FinTech Leaders – “FinTech’s Multi-Billion Comeback: Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), From Darkest Days to Record Deals”

Host: Miguel Armaza
Guest: Steve McLaughlin, Founder & CEO of FT Partners
Date: December 9, 2025

Episode Overview

In this dynamic episode, host Miguel Armaza sits down with Steve McLaughlin, founder and CEO of FT Partners, at Fintech Nerdcon in Miami. The conversation centers on fintech’s dramatic bounce-back from its darkest days in 2023 to a period now defined by record-breaking deals, transformative technologies like AI and blockchain, and a renewed focus on business fundamentals. Steve provides candid insights into market cycles, the future of asset tokenization, lessons from past booms and busts, and how fintech companies are positioning themselves for the coming decades.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The State of the Fintech Market (02:33–06:15)

• 2023 – The Darkest Days:
  • Steve describes 2023 as “probably the darkest part of the fintech journey, even in the last 25 or 30 years” (02:42).
  • The hangover from the 2021 boom led to slow deal activity and companies stalling out.
• 2025 – The Recovery:
  • “Fintech I think is probably as good as it’s ever been right now. … The number of high quality companies at all levels is significant.” (03:07)
  • Companies learned from mistakes—less reckless spending, sharper use of AI, more focus on real product-market fit.
  • “There’s a lot less mistakes being made, there’s a lot more people taking advantage of the technologies that are out there today.” (03:48)
• Winners & Losers:
  • Companies that never gained “escape velocity” are facing tough M&A environments or survival struggles.
  • “M&A is tough. … There’s a bit of a dead zone of, or a zombie zone…” (05:22)
• Sector Hotspots:
  • Even previously “dirty words” like InsurTech are rebounding; Crypto and Capital Markets Tech are thriving.

2. Recent Mega-Deals & Market Shifts (06:15–10:52)

• Strategic Acquisitions & Record-Breaking Crypto Deals:
  • Example: Forge sold to Schwab for $670M despite losing $62M annually, proving strategic buyers look past short-term losses (06:37).
  • FT Partners sold Deribit to Coinbase for $4.3B—the largest crypto deal ever; Hit & Road to Ripple for $1.25B (08:09).
  • “For all the crypto stuff that's happened… the largest deal in the history of the world has been the Deribit sale for $4.3 billion to Coinbase.” (08:23)
• Tokenization – A “Wave of all Waves”:
  • “My prediction is in 20 years, every single asset class is fully tokenized.” (09:40)
  • Not just Bitcoin—blockchain and tokenization are fundamentally reshaping financial markets.
  • Early innings: “It’s just the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the first inning…” (09:26)
  • Companies like Digital Asset Holdings and Securitize (backed by BlackRock) are foundational to this shift.

3. Second & Third-Order Effects of Tokenization (10:52–12:04)

• Slow, Inevitable Integration:
  • Incumbents like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan are adapting and integrating tokens and digital assets.
  • “It’s going to be a meshing together of the old world and new world…” (11:22)
• Historical Parallels:
  • Transformation will resemble previous eras—like digitization of stock markets and exchanges going electronic.

4. AI’s Transformative Force in Financial Services (12:05–17:15)

• Unprecedented Disruption:
  • “What is going to happen to financial services is going to be unprecedented. I mean, it is going to be the wave of all waves of fintech with AI…” (12:13)
  • Financial services are information-driven—they are prime for AI-powered upheaval.
• Job Impact:
  • Massive layoffs are coming across large institutions as AI replaces repetitive and manual tasks, from underwriting to compliance.
  • “Thousands and thousands of people are going to lose their jobs across all these big institutions.” (12:58)
• Case Study – Model ML:
  • FT Partners led a $75M round, investing $25M in Model ML, aiming to become the “OpenAI of investment banking” (16:04).
• Real Use Cases:
  • Data room review, analyses, building complex financial models, and due diligence—all rapidly automated.
  • “If you’re selling a company, you’re raising money, you better do that first.” (16:32)

5. Impact of AI on FT Partners & Entry-Level Jobs (17:15–19:43)

• Superpowers, Not Job Losses—At Least for Them:
  • “It gives everyone superpowers. It won’t eliminate a single job. Right. At FT Partners. And if anything, we hired 25 more people.” (17:29)
  • Junior analysts can turbo-charge their daily tasks, flagging errors and building sophisticated models in seconds.
• Design Partnership with Model ML:
  • FT Partners to act as lead design partner—developing real investment banking use cases for AI.

6. Market Lessons & Investment Discipline Post-2021 (19:43–22:22)

• AI’s Animal Spirits—But With Harder Lessons Learned:
  • “If you’re taking this kind of risk now, you know you’re doing it, the investors know you’re doing it, everyone knows it’s super risky, but you’re doing it anyway. And I think that’s the essence of venture capital.” (19:56)
• Product-First Mentality:
  • “If the money all goes into product and you’re building product at five times the speed, at one fifth the cost, the product can be just that much more incredible.” (20:32)
  • Distributed teams, better tools, faster build cycles—now companies can challenge incumbents with a fraction of former capital needs.
• Market Corrections:
  • “The money is being better raised at more fair prices in most instances.” (20:58)
  • Some skepticism persists—e.g., debates about whether OpenAI-like firms are sustainable.

7. Fintech’s Ties to the Global Tech Ecosystem (22:22–24:33)

• Not Directly Tied, But Everything’s Interwoven:
  • Collapse or volatility at big tech/AI companies (e.g., Nvidia) would hurt, but the fintech thesis stands on its own.
  • “People need to have more faith in fintech. … Just because XYZ companies blew up… that’s called Venture investing.” (22:45)
• The Next Wave of Insurtech:
  • Old-school insurance companies must buy AI to survive—the new wave will be a mix of incumbent adaptation and new challenger startups.

8. The Rise of Global Multi-Billion Dollar Fintechs (24:33–27:18)

• Fintech’s Globalization:
  • Now clear—multiple hundred-billion-dollar fintech businesses will arise globally, not just in US and Europe.
• Deep Dive: Bilt’s Network Effect
  • Bilt is often misunderstood. Instead of pursuing individual renters, they signed up major property owners, creating a closed-loop payments and rewards ecosystem.
  • “He’s built an incredible company … he can serve up product after product after product. … Impossible for others to kind of break into…” (25:29)
  • Recent raise: hundreds of millions at $10–11B valuation.
• Leadership Matters:
  • “The thing that makes companies great. Are the leaders.” (25:02)

9. What Excites Steve Most About Fintech (27:42–29:50)

• Building FT Partners’ Own Company:
  • “The most fun thing is just getting to know all the entrepreneurs and doing deals and like I said, building our own company.” (28:25)
  • Company culture, supporting team growth, and seeing people develop from analysts to deal-making champions is his greatest pride.
  • “If you don’t love what you do, what’s the point, right? If I ever stop loving what I do, then I’d be shocked. But because I love this job.” (29:10)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Fintech Cycles:
  • “Late ’23 is probably the darkest part of the fintech journey, even the last 25 or 30 years…” — Steve McLaughlin (02:43)
• On Tokenization’s Future:
  • “My prediction is in 20 years, every single asset class is fully tokenized.” — Steve McLaughlin (09:39)
• AI’s Impact:
  • “What is going to happen to financial services is going to be unprecedented. … It is going to be the wave of all waves of fintech with AI.” — Steve McLaughlin (12:13)
• Automation:
  • “There’s no way a human is going to make a good decision on that [underwriting].” — Steve McLaughlin (13:36)
• On Resilience:
  • “Doing super deep work, being super earnest... supporting founders, supporting VCs, supporting companies…never ever, ever goes out of style.” — Steve McLaughlin (28:05)
• Work Satisfaction:
  • “There must have been six good things that happened that day. Some days they're not as good, but, you know, I really do think that way. And I love seeing my team members succeed.” (29:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:33 – Market rebound and companies’ renewed discipline
• 06:15 – The anatomy of recent mega-fintech and crypto deals
• 09:39 – Tokenization’s future, real world assets on chain
• 12:13 – AI as fintech’s next revolution; automation’s impact
• 16:04 – Model ML’s investment and use cases
• 17:29 – AI empowering (not replacing) junior talent at FT Partners
• 19:53 – The new VC mindset and wiser deployment of capital post-2021
• 22:39 – How much fintech is tied to big tech cycles?
• 25:02 – Bilt: why it’s misunderstood and why closed networks matter
• 27:42 – Steve’s personal motivation: building people, culture, and brand

Tone & Language

The conversation is candid and energetic, blending Steve’s direct, sometimes humorous takes (“I’m not talking about Allen Iverson, although he’s a legend too…”) with clear, actionable wisdoms for entrepreneurs and investors. The discussion is steeped in industry jargon, war stories, and frontline observations—aimed squarely at both fintech insiders and ambitious outsiders.

Summary

This episode offers a sweeping insider account of fintech’s recent lows and historic highs. Steve McLaughlin lays out how survivors of the “darkest days” emerged smarter, how tokenization and AI are rewriting the industry’s playbook, and how true leadership and smart product obsession—not hype or reckless spending—now define the sector. The insights and anecdotes are essential listening for builders, investors, and anyone seeking to understand where financial innovation is headed next.