Stablecoins Change the Math on Building Neobanks w/ Ryan Bozarth (Dakota)

<p>In this episode of Money Code, hosts Chuk Okpalugo and Raj Parekh sit down with Ryan Bozarth, co-founder and CEO of Dakota, to unpack how Dakota went from building its own neobank to selling the regulated infrastructure layer behind the next generation of stablecoin-native fintechs.</p><p>They dig into why building a neobank has shifted from a 12-18 month, multimillion-dollar project to something teams can test in weeks, and why the next bottleneck is domain expertise, distribution, and knowing which underserved market is worth building for.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Subscribe and listen to the Money Code podcast here:</strong></p><p>https://lnk.to/MoneyCodeSN</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Chapters</strong></p><p>00:00 Dakota&#39;s path from neobank to infrastructure</p><p>01:18 What &quot;neobank&quot; means on stablecoin rails</p><p>03:39 The new build math: weeks, not years</p><p>05:48 Community banking comes back through niches</p><p>08:28 Global rails, niche markets, and real experiments</p><p>10:47 Dakota&#39;s earned pain: onboarding and compliance as code</p><p>13:45 AI-native builders and marketplace distribution</p><p>17:48 When the neobank becomes a feature</p><p>21:57 Distribution is still the hard part</p><p>27:42 GENIUS, PACE, and the payment-institution lane</p><p>31:29 Why non-bank payments companies could win</p><p>34:49 Banks have to choose their game</p><p>37:15 Who benefits from the regulatory shift</p><p>41:33 Money becomes code</p><p>44:45 The offline niches nobody on crypto Twitter sees</p><p>46:00 Where to find Ryan and Dakota</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Connect with the Hosts &amp; Guest</strong></p><p>Chuk Okpalugo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuk-okpalugo/ | https://x.com/chukxyz/ | https://stablecoinblueprint.com</p><p>Raj Parekh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajparekh7/ | https://x.com/rajparekh | http://monad.xyz</p><p>Ryan Bozarth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanbozarth | https://x.com/ryanbozarth</p><p>Dakota: https://dakota.xyz | https://x.com/dakotaxyz</p><p><br></p><p><strong>About Stablecon</strong></p><p>Stablecon (https://stablecon.com/) is the premier gathering for those at the intersection of DeFi, economic policy, financial infrastructure, and institutional integration, and those reinventing global commerce. By convening the brightest minds in fintech and crypto, Stablecon provides attendees with world class thought leadership and fosters unparalleled networking and strategic collaboration across the digital payments industry. Whether you&#39;re building, advising, or navigating this new frontier, this is the room where it happens.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>About BVNK</strong></p><p>BVNK is the leading provider of stablecoin payments infrastructure, helping businesses move money faster, settle globally, and even launch their own stablecoin products. Head to https://bvnk.com/ to learn more.</p>