Sign in Subscribe

Plug Into PayFi: Infrastructure For a Smarter Financial Future

Validator 85223

• 9 min read
Plug Into PayFi: Infrastructure For a Smarter Financial Future

What happens when the foundational components of modern finance: compliance, auditability, and programmable money, are reimagined for the blockchain era? 

On May 21st, Concordium hosted an X Spaces event with Jack Nikogosian, CEO of Aryze. The conversation ranged from real-world payment flows and stablecoin architecture to enterprise adoption barriers and the invisible future of blockchain.

Whether or not you’ve heard of Reforge, programmable FX rails, or Stablecoin-as-a-Service, this summary breaks down what they unlock and explains why Aryze is building on Concordium.

1 INTRODUCTION AND FRAMING

audio-thumbnail
1 INTRODUCTIONANDFRAMING
0:00
/89.887347
  • Speaker: Mike Milner, Chief Commercial Officer, Concordium
  • Purpose of the Session
    • Welcomes both returning and new participants to the Concordium community
    • Opens the discussion around PayFi and stablecoin infrastructure
    • Introduces the guest speaker: Jack Nikogosian, CEO of ARYZE
  • Concordium’s Mission
    • Core objective: De-risk adoption of stablecoins for institutional users
    • Key risk areas addressed:
      • Compliance and reputational risks
      • Triggered by handling anonymous assets
      • Solved through Concordium’s integrated identity layer
    • Custodial risk and execution complexity
    • On other chains, payment flows require funds to be sent to smart contracts
    • Concordium eliminates this via native programmable money at the protocol layer
  • Transition to Partnership Context
    • Introduces ARYZE as a new infrastructure partner that can enable a lot

2 ARYZE’S INTRODUCTION AND STRATEGIC OUTLOOK

audio-thumbnail
2ARYZESINTRODUCTIONANDSTRATEGICOUTLOOK
0:00
/115.252245
  • Speaker: Jack Nikogosian, CEO, ARYZE
  • ARYZE’s Track Record and Focus
    • ARYZE has spent years perfecting what blockchain must become to be usable by TradFi and PayFi
    • Parallel drawn: just as Concordium focused on compliance infrastructure, ARYZE focused on building better stablecoin infrastructure
  • Scalability Defined
    • Scalability includes:
      • Support for multiple currencies
      • Support for multiple blockchains
      • Inclusion of requirements from traditional and payment finance sectors
  • Real-World Relevance
    • Aims to solve problems faced by real-world companies in TradFi
    • Describes 2025 as the start of the “era of implementation”
    • No longer about invention, but bringing existing innovations to real-world deployment
    • Partnership with Concordium enables issuing many types of stablecoins, using Concordium’s technology for real-world implementation
  • Comments

3 WHY CONCORDIUM?

audio-thumbnail
3 WHYCONCORDIUM
0:00
/138.866939
  • ARYZE partnered with Concordium because clients asked for it
  • These clients include major FX firms, banks, and interbank settlement players, SEPA, SWIFT etc. 
  • They require solutions that are:
    • Trusted
    • Compliant
    • Regulated
  • ARYZE received repeated feedback:
    • “We can’t use Ethereum”
    • “We need to know X and Y”
    • There was no other viable suggestion—Concordium was the only fit
  • Both companies share Scandinavian roots, which made collaboration natural
  • Neither ARYZE nor Concordium takes shortcuts, both focus on doing things properly
  • The result: they can now offer serious institutions a credible addition to their existing systems
  • Comments

4 PRODUCT STACK AND NEXT STEPS

audio-thumbnail
4PRODUCTSTACKANDNEXTSTEPS
0:00
/200.489796
  • ARYZE has been building since 2017, with a mission to perfect stablecoins
  • Goal: issue fiat tokens across as many currencies as seen in a Revolut-style FX dropdown
  • Product Focus
    • Move beyond USD and EUR to support hundreds of tokenized currencies
    • Recognized early that many-to-many tokenization was inevitable
  • The Core Problem
    • Traditional FX works well in TradFi
    • In crypto, conversion between exotic stablecoins is inefficient and liquidity dependent
    • Swaps rely on risky, often illiquid pools, which raises concerns over compliance and origin of funds
  • ARYZE’s Solution: Reforge
    • Invented a burn-and-mint mechanism
      • Example: burn EUR, mint USD
      • Avoids reliance on third-party pools or swaps
    • Supports a growing list of assets:
      • Fiat: EUSD, EEuro, EPound, ESGD
      • Metals: EGold, EPlatinum, EPalladium
      • More to follow
    • Once holding any ARYZE stablecoin, users can convert to any other via Reforge
    • Converts traditional Forex into a single on-chain function
  • Comments

5 STABLECOIN-AS-A-SERVICE AND PARTNERSHIP VALUE

audio-thumbnail
5STABLECOIN AS A SERVICEANDPARTNERSHIPVALUE 1
0:00
/361.952653
  •  Why Building Stablecoins is Hard
    • Not a technical issue, it’s a legal and compliance challenge
    • Multiple failed models in crypto: asset-backed, crypto-backed, algorithmic
    • Trust hinges on:
      • Proper asset management
      • Backed reserves in safe instruments (e.g., short-term U.S. Treasuries)
      • Credible audits (ARYZE works with Grant Thornton; most crypto firms are rejected)
  • ARYZE’s SCaaS Offering
    • Provides an end-to-end stablecoin issuance platform:
      • Solvency, legal setup, issuance, treasury, and cross-chain support
    • Fast-tracks clients in ~12 months
    • Offered at a cost lower than one engineer per month
  • Strategic Shift: Scale via Diversity
    • ARYZE no longer aims to create the dominant stablecoin
    • Strategy: enable dozens or hundreds of branded stablecoins for institutions
      • Examples: Red Cross token, Maersk settlement token, Tradeshift
    • Recent launches:
      • Sodom Global USD
      • Torres USD
      • Gold token for BCIF
      • Five new coins for a major PSP, aiming to exceed 100 issued coins in a year
  • What the Concordium Partnership Enables
  • Mike’s conclusion:
    • Combined, Concordium and ARYZE offer plug-and-play issuance of BLT stablecoins
    • ARYZE handles:
      • Reserve management
      • Audits
      • Issuance and mint/burn
    • Concordium provides:
      • Native identity
      • Compliance layer
      • Programmable money at base layer
  • Timing and Market Relevance
    • 2025 marks a shift:
      • Post-administration change
      • New institutional entrants designing entry strategies
    • These entrants evaluate solutions based on regulatory and financial risk, not tech hype
    • This partnership directly addresses those concerns
  • Comments: 

6 MAINSTREAM ADOPTION – BARRIERS AND REALITY

audio-thumbnail
6MAINSTREAMADOPTIONBARRIERSANDREALITY
0:00
/283.402449
  • Jack’s Perspective on Adoption
    • Disagrees with many crypto-native views on mainstream adoption
    • Believes crypto will succeed by becoming invisible, not by being understood
  • Analogy: “Magnetism didn’t get adopted via the credit card. People used the card, not the underlying tech.”
  • Example: Jack’s mother began using ChatGPT via Snapchat
    • Adoption happened on her terms, not via direct engagement with OpenAI
    • Crypto adoption will mirror this: users won’t know or care about the blockchain layer
  • Infrastructure Has Matured
    • A decade ago: no standards, no real exchanges, no good custodians
    • Now: proper exchanges, institutional custodians (e.g., Fireblocks), clearer regulation
    • Enterprises (top 20–25) now have Web3 strategies and are willing to engage
  • Mike Reinforces
    • Adoption must be simple and seamless
    • Blockchain is best when it acts as “backend plumbing”
    • Usability—not technical literacy—will drive mass use
    • If using crypto required understanding the backend, adoption would stall entirely
  • Comments

7 INTEGRATING IDENTITY AND COMPLIANCE FOR ENTERPRISE USE

audio-thumbnail
7INTEGRATINGIDENTITYANDCOMPLIANCEFORENTERPRISEUSE
0:00
/248.711837
  • Real-World Enterprise Demands
    • FX markets process $7.5 trillion daily, a scale stablecoins are just beginning to match
    • Global payment infrastructure players now have appetite for blockchain, but only with proper safeguards
    • These enterprises require:
      • Compliance with standards
      • Rigorous participant vetting
      • Transparency where needed (e.g. commodities trades in steel, etc.)
  • Limitations of Web3 Today
    • Anonymity, while valued in Web3, is a barrier for institutional adoption
    • Traditional institutions won’t adopt unless identity and compliance are addressed
    • Crypto’s decentralization helps speed, but misses the “last mile” requirements of TradFi
  • Role of Concordium
    • Concordium solves the identity hurdle
      • Not by exposing all data, but by enabling selective disclosure
      • Enterprises can cryptographically verify required attributes without full KYC exposure
    • It’s not a CBDC model—only what’s needed is shared
  • Use Case: Trade Finance
    • Example: payments triggered by real-world logistics events (e.g. ship departure, cargo unloading)
    • ARYZE enables smart money logic
    • Concordium’s infrastructure makes automated, conditional payments secure and compliant
  • Comments

8 MIKE MILNER EXPANDS ON WHY THIS HASN’T WORKED—AND WHY IT CAN NOW

audio-thumbnail
8MIKEMILNEREXPANDSONWHYTHISHASNTWORKEDANDWHYITCANNOW 1
0:00
/156.577959
  • Trade Finance: Why Blockchain Promises Fell Short
    • Trade finance has long been cited as a use case for blockchain (e.g. payments triggered by GPS events)
    • Problem: on most chains, this requires locking funds in smart contracts for 60–90 days
    • That exposes capital to:
      • Custody risk
      • Cyber risk
  • Most enterprises won’t tolerate this level of exposure
  • Concordium’s Advantage
    • Concordium’s programmable money allows logic to sit in the smart contract
    • But funds stay secure at the base layer, reducing risk dramatically
    • This architecture finally enables real-world execution of these long-theorized use cases
  • Identity: Selective Disclosure
    • Over-sharing is a persistent flaw in traditional identity systems
    • Concordium enables only the required information to be verified (e.g. age > 18)
    • This enables use cases like age-verifying payments, combining privacy with compliance
    • For enterprise adoption, anonymity isn’t always a feature—it can be a bug
      • Advocates may see it as a strength
      • But to a Fortune 500 boardroom, it’s a liability
  • Comments

9 PRIVACY, ILLUSIONS OF ANONYMITY, AND HOW MONEY REALLY MOVES

audio-thumbnail
9 PRIVACY ILLUSIONS OF ANONYMITY AND HOW MONEY REALLY MOVES
0:00
/216.665397
  • The Illusion of Anonymity
    • Despite claims of privacy, Web3 is not truly anonymous
    • MetaMask use, exchange interactions, and behavior patterns all reveal identity
    • Those who want to find out who you are can
    • Anonymity tools (e.g. Tornado Cash) signal a different intent: “you’re wearing a different hat”
    • Selective disclosure—only what’s needed—is actually more privacy-preserving
  • ARYZE’s Reforge Model: Keep Money Still
    • Challenges the norm of constantly moving money
    • Proposal: don’t move money—keep it with the only entity that can’t lose it (governments)
    • ARYZE holds reserves in short-term government bonds
    • Reforge enables:
      • Burning and minting between assets
      • Functional conversion without actual money movement
    • Mirrors how traditional banking works:
      • Banks don’t physically move money, they net obligations
      • Yet users still pay as if trucks were hauling cash
  • Digital Cash” Concept
    • ARYZE coined the term early: digital version of real, full-reserve bearer cash
    • Allows for private transfers, without physical movement or traditional fees
  • Institutional Adoption Is Catching Up
    • A few years ago, ARYZE couldn’t implement this system in real markets
    • Now, institutional readiness has changed
    • Commodities trading, FX markets, and bank infrastructure firms are engaging
    • Web3 will follow the AI path:
      • Like AI, users won’t opt in consciously
      • Institutions will integrate, and users will adopt indirectly and invisibly
  • Comments

10 CROSS-CHAIN STABLECOINS WITHOUT BRIDGES

audio-thumbnail
10 CROSS CHAIN STABLECOINS WITHOUT BRIDGES
0:00
/442.015057
  • Community Question
    • Can ARYZE’s stablecoins (e.g. E-EUR, E-USD) exist on Concordium (like with a bridge)?
  • Jack’s Response: Yes, But Not Like You Think
    • Yes—ARYZE stablecoins will run natively on Concordium
    • Already integrating E-EUR, E-USD, E-Gold on Concordium
    • Also offering branded SCaaS stablecoins (e.g. for banks, PSPs, governments or whatever it may be)
  • How Reforge Differs from Traditional Bridges
    • Bridges
      • Use smart contracts to lock assets and issue wrapped versions
      • Rely on third-party liquidity (if pool based)
      • Create central points of failure—targets for $100M+ exploits
    • Reforge
      • Built-in function in ARYZE’s stablecoins
      • Burn on one chain, mint on another—no third-party custody
      • Assets remain fully backed by short-term government bonds
      • No wrapped tokens, no pooled liquidity, no smart contract honeypots
  • Real-World Example: PSP Use Case
    • New partner Blocks Global will use Reforge for strategic FX flows
    • Avoids 1–3% costs on exotic corridors (e.g. Nigeria–Europe)
    • They choose Reforge because they must stay compliant and can’t use unregulated liquidity
  • Why Concordium is a Key Enabler
    • Some jurisdictions (e.g. African nations exploring CBDCs) cannot use Ethereum
      • Concerns over miner centralization
      • Protocol governance vulnerabilities
    • Concordium enables:
      • Regulatory-grade ID
      • Clean compliance
      • Fast finality and neutral infrastructure
      • Strong branding: Danish–Swiss trust pedigree
  • Comments

11 CLOSING REMARKS

audio-thumbnail
11 CLOSING REMARKS
0:00
/90.673923
  • Milner’s Wrap-Up
    • Reiterates Concordium’s core mission: de-risking adoption for real-world stablecoin use
    • Highlights how ARYZE’s approach aligns with this mission
  • Jack’s Final Note
    • Thanks everyone and mentions Bitcoin Pizza Day
    • Announces a pizza party in Copenhagen with a 10,000 RYZE prize
    • Competition for the most beautiful “ARYZE pizza”
    • Invites the community to come meet the team and “put a face on the Viking avatar”
  • Comments: 

Updates and News - Sign Up Now

Enter your email
Subscribe