Curiosity Code Podcast
Wise Owns Its Rails. Remitly Rents Them. Who's Winning?
Lovely listener, share with us your thoughts! One remittance company owns its payment rails and keeps 52 cents of every $100. Another rents them, keeps about $2, and grew faster last year. So does owning the pipes decide who wins? A solo episode of Curiosity Code. I work through a question I've already answered twice on LinkedIn, in two different ways: crypto as the experiment where the rails couldn't be owned, what my guests Colin Butler and Elena Shiltseva said, Wise vs Remitly by the numbers, and what it means if you're building or backing a payments business in emerging markets. Plus the question I can't answer yet: in much of Africa, neither owns the last mile. The telco does. Chapters 0:00 Owning the rails vs renting them 0:44 Why remittances are worth fighting for 1:48 Crypto already ran this experiment 2:46 What my guests said 4:03 Where I land 4:38 Nuvei, Payoneer and distribution 5:29 The case for owning the rails: Wise 6:23 The case for renting them: Remitly 7:25 What it means if you're building 8:26 Who owns the last mile? 8:46 The question I can't answer yet Episodes mentioned - Colin Butler, "Crypto Won. So Where Did the Money Go?": https://youtu.be/VSVZj-sTb04 - Elena Shiltseva, "Stablecoins & DeFi: Banking's Future": https://youtu.be/9fIgozO80fY My LinkedIn posts - July 2026, on Nuvei and Payoneer: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexkhomyakov_fintech-paymentsindustry-mergersandacquisitions-activity-7489026193694961664-YjWN - September 2026, on build vs buy: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexkhomyakov_every-fintech-founder-asks-should-we-build-activity-7502697981754707968-73d6 Sources - Wise Group plc, FY2026 results (25 June 2026): https://owners.wise.com/news-releases/news-release-details/wise-group-plc-reports-full-year-2026-financial-results - Remitly Global, Form 10-K for FY2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1782170/000162828026009038/rely-20251231.htm - Nuvei to acquire Payoneer for $2.75 billion (15 June 2026): https://www.nuvei.com/posts/nuvei-to-acquire-payoneer-for-2-75-billion-creating-a-leading-global-platform-for-local-and-cross-border-commerce - World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide, Issue 54 (Q3 2025): https://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/RPW_main_report_and_annex_Q325.pdf - Benji Fernandes (NALA) on Money Code: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/money-code/id1837743368 - NALA, "Why are payments in Africa still 1% built?" (22 March 2024): https://www.nala.com/blog/why-are-payments-in-africa-still-1-built-introducing-rafiki-api - Safaricom PLC, 2026 Annual Report (M-Pesa active customers): https://africanfinancials.com/document/ke-scom-2026-ar-00/ ️ Subscribe for weekly episodes on fintech, AI, and innovation Website: https://curiositycodepodcast.com/ Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhomyakov/ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ePKf2qCLzcKATS7o6w2U5 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1797349967 Every payments company decides what to own and what to rent. In cross-border payments that choice shapes margins, speed and growth, and in emerging markets the last mile may belong to neither side. Music: "Radar Focus" by Blue Saga, via Epidemic Sound. ️ Subscribe for weekly episodes on fintech, AI, and innovation Website: https://curiositycodepodcast.com/ Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akhomyakov/ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/curiosity-code Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-curiosity-code-podcast/id1748596092
