Daren Guo

Daren Guo is a technology and business professional whose career spans financial services, payments, startups, and venture investing across North America and Asia. He is a Co-Founder of Reap and has previously held growth roles at Stripe, while also serving as an advisor and investor in technology companies. ^[5]

Education

Guo graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Commerce. ^[1]

Career

Guo began his career as an Analyst at TD, followed by an Associate role at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He then co-founded Snapy in the Greater Toronto Area before joining Stripe, where he worked in growth roles in the San Francisco Bay Area and later in Singapore, focusing on Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, China, and cross-border business. In 2017, he became an Advisor to Shuga and an Investor in ShopBack. Since 2018, he has been a Co-Founder of Reap in Hong Kong, alongside his advisory and investment activities. ^[2]

Interviews

Future of Payments

In a June 2026 interview at Money20/20 Asia, Guo and Yam Ki Chan of Circle discussed the long-standing relationship between Reap and Circle, including their early collaboration around regulatory and product questions before stablecoins became widely adopted. They described Reap’s focus on addressing practical problems in payments and stablecoins across Asia, with USDC viewed as well suited to the region’s fragmented markets because of its potential to facilitate faster cross-border payments and broader financial access. The conversation examined stablecoins as foundational infrastructure for international trade and commerce, with applications such as stablecoin top-ups and treasury management contributing to their practical utility. Guo and Chan also discussed accelerating institutional adoption in response to regulatory developments in the United States, Hong Kong, and Europe, as well as the development of programmable money and agentic payments, including automated and low-cost transactions. They further considered use cases such as payroll streaming and instant payments in emerging markets, growing interest from banks, and the potential for AI and agentic payment systems to shape the future of global financial services. ^[4]

Agentic Future

In a May 2026 interview with Gary Liu of Terminal 3 on Reap’s podcast, Guo discussed Reap’s evolution from cards and payments toward stablecoin infrastructure and generative commerce, with a focus on cross-border payments and foreign-exchange hedging for small businesses. He described a future in which stablecoin infrastructure could substantially change payment systems over the next five years, potentially moving beyond card-based models, while emphasizing the importance of maintaining discipline and a clear mission as companies scale. Guo said Reap’s focus remains on expanding financial access through stablecoins despite broader industry hype, while Liu discussed the potential of AI for autonomous enterprise transactions such as procurement and trade finance, alongside concerns about current valuations and market concentration. The discussion also covered challenges surrounding autonomous AI agents, including identity, permissions, auditability, and data privacy, as well as Terminal 3’s development of tools such as Agent O to address these issues. Guo and Liu also discussed Reap’s $600 million acquisition by Payword and the shared goal of building hybrid on-chain and off-chain financial infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of clearly communicating complex infrastructure to customers, enterprises, regulators, and investors, and adapting products as customers expand their use cases. ^[3]