DriveWealth
DriveWealth Technical Briefing
Published November 17, 2020
Supported by The Kauffman Foundation and Modern Treasury
Overview
John, product lead at DriveWealth, demos DriveWealth — the brokerage infrastructure behind Cash App investing in the US, Revolut in Europe, and a long list of wallets across Africa, South America, India, and Southeast Asia. The demo uses a sample banking app with an $845 balance to show how a customer goes from pure checking to buying $50 of Starbucks stock without leaving the app. Because the bank already holds identity data, DriveWealth\'s onboarding only collects brokerage-specific disclosures (SSN confirmation, broker/politician questions) — creating a tax-and-regulator-ready brokerage account in seconds. The account.managementType flag switches between self-directed and managed (robo-advisor) flows on the same API surface. DriveWealth was the first to offer real-time fractional shares: a $50 market order for Starbucks is recalculated against the live price so users never over- or under-spend. Shares are stored to ten decimal places (inspired by crypto UX), enabling pennies-of-Berkshire orders. Live P/L, cost basis, and market value surface in both the partner app and DriveWealth\'s admin portal.
0:00 Introduction to DriveWealth
John introduces DriveWealth — the brokerage infrastructure behind investing features in Cash App in the US, Revolut in Europe, and many more wallets across Africa, South America, India, and Southeast Asia.
1:00 Banking app + investing demo setup
The demo app is a sample banking experience with a checking balance and recent spending. Partners have full control over the customer UI; DriveWealth powers the brokerage primitives underneath.
2:00 Rebundling of fintech — banking + investing
Modern wallets and neobanks are rebundling savings, lending, and investing under one app. The demo shows how an existing banking customer goes from holding cash to holding an equity position without leaving the app.
3:00 Onboarding in seconds with reused KYC
Because the banking partner already has name, address, tax ID, and contact info, DriveWealth only collects brokerage-specific questions (SSN confirmation, broker/politician disclosures). One tap opens a fully compliant brokerage account.
4:30 Self vs. managed accounts — APIs under the hood
The same API surface creates either a self-directed account (user picks trades) or a managed account (robo-advisor or human advisor directs trades). Setting account.managementType tells DriveWealth which tax and regulatory reporting applies.
6:30 Fractional shares and dollar-based investing
DriveWealth was the first company to offer real-time fractional-share trading. The demo buys $50 of Starbucks stock — no share quantity required — and explains why a $50 order that moves to $51 mid-market should never reject on a new investor.
8:00 Crypto-style granularity — Berkshire Hathaway A in pennies
Inspired by crypto-first investors, DriveWealth quotes shares out to ten decimal places and processes dollar-denominated orders as small as one cent of BRK.A — democratizing previously unreachable securities.
9:00 Live position and P/L
Immediately after execution, the user sees the new Starbucks position with live market value, cost basis, and profit/loss. The same data surfaces in DriveWealth's admin portal for partner operations staff.
Presented by John Shammas — DriveWealth · LinkedIn · website
Topics: Investing & Trading, Capital Markets, Embedded Finance
