Fintech’s Bold Bets and Unexpected Lessons

At Money20/20 USA 2025, the “60 Seconds” segment once again proved that even the shortest interviews can reveal the biggest shifts in the industry — along with a few delightful surprises. When attendees were asked what stood out most from the festival sessions, their answers painted a picture of a fintech landscape moving fast, experimenting boldly, and reshaping assumptions in real time.

One theme that resonated strongly was the rise of bold bets in fintech, particularly around AI, programmable money, and next-generation payment infrastructure. Several participants described how AI is now being applied in areas they had never previously considered — not just in customer service or fraud detection, but deep within operational workflows, risk modelling, behavioural prediction, and automated financial decisioning. The technology is no longer a futuristic layer; it is becoming the foundation of fintech’s next evolution.

Programmable money also captured attention, especially as institutions explore how financial flows can become automated, conditional, and intelligent. But attendees also acknowledged that innovation must be balanced with responsibility. One participant noted that “friction doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” especially when it comes to security and trust. As payments become more invisible and instantaneous, intentional friction — the moments where users pause, confirm, or authenticate — may play a crucial role in safety and confidence.

There were also discussions about how quickly the industry is changing. Attendees spoke about the buzzwords dominating today — stablecoins, AI — and speculated about which new terms will define the conversation next year. In a field where innovation cycles grow shorter each year, this sense of rapid transformation is both exhilarating and daunting.

And, in classic festival fashion, not everything was strictly fintech. One attendee gleefully reported learning why British people drive on the left side of the road, and another pointed to the headline-grabbing revelation that J.P. Morgan is now accepting Bitcoin as collateral for loans — a development they believed could dramatically accelerate mainstream crypto adoption.

Together, these answers capture the spirit of the event: a blend of serious insight, technological curiosity, and the quirky moments that make fintech conferences unexpectedly memorable.