TokenPocket Announced as Platinum Sponsor for Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026
TokenPocket has been named a Platinum Sponsor of the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026, linking its multi‑chain wallet platform with Asia’s leading blockchain gathering. The partnership highlights TokenPocket’s zero‑gas, cross‑chain transfer capabilities and its broader push into enterprise‑grade security and hardware solutions. The festival, now in its fourth year, expects up to 300 speakers and over 500 senior finance executives, reinforcing Hong Kong’s role as a Web3 regulatory and innovation hub. Together, the sponsorship and event signal heightened institutional interest in decentralized technologies across the region.
Ex-PayPal Exec Breaks Silence, Warns of Ongoing Decline
I woke up this morning to dozens of messages from former PayPal colleagues. It pushed me to finally speak up. I never spoke publicly about the company after I left. Part of that was loyalty to John Donahoe, who gave...
Blockchain.com, Ondo Partner on Tokenized Securities, ETFs for Europe
Blockchain.com has teamed up with Ondo Finance to launch a tokenized securities platform across 30 European Economic Area countries. The service brings 200 NYSE‑listed stocks and ETFs into Blockchain.com’s self‑custody wallet, complying with the EU’s MiCA regulations. Ondo, which launched...
Digital Bank Revolut Adds Business Payments Features for Australia Market
Revolut Business has rolled out a full suite of account‑to‑account, online and in‑person payment capabilities for Australian merchants. The launch follows a 235% surge in monthly transaction volume on the platform over the past year. A Revolut‑conducted survey found 83%...
Truist Launches AI-Enabled Platform to Automate Corporate Receivables
Truist Financial unveiled an AI‑enabled receivables platform that automates payment‑to‑invoice matching for corporate clients. Leveraging machine learning and business rules, the solution scans checks and electronic payments, extracts remittance data, and integrates with ERP systems for straight‑through processing. The platform...
How to Build a Future‑Proof Remote Trading Setup
Building a remote trading workstation requires a powerful, quiet computer, reliable internet, and ergonomic workspace. Traders should prioritize business‑grade towers with at least 32 GB RAM, SSD storage, and wired Ethernet, plus a 4G/5G hotspot as backup. Thoughtful multi‑monitor layouts keep...
Canada’s Investment Watchdog Rolls Out Crypto Custody Rules to Avoid Another QuadrigaCX
Canada’s investment regulator CIRO introduced a Digital Asset Custody Framework to tighten crypto custody standards after the QuadrigaCX collapse. The rules require tiered, risk‑based custody arrangements and give CIRO authority to act quickly on hacking, fraud or insolvency risks. Platforms...
Trump's White House Won't Tolerate Attacks on the President in Crypto Bill, Adviser Says
President Donald Trump's White House, through digital‑assets adviser Patrick Witt, has rejected Senate‑drafted anti‑corruption provisions that would single out the president and his family in the pending crypto market‑structure bill. Witt described the proposals, especially those from Sen. Adam Schiff,...
Digital Wallets Will Hold 'Totality' Of People's Assets, Says Franklin Templeton
At the Ondo Summit, Franklin Templeton’s head of innovation Sandy Kaul announced that future asset management will be “wallet‑native,” with all financial assets tokenized in digital wallets. A panel of senior managers from Fidelity, State Street and WisdomTree confirmed that...
Spotify to Use Checkout.com’s Global Acquiring Services
Spotify announced a partnership with Checkout.com to power its global payment infrastructure, leveraging the fintech’s Intelligent Acceptance, network tokenization, and authentication services. The arrangement will cover more than 180 countries, supporting Spotify’s 700 million monthly active users and 280 million paying subscribers....
Banks Say Core Provider Power Needs to Be Checked
Community banks and trade groups have urged the OCC to reconsider third‑party risk rules, citing the dominance of three core‑banking providers that serve over 70 % of institutions. They argue that vendor concentration drives rigid contracts, high integration costs, and unclear...
Socure Unveils Unified Risk Platform for Government Agencies
Socure announced SocureGov RiskOS, a unified risk platform for government agencies to modernize digital identity verification. The solution merges Socure’s existing public‑sector offerings with new AI‑powered analytics, replacing fragmented legacy systems with a single ecosystem. It leverages behavioral analytics, device...
Prediction Markets Chase Super Bowl Moment Despite States’ Regulatory Crackdown
Prediction market platforms such as Polymarket, Kalshi and Crypto.com’s new OG exchange are riding a wave of Super Bowl‑related activity, joining the $1.76 billion sports‑betting surge. The CFTC has stepped back from a restrictive 2024 rule proposal and is drafting fresh...
Meet the Big Tech Companies Banking on AI Infrastructure in Africa
Big tech firms are pouring billions into AI infrastructure across Africa, with Microsoft, Google, AWS, Oracle and Meta each launching multi‑billion‑dollar projects. Microsoft’s $1 billion geothermal data centre in Kenya and $285 million South African expansion illustrate its aggressive stance, while Google...
Stripe’s Stablecoin Expansion Faces Sanctions Scrutiny
Stripe’s 2025 acquisition of Bridge was intended to power a dollar‑backed stablecoin layer for faster, cheaper cross‑border payments. The Information reports that Bridge’s APIs were used in transactions linked to online scams and U.S. sanctions‑listed parties, prompting fresh compliance scrutiny....
Sea Global FX Launches as a New CFD Brokerage Focused on Execution, Transparency, and Trader Education
Sea Global FX has launched a new CFD brokerage platform that prioritizes transparent execution, system stability, and trader education. The service routes orders through external liquidity providers and publishes detailed execution policies and pricing structures. Operating under a St. Lucia registration,...
KAI Exchanges Launches 2026 New Year Carnival to Reward Global Users with Multi-Task Incentives and Guaranteed Prizes
KAI Exchanges has launched the “KAI New Year Carnival: New Plans, Full Rewards Unlocked,” a month‑long promotion running from Jan 29 to Feb 28 2026. The campaign offers guaranteed‑reward draws for every qualified participation, covering Bitcoin, token prizes and USAD contract trial funds....
When a Prepaid Issuer Goes Belly-Up, Who’s on the Hook?
The episode examines the fallout from Synergy’s sudden shutdown of its restaurant gift‑card program, leaving consumers with worthless prepaid cards and highlighting the lack of consumer recourse when such issuers fail. It details Costco’s voluntary refunds, despite no legal obligation,...
Neo Financial Secures $68.5 Million in Equity as It Adopts Big-Bank Funding Playbook
Neo Financial announced a CAD 68.5 million equity round led by Canadian institutional investors such as AIMCo and Northleaf. The funding coincides with the launch of a securitization program that will bundle its credit assets to generate liquidity, a practice common among...
Crypto.com Launches Prediction Market Platform in US
Crypto.com unveiled OG, a CFTC‑registered prediction‑market platform for U.S. users, offering contracts on sports, elections, finance and entertainment events. The service, powered by Crypto.com Derivatives North America, introduces margin trading on prediction contracts—a first for a publicly launched market. Co‑founder...
Know Your Customer Celebrates 10 Years Redefining Corporate Onboarding for Global Banks
Know Your Customer (KYC) marks its 10th anniversary as one of the few RegTech firms from the post‑2008 era still thriving. Founded in 2015, the company built a platform that pulls real‑time, registry‑sourced corporate data from 146 jurisdictions, delivering authoritative...
Mastering Enterprise IAM: Naveen Rudraradhya on Leading Global Identity and Access Transformation
Naveen Rudraradhya, an IAM veteran with an MBA in IT Business Management, led a global identity and access transformation that unified standards across regions while respecting local regulations. He replaced manual request channels with a single, automated portal linking HR...
VistaShares Launches Treasury ETF with Options-Based Bitcoin Exposure
VistaShares introduced BTYB, an actively managed ETF listed on the NYSE that blends U.S. Treasury securities with Bitcoin‑linked exposure. About 80% of assets are invested in Treasury instruments while the remaining 20% is generated through a synthetic covered‑call strategy using...
UK Asset Management Rules in Focus: What to Expect in 2026
The UK asset‑management regulatory landscape continued evolving in 2025, moving from policy design to concrete implementation. Zeidler Group published a guide outlining the latest FCA supervisory priorities, ESG disclosures, consumer‑duty rules, and governance expectations. It also highlights infrastructure reforms such...
Enterprise AI Strategy: Why Buy Often Beats Build
At the 2025 Central Park AI Forum, leaders debated whether enterprises should buy or build AI solutions, especially for legal and regulatory functions. Speakers highlighted that building tools often fails to deliver long‑term ownership, as maintenance and continuous updates are...
PayPal Shares Sink Amid Online Branded Checkout Headwinds
PayPal reported a modest 1% Q4 growth in its branded‑checkout payment volume, a sharp deceleration from the prior quarter, and its shares fell 18% on the news. The earnings release also announced a leadership transition, with board chair Enrique Lores...
Earn Yield From These Market Neutral Strategies
Neutral is a DeFi platform that generates yield through market‑neutral strategies, balancing long and short positions via basis trading and funding‑rate arbitrage. The protocol operates on‑chain across both centralized exchanges like Binance and decentralized venues, offering eleven active strategies and...
Fedgraph-Vasp Achieves 0.855 AML Accuracy with Post-Quantum Privacy Preservation
Researchers introduced FedGraph‑VASP, a privacy‑preserving federated graph learning framework that enables virtual asset service providers to jointly detect money‑laundering without sharing raw transaction data. The system exchanges compressed graph embeddings secured with Kyber‑512 key encapsulation and AES‑256‑GCM, delivering quantum‑resistant protection....
U.S. Bank COO to Retire This Spring
U.S. Bank announced that its chief operations officer, Souheil Badran, will retire this spring after three years in the role. The bank has not yet identified a successor and says it will rely on its robust succession‑planning program, with Badran...
Revenue-Based Financing Enters Phase Two: How Technology Is Transforming a Hidden Asset Class
Revenue‑based financing (RBF) is moving from a proof‑of‑concept stage to a technology‑driven growth phase. Phase one proved the model using manual underwriting and limited scalability, while major platforms like PayPal and Shopify introduced sales‑linked funding. Phase two replaces static documents...
How AML Reform Is Reshaping Financial Crime Strategy
Australia’s AML and counter‑terrorism financing reforms will take effect on 31 March 2026 for existing entities and July 2026 for a new tranche of roughly 80,000 businesses, including real‑estate agents and lawyers. The amendment Act shifts supervision from checklist compliance to outcomes‑based, demanding...
Payments Canada to Focus on Enhanced Governance with New Chief Legal and Policy Appointment
Payments Canada announced Lisa Ford as its new Chief Legal and Policy Officer, effective February 17, 2026, to strengthen governance and integrate legal, compliance, and policy functions. Ford, a 2023 Women in Payments Thought Leadership Award winner, has shaped key legislation and...
Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) Aims to Enhance Governance Standards
The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has introduced a new General Code of Conduct aimed at decision‑makers across the financial sector. The code outlines five core principles—integrity, informed decision‑making, accountability, compliance, and fairness—to raise governance standards and ethical behavior. It...
European Central Bank (ECB) Releases Insights on Euro Area’s Economic Outlook
The ECB’s latest SAFE survey shows tightening credit conditions for euro‑area firms, with 12% reporting higher loan rates and 14% facing stricter collateral requirements. Despite the financing squeeze, external funding demand rose modestly and digital payments surged 7.7% to 77.7 billion...
Stablecoins Top $300 Billion as Institutional Usage Grows
Moody’s reports the global stablecoin market has crossed the $300 billion threshold. Settlement volumes surged 87 % to $9 trillion by the end of 2025. Regulatory clarity from the U.S. GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA has spurred 19 new stablecoin launches, primarily for...
World Liberty Launches $3.4B Stablecoin: How It Fits Into Onchain Credit Systems
World Liberty Financial launched World Liberty Markets, a DeFi lending platform built around its USD1 stablecoin, which now has a circulating supply of about $3.4 billion. The protocol uses smart contracts to let users deposit crypto assets as collateral and borrow...
Solana to Reach $2,000 by 2030 Despite Recent Plunge to $100, Says Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered’s crypto research head Geoffrey Kendrick projects Solana (SOL) to reach $2,000 by 2030, despite a recent dip to around $100. He trimmed his 2026 price target to $250 from $310 but sees a longer‑term surge driven by stablecoin‑based...
Safello Expands to Finland Where One-Tenth Holds Crypto
Safello, the Swedish crypto exchange, announced its launch in Finland, a market where roughly one‑tenth of the adult population already holds digital assets. The move introduces local fiat on‑ramps and a native app tailored to Finnish regulatory requirements. Safello aims...
Enclaive Secures €4.1m to Scale Confidential Computing Across Multi-Cloud
Berlin‑based enclaive closed a €4.1 million seed round led by Join Capital and the Amadeus APEX Technology Fund to accelerate its Multi‑Cloud Platform (eMCP). The funding will boost sales, marketing, product functionality and international expansion. eMCP lets organisations run workloads in...
Bridging Financial Frontiers: ZOOMEX Launches “February XAUT Airdrop Event” To Redefine Digital Asset Experience with Fairness and Transparency
Zoomex, a global crypto exchange, launched the February XAUT Airdrop Event, rewarding new users with a $10 bonus and XAUT tokens for completing KYC and initial trades. The promotion uses a transparent, task‑based system and requires upgrading to the Unified...
2026 Marks Global Economy’s Shift to Tokenization
Everyone in the finance media is watching Ondo Summit from @OndoFinance today, Bloomberg, FT, WSJ, Reuters, CoinDesk & more. Last year: 500K+ livestream views. This year is bigger. 2026 belongs to Tokenization We aren't just trading tokens anymore. We are tokenizing the entire...
Coinbase Quietly Removes Kontigo After $20M Funding
Coinbase, which led Kontigo’s $20m funding round announced less than two months ago, appears to have quietly scrubbed the company from its website:
Safe Project Reports $10M Revenue, Targets Break-Even and $100M ARR Path by 2030
The Safe Ecosystem Foundation announced that its smart‑account protocol generated over $10 million in annualized revenue for 2025, up from roughly $2 million in 2024, without any token subsidies. The network processed $600 billion in transaction volume—43 % of its total lifetime volume—in a...
Aave Drives Stablecoin Adoption and Growth
A strong case study highlighting Aave’s role as a key growth driver for stablecoins. The Aave effect.
DATs Out of Dry Powder as mNAVs Dip Below 1
"DATs have no more dry powder. Because mNAVs are below 1, they can't sell equity to buy more tokens." https://t.co/d1Catj17uP
Y Combinator Says That Startups Will Now Be Able to Receive Their Funding in Stablecoins
Y Combinator announced that, beginning with its Spring 2026 batch, startups can elect to receive the standard $500,000 investment in USDC stablecoins instead of cash. The option, driven by founder demand and the accelerator’s view of evolving financial infrastructure, aims...
Crypto Hoarding Strategy Cracks as Bitcoin Slides
The crypto hoarding playbook is starting to crack. Bitcoin below $76k has turned once celebrated treasury strategies into massive paper losses, with investors now fearing forced selling. What was pitched as conviction is beginning to look like leverage dressed up as belief....
V7 Labs Go Scales Across Finance
wait til folks see @v7labs go is doing already at scale across finance, legal, insurance, tax - not in research preview https://t.co/S8OtBtIsvI
Stripe's Stablecoin Gambit Risks a Heavy Hangover
This quote from The Information's latest story on Stripe's stablecoin infra subsidiary Bridge is interesting. Seems like Stripe drank the kool-aid. Now the question is, how bad will the hangover be? https://t.co/J2DnaC7z02
Third‑party Users Linked to Kontigo Wallets Face Account Closures
Looks like some users of third-party platforms who have interacted w/Kontigo wallets are having their accounts shut down: