Welcome to the first episode of "On the Ground Show", where we break down the biggest stories shaping fintech, payments, crypto, and financial infrastructure.

In this episode, we cover PayPal and Coinbase cutting thousands of jobs as both companies restructure around AI, signaling how automation is reshaping financial services. We analyze a wave of major acquisitions, including Kraken’s $600 million purchase of stablecoin payments firm Reap, Bullish’s $4.2 billion acquisition of Equiniti to build tokenized securities infrastructure, and the $6.3 billion take-private of Amex Global Business Travel.

We also discuss Ramp’s potential $40+ billion valuation and what it says about the rise of AI-powered CFO software, the UK FCA’s rare competition probe into Mastercard, Visa, and PayPal, Robinhood’s struggles compared with Interactive Broker ...