Ep. 659 Tria | The Neobank of Web3 (feat. Vijit Katta)

·27 min·2 clips

Vijit Katta reveals how losing 5-7% on international bank transfers led him to build Tria, a self-custodial neobank.

The episode begins with ads for SoFi and LinkedIn, followed by sponsor messages for SoFi and SumSub. Host Brandon Zemp introduces Vijit Katta, CEO and co-founder of Tria. Katta recounts his background, starting as an engineer in 2015, moving to business roles at GSK and AstraZeneca, and pursuing an MBA at INSEAD France. He describes how frustration with 5-7% fees on international bank transfers and learning about blockchain's enterprise use cases led him to Web3. Katta joined Polygon for early-stage investing before co-founding Tria, a portfolio company he invested in. He details Tria's Best Path layer, a network of nodes that compete to solve transactions efficiently based on cost and time, with plans to open-source the technology. Katta explains Tria's self-custodial cards, which use individual smart contracts to hold user funds, avoiding custodial risks like account closures. The cards offer up to 6% cashback, zero FX fees, and global acceptance via Visa and Mastercard, with physical cards recently delivered. The conversation shifts to AI agents, with Katta noting Tria initially built for AI-driven trading and yield searching, but pivoted to human needs due to scalability. He discusses the future of agentic commerce and blockchain's role in governance. Katta predicts mainstream AI agent adoption is about a year away, with smart contracts enabling security. He addresses crypto complexity, highlighting Tria's infrastructure that abstracts chains, gas, and bridges for a fluid user experience, though on-ramp regulations remain a challenge. Katta envisions crypto disrupting traditional banks by enabling faster, cheaper transfers. For 2026, Tria plans to launch savings accounts, yield accounts, perpetual trading, virtual bank accounts, lending, and borrowing, with expansions into Latin America and Africa. The episode concludes with Katta sharing updates via Twitter and the Tria website, and Zemp expressing interest in future follow-ups.

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