Settlement Times Set Growth Rates – A Case for Crypto

I've been in Fintechs for a bit, and this article is pretty much the result of that. As a developer (joined very early on), I wasn't initially aware of the challenges posed by settlement times. However, as we expanded, I began to see how much capital was tied up by our partners. Many times our growth was limited by our partners and their settlement times - the longer those were the more capital was bound and the less we had to actually serve demand.

Especially in a start-up's growth phase, we found that the available capital was inversely proportional to our growth. We needed more capital to manage the settlement times as we expanded, but the more we grew, the more capital was tied up, leaving us with less to fuel further growth.

In summary - I've realized that settlement times from acquirers are far more critical in Fintech than I initially thought, which inspired me to write this post. And just to clarify, I'm not a huge advocate of unregulated crypto. However, I do believe that regulated stablecoins with quicker settlement times could be really advantageous for Fintechs.