Ep. 62: Smartening Up the Debit Card
Billy Roberts
CEO
Wedge Financial Inc.
On This Episode
Billy Roberts, a former marine biologist and now CEO of Wedge, proves that there is no one path into the fintech industry. While building his company from the ground up, Roberts wanted to make sure that it was solving a problem and adding value to users’ lives. He sought to develop technology that set his company apart from the explosion of fintech apps in recent years, so he aimed to combine different financial components in one app, but also add factors of utility and ease of use that he hadn’t seen before in the marketplace. From this idea, Wedge and its smart debit card were born.
Through Wedge, Roberts wanted to simplify banking and stand out as a sustainable financial option, so he created technology that allowed people to use their assets for purchases using a single card. The app allows users to buy crypto, manage equities, and bank all in one place, making transactions as simple and easy as possible.
The fundamental difference is that Wedge lists all of your assets in their most effective cost faces in a red light, green light manner, and each transaction presents a “micro-arbitrage opportunity” in which users can benefit and strategically flex their spending power. Another important aspect for Roberts was incorporating access to different asset classes and instant liquidity anytime a user swipes their card. These aspects allow users to make empowered financial decisions.
With technology that is constantly changing and progressing, Roberts wanted to create a secure and innovative financial app, and one of the ways he ensured this was including velocity constraints. Although he hopes to expand the consumer base in the future, the “fintech-experienced and crypto-curious” are the main users that gravitate toward Wedge.
Check out this episode to learn more from Billy and Hunter about how much smarter the debit card can really be.
More About Billy
Billy Roberts is the CEO of Wedge Financial Inc., the first smart debit card that lets users pay for every day purchases with any asset. Founded in 2021, the fintech startup is the first of its kind for offering the ability to use assets for everyday spending, giving users the ability to benefit from market movements of over 2,000 different stocks, ETFs and cryptocurrencies. Previous to Wedge, Billy founded ReStream Solutions, a data-driven oilfield solutions company for the exploration and production industry.
