In this episode of The Smart Economy Podcast, host Dylan Grabowski sits down with Zeymer Montes, founder of MOCA, a crypto payments and wallet ecosystem designed to make on-chain finance usable for everyday people and merchants. MOCA brings together a smart wallet, point-of-sale system, messaging app, and payment rails that allow users to pay with crypto across chains while merchants receive stablecoins, all without needing to understand what’s happening under the hood. Montes shares how early friction with Bitcoin, years working in Web2 software, and managing teams with wildly different technical skill levels shaped his obsession with UX.
What you’ll learn:
- Why poor UX, not technology, remains crypto’s biggest bottleneck
- How MOCA’s POS system lets merchants accept crypto with minimal training
- What “pay with any wallet” means for cross-chain payments
- How MOCA handles token swaps, settlement, and confirmations behind the scenes
- Why familiar language matters when onboarding non-crypto users
- How encrypted messaging fits into MOCA’s broader payment ecosystem
- Why referral-driven revenue is core to MOCA’s long-term model
Zeymer Montes is the founder of MOCA and a product-focused builder with a background in Web2 software development and team leadership. Before launching MOCA, Montes worked across engineering, project management, and UX-driven product design, where he developed a deep appreciation for simplicity, reliability, and user trust. His experience continues to inform MOCA’s approach to self-custody, merchant adoption, and building crypto infrastructure that feels intuitive instead of intimidating.
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About The Author: Arthur Bone
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