In this exclusive interview with BlockchainReporter, Maksym Sakharov, co-founder and Group CEO of WeFi, shares why the next crypto winners won’t be the loudest innovators—but the most compliant operators. From regulatory milestones and institutional-grade stablecoin architecture to card rails and cross-border integrations, Sakharov explains how deobanking platforms can turn compliance into a competitive moat while scaling global payments infrastructure.
Q1. You’ve argued the biggest winners will be the “boring” firms that focus on licenses, compliance, and distribution. Practically speaking, what three compliance milestones (licenses, programs, or certifications) set a firm apart as truly future-proof from one that’s still vulnerable to regulatory action?
For a firm to be considered future-proof, it needs to possess full operational licenses in major financial regions like the U.S., EU, UK, and Hong Kong.
The company also needs to have AML and KYC processes that have undergone external audits and are capable of automatically verifying all accounts. And thirdly, the company must undergo regular independent audits or certifications that demonstrate compliance with local financial regulations.
Firms hitting these milestones can survive scrutiny, work closely with traditional finance, and comfortably expand globally.
Q2. Where do you see the largest arbitrage today between regulatory readiness and market perception, i.e., which assets, businesses, or regions are properly compliant but still undervalued by users and capital?
The largest arbitrage at the moment can be found in licensed deobanks and regulated stablecoins, which are undervalued in relation to their compliance status. For comparison, stablecoins currently have a collective market value of just over $308 billion, while CoinGecko places the World Liberty Financial portfolio at around $545 billion.
Geographically, nations like Singapore and Switzerland have multiple fully compliant digital asset firms that, despite having access to regulated rails and custodial networks, are still valued below many offshore platforms or high-volatility tokens.
In essence, there is an opportunity where regulatory preparedness surpasses hype-driven perception, potentially providing patient, compliance-focused businesses with an edge before the next cycle rewards stability.
Q3. What should be the focus for a buyer’s diligence review of a potential acquisition candidate? Specifically, what compliance concerns should drive the focus of diligence based on any compliance-related issues?
Licenses are only one part of the equation, and two main areas should be examined by acquirers. The first area of examination is the regulatory history of the target. If there are any ongoing investigations or previous enforcement actions, the operational risk of the target is high. The second area is the target firm’s internal compliance culture. If a company does not have structured compliance teams in place or has outdated compliance processes, then its compliance culture is weak and could indicate an unstable organization.
Q4. You’ve said distribution will outcompete pure innovation. What distribution channels (bank partnerships, card rails, embedded finance, custodial networks, exchanges, PSPs) do you expect will win the lion’s share of new users over the next 24 months, and why?
Over the next two years, card rails and bank partnerships will win. This is because in 2025, stablecoin transaction volume achieved “payment network” scale, hitting $27 trillion, per a report from McKinsey. However, those volumes are still mostly crypto-native, so the next wave will focus on enabling cardholders to spend stablecoin balances at any merchant. Visa’s partnership with Bridge and Mastercard’s multi-stablecoin enablement serve as early templates, signaling huge room for growth.
Q5. Stablecoins have become core infrastructure. From a product and risk-management perspective, how should an institutional-grade deobanking platform like WeFi architect custody, reserve reporting, and liquidity layers to make stablecoins safe and scalable for global payments?
Custody should be divided rather than centralized. At WeFi, we have adopted a distributed custody model, which means that there is no single point of failure. For reserves, there must be verifiable evidence that they are backed in real time, as opposed to receiving quarterly attestations. The GENIUS Act mandates that all reserves should be backed by either U.S. dollars or short-term Treasuries in a ratio of one-to-one and that this information be publicly available on the blockchain.
Finally, automated settlement pipelines between stablecoins, fiat, and payment rails are needed for liquidity layers. This will ensure that transactions can happen all over the world without slowing down operations or building up credit risk.
Q6. Many startups will claim, “We can become compliant fast.” Which internal teams, processes, or metrics would you require a promising startup to prove (with evidence) before you’d route distribution or capital through them?
In my opinion, three critical components establish the compliance evidence:
- A committed compliance team with clearly defined roles and responsibilities.
- AML/KYC operating procedures that are in operation and being applied regularly to all accounts.
- Last but not least, the ability to demonstrate, through automated reporting systems, consistent adherence to applicable laws and regulations.
Q7. There’s a tradeoff between regulatory conservatism (slow, compliant rollouts) and product velocity (rapid innovation). Have you seen governance or product patterns that let teams move quickly while staying audit-ready? Give an example from WeFi or the market.
At WeFi, we automate compliance through smart contracts wherever we can. For example, WeFi can verify users and stay fully compliant thanks to AI-enabled KYC processes. And because of how we manage our compliance processes, there is no manual effort required for compliance with regulations. We also deploy in phases, launching in those jurisdictions first where WeFi has obtained a license. Once additional approvals are obtained, WeFi will expand into other jurisdictions.
Building compliance into the product’s architecture from day one creates a framework for speed, since rails are pre-audited, eliminating unexpected issues for regulators.
Q8. Cross-border rails and FX are still messy. For crypto-native payment flows to replace/integrate with TradFi at scale, what are the top three technical and commercial integrations that must be solved in the next cycle?
The first goal is to achieve interoperability between different blockchains, considering that stablecoins are fragmented across networks, which creates friction. Adding unified settlement layers could fix this issue.
The second goal is to make it easy to switch between currencies. Users should be able to switch from crypto to fiat without any problems, and this is especially important in developing countries, where parts of the population still have problems accessing banking services.
Q9. If a major jurisdiction imposes sudden, stricter rules on stablecoin usage or holdings, which business models (exchanges, wallets, deobanks, remittance providers) would be most resilient, and which would be at existential risk?
Since deobanking platforms can operate using multiple rails — and therefore multiple liquidity management strategies — the remittance operations connected with those rails will continue globally at volumes that may lessen the impact of restrictions placed by central bank policymakers on holding stablecoins.
Q10. Distribution often means partnerships with incumbent finance. What are the most surprising cultural or operational gaps you’ve encountered when building those partnerships, and how do you bridge them reliably?
The most significant gap between banking and cryptocurrency is the speed at which they operate. Banking works in quarters and years; crypto moves in minutes. Furthermore, banks’ risk assessors typically expect multiple-year track records before approving integration with other institutions, while the crypto community has become accustomed to iterative improvement at a very rapid pace.
To bridge this divide, we use dedicated relationship managers who connect both sides and help establish communication. This bridge can be built via small pilot projects with low risk that build confidence in the operation before being expanded.
Q11. As the sector consolidates, compliance and legal expertise become strategic assets. How are you hiring and structuring teams to turn regulatory work from a cost center into a competitive moat?
Our teams consist of former regulators and banking compliance professionals, as well as people who are native to the crypto industry. These groups work together on the same project rather than being separated by their backgrounds or prior experience.
Additionally, our approach to compliance is that it is a product function, and in this light, we have made investments in technology to automate reporting and monitoring activities, thereby lowering costs and increasing the quality of data collected through these processes.
Q12. For reporters and investors watching the next cycle, what 5 KPIs or signals should they track monthly (e.g., stablecoin circulating supply, number of licensed entities in key jurisdictions, new card/rail integrations, M&A volume, customer deposit stickiness)? Please prioritize metrics that are observable and hard to fake.
First, they could look at non-exchange stablecoin settlement volume, which is the best representation of actual stablecoin usage. Second, they could look at how much revenue is generated from user-paid fees, since this will only rise if there are people using the blockspace. Third, they could watch for real-world asset and off-chain integration growth, including new tokenized treasuries or commodities, verified merchant payment endpoints, and institutional custody balances. If all of these indicators are growing even though hype is fading, that’s a strong health signal.
Additionally, they could track acquisition of regulated crypto businesses, since these actions would prove there is movement of capital toward compliance rather than speculation. Finally, they must monitor new card or banking rail integrations, because this indicates that real onboarding infrastructure is being created, as opposed to the ecosystem buzz we are so used to.
