The Miseducation of Financial Technology
- Casey Ariel Thobias
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
A fintech education mixtape.
🎤 The Intro
The question should not be “how do we get people into banks?"
For decades, the financial industry has painted the underbanked as people without nearby branches, no checking or savings accounts, and neighborhoods crowded with payday loan shops, pawn stores, and liquor counters.
This framing immediately conjures up an image: families driving miles outside their neighborhoods for the privilege of accessing traditional services.
record scratch
That framing is outdated. Worse — it’s manipulative.
Between 1984 and 2020, 70% of U.S. bank branches disappeared, leaving deserts where banking presence once stood. And yet, while banks retreated, fintech stepped in. Digital, mobile-first, frictionless systems filled the gap and built rails people actually use.
It is no longer accurate — or honest — to call someone underbanked simply because they used an “alternative” financial service in the past year. That definition is lazy — propping up a failing system by pretending people still need banks when, in reality, fintech already powers their financial lives.
Bill Gates said it best in 1994: “Banking is necessary. Banks are not.”
Why force people to drive 30 minutes to a branch that doesn’t want them when they already hold financial tools in the palms of their hands?
Who’s really showing up
Chime: simple, fee-free accounts.
PayPal, Venmo, CashApp: instant money movement.
Robinhood, Acorns: accessible investing for new generations.
LiliBank, Flex: tools for everyday entrepreneurs and workers.
Nearly 50% of Black investors today are between the ages of 18-34 — the highest proportion for that age group across any racial group in the U.S. That growth wasn’t powered by banks. It was fueled by fintech platforms removing friction.
Even employers are adapting, issuing debit cards so workers can get paid without bank accounts. Swipe. Withdraw. Live life. No friction.
So in 2025 — when most overlooked communities move money digitally — the real question isn’t why alternative services?
The real question is: why banks?
🎶 Track 1: Redefining “Banked”
Let’s start with a definition problem.
Morningstar, a global financial company, defines a banked person as someone who:
Has a checking or savings account, and
Has not used alternative financial services in the last year.
On the surface, it sounds neat. In reality, it’s not about inclusion — it’s about market capture.
Because today, “alternative services” are no longer fringe. They’re the main stage: Venmo, CashApp, PayPal, Robinhood, Stripe. Faster. Cheaper. More flexible. More trusted.
By Morningstar’s definition, a rural worker using CashApp because the nearest branch is an hour away — or a gig worker using Stripe to get paid — is underbanked.
That’s absurd. It’s an outdated prism designed to erase actual financial behaviors and protect the illusion of bank dominance.
What we need instead
Sharper data capture: measure the role fintech plays in everyday life.
Narrative shifts: highlight who’s solving real problems.
Relevancy over checklists: don’t confuse loyalty to outdated systems with financial health.
If the only measure is “not using alternative services in the last 12 months,” we aren’t tracking opportunity — we’re tracking allegiance to broken models.
Why it matters
When the financial inclusion narrative centers banks, communities are often told to move backwards. It excuses banks from having to evolve.
When fintech sets the narrative, we see what’s real: innovators removing friction, helping people send money, raise funds, access advances, and live with ease.
Shifting the story does more than correct the record. It:
Amplifies brands deserving market share in communities with pent-up demand.
Encourages founders and investors to focus on solutions that matter.
Places responsibility where it belongs: on financial systems to evolve — not on consumers to settle.
Next Up
In Track 2, we’ll dive into why Black and Brown communities aren’t fintech outsiders—they’re the original fintech innovators. They’ve been investing, creating, and scaling long before legacy finance caught up.
✨ This series leads into my work with Alabama A&M. This fall, Blaze Group is teaching fintech foundations to 40 accounting and finance majors. Next spring — partnering with the Interledger Foundation — we’re ramping up with experiential learning, where students will design fintech solutions alongside computer engineering peers, earning both stipends and course credit.
Stay with me as we remix what fintech education can be.