Victor ▶️

E180: KAST Founder: Most crypto neobanks will be gone in 12 months @raagulanpathy is the founder and CEO of @KASTxyz , a global stablecoin neobank, and a former Circle exec. He raised $80 million at a $600 million valuation on the thesis that the real prize isn't the stablecoin - it's the bank you build on top of it. We get into the money, the grind, and the token decision that pissed a chunk of his community off. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction 01:58 How Raagulan Decides What Gets Done At KAST 04:35 The Chaos KAST Employees Deal With Daily 05:38 Raagulan's Hiring Philosophy At KAST 07:02 Why Firing Is Harder Than Hiring 08:35 The One Error That Could Kill KAST 09:52 How Raagulan Convinces Stablecoin Skeptics 10:46 What Outsiders Miss About The Payment Industry 12:06 Why KAST Needs So Many Different Departments 18:32 Partnerships: @variational_io & @Bitwise 19:24 Raagulan's Real Take On Fees 21:55 KAST's Best Type Of Customer 23:53 The Thing Raagulan Can't Say Publicly 26:54 Founders Can't Chase All These Three Things At Once 29:04 Raagulan's Experience With GLP-1s 31:39 How KAST Kept Growing When Bitcoin Crashed 50% 34:05 KAST Is On Track For $100 Million In Revenue 36:55 Why KAST Hasn't Blown Up From Overspending 41:04 Why Everyone's Racing To Build Neobanks 42:52 What Makes Neobanks So Hard To Build 44:54 Why Neobanks Keep Shutting Down 45:57 What KAST Offers That Exchanges Can't 49:14 KAST Isn't A Card Business 50:43 How KAST Is Building Momentum 54:57 Raagulan On His Competitors 56:29 Partnerships: KAST & @Trezor 57:33 Kevin's Honest Take On KAST 58:59 What KAST Is Doing With the $80 Million they raised 01:01:55 Would Raagulan Ever Sell Equity? 01:06:57 Who Buys In At A $3B Valuation Next? 01:08:39 Is Your Money Actually Yours Inside KAST 01:10:49 What Happens To Your Money If KAST Collapses 01:17:38 Custodial Vs Self-Custodial: Pros And Cons 01:19:52 Why KAST Obsesses Over Design And Brand 01:22:42 Partnerships: @JupiterExchange & @ethena 01:23:26 KAST Points & Token: Should The KAST Community Feel Cheated? 01:34:13 What's Actually Behind This Tokenized Stock? 01:35:25 The Hill Raagulan Will Die On 01:36:41 One Prediction That Comes True In 5 Years 01:37:59 Is The Worst Behind Us In Crypto? 01:42:57 The One Thing To Remember From This Conversation 01:45:16 Closing Thoughts