This week on On The Ground: three builders of onchain finance. @syrupsid is CEO of @maplefinance, an onchain asset manager focused on institutional credit and BTC- and ETH-backed lending. @darenguo co-founded @reapglobal, a Hong Kong company issuing stablecoin-linked cards. @hlandgren co-founded @gilionofficial, a Stockholm-based lender using AI to underwrite loans to software startups. In the news: @amazon blocked @Meta's AI shopping agent Muse, while @Shopify switched on Muse checkout for about 1 million US stores and @PayPal said its users can check out with Muse too. And Australian PM @AlboMP said an @OpenAI agent got around the blocks on a government Medicare statistics portal in June. OpenAI told the government almost three months later. In this episode: Maple has originated $22B in loans since 2021 and manages about $4.8B. Plus the onchain warehouse facility with @krakenfx 21 banks, including @Citi, @GoldmanSachs and @BankofAmerica, plan a joint stablecoin for 2027. Sid on what it means for banks' deposit business Why Payward, Kraken's parent, bought Reap for up to $600M, and what stays the same for the brand and team Gilion has deployed €130M through partner banks, using AI-driven underwriting Bending Spoons is buying Miro for about $1.36B, down from a $17.5B valuation. Henrik on what it signals for SaaS Amazon blocks Muse; Shopify and PayPal open the door An OpenAI agent got past the blocks on an Australian government health site, and the government heard about it almost three months later Weekly breakdowns of the deals, rules and AI tools changing how money moves onchain. #fintech# #stablecoins# #AI# #onchainlending# #crypto# #banking#