What I Learned at Stripe Tour Singapore 2026

The real opportunity is not a new financial universe; it is a better settlement layer between familiar fiat endpoints—one that reduces the exception tax of cross-border payments: delays, FX leakage, prefunding, reconciliation, and capital trapped in transit.

What the Slop Backlash Actually Shows

A close read of the AI-slop backlash data shows most of what marketing leaders are being told to do about it outruns the evidence — except one part.

The Ghost in the Ledger: The Philippines' Flood Money, One Year Later

A second look at the ₱556 billion question: what changed when the accountability we asked for actually arrived.

QR Ph, Direct Debit PH, and the ₱500,000 Limit: A Straight Answer for Operators and SMEs

BSP's own FAQ says the QR Ph rebrand changed nothing technical. Most of the coverage said the opposite. Here is what actually changed, and what it means depending on whether you collect payments or build the rails.

Southeast Asian investors now underwrite governance before they price growth.

After eFishery, Southeast Asian investors underwrite governance before growth. A founder's checklist by funding stage for raising in 2026.

For the First Time, Philippine SMEs Can Get Business Payment Cards Without a Bank Account

Mastercard, PayMongo, and Paymentology launch a Virtual Prepaid Card with business functions, giving Filipino SMEs instant access to spend management tools without a bank account.

Which financial product your software company should launch first

Wallet, card, checkout, or passthrough capital — your first financial product is determined by how deep your customer relationship is and who controls the payment data today.

How Grab, Sea, and GoTo really make their money

Grab is still only at 9% financial-services revenue, but the pattern across Sea, GoTo, and Maya is clear: once the audience is built, the wallet line is the one that quietly takes over the P&L.

The Bill Hiding Behind the AI Bargain

Enterprise AI’s $20 seats are not a bargain but a temporary subsidy that will snap back into usage-based bills big enough to shock any company that built core workflows on fake prices.

Embedded finance Southeast Asia: How software companies launch a second revenue line

Embedded finance is not a future adjacency for software companies; it is a second revenue line unlocked the moment you have weekly engagement, money flowing through your product, and user trust to hold a balance.

Generated Form Is Not a Solved Problem

The new AI design tools are very good at producing form, and very bad at the part that actually matters in fintech.

Southeast Asia Scam Economy: A Digital Infrastructure Problem

Southeast Asia's scam economy is a digital infrastructure problem — and it matters for every founder building on the region's financial rails.