Balanced requires name, DOB, and address only to underwrite the recipient as a m...

Balanced requires name, DOB, and address only to underwrite the recipient as a merchant to avoid the marketplace becoming an aggregator. It is still possible to make a next-day payout directly to a recipient without this information:

  curl https://api.balancedpayments.com/v1/credits \
      -u f97912a2cd8a11e2a411026ba7cd33d0: \
      -d "amount=10000" \
      -d "bank_account[name]=Johann Bernoulli" \
      -d "bank_account[routing_number]=121000358" \
      -d "bank_account[type]=checking" \
      -d "bank_account[account_number]=9900000001"

In that case you can also use Balanced only for payouts by funding your escrow with your own bank account. Stripe would require you to charge your own credit card to perform this service.

As you said, the main difference is about focus. Balanced has focused on supporting marketplaces from the beginning and continues to do so.