How Blockchain and Stablecoins Are Global Transactions from Mesh’s Adam Israel

Episode Overview

​Adam Israel is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Mesh, a San Francisco-based fintech company established in 2020. Mesh aims to build an open, connected, and secure financial ecosystem by providing enterprise clients with the ability to enable digital asset transfers, crypto payments, account aggregation, and registered securities trading within their platforms.

Under Adam’s leadership, Mesh has developed integrations with over 300 platforms, creating an embedded financial ecosystem that is more open, connected, and secure for businesses and users alike.

Before founding Mesh, Adam amassed over 30 years of experience in traditional finance, holding significant roles at prominent institutions such as JP Morgan Chase and HSBC. At HSBC, he managed strategic broker-dealer initiatives, demonstrating his expertise in overseeing front, middle, and support functions in FINRA-registered broker-dealers. His responsibilities included developing policies and execution plans to enhance sales strategies and mitigate regulatory and operational risks. Adam is recognized for designing compliance and risk assessments and governance models that are easily adaptable, earning a reputation for aggressive and successful implementations, championing technology initiatives, and building strong collaborative relationships within organizations and with external strategic partners.

Adam’s transition from traditional finance to fintech and crypto underscores his commitment to leveraging technology to create more inclusive and efficient financial systems. His leadership at Mesh reflects a dedication to simplifying the trading, transfer, and management of crypto assets, enabling businesses to integrate with Mesh’s secure API and contribute to a more connected financial ecosystem

Episode Transcript

Adam Israel: Certainly people in the US tend to either not know or misunderstand currency and fiat. Yeah. And, you know, it’s like 80% of the world has a currency where every day you wake up, you don’t know what your money is worth.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Hello and welcome to Paypod, where we bring you conversations with the trailblazers shaping the future of payments and fintech. My name is  Kevin Rosenquist. Thanks for listening. Today I’m speaking with Adam Israel, co-founder and COO of mesh, a crypto connectivity platform that simplifies and secures crypto deposits, payments and on ramps. It allows users to link over 300 exchanges and wallets directly to a platform, enabling wallet to wallet transfers without needing API keys or manual address input. Adam’s background is in traditional finance, and he’s been with some pretty big companies, including JP Morgan Chase and HSBC, but he believes believe strongly in crypto, the blockchain, and how stablecoins can revolutionize the financial world and even the playing field for people of all countries, I’m excited for you to hear our conversation. So please welcome Adam Israel. You’ve had quite the career in finance, getting an MBA in finance management from NYU and with stops at some pretty big places like JP Morgan Chase and HSBC. When did you become interested in crypto?

Adam Israel: Great question. So I just first want to confirm that, yes, I do have a pretty extensive traffic background, as you could see with the gray hairs. I’ve been I was in Traffic for 30 plus years. Yeah. And  really focused on those,  somehow built a niche in running and managing,  both broker dealers and high net worth banking services, uh, within banking platforms.  and that did give me that exposure to your point, around HSBC and JP Morgan.  you know which both had global footprints.  What that enabled me to kind of get exposure to was besides, you know, classic trad fi was I always lived and operated under a very extensive regulatory environment.  We’re talking SEC, Finra and the SEC at the end of 2018.  I did package myself out. The kids were out of were out of the house and out of college and thought maybe I was just kind of seeing this was right before Covid, seeing what was happening, uh, in our space and realizing there was obviously a tremendous, tremendous transition going on,  in financial services and really thought that my analytic experience could cross over and transfer,  into this, this DeFi space. My first foray was with a company called Alto. What they did was,  they custody non-registered alts, uh, in retirement accounts. And they had a nice exposure. And I was there during the integration of Coinbase. And we’re enabling crypto into your retirement accounts. They still are in existence. And,  that’s kind of what really opened up my eyes and gave me a deep exposure to the crypto space.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Mm. Yeah. That’s interesting because, you know, it’s one of those things that I talked to a lot of people with brilliant financial minds, you know, that have been around for a long time. And it’s like some of them love crypto and some of them think it’s just a bunch of BS. And there’s it’s it’s interesting to me because people with very similar backgrounds and very similar educations have such polarizing views on it. Why do you think that is?

Adam Israel: I think there’s fear of the future and fear of the unknown and fear of the technology.  and rightfully so. We’ve certainly had more than our fair share of bumps and grinds. Sure. With regard to crypto adaptation, you know, the word that resonates in my theme, both for mesh as well as for the crypto space in general. Is it trust, right? And that’s the final hurdle.  That needs to be bridged because of the argument,  and the business case for  a non-fiat stable currency that could, you know, provide services to individuals that give them safety and ease of use, basically, you know, kind of the intermediation of this classic system that we have. So let me talk a little bit more about that. Look, like I said about trust right now there’s a disconnected network. There’s an unclear regulatory environment. Clearly there’s some, you know, concerns around safety and hacking.  and there is this negative perception of crypto,  primarily because of the trading vehicle aspect of it, it was just being used as, as, as a trading vehicle. Sure. But the global use case is undeniable, right. Allowing safe cross-border remittances, transfers, payments. Again like I said, stable non-fiat currency that can eliminate fluctuation and also allows the individuals and the rest of the world not to be subject to FX, ACH, other fees, time delays, clearing delays. You know, basically, like I said, the ultimate disintermediation of an intermediary heritage financial system is really an undeniable benefit for the global economy.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Yeah, I agree, I agree with you. I land where you lean or land but I still it’s it’s like political parties, right. It’s like it’s like there’s, there’s people that are totally dug in this way and people that are totally dug in that way. What do you think these people are so like, I don’t know if I want to say anti-crypto, but just not nearly as bullish on it as someone like you. What do you think they need to see to be swayed?

Adam Israel: Look, I mean America is the greatest capitalistic economy in the world and that drives everything. And you know, when you look at what’s happening and where the where the puck is going, you know, it’s it’s at first very hard for these major banks and our financial system to make the move because they’ve got large margins, they own the infrastructure. And it’s been really kind and generous to them. Giving that up will be difficult until there’s a financial reason to do so. And there’s two things that are going to force that issue, I feel. The first is the fact that the rest of the world is completely on board with it and years ahead from a regulatory standpoint. And that talks to my second point, which is regulation. We’re a highly regulated society. And that’s good because that provides trust and safety, and major institutions are not going to jump into this space until they understand the guidelines, because unfortunately, the US usually regulates through enforcement and no one wants to stick their neck out and be the example where they can learn and pay big fines. So I think between those two things, which is our continued progress around regulation, we see what’s happened with ETFs plus this, you know, unbridled tailwind with what’s happening globally around, you know, MCA Travel Rule and all the other things that are happening both in the EU and Mena and elsewhere.

Adam Israel: I think there will be a tipping point in which the US will jump on board. And when you see what’s happening, you know the way that the US and US corporations are, are,  are kind of getting engaged is maybe not full out platforms, but investing in the infrastructure because they know this is going to happen. Yeah. And hence, you know, that story is the mesh story. You know, how did we get, you know, how did we get support from a financial standpoint of companies like PayPal.  from Quantum Light, which uh, is the VC for uh, the CEO of Galaxy Samsung next. I mean, when you look at our cap table, it’s all major players that realize,  you know, kind of where the future is around banking and investing more in infrastructure and support. And that’s kind of the mesh story, right? And if I could, I’d love to segue into, you know, how our platform works and why we are getting that kind of attention.

 Kevin Rosenquist: I wanted to ask if there was any specific thing that prompted you to found mesh.

Adam Israel: That’s a good question. When we first started mesh, it was a B2C platform and we quickly learned,  both through, you know, our VCs as well as what the market was talking, that we had an API technology that could reduce a tremendous amount of friction in this crypto space.  you know, part of the challenge around crypto is kind of this disjointed ecosystem, right?  and you’ve got multiple currencies, you’ve got multiple networks, and you don’t have a unified, let’s call it an ACH type of system that connects everything and makes it smooth. Is. As it turns out, our founder and CEO, Bam Azizi,  is a tech founder. He has built and sold multiple companies. And really, what I would consider, you know, the one of the premier, if not the premier API developer, and that technology that we were using around aggregation for our B2C quickly became obvious as a tool and a and a rail that could be used to help solve some of this issue around friction in the crypto space.

 Kevin Rosenquist: So what are the best use cases for what mesh has built?

Adam Israel: First, before I answer that, I’d like to talk about how the platform works. Look, I mean, crypto is like a bunch of isolated islands, right? And mesh kind of acts like a fleet of boats that facilitates trade between those islands, right? We basically build the pipelines to connect exchanges and other platforms. We simplify transactions, making exchanges more secure and user friendly, and this provides real time financial data and aggregation. And finally, you know, there’s usage. Back to my point around this regulation and how important regulation is to massive adoption.  and our rails could also be used. And it’s a program. I’m sorry, a platform called mesh verify.  and that can help with verification. In addition, our rails help in the regulatory environment and help build that out.  We have a product called Mesh Verify. That product does help.  other platforms,  fulfill the requirements around the travel rule and the identity identification of customers and source of assets, which does obviously help around AML and KYC.

Adam Israel:  Yeah.

 Kevin Rosenquist: So is it something anyone can use like if I have an online business say I sell printed t-shirts, can I integrate with mesh to start accepting crypto payments.

Adam Israel: So basically our customers are B2B right. So our customers are really all the major exchanges and wallets.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Okay.

Adam Israel: So you would you would use their infrastructure. We don’t provide like front end per se. Right. We we provide the rails.  and so through other platforms, like I said, Coinbase or MetaMask,  as a client of theirs, you can use  under, you know, it’s behind the scenes. You use our technology and our rails to perform services. Let it be Aggregation. Transfers. Payments on ramp. Off ramp.

Adam Israel: Okay.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. So I would never even know I’m using mesh. It just would be working in the background.

Adam Israel: There might be some labeling but you know. Yes. Basically yeah.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Basically it just.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Works.

Adam Israel: That’s right, that’s right. Back to this embedded piece. You know, there’s clearly a need for more interoperability in our space in the crypto space. And and with that we kind of build what we call compliance by design. Right? We adopt a compliance by design approach,  which embeds regulatory requirements directly into our products.  This strategy basically minimizes the need for constant updates in response to new regs.  It reduces compliance costs and improves the user experience. So, you know, the crypto space Cryptospace and the blockchain provides a tremendous amount of transparency, enables real time monitoring and auditing, and it eases compliance and regulatory.  so, you know, we’re looking to streamline processes. We’re looking to build trust with regulators.  and we’re looking to maintain adaptability in this rapidly evolving regulatory landscape and to be a broken record because I’m in love with this word is just it’s just right. It’s just we’re really about this ecosystem. We’re really about the benefits that the chain and crypto and stablecoins can enable the world. And we want to help build that infrastructure that makes that better and easier for everybody.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Well, it’s interesting you say trust because I, I think that a lot of people I’ve talked to, you know, crypto getting involved with crypto could be confusing. It can be nerve wracking. You know, you get this long code and there’s, you know, there’s so many different coins and trying to figure out NFTs and it’s all very kind of cumbersome. And for the average person and, you know, those kind of hurdles kind of make it seem like, is this legit? Am I okay to be putting my money in here? You know, do you think that, you know, you talk about the embedded functionality. If we can get more and more embedded functionality to improve the user experience, do you see that as maybe helping people get more involved in being less concerned?

Adam Israel: No, I do, Kevin, but, you know, I go back, I’m going to apologize for being a broken record, but I feel strongly about it. And I’m also using my 30 years of experience behind it, which is regulation, right. Once there are rules and, and guardrails,  once there’s acceptance, you know, once we know a stablecoin is actually being supported by actual, you know, assets, you know, once we know that,  the processes between moving assets between point A and point B,  work are safe. But I’m telling you that from my perspective and from what I’m seeing, uh, in our experience at mesh, especially internationally, I mean, people certainly in the people in the US tend to either not know or misunderstand currency and fiat. Yeah. And, you know, it’s like 80% of the world has a currency where every day you wake up, you don’t know what your money’s worth. You know, we just did a deal with caribou, which is an exchange in Turkey.  You know, there’s tons of countries where the local fiat,  is a risk for, for John q public and to be able to store your, your, your assets in a safe way and be able to use them, uh, in, in a seamless way.  That’s just such a compelling story.  And that’s what we find, you know, right now that’s happening.  and this is, I think, to your point, I think once the infrastructure continues to build out and once that those rails and that trust is built around regulation, that there’s no denying that this is where the future is going to be. It’s just a, you know, the chain is real and it makes sense to have, you know, to have, uh, look, I lost a word, but I’m going to come back to that last sentence. The blockchain is real, and having a digital, verifiable global ledger is a better process and a better structure for the global financial system.

Adam Israel:  I.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Mean, most people these days have heard of crypto, but a lot of people don’t know what Web3 or blockchain or any of that kind of stuff means. Do you see, you know, do you see any use cases for the blockchain that just kind of are just there’s just a lot of different use cases, a lot of different, uh, areas where this could be involved.

Adam Israel: It’s boundless. You know, you think about the transfer system in, you know, the stock transfer system. You think about titles for, for real estate.  You know, you think about titles for your car. I mean, all this stuff is, is being either, you know, held on a spreadsheet or, or literally on paper. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And you know who’s to know what you get and what you’re you know, what you’re buying and who’s to know if the title of a car you buy is legitimate? I mean, it’s, you know, to have, you know, to be able to know where.

 Kevin Rosenquist: My title is. It’s over there.

Adam Israel: Well, try.

Adam Israel: Try, try selling your car without a title.

Adam Israel: Right?

Adam Israel: So, you know, a verifiable permanent ledger. it’s the you know, the power is, it is staggering. And, you know, you look at the size and breadth of, of the global financial markets,  you know, it’s it’s a, it’s a big nut to crack because it’s so big. It’s a big nut to crack because the infrastructure doesn’t fully exist. It’s a big nut to crack because the regulations don’t fully exist.  It’s a big nut to crack because a lot of major players are making a lot, have huge margins or aren’t particularly motivated. But you can’t deny that it’s going to it’s where it’s going. It’s a better system for all.  it will be safer. It’ll be easier. It’ll be less expensive. And. Hence, you know, the existence of mesh and the support behind helping build an infrastructure and build it and, and build an ecosystem that creates trust is there’s a lot of tailwind. I’m telling you, I mean, there’s a lot of interest. We’re extremely, extremely busy. And there’s, you know, we’re signing deals with every major exchange and wallet. And when you look just in the news, what’s happening with stablecoins? I mean, there’s trillions of dollars of remittances. It exceeded Mastercard and American Express. I think visa is the only last one that still has more transactions than stable. I mean, it’s undeniable. So, you know, we’re on this journey,  and meshes on a journey. And, you know, the global economy and financial services industry is on a journey, and it’s going to wind up in a much better place. That’s going to serve all.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Anything, anything that you can talk about that’s on the horizon for mesh.

Adam Israel: I mean, I, I think there’s a there’s the app. You know, the bite that we have is big enough. I mean, this piece of continuing to, to integrate,  other platforms and exchanges and wallets and create rails and create more connectivity and create less friction, create more safety and trust in the space is going to just, you know, accelerate the acceptance. So, uh, I don’t think it would make sense for us to try to even take on more.  What we have is, is, you know, a massive piece of trying to help mature this space.  and we’re really kind of at the beginning.

Adam Israel: Of our.

Adam Israel: Of our journey, much execution to be done. And this is across the whole space. You know, I mean, you look at the names that are getting involved in stablecoin or PayPal or, you know, or ripple etc. I mean, PayPal paid us in their pay and their pi USD,  on their investment. They used our rails, they used their stablecoin. I mean, there’s, there’s, you know, there’s incredible use cases,  for non fiat transaction. And,  you know, we’re looking to help to help build that infrastructure. And again, I don’t mean to, to make it sound like I’m not a capitalist, but it really is,  for the goodness of, of all and, and  for the system to be better and fairer and less expensive, more transparent.  so I think it’s, uh, you know, it’s a really, really exciting space to be on.  I agree there’s some hurdles with regard to adoption and mental hurdles around some negative, negative feelings about crypto or misunderstanding about it. Right? Because we’re not talking about buying meme coins and trading, right? We’re talking about revolutionizing the global financial system.  and that train’s a coming.

Adam Israel:  Yeah.

 Kevin Rosenquist: Well exciting times for sure. I have a feeling I don’t think anybody can,can deny that Adam Israel is with Mesh. Thanks so much for being here. I really appreciate your time.

Adam Israel: Kevin. I appreciate you having me. Thank you.