If you have ever paid online with Stripe’s new Link wallet, autofilled a checkout with Apple Pay, or topped up a Revolut account, you have used a piece of financial architecture that took decades to perfect. Sadly, for crypto and all its talk of reinventing money, the crypto industry has stubbornly failed to catch on.
The principle is so simple it feels obvious. The thing you tap to pay should not be the thing that holds your money.
When you use Apple Wallet, your real money sits in your bank or on a credit line at a card issuer. Apple Wallet is a key. The bank is the vault. When you check out with Stripe’s Link, the funds are charged to your linked debit card or bank account. Link itself holds nothing. Revolut takes a hybrid…
