Trust was everywhere at this year’s Money20/20. On stage, in conversations, and across the expo floor, it became the throughline connecting innovation, regulation, and the rise of AI in financial services.
If one theme defined the event, it was acceleration. Technology, data, and relationships are all moving faster than ever, and trust has become the rate-limiter, the signal that separates durable progress from short-term momentum.
Across the week, speakers explored how generative and agentic AI are reshaping financial services and how the integrity of data will determine what the next decade of innovation looks like.
In BizTech’s coverage of the event, Associate Editorial Director Joe Kuehne captured it best: “Whether generative or agentic, artificial intelligence has a central role to play in financial services. And its success relies directly on the data that feeds it.”
That sentiment echoed across every corner of the show floor. As AI transforms how money moves, the question isn’t just what can be automated. It’s who and what can be trusted in the process.
The growing role of trust in financial innovation
From predictive models to agentic commerce, the consensus was clear: intelligence without integrity doesn’t scale. Reliable data, responsible governance, and verifiable identity are what give financial systems their durability.
This is where Middesk’s mission comes into focus. We’re building the infrastructure that allows companies to know every business, trust every decision, and grow with confidence. A foundation that turns innovation into something sustainable.
Where trust met culture: The Trust Club
That idea took physical form at The Trust Club, a retail-inspired installation that turned an abstract concept into something people could see, touch, and wear.
From the moment the doors opened, it was standing room only. Crewnecks, duffles, and tees disappeared within hours. Attendees carried our shopping bags through the convention hall like badges of belonging. Some even tried to buy the top-shelf items reserved exclusively for customers.
Every detail was deliberate — the minimalist shelving, the soft lighting, the playlist rolling under the crowd. The space made trust feel less like a corporate value and more like a lifestyle.
For a few days in Las Vegas, business identity became culture.
From the floor to the stage
Middesk kicked the week off with “KYCustomer, Evolved,” a panel featuring Kyle Mack (Middesk), Nikki Cross (Nova Credit), Will Charnley (Liminal), and Kristie Han (Canapi Ventures). The group explored how identity and trust are evolving as today’s customers take on multiple roles, consumers, founders, and gig workers all at once, and what that means for verification and risk.
Kyle highlighted the shift from periodic reviews to ongoing monitoring, showing how real-time data is reshaping what it means to know your customer. He also called out how paper-based verification creates unnecessary friction for small business owners who just want to prove legitimacy and get back to building.
Because when the compliance problem becomes a customer problem, everyone’s ROI drops.
Later in the week, I joined Tiffany Haynes (COO, Unit) and Sasha Pilch (Co-Founder, NYC Fintech Women) for a conversation about speed, trust, and everything that happens in between when scaling go-to-market organizations.
It was one of those refreshingly honest discussions that peeled back what “moving fast” actually looks like inside growth-stage companies. Tiffany brought the operator’s lens, Sasha brought the early-stage energy, and together we explored how to build clarity while everything is in motion.
At Middesk, I shared how we think about speed as something that compounds rather than collides — through intentional sprints, clear ownership, and an ongoing commitment to iteration. Because, as I said on stage, scaling is messy by design. It’s an experiment in trust and clarity, not a perfect formula. And that’s exactly what makes it exciting.
AI and data as the next frontier
If trust was the currency of Money20/20, AI and data were the exchange that powered it. Conversations across the event focused less on what AI can do and more on whether we can trust the systems that use it.
Speakers from TD Bank, Stripe, and Fiserv explored what it takes to build AI systems that don’t just perform, but endure. They emphasized that progress depends on high-quality data, strong governance, and a shared commitment to transparency.
As Stripe’s Josh Ackerman noted, the industry is “trying to understand what it means to underwrite trust across the financial ecosystem at large and across the internet.”
The message was consistent: the companies that will define the next decade won’t just deploy AI faster. They’ll build the frameworks that make those systems reliable, explainable, and worthy of trust.
Beyond the booth
By the end of the week, the Trust Club had evolved from an installation into a symbol. We met customers who’ve been with us since the beginning and new innovators discovering Middesk for the first time.
We also captured hundreds of responses to one question: “What does trust mean to you?”
As one financial services leader put it:
“For us, it’s the bond between our organization and the people we serve. We strive to be there when they need us most — during a fraud event, a moment of uncertainty, or even something as simple as helping someone feel safe. It builds on itself and becomes the foundation for a lasting relationship.”
And as the final crewneck left the shelf, one thing was certain: people don’t just want to discuss trust. They want to represent it.
What happens in Vegas... moves the industry forward
Money20/20 2025 made it clear that the future of finance will be built on trusted data and shared accountability. AI may have captured the headlines, but trust was the thread tying it all together. Explore how we’re building toward that future in The Trust Thesis — download it here.
