Fintech has undergone significant evolution over the past two decades, transitioning through distinct phases without fundamentally changing how money moves. The first phase, Fintech 1.0, from 2000 to 2010, focused on digitizing existing financial products through platforms like PayPal and Mint, but it didn’t enhance efficiency in money movement. The second phase, Fintech 2.0, between 2010 and 2020, introduced neobanks like Chime and Revolut, which improved customer access and experience but still relied on older banking systems. With the rise of embedded finance in Fintech 3.0, which started around 2020, APIs allowed software companies to integrate financial products into their offerings. However, this still depended on legacy banking infrastructure. By the early 2020s, many fintechs faced mounting customer-acquisition costs and regulatory scrutiny, leading to a saturated market where differentiation often relied on marketing gimmicks rather than innovative products. The infrastructure of money movement remained monopolized by entities like Visa and Mastercard, making it difficult for new entrants to disrupt the status quo. The article highlights a shift in Fintech 4.0, characterized by the emergence of stablecoins and permissionless finance. Unlike previous models that layered services on top of banks, stablecoins enable direct interaction with open networks, allowing for on-chain settlement and reducing reliance on traditional financial institutions. The market cap of stablecoins has surged to around $300 billion, surpassing the transaction volume of established payment networks like PayPal and Visa. This evolution suggests a significant transformation in how financial products can be built and how money can move, potentially lowering costs from millions to thousands of dollars for developers.