Business

5 Steps That Took Abdul Moneeb Ilyas From Rags To Riches

Published

6 years ago

May 1, 2020

What has made Ilyas an Internet sensation, however, hasn’t been his lavish lifestyle (although that’s certainly played a part). It has been his desire to educate his audiences on the importance of establishing good habits, learning from valuable resources, and most of all, reading.

He calls this intersection “edu-tainment,” giving his audiences just enough lifestyle footage that they feel entertained, without losing the educational aspect of his message.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Ilyas and reflect on his journey. How did this entrepreneur with hundreds of millions of views to his name go from rags to riches?

1. Take Risks At An Early Age

Ilyas had the hunger to be an entrepreneur ever since he was a young kid. His first step into the world of entrepreneurship was at Fifteen years old, when he began selling FIFA Ultimate Team Coins.

“I seen an opportunity as I was great trader, I used buy players cheap and sell them for a higher price, Then my friends used to want to buy coins from. This gave me the idea to sell on eBay.’ he said.

In a sense, this is a metaphor for how Ilyas executes his social media content today. He knows that in order to reach large audiences, he needs to give the people what they want and not give them what he wants.

2. Adopt A Lifestyle-Focused Mindset

Part of becoming successful, he said, is about figuring out the lifestyle you want to live and then working backwards. You have to reverse engineer where it is you want to end up, and what you can do in order to get there.

“I always knew whatever I ended up doing, it needed to involve traveling,” he said. “I enjoy meeting new people, interesting people, smart people. I like reading. I wanted a life with a bit of adventure. So I thought hard about what I could do that would allow me to do all of those things. I asked myself what my business would have to look like in order to accomplish those personally satisfying goals. And the personal brand you see today reflects exactly that.”

If you want to live your ideal lifestyle, you need to ask yourself what you can do that will manifest that lifestyle in the first place. From there get excited about that lifestyle and mentality and that passion will overflow into your work and success.

3. Develop A “Daily Brain Budget”

Ilyas, who frequently advocates for digital courses and mentors over a college education, believes there is no excuse for someone to not be reading and learning every single day. From autobiographies to self-help, celebrity stories and beyond, Lopez has built a following off of sharing stories and lessons from every industry that people can learn from.

His theory is that we should all have a “daily brain budget.” What he means by this is understanding how much input you need in order to continue a positive growth curve for yourself.

“If you aren’t prioritizing and setting aside time for your own development, you’re going to fall stagnant,” he said. “You have to make the time, and invest that time wisely, no differently than if you were to invest any amount of money in yourself.”

4. Test, Optimize, Repeat

He went on to explain that part of entrepreneurship is to always be doing and improving. You have to try things in order to know if they’re going to work or not. And, as his grandpa had told him, “Once is luck, twice is skill. I’ve done it more than once at this point, so now it’s a skill.”

5. Build A Personal Brand Around What You’re Best At

Ilyas has a personal brand recognized by millions around the world. But ask him how he’s built that for himself, and he won’t say self-promotion.

“People think it’s a show, but these are just the things I like to do. I built a personal brand around who I already am, instead of who I wanted people to see me as, and I think that’s where a lot of people go wrong. It has to be authentic, otherwise no one is going to get on board,” he said.

He went on to explain that while people can’t necessarily succeed by following his same formula, because each person succeeds in different ways, they can learn from the principles he shares and apply them accordingly.

After all, he said, “If I can do it, you can do it.”

Business

Inside the $4.3B Quarter: What’s Fueling Black Banx’s Record Revenues

Published

15 hours ago

January 16, 2026

Matthew Wiles

Every quarter brings fresh headlines in fintech, but few make the kind of impact achieved by Black Banx in Q2 2025. The Toronto-based global digital banking group, founded by Michael Gastauer, reported an extraordinary USD 4.3 billion in revenue and a record USD 1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, while improving its cost-to-income ratio to 63%.

These results not only highlight the company’s operational efficiency but also mark a pivotal moment in its journey from challenger to global leader. The big question is: what’s fueling such impressive financial performance?

Customer Growth as the Core Driver

One of the clearest engines of revenue growth is Black Banx’s expanding customer base. By Q2 2025, the platform had reached 84 million clients worldwide, up from 69 million at the end of 2024. This 15 million net gain in six months demonstrates both the attractiveness of its services and the scalability of its model.

Unlike traditional banks, which rely heavily on branch expansion, Black Banx leverages digital-first onboarding that allows customers to open accounts within minutes using just a smartphone. This approach is especially effective in regions underserved by legacy institutions, where access to affordable financial tools is in high demand.

More customers don’t just mean higher transaction volumes—they generate a compounding effect where network size, brand trust, and service adoption reinforce one another.

Real-Time Payments and Cross-Border Solutions

A major contributor to Q2 revenues is the platform’s real-time payments infrastructure. Black Banx enables instant cross-border transfers across its 28 supported fiat currencies and multiple cryptocurrencies, helping both individuals and businesses bypass the traditional bottlenecks of international banking.

For freelancers, SMEs, and multinational clients, this means faster liquidity, reduced foreign exchange costs, and simplified global operations. The demand for real-time financial services is growing rapidly—Juniper Research projects global real-time payments turnover to hit USD 58 trillion by 2028—and Black Banx is strategically positioned to capture a significant share of this market.

Crypto Integration as a Revenue Stream

Another key revenue driver is crypto integration. While many traditional institutions remain hesitant, Black Banx embraced digital assets early and has built infrastructure to support Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Lightning Network. In Q2 2025, 20% of all transactions on the platform were crypto-based, reflecting strong customer appetite for hybrid banking services that bridge fiat and digital assets.

Revenue comes not only from transaction fees but also from value-added services like crypto-to-fiat conversion, staking yields (4–12% APY), and blockchain-enabled payments. For customers in markets with unstable currencies, these services act as a financial lifeline, further expanding the platform’s relevance.

AI-Powered Efficiency and Risk Management

Record revenues would be less impressive if costs ballooned at the same rate. But Black Banx has proven adept at balancing growth with efficiency. Its cost-to-income ratio improved to 63% in Q2, down from 69% a year earlier, thanks to heavy reliance on AI-powered automation.

AI now drives fraud detection, compliance, and customer onboarding—areas where traditional banks often struggle with cost inefficiencies. By automating these processes, Black Banx can process millions of transactions securely while maintaining profitability at scale. This level of efficiency is rare in fintech, where high growth often comes at the expense of margins.

Regional Expansion and Untapped Markets

Geography also plays a role in fueling revenues. Much of the Q2 growth came from Africa, South Asia, and Latin America—regions where demand for mobile-first banking continues to soar. In 2024 alone, Black Banx reported a 32% increase in SME clients from the Middle East and Africa, signaling the strength of its positioning in underserved markets.

By extending services to populations previously excluded from formal banking—migrant workers, rural communities, and small businesses—Black Banx taps into vast pools of latent demand. The strategy proves that financial inclusion and profitability are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing.

Diversified Revenue Streams

Another factor behind Q2’s record revenues is Black Banx’s diversified business model. Income is not tied to a single service but spread across multiple streams, including:

Transaction fees from cross-border transfers and payments.
Crypto trading and exchange services.
Premium account features for high-net-worth clients.
Corporate services for SMEs and international businesses.

This diversification insulates the company against volatility in any single segment, creating stable revenue growth even in shifting market conditions.

Michael Gastauer’s Strategic Blueprint

Behind these results is Michael Gastauer’s long-term strategy: scale aggressively but with efficiency, innovation, and inclusion at the core. His vision has always been to create a borderless financial ecosystem, and Q2 2025’s performance is evidence that this vision is not only achievable but sustainable.

By balancing mass-market accessibility with premium features, and by blending fiat with digital assets, Gastauer has positioned Black Banx as a category-defining player in global finance.

The Road Ahead: Toward 100 Million Clients

Looking forward, the company’s goal of reaching 100 million customers by the end of 2025 will likely be the next catalyst for revenue growth. More customers mean more transactions, more data insights, and more opportunities to refine and expand its service offering.

If current momentum holds, the USD 4.3 billion quarterly revenue milestone could be just the beginning of an even larger growth story. The challenge will be ensuring systems scale securely while maintaining trust in an environment where privacy and compliance are paramount.

A Record That Signals More to Come

Black Banx’s Q2 2025 performance—USD 4.3 billion in revenue, USD 1.6 billion in pre-tax profit, 84 million clients worldwide, and a lean 63% cost-to-income ratio—is more than a financial milestone. It is a signal of how the future of banking is being rewritten by platforms that are borderless, crypto-inclusive, and data-driven.

What fueled this record-breaking quarter is not one innovation but a combination of strategies—scalable onboarding, real-time payments, crypto integration, AI efficiency, and expansion into underserved regions. Together, they form a model that doesn’t just challenge traditional banking but actively builds the foundation for global dominance.

For Black Banx, the road ahead is clear: the $4.3 billion quarter is not an endpoint but a launchpad for even greater scale and profitability.