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Hey, fintech fam! 💜 

Between speaking in D.C., launching The Trust Club in New York (styled in rag & bone and powered by Middesk — because yes, fintech can be culture), and prepping for our upcoming Femmy Awards and New York Fintech Week, one thing is unmistakably clear:

No one is coming to build the future we deserve.

It’s on us. And we’re already doing it.

This week made that truth impossible to ignore.

On Capitol Hill, I saw firsthand how slowly institutions move — and how urgently our industry needs women shaping the rules of emerging technologies like blockchain before those rules are written without us.

And then, back in New York, our Trust Club launch reminded me why this community is so powerful: we don’t just talk about change; we dress it, build it, fund it, and make it feel culturally inevitable.

So today’s top stories follow that exact throughline.

A full stack of insight, momentum, and the receipts proving that when women lead, fintech actually serves people.

Let’s get into it. 💜

P.S. The Fintech Is Femme team is building out our inventory calendar for the newsletter, events, and podcast ads in 2026. If you want in, reply to this email or send your interest to [email protected].

#TRENDING

#1 Tala’s $50M Tokenized Lending Move Is the Most Important Blockchain News This Week — And It Actually Serves People

On Tuesday, I stood on Capitol Hill making the case I’ve made for years:

Blockchain doesn’t need more billionaires — it needs more women shaping the technology and the policies around it.

So when, less than 24 hours later, Shivani Siroya, Founder & CEO of Tala, announced a massive blockchain partnership that actually advances financial inclusion, the timing felt poetic. Almost like the universe saying:

Here — this is what the future should look like.

“I’ve watched fintech trends rise and fade over my years building Tala, but we have yet to see a massive systemic change in how the global majority is served,” Siroya wrote on LinkedIn. “While we possess solutions with transformative potential, we largely apply these technologies in markets where financial access and choice are already abundant.”

This is not that.

This is the kind of blockchain use case policymakers want, and the industry desperately needs.

The Big News

Tala — the global fintech serving nearly 13 million customers — announced a new $50 million tokenized lending platform built on Solana, with liquidity powered by Huma Finance.

“By pairing Tala’s trusted platform with the power of blockchain technology, together with Huma and Solana, we can expand financial access, eliminate systemic inefficiencies, and help millions become active participants in the global digital economy,” Siroya said.

It’s one of the first attempts to use blockchain for real consumer credit at global scale — not speculative trading.

And here’s the simple breakdown of how it works:

Tala underwrites borrowers using its proprietary credit engine trained on $7B in lending data across Kenya, India, the Philippines, and Mexico.

That dataset — largely invisible to banks and most AI systems — gives Tala the ability to evaluate borrowers the financial system has historically ignored.

Loans become tokenized — programmable, verifiable financial assets. Huma supplies the USDC liquidity to fund them. Solana provides the rails: ultra-fast, low-cost, transparent settlement.

Huma’s stablecoin-based protocol adds the rest — programmable repayment flows, risk controls, and real-time visibility into performance.

Borrowers gain a portable digital credit reputation that they can carry across borders.

This is not a DeFi experiment.

This is rewriting financial infrastructure in real time.

The Access Gap This Actually Solves

Here’s the global reality blockchain has always promised to address:

• 1.3 billion adults worldwide have no financial account

• 49 million Americans have no credit score

• In Kenya, Mexico, and the Philippines, half of Tala’s customers say they’ve never had access to a loan

“The truth is that legacy financial systems simply weren’t built for the global majority,” Siroya said. “Cross-border transfers remain slow and expensive. Financial identities are locked inside institutional silos. Capital rarely flows efficiently to where it is needed most. 

For someone earning $20 a day, these frictions aren’t abstractions — they’re the difference between opportunity and scarcity,” she said.

Tokenized lending directly connects global capital to real borrowers with real repayment behavior — not to hedge funds or crypto trading desks.

The launch effectively positions Tala as one of the largest on-ramps into blockchain for non-crypto-native consumers. Millions of existing Tala borrowers will interact with on-chain finance not through speculation, but through everyday financial activity — receiving a loan, making a repayment.

On the other side, liquidity providers finally get what fintech has been hinting at for a decade:

• real-world assets

• backed by real repayment behavior

• verified on-chain, in real time

Tokenization lets lenders buy or trade tokens tied to future cash flows, spread risk across more investors, and automate reconciliation and servicing through smart contracts.

Translation: more transparency, less cost, better credit markets.

You know — the version we should have built the first time around.

The Tala POV: Real Innovation Is Serving More People, Better

When I interviewed Tala CTO Kelly Uphoff at the Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit in April, she summed up Tala’s thesis perfectly:

“Our goal is the sweet spot — increasing originations and decreasing defaults,” she said.

That’s not just a KPI.

It’s a worldview.

Tokenization lets Tala extend that worldview:

• transparent on-chain repayment data

• more efficient liquidity

• lower operating costs

• funding that isn’t limited by local markets

Or, as Siroya frames it: “Stablecoins and blockchain rails fundamentally change this equation,” she said. “Now, with tokenization, global liquidity can flow directly into high-demand emerging markets through transparent, programmable, on-chain credit.”

In other words: blockchain, but make it useful.

Why This Announcement Hits Different

This is what blockchain looks like when builders understand the lived reality of financial exclusion—not just the economics of crypto markets.

It also answers the question I kept asking on Capitol Hill:

If blockchain is supposed to democratize finance, where are the products that actually do that?

Here’s one.

And the throughline shouldn’t be ignored:

Women are driving some of the most meaningful blockchain innovations.

Shivani Siroya at Tala, Maya Caddle at Solana, Kelly Uphoff leading AI strategy, and the millions of women who make up Tala’s global customer base.

“We’ve spent a decade laying the groundwork,” Siroya said. “Now we’re ready to accelerate — to finally build a financial system that makes the global majority seen, trusted, and connected.”

The ecosystem looks different when the architects understand what’s at stake.

Why It Matters

Because tokenized lending — done responsibly — could become:

• a new source of credit for markets banks ignore

• a mechanism to reduce predatory lending

• a way to bring transparency to loan performance

• a bridge between global liquidity and local financial need

Because if fintech’s goal is to build a fairer system, this is the direction we should be running toward — not another exchange collapse, not another NFT cash grab.

And because this proves something the industry forgets:

When women build fintech, the technology tends to serve actual humans.

#2 The Fintech Job Market Is Shifting — And the 2026 Salary Guides Reveal the Real Story

Layoffs have hit a five-year high, with over one million Americans losing their jobs in 2025. It’s the worst year for job cuts since 2020, and outside the pandemic, the worst since 2009.

At the same time, a New York Fed survey found 38.97% of Americans believe they’ll be worse off financially next year — the highest pessimism rate since late 2023.

And if you scroll through TechCrunch’s running list of layoffs, it reads like a who’s who of tech: Amazon, Apple, Meta… and yes, fintech names like Pipe.

While the headlines keep shouting job loss, the fintech talent market is quietly restructuring — becoming more selective, more compliance-driven, more AI-integrated, and far more data-transparent.

And Storm2’s newly released FinTech Salary Guides for 2026 offer one of the clearest snapshots yet of what the next era of fintech careers will actually look like.

What the Salary Guides Reveal About Fintech’s New Reality

Storm2’s team analyzed ~2.3 million candidate records, placement data, and public salary benchmarks across:

• Payments (top talent in New York, SF, Atlanta)

• Digital banking (top talent in SF, New York, Jacksonville, Austin)

• Lending (top talent in New York, SF, Dallas)

• RegTech (top talent in New York, Chicago, SF)

• Blockchain & crypto (top talent in Miami, SF, Austin)

• WealthTech (top talent in New York, Boston, SF)
  

Plus: a special U.S. market guide.

According to Kesi Johnson, SVP of Client Success at Levin (Storm2’s parent company):

“Every year since 2020, we’ve created these guides with accurate salary benchmarks, next-year predictions, and retention insights,” she said. “Last year, all but one prediction came true.”

This year’s edition adds two new sections that clients specifically requested:

1. Seasonality + headcount planning

2. AI in recruitment — where it helps and where it hurts

Together, the data paints a clear picture:

Fintech isn’t shrinking.

Fintech is maturing.

The Macro Trends Shaping Fintech Hiring in 2026, according to the Guides

1. Compliance, Risk & Governance Take Center Stage

Regulators tightened their grip in 2025 — BaaS rules, stablecoin oversight, AI-assisted decisioning frameworks.

The result? Compliance salaries now rival senior engineering pay.

Because nothing kills a fintech faster than a regulatory misstep.

2. AI Is Everywhere — But Humans Are Back in Fashion

AI is screening résumés, scheduling interviews, and speeding up candidate evaluation.

But companies are learning something important:

AI can rank skills. It cannot read ambition, judgment, or nuance.

Leadership roles now require being AI-enabled and human-excellent.

3. Technical Roles Are Still in Demand — But Precision Hires Only

Fintechs want fewer engineers, but more high-impact ones:

• ML/AI engineers

• Platform payments engineers

• Data engineers

• PMs with true P&L ownership

Headcount is no longer a bragging metric. Contribution is.

4. The Job Market Has Seasons — And Smart Fintechs Are Timing Their Moves

Storm2’s new analysis shows:

• January–February: Applications spike 14%+, but fewer roles are posted.

• Summer: Lots of open roles, fewer active candidates.

• Q4: One of the most efficient hiring windows of the year.

Companies that plan hiring cycles win.

5. Equity Still Matters — But Candidates Are Now Sophisticated

Gone are the days of “equity as vibes.”

Candidates now want:

• Valuation

• Dilution schedules

• Exit paths

• Strike price math

Transparency = trust.

6. Hybrid Is the New Standard

Not fully remote. Not fully in-office.

The new norm:

• Hybrid for leadership + cross-functional roles

• Remote-friendly for engineering + IC-level roles

• Hybrid/onsite for compliance + operations

Flexibility matters, but so does cohesion.

7. Revenue Roles Are Back

Fintech has officially entered its “no more growth-at-all-costs” era.

Sales, partnerships, pricing, revenue ops, treasury, and product roles tied to growth metrics are leading all hiring categories.

8. The Fintech Map Is Expanding Beyond SF + NYC

New hubs emerging:

• Austin → BaaS + payments infra

• Atlanta → merchant payments

• Salt Lake City → digital banking ops

• Charlotte → risk + compliance

• Miami → Web3 + blockchain

Fintech is no longer coastal. It’s continental.

Why This Matters Right Now

Because the narrative is confusing:

Headlines say layoffs.

Salary data shows targeted hiring.

Americans feel worse off.

Fintech is spending more on compliance, risk, AI, and revenue-driving roles.

We’re not in a downturn — we’re in a restructuring.

2026 will be defined by teams who are:

• AI-enabled, not AI-replaced

• Compliance-steady, not compliance-reactive

• Profit-minded, not burn-driven

• Hybrid-flexible, not culture-chaotic

And thanks to Storm2’s salary guides, fintech finally has a transparent lens into what “normal” looks like now.

Why It Matters (for you, your company, and your hiring)

If you’re a founder:

You can finally benchmark what competitive salaries actually are — not what your competitors pretend they are.

If you’re a job seeker:

This is your roadmap to where fintech is investing real dollars. (Spoiler: compliance might change your life.)

If you’re an investor:

Talent strategy is the strongest forward indicator of whether a startup survives the next regulatory wave.

And if you’re part of this community — which I know you are — then understanding the real shifts in fintech talent helps you build smarter, hire better, and navigate this moment with clarity instead of chaos.

Checkout all of the FinTech Salary Guides for 2026 here.

#3 Haley Bryant Announced as a Hustle Fund Partner

Last week, Hustle Fund announced that Haley Bryant has been promoted to Partner.

There couldn’t be a more fitting moment to revisit the conversation we had on Fintech Mavericks — because Bryant’s entire philosophy is what this market needs right now: clarity, discipline, and a radically human definition of “hustle.”

In venture capital, everyone loves to talk about “spotting winners.”

But we almost never examine what that actually looks like in the early days — before traction, before press, before the warm intros and polished decks.

Most investors want to show up at the victory lap.

Haley Bryant shows up at mile one.

She’s not just saying she believes in early-stage founders. She’s writing $150,000 pre-seed checks when everyone else is still squinting at the data room.

Bryant is now a Partner at Hustle Fund, the pre-seed firm known for its unapologetically simple thesis:

Execution is the most predictive signal of success.

And they have the numbers to back it up.

Hustle Fund reviews 1,000+ deals per month, backs roughly 250 companies per fund, and now counts 500+ startups across three funds. They evaluate 50–100 companies per week and meet with up to 20 founders — all with one lens:

How do you move when no one is watching?

Oh, and let’s be extremely clear:

The firm’s representation is not a footnote; it’s a differentiator. Two of Hustle Fund’s three GPs are women, and 70% of the team identifies as women. They’re not just changing how venture capital behaves — they’re changing who gets to shape it.

Hustle, Redefined

Bryant is allergic to hustle porn.

There is no glorification of burnout. No worship of 18-hour days. No myths about founders who grind themselves into dust.

Her definition of hustle is sharper — and healthier:

Intentional.

Repeatable.

Fast.

“The people who outperform focus on the one most important thing they can do right now to move forward — then they do it again tomorrow,” she told me on the show.

This is the playbook Hustle Fund uses to invest. They don’t care:

• where you went to school

• whether a celebrity angel is on your cap table

• if your deck looks like it came from McKinsey

They care whether you:

• followed up with insights after your pitch

• shipped something meaningful in a week

• close loops, reduce friction, and build momentum with discipline

Hustle isn’t performative.

It’s operational maturity at speed.

And in fintech — where you’re fighting complexity (regulation), friction (distribution), and skepticism (consumers) — that’s the muscle that actually matters.

Why This Hits Different Right Now

Founders feel it.

Capital is tighter. VCs are pickier.

The bar is higher.

Traction matters — but so does how you earn it.

As Bryant told me:

“We look for the signal before the signal.”

They’re not waiting for your perfect Series A metrics. They’re studying how you behave when everything is messy, early, unglamorous, and real.

Who experiments quickly?

Who tightens the CRM?

Who analyzes their own funnel without being asked?

Who asks better questions as the weeks go on?

In fintech — where cycles are long, and the truth comes out eventually — velocity with discipline is the ultimate moat.

Inside Hustle Fund’s Model — And Why It Works

Bryant laid it out plainly: Hustle Fund is designed to bet early, then double down based on observed execution.

Here’s the architecture:

• $150K initial check at pre-seed, typically sub-$10M valuations

• No ownership mandates — they’re optimizing for 100x upside, not control

• Follow-ons only when founders show breakout execution

They’ve analyzed their first 500 portfolio companies, and their conclusion is crystal:

Founders who execute fast outperform — regardless of pedigree.

This is how Hustle Fund derisks early-stage investing:

They bet wide at the beginning and go deep only when a founder proves momentum is real, repeatable, and compounding.

Why It Matters

If you’re a fintech founder right now, here’s your headline:

Execution is the new pedigree.

Haley Bryant represents the type of VC this era requires:

Focused. Data-informed. High conviction. Zero ego. Deeply human.

She sees founders not for what they’ve already achieved — but for how they move through ambiguity.

And in 2026, with markets maturing and capital shifting from hype to health, this is the mindset that separates the startups that survive from the ones that quietly disappear.

Tune In: My full interview with Haley Bryant here. 

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Editor’s Note: No updates this week (I know — shocking). We’re heads-down over here at Fintech Is Femme building out the next slate of event experiences, and I cannot wait to share what’s coming.

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🎶 Ariana Grande — just like magic

Had this spinning on vinyl inside Rag & Bone during The Trust Club launch party — and it became clear very quickly: this is a Fintech Is Femme–coded album. A theme album, if you will.

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That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading!

Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜