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The Three Percent Fee: How a Russian Physics Graduate's Personal Frustration Became a $75 Billion Bank That's Rewriting the Rules of Global Finance

Nik Storonsky left Lehman Brothers with a burning question: why does sending money across a border cost three percent? A decade later, 65 million people carry the answer in their pockets.

<p>There is a specific kind of frustration that comes from understanding exactly how something works and watching everyone around you overpay for it anyway.</p>

<p>Nik Storonsky understood currency exchange. He'd spent years at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse trading equity derivatives, watching billions move between currencies at razor-thin institutional spreads. And then he'd pull out his personal debit card on a weekend in Europe, and the bank would quietly take three percent.</p>

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