Get ready for Money20/20 USA: what’s new and why you can’t miss it

Jessica Blue, EVP at Money20/20 USA, talks about this year’s event, sharing what’s new, the key themes, can’t-miss sessions, and tips for first-time attendees.

 

Money20/20 USA returns October 26–29, bringing together over 11,000 senior leaders from more than 3,400 top companies across banking, payments, fintech, and beyond. This is your opportunity to connect, close deals, discover emerging trends, and stay ahead in the fast-evolving financial landscape.

Jessica, can you please give us an overview of this year’s event, including its format and main themes?

The overarching theme for Money 20/20 is Create the Future. This reflects a forward-looking approach, focusing on emerging trends and future-oriented themes, while providing practical, actionable insights for the industry.

Each stage of the event explores this theme from a distinct perspective. With eight stages in total, attendees will have access to a wide range of content, each offering unique insights into the latest developments in financial services.

The content can be framed around four central pillars:

1. Fintech Spring:  This pillar explores the point at which fintech becomes fully integrated into financial services, highlighting innovations that are shaping the industry’s future.
2. The Age of Infrastructure: This pillar examines the evolution of financial infrastructure and the role of AI in driving transformation. Topics include Open Finance, banking consolidation, and the increasing prominence of mergers and acquisitions. This year, over 80 sessions are dedicated to AI, reflecting the rapid progress made over the past year. Notably, last year’s discussions were largely shaped by the upcoming election, demonstrating how quickly the focus of industry conversations can shift.
3. Global Payments Race: This pillar addresses the ongoing importance of global and cross-border payments, exploring trends, challenges, and opportunities in an increasingly interconnected market.
4. Securing Trust: This pillar emphasises fraud prevention, regulatory compliance, and security. These remain critical priorities for the industry, and the event will explore these topics in depth.

What makes this edition unique compared to previous years?

I would say that every edition of Money 20/20 is unique. Reflecting on where we were a year ago, it’s remarkable how quickly the industry has evolved in just 12 months – a relatively short period of time. Each edition captures that momentum, making every event distinct.

This year, we’re introducing a number of initiatives that are entirely new. One highlight is the development of an entire stage dedicated to the convergence of decentralized finance (DeFi) and traditional finance (TradFi), which we’re calling the Intersection Stage. While we’ve explored individual topics in the past, this is the first time we’ve focused an entire stage around a single theme. The stage is complemented by networking areas, lounge booths, and a broader experience designed to support interaction between DeFi and TradFi communities.

Other new initiatives include the Money Awards, our industry benchmarking program, which helps participants evaluate themselves against peers and the wider market. Winners will be announced on Sunday night.

We’re also launching Sm∆rtMeet, a curated, AI-driven meetings program running at scheduled times over the three days, designed to optimise connections between participants. Additionally, the Startup Hub is debuting this year, featuring 20 startups, interactive kiosks, and a pitch competition. The hub will also host stage content exploring the VC and fundraising landscape, creating a vibrant hub of startup activity.

Our Industry Nights have also been redesigned, offering new ways for attendees to network and connect. In short, we’ve refreshed nearly every aspect of the event.

Of course, the core of Money 20/20 continues to deliver high-quality content and insights. But these new initiatives are designed to enhance networking, discovery, and overall experience, ensuring attendees can find what they need quickly while also enjoying the event. This combination of innovation, engagement, and enjoyment is what makes Money 20/20 truly distinct from other events.

Are there any regions or countries you’re focusing on for attendance growth?

This year, we’ve made a concerted effort to attract more Latin American companies to the event. We’ve partnered with nearly every major fintech association in the region, and they’re bringing delegations to attend.

It’s the first year we’ve done this in a coordinated way, and we’re really excited to welcome these attendees through these hosted delegations. It’s another aspect of the event that we’re particularly enthusiastic about, as it brings even more diversity, perspectives, and opportunities for networking to Money 20/20.

What goes into planning an event of this scale? Any interesting insights from the preparation process?

I think one of the first things your readers may not know is that Money 20/20 is a truly global business. While the event itself takes place in the US, our team is spread across the world, with the largest hubs in London and New York.

Running an event at this scale is a huge responsibility, and it requires an exceptionally talented team.

Our structure is built around key functions:

• Content: Our team of fintech and banking experts drives the agenda and ensures that every session is relevant, insightful, and forward-looking.
• Marketing: Responsible for delivering the right messages to the right audience, ensuring awareness and engagement.
• Sales: Focused on securing sponsors and partners who support the event.
• Operations: Manages all logistics and the smooth execution of the event. Moving an event in and out of a venue is a massive undertaking, and our operations team ensures everything runs seamlessly.
• Finance and support functions: Provide the necessary backbone to keep the entire operation on track.

It truly takes a village to run Money 20/20. My role is to make sure everything happens on schedule, that each team is executing effectively, and to drive the overall strategy and growth of the event. This is a team effort powered by a group of highly skilled professionals.

What sessions or activities are you most excited about?

I’m really excited about the Intersection Stage, as I mentioned earlier. It’s going to offer a unique perspective on the convergence of decentralized and traditional finance. I’m also looking forward to Sunday Night Live, where we’ll be presenting the awards alongside some compelling stage content that evening.

We’ve recently announced several high-profile speakers, including Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (MSTR); Bret Taylor, Co-Founder and CEO of Sierra; and Mike Krieger, CPO of Anthropic. On the financial services side, we’re featuring Dietrich Kuhlmann, President and CEO of Navy Federal Credit Union. This year, we’ve made a concerted effort to bring more credit unions into the conversation. With over 5,000 credit unions in the US, we want to ensure this important sector is well represented at the event.

From the payments and technology perspective, we’re thrilled to welcome back Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, who hasn’t spoken at the show in some time. Diego Scotti, EVP and General Manager of the Consumer Group at PayPal, will also be presenting.

It’s always important for us to provide a broad spectrum of perspectives. Money 20/20 is an ecosystem show, serving stakeholders across regulation, technology, payments, banking, retail, and more. Ensuring we have the right mix of speakers and content for this diverse audience is always a top priority.

Any tips for first-time attendees to get the most out of the event?

Absolutely! First-time attendees are very important to us, and we put a lot of effort into making sure they have a great experience, achieve their objectives, and want to come back year after year.

We have a dedicated First Timers Initiative, which includes a webinar this week on the 16th where we’ll walk through how to get the most out of the show, including key logistical tips to ensure a smooth experience. On the Sunday networking event, we also host a special First Timers Event every year. Last year, I personally hosted it, and over 200 first-time attendees participated in a fun, speed-networking style session where they could meet each other and start building connections.

We take first timers’ participation very seriously and have a lot planned to ensure they have an enjoyable, productive, and memorable experience at Money 20/20.

 

About the author

Jessica Blue serves as Executive Vice President of Money 20/20 USA, the USA’s most influential annual event connecting the financial services, fintech, and banking ecosystem. With over 25 years of expertise spanning B2B trade shows and media industries, Jessica brings a wealth of international experience to her leadership role. Her career includes 15 transformative years in the United Kingdom, where she held senior positions with UBM plc (now Informa plc) and Advanstar Communications, developing deep expertise in global event management and strategic business development.

Prior to joining Money 20/20, Jessica served as Executive Vice President at Emerald, where she successfully managed an extensive portfolio of industry-leading events and conferences. At Money 20/20 USA, Jessica spearheads strategic initiatives focused on expanding the event’s reach and impact within the fintech community. She leads a dynamic team responsible for delivering world-class experiences that facilitate meaningful connections between financial institutions, technology innovators, investors, and industry thought leaders. Her strategic vision continues to position Money 20/20 USA as the definitive platform for shaping the future of financial services and payments technology.

 

About Money 20/20

Launched by industry insiders in 2012, Money20/20 has rapidly become the heartbeat of the global fintech ecosystem. Over the last decade, the most innovative, fast-moving ideas and companies have driven their growth on our platform. Mastercard, Wise, J.P. Morgan, SHIELD, Convera, Stripe, Google, VISA, Adyen, and more make transformational deals and raise their global profile with us. Money20/20 attracts leaders from the world’s greatest banks, payments companies, VC firms, regulators and media platforms: convening to cut industry-shaping deals, build world-changing partnerships and unlock future-defining opportunities in in Las Vegas (26-29 October 2025), Bangkok (21-23 April 2026), in Amsterdam (2-4 June 2026),and in Riyadh (14-16 September 2026). Money20/20 is where the world’s fintech leaders convene to grow their businesses. Money20/20 is part of Informa Festivals.