Wyre: Is an Open & Secure Financial System Possible? w/ Yanni Giannaros

The third episode of the Ledger Podcast features Yanni Giannaros, CEO & co-founder of Wyre, and Iqbal Gandham, Ledger’s Global VP Payments & Transactions, as they explore the potential and the challenges of an open financial system and the bridges between the crypto world and traditional banks. 

They answer the not-so-stupid questions about crypto and Web3.

Key Highlights:

Bridging the Old World and the New: Wyre’s Role

The discussion begins by addressing how one enters the world of crypto, specifically by purchasing assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum. 

“[This requires] connectors between what I’m going to call the Old World, which is traditional money, and the New World, which is Crypto”. Yanni Giannaros

Companies like Wyre provide these crucial fiat on-ramps allowing users to link their bank accounts to the crypto world. 

Wyre provides companies with compliant tools to bring crypto to the masses by managing user onboarding and payments. These services act as essential bridges from the traditional financial system, since most people are still paid in fiat currencies like the Dollar or Euro.

Demystifying APIs: The Language of Digital Finance

A key component in building these bridges is the API. 

“[An API] is just an easy way for applications to communicate to each other” – Yanni Giannaros

It’s how a phone app communicates with Facebook’s instant messaging or how a weather app connects to different servers to present information. 

Wyre functions similarly, providing APIs that enable companies like Ledger to easily integrate payment functions, such as connecting to bank accounts or moving funds.

Navigating Regulatory Complexities

Building these bridges is far from simple. Yanni highlights the many challenges, primarily the highly siloed payment infrastructure in every country, and even state-to-state in the US, requiring adherence to numerous regulators and money transmission rules. 

Wyre, founded in 2012, spent eight years navigating this “in-between phase” of the fiat regulated world and the crypto world. 

They developed extensive compliance and regulatory infrastructure to meet the rules of the fiat world and banking, working closely with bank partners. The goal is to offload this complexity, allowing companies to focus on their core value proposition, such as being the most secure and accessible place to store crypto. 

The Internet Analogy: The Crypto Evolution

 “We need the Hotmail of Crypto” – Iqbal Gandham

Iqbal Gandham stresses a foundational infrastructure of wallets (hardware or software) that companies like Ledger are building is needed now more than ever. 

He draws a parallel between the evolution of the internet and the future of crypto. 

Just as internet access (broadband, dial-up) was the first layer, enabling exchanges to buy and sell crypto is the current access layer for the crypto world. However, the internet’s second crucial layer was email, without which services like Amazon, Skype, or Facebook could not have existed. 

Defining the “Hotmail of Crypto”

The ideal crypto wallet, according to Iqbal, needs two main characteristics:

• Security: Unlike email, where losing access isn’t catastrophic, money requires an added layer of security.
• Human-Readable Addresses: Just as email addresses are easy to remember (e.g., “[email protected]”), crypto wallet addresses need to be simple and memorable, such as “[email protected]” pointing to a hardware wallet.

To truly get billions and billions of people into crypto, it must be made easier for people to build applications and for developers to leverage APIs to reach local communities.

Institutional Adoption and US Leadership

The conversation touches on the rapid institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin.

“[The US Dollar could lose] 15 to 20 percent of your funds in terms of inflation [over ten years]” – Yanni Giannaros

Yanni attributes the US leadership to CFOs in large enterprises seeking alternatives to the US dollar, and Bitcoin is seen as a good hedge among with significant interest from traditional companies. 

Iqbal adds that while the US is an early adopter and risk-taker (like in the dot-com era), there’s a “myth” that other countries aren’t innovating, as cool projects (like charities paying employees in Bitcoin) often go unheard. 

Ultimately, institutional adoption provides a crucial level of credibility and social proof for retail investors, making it easier for them to consider putting their pensions or other investments into crypto.

Watch the episode here
Is an open (and secure) financial system possible? w/ Yanni Giannaros

Key Predictions for the Future of Payments and Crypto:

Yanni Giannaros

• Wyre will continue to resell its regulatory banking infrastructure, aiming to help other companies launch highly compliant products in hours, rather than months.
• The future of Wyre lies in making it more accessible for developers.
• The long-term mission of Bitcoin continues to drive motivation despite market ups and downs.

Iqbal Gandham

• Legal tender adoption of Bitcoin by countries like El Salvador (and potentially Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico) will have a very positive impact on payments and transactions.
• This will necessitate building infrastructure for people to pay for goods and services with Bitcoin.
• This will fundamentally change the payments and transactions industry over Crypto, meaning a shift to using Bitcoin services directly.
• Every person in a country that adopts Bitcoin as legal tender should have a wallet.

Ultimate Tip for Newcomers: Embrace the Journey and Be a User

Both Yanni and Iqbal offer consistent, practical advice for those starting in the crypto ecosystem:

• Yanni Giannaros:

According to Yanni, changing 50 to 60 years of legacy infrastructure is not going to happen overnight, so its crucial to think about the ten-year, 20-year, 30-year plan. 

It’s a war over the long term, not just battles. Constant education is crucial to sift through the noise in the ecosystem.

• Iqbal Gandham:

People were focused on utilization of the apps of the early internet (like Facebook or Twitter) rather than speculating on share prices. In crypto today, the focus is unfortunately switched to speculative price rise rather than utility.

His ultimate tip is to be a user rather than being an investor. 

He advises people to peel back the layers and actually understand what is actually building in the ecosystem, which helps in ignoring naysayers. 

Reading List:

• Blockchain
• Cryptocurrencies
• Fiat
• Crypto Wallet
• DeFi
• Inflation
• Self-Custody