Social FinTech: Localizing Finance Through Selective Folding and Reconfiguration of Market-Social Boundaries

FinTech has transformed financial systems by expanding credit access, simplifying digital payments, and reducing transaction costs. Yet, its long-term contribution to financial inclusion, particularly in vulnerable contexts of the Global South, remains uncertain, as conventional models often reproduce inequalities through standardized, top-down approaches that overlook local social, economic, and territorial specificities. This article critically examines social FinTech as an alternative, emphasizing the reconfiguration of boundaries between social and market objectives. Drawing on semistructured interviews with managers of community digital banks in Brazil and coordinators of their national network, the study provides empirical insights into locally grounded financial technologies. Building on Langley’s (Citation2020) concept of folding, the article argues that social FinTech selectively folds social and market logics in territorially embedded and locally oriented ways, reconfiguring market–social boundaries through bottom-up arrangements that prioritize long-term inclusion over profit maximization. Community digital banks adapt services to specific local contexts, strengthen social networks, and provide guidance, focusing on local engagement, financial and digital literacy, and tailored support rather than scale or standardization. By highlighting the territorial, social, and relational dimensions of digital finance, the article contributes both theoretically and empirically, showing how bottom-up, context-aware FinTech can foster more equitable, resilient, and sustainable financial inclusion.