Americas Series with David Yakobovitch: Disrupting the archaic payments system with Astra CEO Gil Akos

<p>In this episode of the Americas Series, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidyakobovitch/">David Yakobovitch</a> speaks to <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilakos/">Gil Akos</a>, CEO of <a href="https://astra.finance/">Astra</a>, about disrupting and upgrading the archaic payments system in America.</p><p>Here is what they covered: </p><p>Background:</p><ul> <li>Gil’s background and what led him to found Astra</li> <li>What do you see driving the recent boom of the financial transfer market? How has Astra grown as a company in conjunction with this boom?</li> <li>Who are some of Astra’s customers?</li> <li>What types of companies can benefit from Astra’s technology?</li> <li>How does Astra differentiate itself from others in the crowded fintech space?</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>The current state of the payments system:</p><ul> <li>What are the current issues you see with the payment system and what can be done to solve these challenges? Specifically, how does Astra solve these challenges?</li> <li>How do you expect the payments space to change over the next couple of years?</li> <li>How do you see real-time payments (RTP) affecting the ACH network and the payments system as a whole?</li> <li>How can banks and financial institutions effectively and safely handle ACH transfers?</li> </ul><p><br></p><p> Account-to-account and instant transfers: </p><ul> <li>How does Astra enable account-to-account (A2A) transfers? How are you able to simplify A2A transfers for both developers and consumers? </li> <li>Why have A2A transfers historically been difficult for banks and financial institutions to execute effectively? </li> <li>What is Astra’s role in the instant payment space?</li> </ul><p><br></p><p>Bridging the gap between fiat money and cryptocurrency:</p><ul> <li>What are the inherent challenges for all Web3 infrastructure?</li> <li>What steps need to be taken in order to bridge the gap between these two dramatically opposed ecosystems?</li> <li>How does Astra handle risk mitigation within fiat-crypt