Luke Goldstein

Luke Goldstein is an investigative journalist and reporter with The Lever who wrote the widely discussed article “Everything Is Becoming a Bank,” which details how major corporations are integrating financial services to operate like unregulated banks.

Current Role: Goldstein is a reporter for the investigative news outlet The Lever, focusing on corporate power, finance, and economic policy. He was previously a writing fellow at the American Prospect and worked with the Open Markets Institute.

Key Themes: His work often examines the rise of “bankification” or “embedded finance,” where non-financial companies (from Starbucks to airlines and tech giants) embed payment, lending, and other financial services into their core operations to achieve higher profit margins, often without the regulatory oversight of traditional banks.

Focus of the Article: “Everything Is Becoming a Bank” highlights how this trend can create potential harms for consumers, such as uninsured deposits in payment apps and predatory practices, and potentially set the stage for future financial instability.

Notable Investigations: Besides his work on corporate finance, Goldstein has covered topics including private equity’s influence in youth sports and government policy, and corporate efforts to influence legislation. His reporting has prompted national discussions and corporate policy changes.