Business

Retire Smart, Save More: How MDRN’s Virtual Planning Model Can Slash Retirement Costs

Published

1 year ago

October 8, 2024

The media is calling it a “retirement crisis.” Millions of Americans are arriving at retirement age woefully unprepared.

Some studies suggest that 45 percent of the Baby Boomers have no retirement savings, while 28 percent of those who have started saving have less than $100,000 put away. Consequently, many Americans now living in retirement or approaching that season are looking for ways to cut back on their expenses.

Aaron Cirksena, founder and CEO of MDRN Capital, has a solution for those looking to retire smart and save more. His firm’s completely virtual model increases retirees’ spending power by decreasing the fees associated with retirement planning.

“Our unique approach to providing retirement planning services allows our clients to experience significant savings when compared with the traditional model of investment management and retirement planning,” Cirksena shares. “When we did away with the overhead expenses that stem from operating a brick-and-mortar office, we were able to create a fee solution for our clients that is lower than the typical advisor. On average, our fees on the entire client portfolio tend to run 30 to 40 percent lower than the typical advisor operating under a conventional model. Additionally, we can provide services like estate planning, tax planning, and tax preparation at no additional cost.”

MDRN Capital is revolutionizing retirement planning by offering a comprehensive range of services, including income planning, investment management, tax planning, healthcare, and estate planning, in a setting that exceeds the efficiency and effectiveness traditional providers are able to offer. Unlike traditional firms, MDRN Capital leverages the power of digital tools to deliver comprehensive services without the need for in-person meetings, allowing clients to enjoy their retirement while their financial needs are expertly managed.

“My goal with MDRN Capital was creating a completely virtual firm that could more efficiently provide the convenience clients wanted while also meeting their ongoing investment needs,” Cirksena shares. “MDRN Capital’s virtual model empowers an environment in which we could serve our clients with less costs to the firm and pass the savings on to them.”

Financial planning for the new normal

MDRN Capital’s innovative approach to retirement advising emerged as a result of Cirksena’s experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to social distancing, advising during the pandemic shifted to virtual appointments. When social distancing was no longer necessary, Cirksena expected his clients would resume their pre-pandemic patterns. He was wrong.

“My clients let me know they preferred the comfort and convenience of virtual meetings to the hassles associated with having in-office meetings,” Cirksena says. “They didn’t miss sitting in traffic and searching for parking spaces, and I couldn’t blame them. Even the clients who lived only a few minutes away decided they would rather meet via Zoom than have a face-to-face meeting in our nice Class-A office space.”

MDRN Capital was designed to meet the client expectations that emerged during Covid. By leveraging technology to take his services to his clients rather than expecting them to come to him, Cirksena made advising more convenient and more cost-effective at the same time.

Financial savings for struggling retirees

Recent studies show the high inflation the US has been experiencing has a larger than average impact on many retirees. In response, many are looking to tighten their belts by cutting back on spending, but reducing the fees associated with retirement accounts is something few consider.

“For retirees, lower gas and grocery costs are certainly helpful,” Cirksena says. “However, cutting their investment management costs in half puts dramatically more money in their pocket over time than lower prices on goods ever could.”

To understand the impact MDRN Capital’s approach can have on retirees, consider that $250,000 earning seven percent over 20 years will grow to $967,421.12. Factor in a 1 percent fee, and growth is limited to $801,783.87, but raising the fee to 2 percent causes earnings to fall to $721,034.70.

Cirksena points to his industry’s failure to embrace modern technology as one reason why investment fees remain high.

“Unlike many industries that have used and adopted technology for decades to help lower costs and make services more efficient, the financial services sector has lagged behind,” he explains. “Many firms continue to incur unnecessary overhead and expenses, which their clients pay for in the form of elevated fees.”

The virtual investment environment Cirksena has created moves retirement planning into the future. It provides a financial service experience that is convenient, comfortable, and efficient while also ensuring that none of its clients’ investment potential is wasted on unnece

Business

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

Published

4 days 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.