Rebank: Fintech Analysis On-Chain Equities and the Evolution of Market Infrastructure with Mike Cagney of Figure
Feb 17, 2026
Mike Cagney, fintech entrepreneur and co-founder of Figure, who builds financial infrastructure on blockchain rails. He discusses why equities should live on-chain for efficiency and liquidity. He explains Figure’s ATS and wallet-based self-custody trading. He explores DeFi use-cases like collateral and stock-loans, and the regulatory and technical paths for native on-chain securities.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Let Wallets Plug Directly Into Marketplaces
- Let retail and global investors connect directly with a wallet to an ATS to democratize access and enable 24/7 trading.
- Remove the need for introducing brokers so users can self-custody and trade with stablecoin or securities from their wallet.
Attempts To Go Public On Chain
- Mike tried alternate paths to become a blockchain public company, including buying Celsius and pursuing FTX, due to regulatory limits at the time.
- Those attempts show why Figure pursued a separate blockchain-native S-1 issuance and ATS route.
Transparent Stock-Loan Markets Shift Economics
- Transparent, on-chain stock-loan markets can return economic value to the buy side instead of opaque prime-broker spreads.
- A lit limit order book for stock loan lets lenders set visible rates and capture the full yield.
