The Money Revolution by Sergey Tsabolov — Review

The fintech category is too broad to cover well in one book. AI-driven banking, blockchain and crypto, neo-banking, robo-advisory, embedded finance, buy-now-pay-later, real-time payments — these are each worthy of their own book. Tsabolov attempts a handbook-style survey across all of them. The result is useful-but-shallow orientation.

What Readers Get

A chapter each on:

• AI banking and automated financial services
• Cryptocurrency and its SMB-adoption reality
• Robo-advisory and wealth management automation
• Neo-banking (Chime, N26, Monzo-style digital-first banks)
• Crowdfunding and alternative capital
• Embedded finance (payments-as-infrastructure)
• Real-time payments (FedNow, RTP)

Each chapter gives you the vocabulary, the key players, and a sense of what's hype vs real.

Strengths

Vocabulary fluency. After reading, you'll understand what founders and fintech news articles actually mean when they use terms like "embedded finance," "Banking-as-a-Service," "RTP rail," or "MiCA." Broad vocabulary is a real benefit.

Balanced hype framing. Tsabolov is explicit about which claims are marketing and which have substance. Crypto-for-SMB-payments is framed as "rarely worth it yet"; embedded finance is framed as "genuinely transforming retail." The calibration helps.

Weaknesses

No depth on adoption decisions. If you're deciding between Chime Business, Mercury, and Brex for your SMB bank account, Tsabolov doesn't help — you need category-specific reviews.

Cryptocurrency chapter is thin. Both advocates and skeptics will find the treatment unsatisfying. The topic deserves its own book (or no book).

Some regional bias. Written from a Europe-adjacent perspective; US-specific realities (FedNow, Plaid ecosystem, Chase Merchant Services) get less treatment.

Who Should Read

SMB owners and operators who want orientation across fintech terminology. Anyone considering replacing traditional banking with fintech alternatives and wants background before deep research.

Who Should Skip

Anyone making a specific adoption decision today — you need category reviews, not a general handbook. Fintech professionals — you already know this content.

Verdict

A legitimate survey-level introduction to 2020s fintech. Use as orientation, pair with specific-category resources for adoption decisions.