Fintech as invasive infrastructure: a critical discourse analysis of corporate newswires and press releases, 1995–2021.

This article critically examines financial technologies (fintech)—digital tools such as mobile banking, digital payments, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain—through the lens of Indigenous theorizing of invasive infrastructure and concepts of predatory inclusion and obfuscation. Analyzing nearly three decades of newswires and press releases from finance, technology, and social media companies, the study finds that fintech operates as an invasive infrastructure that connects marginalized populations to exploitative financial products and data extraction, paralleling settler colonialist oil and gas pipelines. The authors identify themes including "new products, old promises," "benevolent exploitation," "efficient obfuscation," and "information extraction," highlighting how corporate language conceals the predatory and extractive nature of fintech. The article calls for regulatory oversight that addresses systemic oppression embedded in fintech infrastructures and suggests public banking as a potential alternative to profit-driven financial inclusion efforts.