How Crypto Neobanks Make It Easier to Earn Passive Income - Ep. 930
Neobanks changed how fintech thinks about money. Now, crypto builders want to do the same, without custody.
In this episode, Itamar Lesuisse, CEO of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, CEO of EtherFi, argue the real shift isn't about "crypto cards," it's about who controls your assets. EtherFi’s and Ready’s self-custodial apps merge saving, spending, and investing. The result: faster settlement, lower fees, and more transparency, but also new challenges around compliance, credit, and security.
Itamar Lesuisse and Mike Silagadze explain how layer 2 networks made crypto cards economically viable after years of failed attempts and how Africa’s FX markets could become the breakthrough use case for crypto banking.
Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com
Thank you to our sponsors!
Mantle
Binance
Guests:
Itamar Lesuisse, Co-founder and CEO of Ready (formerly Argent)
Mike Silagadze, Founder and CEO of EtherFi, and Founder of Top Hat
Links:
The Block: Best crypto cards with token rewards in 2025
Bitcoin Starknet Staking Post by Ready (Formerly Argent)
Timestamps:
🎬 0:00 Intro
💳 1:57 What crypto neobanks are, and why they’re suddenly booming
⚖️ 6:19 Custody as the real divide between traditional and crypto banking
🏦 8:07 From Argent to Ready, turning wallets into full neobanks
💳 10:05 Why early crypto cards failed, and how L2 settlement fixed them
💰 18:49 Credit without credit scores: the rise of collateralized cards
🔒 32:52 How smart accounts and recovery improve wallet security
🌍 44:29 Onchain FX and the next profit frontier for crypto banks
🚀 55:36 How self-custody could reach mass adoption
🔚 58:19 Closing thoughts
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
13 - DeFi's Mainstream Wallet | Itamar Lesuisse
Episode: #13 May 25, 2020
Argent is the closet thing we've seen to a mainstream ready bankless wallet. Is this crypto's Netscape moment?
Ryan & David sit down with Itamar the co-founder of Argent to find out. Coming off a big week of releases, Itamar tells us how DeFi's almost reached parity with traditional finance, hasn't quite found product market fit in developed countries, but why he's incredibly bullish about the future.
We cover:
The why: Why Itamar's here
Argent's ethos
What makes Argent Bankless
The walled garden approach
The what: Why typical wallets suck
Superpowers with DeFi
What's holding us back
What if Argent goes away?
Collecting an email address
Argent in Argentina
The when: 1 billion users & Argent in 5 years
Finding the Netscape of crypto
Two things he wants from the Bankless community
How soon until 1 billion users? Listen and decide for yourself.
Before the episode begins we also talk about: Why if feels like 2016 again
The BlockFi breach and "DeFi fixes this"
-----
Tools from our sponsors to go bankless:
Rocket Dollar - tax shelter your crypto ($50 w/ "BANKLESS")
Monolith - holy grail of bankless Visa cards
Aave - money lego for lending & borrowing
DYDX - trade, margin, BTC perpetuals (10% off with this link) (trade.dydx.exchange/r/bankless)
----- Resources discussed:
(Article) It's 2016 again
(Article) How to get your first DeFi Wallet (Argent)
(Podcast) Learn about the Dai Savings Rate in Ep #9
----- Episode Actions:
Download the Argent wallet & try it!
Use a money protocol on Argent (how to)
Share the wallet with a crypto newbie!
----- Subscribe to podcast on iTunes | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Feed
Leave a review on iTunes
Share the episode with someone you know!
----- Don't stop at the podcast!
Subscribe to the Bankless newsletter program
Visit official Bankless website for resources
Follow Bankless on Twitter | YouTube
Follow Ryan on Twitter
Follow David on Twitter