
Circle raising $222 million from BlackRock and Apollo Global Management
Kraken exploring fundraising at a $20 billion valuation
JPMorgan Chase expanding tokenization and digital banking in Europe
Fiserv partnering with OpenAI
Klarna reporting strong results driven by AI efficiencies
Bank of England reconsidering stablecoin rules
Plaid integrating with OpenAI to power personalized financial advice

PayPal to cut ~20% of workforce; eBay to be acquired by GameStop; Ramp to hit $40B+ valuation

Mon, 11 May 2026 13:37:47 GMT

Welcome to the first episode of "On the Ground Show", where we break down the biggest stories shaping fintech, payments, crypto, and financial infrastructure.

In this episode, we cover PayPal and Coinbase cutting thousands of jobs as both companies restructure around AI, signaling how automation is reshaping financial services. We analyze a wave of major acquisitions, including Kraken’s $600 million purchase of stablecoin payments firm Reap, Bullish’s $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti to build tokenized securities infrastructure, and the $6.3 billion take-private of Amex Global Business Travel.

We also discuss Ramp’s potential $40+ billion valuation and what it says about the rise of AI-powered CFO software, the UK FCA’s rare competition probe into Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal, Robinhood’s struggles compared with Interactive Brokers, and why UK fintech funding is rebounding as capital concentrates into late-stage winners.

If you want to understand where fintech is heading—from stablecoins and tokenization to AI-driven finance and regulatory change—this episode provides the context and key insights you need.