ARG Community Hub Proposal: Fintech & Onchain Banking
Hey everyone, we’re putting forward a first-time Community Hub around Fintech & Onchain Banking for Devconnect in Buenos Aires. We’ve been jamming in a Telegram group with builders from Latam and abroad, and honestly, we don’t have everything perfectly nailed down, and we remain open to collaborations and contributors.
This hub is meant to get competitors in the market share-enriching conversation and be exposed to the realities of merchants, fintechs, while connecting them with the broader Ethereum builders community sitting together, figuring out what works, what breaks, and what we should build next.
Summary
Onchain banking is Ethereum’s most tangible path to impact on people’s lives: powering savings, payments, and credit for everyone, especially those underserved by traditional finance. Argentina is at a unique moment: regulators are drafting frameworks, institutional interest is at all-time highs, and the Argentine Fintech Chamber is actively engaging on crypto adoption. Our Community Hub will unite builders, payment and infrastructure fintechs, and merchants to co-create stablecoin-based banking tools. Starting in Buenos Aires, this collaboration aims to scale across LATAM and beyond.
Vision
Banking is a universal need. From salaries to savings, from credit to cross-border commerce, stablecoins already power Argentina’s informal economy. Yet adoption is fragmented and most onchain usage ends in fiat offramps: wallet UX is clunky, compliance is unclear or unknown to businessess, merchants/consumers lack enough incentives, and businesses worry for privacy and trust.
The Fintech and Onchain Banking Hub will be the first time that onchain payments companies and even competitors gather in a neutral, cooperative setting to focus on these problems together.
Why a hub at this Devconnect?
Because payments and banking touch many domains: legal, UX, compliance, merchant onboarding, credit, liquidity, privacy. No single talk or panel can cover it all. A Community Hub can provide an open, multi-stakeholder format where business owners, non-tech builders, merchants, regulators, fintech leaders, students, researchers and developers can sit down, exchange perspectives, and plan actionable next steps. This Hub will be the first time onchain payment builders and fintech institutions gather in a neutral, cooperative setting to address the same questions.
This is our underdog moment: our team may not have previous hub experience, but the urgency and potential impact of stablecoin payments in LATAM make this the right time and place.
What the Hub can offer
The Onchain Banking Hub will be a bilingual (EN/ES) space for conversations, workshops, and ideation on how to build banking tools on blockchain rails.
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Roundtables with fintechs, merchants, builders and regulators.
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Workshops and Demos on UX, compliance, and integrations.
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Merchant interviews with SMEs and store owners.
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Fireside panel conversation with C-level founders.
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Community Board where anyone can post ideas, challenges, or offers.
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Open Office hours staffed by the anyone in the community, signing up throughout the day.
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Closing Circle at the end of each day, with a 15-minute “daily recap podcast” recording to publish takeaways.
We don’t require quorum: whether one or twenty participants show up, we’ll adapt. Everyone who stops by will find a conversation or activity to join. Sessions will run morning and afternoon, with breaks in between to allow attendees to explore other Devconnect hubs and activities.
Example Day
Morning
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Roundtable: Why should fintechs wallets allow stablecoins as another standard payment method? An open Q&A to two merchant owners (one who accepts crypto and the other who doesn’t). Exploring pain points: taxes, FX risk, accounting, incentives, compliance, business routine, personnel.
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Workshop: Fixing payment UX — do we need a new standard? (discussion around EIP-681 improvements, wallet design and new L1s for Payments Arc, Tempus).
Afternoon
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Panel: Payroll onchain, implication compliance, privacy, recurring payments, and unit economics.
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Closing Circle + Daily Recap: We record a a 15 min podcast-style summary with takeaways and upload it to Twitter accounts
Topic Pool
(Flexible formats: roundtable, panel, workshop, or open session)
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Onboarding systems for merchants and users.
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Compliance clarity: tax, accounting, and legal frameworks.
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Better alternatives to traditional savings/checking segregation.
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dapp access to yield and investment tools.
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Basic financial education for SMBs and consumers.
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First loans, credit scoring, and installment payments.
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Stablecoin programmability (standing orders, recurring payments, subscriptions).
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Payroll management and payroll privacy (preventing salary disclosures).
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Business vs. retail banking onchain.
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Custodial vs. non-custodial risk (security, third-party risk, UX).
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Government aid distribution onchain.
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“Travelers-cheques” reinvented with stablecoins.
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Family or multi-user accounts.
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ATM withdrawals: do they still make sense in an onchain world?
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Onchain insurance models.
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Privacy in payments: confidential disclosures for sensitive flows (e.g. payroll, donations).
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Accounting integrations with stablecoin flows.
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Unit economics in onchain vs. TradFi payments.
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User incentives: is returning 2% card fees enough for mass adoption?
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Cross-chain interoperability for payments.
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Dollar stablecoins vs. local-currency stablecoins in LATAM.
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What to expect on Payment-focused blockchains (Plasma by Tether, Arc by Circle, Tempus by Stripe).
This topic pool ensures enough material for both mornings and afternoons, although we’d like to narrow it down with Devconnect attendees input in the forum and beyond to gauge energy and interests.
Implementation Needs
IDEAL: the Legal Community Hub Request is quite complete, if we get the same as them we’ll be great.
If not, the following is our basic requirement:
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Standard Devconnect setup (tables, chairs, couches, two screens, HTML-USBc cables, whiteboards, Markers, bins, electrical extension w/international adapters).
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Recording/streaming equipment (camera, tripod, mics). Is this something Devconnect and partners can provide or budget for?
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Wall space for the Community Board.
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Bilingual signage and literature (English & Spanish).
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A landing page hosted by Devconnect, where the agenda can be updated and shared with participants before and during the event.
Team
Core Organizers
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Ari Eiberman – Argentine independent researcher testing over crypto cards and payment apps. Mapping the “onchain banking” stack and sharing insights on UX, adoption, and failures in the field.
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Diego Diaz - Head of Crypto of Argentine Fintech Chamber, leading the Innovation & Crypto Regulation in Argentina.
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Facundo Werning – Head of LatAm at Agora, building enterprise-first stablecoin infrastructure. Experienced in bridging DeFi with global finance and scaling integrations in emerging markets.
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Mattia Astarita – Head of Sales at Gnosis Pay, first employee building the world’s first self-custodial stablecoin card program. Experienced in partnerships with banks, wallets, NGOs, and on/off-ramps.
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Tule @AnInternetter – SimpleFi Founder, Field experience with setting up merchant acceptance of crypto payments for Solana Economic Zone 2024 and beyond around Crecimiento.
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Daniel Rowlands – General Manager at Wirex Pay, leading its non-custodial payments business line with stablecoin accounts, corporate cards, and Web3 BaaS.
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Tom D’Eletto – Fintech product leader with deep experience across TradFi, crypto, and stablecoin payments. Specializes in product design, trading systems, and UX innovation.
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Brian Smocovich – CEO of Pistachio, a mobile-first self-custody app helping users earn, save, and spend with stablecoins. Leads product and go-to-market across U.S. and LATAM.
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Juani Podestá – COO of LatamXO, building white-label digital banking solutions with wallets, tokenized assets, and fiat-crypto on/off-ramps. Expert in regulatory alignment and scalable infrastructure.
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James Ross Vázquez – Head of LATAM at Utila, expanding institutional MPC wallets in the region. Founder of This Week in Fintech Argentina, a community of 200k+ professionals.
Guest Section Owners (advisors/participants):
Diego Sánchez (Kulipa), María Fiorentini (Mujeres en Cripto), Hernán Santiago Hermida (Argiefy), Daniel Cartolin (Sphere Labs), Tobi Frieder (Offramp.xyz), Alessandro Cecere (El Dorado P2P), Konrad (Peanut Protocol), Mario López (Poincenot), Roman Sarria (Mobbex).
We remain open to welcoming more guest contributors and even additional core-team organizers.
Neutrality & Code of Conduct
This hub is a neutral, cooperative space. Organizers and contributors represent different projects and companies, often competitors, but all agree:
- No project or token promotion.
- No branding or shilling.
- Every session is curated by at least 3 organizers from different orgs to ensure neutrality.
Language Plan
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Spanish-led sessions: for Argentina/LatAm topics or with local guests.
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English-led sessions: for global builder participation.
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All signage and materials will be bilingual (EN/ES).
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All Core Team Moderators are bilingual, and there will be at least one who can facilitate language inclusivity.