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Episode #159: The Latam <-> Asia Stablecoin Corridor with Reap co-founder Daren Guo
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Olá pessoal!
Our guest for this week is Daren Guo, co-founder of Reap, a Hong Kong-based fintech. We discuss Reap’s role as a payments infrastructure provider focused on connecting Asia and other emerging markets like Brazil and Latin America.
Drawing from his experience as an early Stripe employee who helped scale the company from 90 to 2,000 employees, Daren outlined Reap’s vision for creating accessible, internet-native financial infrastructure powered by stablecoins.
The Problem: Financial Access Inequality
Daren highlighted a fundamental challenge for businesses and individuals in emerging markets: accessing stable, USD-denominated financial services.
As we’ve explored on this show in depth, he notes that traditional cross-border payment systems are plagued by inefficiencies — as Guo noted:
"I can fly to Brazil before my money lands there."
This reality creates significant barriers for businesses operating across borders, particularly in the Global South where corresponding banking networks are often unreliable and costly.
Reap’s Solution: Three-Pillar Approach
Reap addresses these challenges through a comprehensive stablecoin-native infrastructure that supports three core product lines:
* White-labeled stablecoin card-as-a-service platform for modern neobanks to issue stablecoin-backed cards
* Cross-border payments platform enabling trade financing and import-export operations with multi-currency payouts
* Financial operations platform connecting stablecoin treasury to business expenses through corporate cards and bill payments
Strategic Advantages in Asia
Operating out of Hong Kong provides Reap with unique advantages in serving global markets. Through this, the company is able to offer multi-currency infrastructure supporting up to 14 different currencies, superior SWIFT access, and presence in a regulatory framework that embraces stablecoin innovation.
Further, Hong Kong's ability to clear USD transactions outside US banking hours exemplifies the operational benefits of this geographic positioning.
Market Evolution and Customer Growth
Launch as a traditional fintech play in 2018, Daren and Reap made the call to go all in on stablecoin infrastructure in 2021. Since then, the platform has witnessed significant evolution in customer profiles.
For example, Reap initially serviced crypto-native businesses like centralized exchanges, but has expanded to support traditional trade financing, import-export platforms, and SMEs across Latin America and Africa.
This shift reflects broader market maturation toward practical, real-world utility rather than purely speculative use cases.
Regulatory Tailwinds
We discuss the freshly passed Genius Act in the United States, which represents a watershed moment for stablecoin infrastructure globally. Daren emphasized that such legislation provides crucial clarity for platforms building in this space while creating positive spillover effects in other markets. However, he advocates for nuanced regulatory approaches that recognize different risk profiles across various stablecoin use cases.
Looking Forward
With Latin America as Reap’s fastest-growing market, the
Published on 3Â weeks, 3Â days ago