ClearBank Founder Andrew Smith Is Building "the Home of UK Sports Finance" With New Banking Venture Sporta
Former ClearBank founder Andrew Smith is launching Sporta, a dedicated banking platform for UK sports organisations. The venture aims to address chronic financial pressure on clubs—only 20% finish the year with a surplus—by offering AI‑native banking, loans and sponsorship tools. Sporta is pursuing a banking licence, expects MVP delivery this year and plans licence approval by Q3 2026. Funding includes a seed round and a £122,923 Crowdcube campaign.
Tether Hoards $23B Gold, Mimicking Central Bank Balance Sheets
Tether has amassed roughly $23 billion worth of gold as it expands beyond stablecoins, signaling a strategy that increasingly mirrors a central bank’s balance sheet.
Fidelity Investments Starts Its Own Stablecoin in a Massive Bet that Future of Banking Is on Blockchain
Fidelity Investments is launching the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), an Ethereum‑based stablecoin redeemable 1:1 for U.S. dollars, in early February. Backed by cash, cash equivalents, and short‑term Treasuries, the coin will be issued by Fidelity Digital Assets, a federally chartered...
Traditional Banks Set to Increase Engagement with Digital Assets : Analysis
Elliptic’s 2026 forecast predicts traditional banks will move digital assets from experimental projects to core offerings. Major institutions such as JPMorgan, BNY Mellon and Citi are already piloting tokenized funds, crypto custody and stablecoin initiatives. A wave of clearer regulations...
Stablecoins Set to Transform Financial Services Landscape
[New Episode] How Stablecoins Will Reshape Financial Services. Watch our latest episode with @lamontkblack of @DePaulU: https://t.co/pKKUHeEv80 https://t.co/PdwZcM76uV
Stablecoin Player Fitpo Achieves Dual Authorisation Status
Fitpo, a regulated payment infrastructure for stablecoins, announced it received a Crypto‑Asset Service Provider (CASP) licence from France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The approval grants Fitpo dual authorisation status, complementing its existing licence in another jurisdiction. This regulatory clearance enables...
No More Unexpected Tax Bills, Business Owners Are Using Gelt Tax Software
In 2023 the IRS levied over 14.2 million estimated‑tax penalties, amounting to $7 billion, catching many founders off guard with surprise bills. The problem stems from a reactive, annual‑only tax approach that ignores the IRS’s pay‑as‑you‑go requirement. Gelt, an AI‑native tax firm,...
For Wall Street’s Most Sophisticated Trading Firms, the Next Alpha Is Onchain
Wall Street’s high‑frequency trading firms are shifting their edge from physical data‑center proximity to on‑chain infrastructure. By running validators, designing low‑latency nodes, and participating in blockchain governance, they aim to capture the next source of alpha in decentralized finance. Early...
WisdomTree Expands Tokenized Fund Access to Solana in Multichain Push
WisdomTree announced that its full suite of tokenized funds will now be available on the Solana blockchain through its WisdomTree Connect and WisdomTree Prime platforms. Both institutional and retail investors can mint, trade, and hold these real‑world asset tokens directly...
WisdomTree Brings Its Full Tokenized Fund Lineup to Solana
WisdomTree announced that its entire catalog of tokenized exchange‑traded products is now available on the Solana blockchain. The move expands the firm’s multi‑chain deployment, adding Solana to its existing presence on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Base and Optimism. Institutional and retail...
BeeXpay Expands Its Crypto-Funded Payment and Digital Travel Services Through Regulated Partners
BeeXpay announced an expansion of its crypto‑funded platform to deliver broader payment and digital travel services through regulated third‑party partners. The rollout adds eSIM connectivity for international data, while payment cards remain issued by licensed financial institutions. Future integrations will...
Digital Banking : Brazil’s Nubank Plans to Invest in Long-Term Business Expansion Efforts
Nubank announced it now serves over 112 million customers, covering roughly 61 % of Brazil’s adult population, and reports record revenue per active user in Q3 2025. The fintech is allocating more than R$2.5 billion over the next five years to expand and modernize...
Mastercard Showcases Agentic Payments in Australia with CBA and Westpac Onboard
Mastercard has rolled out its Agent Pay technology in Australia, following a US launch last year. The first Australian transactions used a Commonwealth Bank debit card to buy cinema tickets and a Westpac credit card to book Thredbo accommodation, both completed...
MGAA Sets Strategic Priorities for 2026
The Managing General Agents’ Association (MGAA) unveiled its 2026 strategic plan, emphasizing expanded member value, enhanced technical training, deeper market engagement, and a stronger voice for delegated underwriting. The agenda includes new market research, a relaunch of the POLI learning...
The Future of Hardware and Software Integration - Rand Hindi | ATC #596
In this episode, Stephen Sargeant interviews Rand Hindi, CEO of Zama, about the company's work on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) for Web3. They explore how FHE enables confidential transactions on public blockchains such as Ethereum and Solana without sacrificing security...
Sokin Secures $100 Million Debt Facility
Sokin, a global business‑payments platform, secured a $100 million long‑term debt facility from Oxford Finance. The capital will accelerate its expansion across North America, Asia, the Middle East and South America and fund new embedded‑payments products. The deal follows a $50 million...
How PayPal Uses Smart Strategic Shortcuts to Enter and Scale in New Markets
PayPal is accelerating its global footprint by employing a series of strategic shortcuts, including targeted acquisitions and partnership models. The recent purchase of Cymbio expands its Agentic Commerce Suite, giving the company a ready‑made platform for local merchant onboarding. Simultaneously,...
Pace Raises $10m to Automate Insurance Operations
Agentic AI startup Pace announced a $10 million Series A round led by Sequoia Capital to accelerate automation of insurance operations. The funding will be used to replace traditional business process outsourcing with AI systems that handle submissions, claims processing and other...
South Korea Regulator Backs Ownership Caps for Crypto Exchanges
South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) announced it will impose ownership caps of roughly 15%‑20% on licensed crypto exchanges, aligning them with governance standards applied to securities markets. The proposal, part of the draft Digital Asset Basic Act, would shift...
Digital Euro Key to Payments Sovereignty in ‘Weaponised’ World: ECB Exec
European Central Bank executive Piero Cipollone said the digital euro is essential for payment sovereignty amid rising geopolitical tensions. He highlighted that cash now represents only 24% of transaction value, underscoring the need for a public‑money digital alternative. The ECB...
B-Next and Behavox Join Forces to Advance Capital Markets Compliance
b-next, a capital‑markets surveillance specialist, has partnered with AI‑focused Behavox to embed advanced analytics into its compliance suite. The deal grants b-next a license to Behavox’s artificial‑intelligence engine, enhancing trade surveillance, best‑execution monitoring, conflicts‑of‑interest controls, and personal‑account dealing solutions. Behavox...
Armundia Rolls Out New Modular Platform for Family Offices
Armundia Group, an international fintech firm, has launched a new modular platform tailored for single and multi‑family offices. The solution centralizes portfolio management, risk analytics, and regulatory compliance within a single, customizable interface. By leveraging cloud‑native architecture and open APIs,...
When Everything Works, Dig Deeper—Anton Khapankou’s HFT Testing Philosophy
The high‑frequency trading market surpassed $10 billion in 2025, driving demand for ultra‑fast, resilient platforms. Senior QA engineer Anton Khapankou explains how his "dig deeper" philosophy turns testing into a strategic defense against millisecond‑level failures that can cost millions. By embedding QA...
SkipCash Integrates PayLater for Seamless, Flexible Checkout
SkipCash, a leading Qatari digital payments provider, has integrated the licensed PayLater buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) service directly into its payment gateway and payment‑link offerings. The new feature enables merchants to present customers with flexible installment options at checkout without leaving the...
Almost 9 in 10 Firms Remain Vulnerable to Cyber Risks
KYND’s analysis of over 2,000 firms—including FTSE 350 and S&P 500 companies—found that 88 % of organizations with identified cyber‑risk exposures remain vulnerable for six months or longer. While 11 % of the sample faced actively exploited vulnerabilities, remote code execution (RCE)...
Nomura's Laser Digital Applies for U.S. National Trust Bank to Offer Crypto Custody
Laser Digital, Nomura’s digital‑assets division, filed an OCC application to launch a U.S. national trust bank that would provide crypto custody, spot trading and staking services under federal supervision. The bank would serve institutional clients and also hold U.S. government...
Bitget Appoints Oliver Stauber as EU CEO
Bitget, the world’s largest Universal Exchange, has appointed Oliver Stauber as CEO of its European operations and will locate its EU headquarters in Vienna, Austria. Stauber brings deep regulatory and legal experience from previous leadership roles at KuCoin EU and Bitpanda....
Red Horse (RH) Launches On-Chain Membership Protocol to Turn Commitment Into a Verifiable Signal
Red Horse (RH) launched a Solana‑based on‑chain membership protocol that converts token locking into verifiable tiered membership. Users lock RH tokens in a non‑custodial contract, and their tier determines access, priority, and reward weighting across ecosystem programs. The tokenomics allocate...
Fufuture Joins Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026 as a Secondary Exhibition Sponsor
Fufuture has become a secondary exhibition sponsor of the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026, scheduled for April 20‑23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The partnership showcases its decentralized perpetual options protocol to a gathering of DeFi innovators,...
ERM Taps Auquan to Adopt Agentic AI to Assess ESG Risks
ERM, the world’s largest sustainability consultancy, announced a partnership with Auquan to integrate its agentic AI platform into ESG risk assessments for financial institutions. The collaboration will deploy autonomous AI agents that scan global news, regulatory filings, and stakeholder reports...
Bitget Wallet Shifts Toward an Everyday Finance App
Bitget Wallet is rebranding itself as an all‑in‑one everyday finance app, placing payments at the core of its refreshed interface. The update follows the wallet surpassing 90 million global users and reflects a broader industry shift from investment‑centric wallets to real‑world...
Etrading Software Signs Concession Agreement with the FCA for Delivery of Consolidated Tape
Etrading Software’s subsidiary ETS Connect UK has signed a concession agreement with the Financial Conduct Authority to become the official provider of the United Kingdom’s bond Consolidated Tape. The agreement launches the implementation phase, during which ETS Connect UK will design, build, and operate...
EToro Brings 24/5 Trading to Selected Smart Portfolios, Including BigTech and Magnificent-7
eToro announced that four of its Smart Portfolios—BigTech, Four‑Horsemen, Magnificent‑7 and Buybacks—will be tradable on a 24/5 schedule. The new window runs from Sunday 20:05 to Friday 16:00 ET, giving investors near‑continuous access to these thematic products. eToro also introduced...
Hype vs Responsibility in Building Fintech Products with AI
I work in fintech product, and I’ve been working on AI implementation for a while. One thing keeps
Inside Standard Chartered’s Approach to Running AI Under Privacy Rules
Standard Chartered has placed data‑privacy teams at the forefront of its AI strategy, making privacy requirements the starting point for model design, approval, and monitoring. The bank must navigate divergent data‑sovereignty laws, often deploying AI locally or using anonymised data...
Who Needs $6 Million in Cash? Asks Thai Central Bank Governor
The Bank of Thailand announced stricter cash‑withdrawal rules after investigators uncovered two large cash transactions totalling roughly $12 million just days before the national election. Governor Vitai Ratanakorn highlighted a 250 million‑baht withdrawal and a separate 200 million‑baht pull of 100‑baht notes, questioning...
Upvest Partners with Boerse Stuttgart to Bring Securitised Derivatives Trading to EU Banks
Boerse Stuttgart and Upvest have formed a partnership that lets European financial institutions offer securitised derivatives through the exchange’s platform. The exchange provides over 2.5 million derivative contracts and handles regulatory, settlement and risk functions, while Upvest supplies an Investment API...
Kin Launches Auto Insurance for Florida and Texas Homeowners
Kin, a direct‑to‑consumer insurtech, has introduced auto insurance for its existing home‑insurance customers in Florida and Texas, allowing policyholders to bundle coverage. The bundled offering promises up to a 20% discount on auto premiums and simplifies management through a single...
TerraPay Launches Payouts for Content Creators and the Gig Economy
TerraPay announced a partnership with MilX, the payments division of Air Media Tech, to launch instant cross‑border payouts for content creators and gig workers. The service will deliver earnings in local currencies across more than 70 markets via bank accounts, wallets...
EuroCTP Selects Equinix to Provide Consolidated Tape for EU Equities
EuroCTP has chosen Equinix to host its EU equity Consolidated Tape, using the FR2 data centre in Frankfurt as the digital backbone. The tape will aggregate real‑time pre‑ and post‑trade data from every EU venue, targeting a Q3 2026 launch and...
Plumery Taps Lokalise to Embed Enterprise-Grade Localisation Functionality
Plumery, a digital banking development platform, has partnered with localisation specialist Lokalise to embed enterprise‑grade translation and market adaptation capabilities directly into its platform. The integration enables financial institutions to launch multilingual digital banking journeys faster, with AI‑driven orchestration, compliance...
ADCB Egypt Goes Live with Temenos
ADCB Egypt, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, has launched Temenos Payments Hub to modernize its payments infrastructure. The new hub processes SWIFT payments using the ISO 20022 MX standard, delivering richer data and higher straight‑through‑processing rates. Integrated with the...
What Messy Finance Stacks Signal to Investors – and How to Fix Them Before Series B
Venture capitalists are now treating operational discipline as a core due‑diligence criterion, especially as startups approach Series B. Investors from Accel, Octopus, Cherry, Firstminute and 13books warn that messy finance stacks, inflated ARR figures, and disorganized bookkeeping are strong red flags....
GoHenry Launches Free Financial Education Lessons on YouTube to Bridge Curriculum Gap
GoHenry, the UK‑focused children’s money app, has released more than 80 bite‑sized financial education videos on its YouTube channel, offered free to the public. The lessons, adapted from its in‑app “Money Missions,” cover budgeting, saving, compound interest and investing, and...
Metroblox Unveils Ride USD Stablecoin for Everyday Transportation Payments
Metroblox announced the launch of Ride USD, a USD‑pegged stablecoin designed for everyday transportation payments. The token will be usable across ride‑hailing, public transit, and micro‑mobility services, offering instant settlement and near‑zero transaction fees. By embedding the stablecoin into its...
Volante’s Multi-Cloud Resiliency Service Keeps Payments Running During Cloud Outages
Volante Technologies has introduced a Multi‑cloud Resiliency Service designed to keep payment processing operational when a primary cloud provider experiences an outage. The solution offers rapid, zero‑data‑loss failover to a secondary cloud environment, eliminating single‑provider dependency for banks and other...
Digital Element Announces NAT Detector — Industry’s New Standard for Accurate IP Geolocation and Risk Intelligence
Digital Element launched NAT Detector, a new feature in its NetAcuity IP intelligence platform that identifies Network Address Translation (NAT) and Carrier‑Grade NAT connections. The tool flags shared‑IP environments, helping advertisers, security teams, DRM providers, and fintech firms interpret IP...
Delegation Is a Risk Decision Every Leader Makes, Not an Ops Choice
Leaders increasingly delegate decision‑making authority to software, turning routine operational choices into enterprise‑level risk decisions. When systems automatically issue credits, payments, or pricing adjustments, the underlying authority often lacks explicit ownership, exposing organizations to financial, legal, and reputational fallout. Security...
OKX Launches EU Stablecoin Payment Card via Regulated Issuer Monavate
OKX has introduced the OKX Card in Europe, a Mastercard‑compatible payment card that lets verified users spend stablecoins such as USDC and Global Dollar. The card is issued by Monavate, an EMI regulated under the EU’s MiCA framework, and requires...
Understanding Fiat Cryptocurrency: Bridging Traditional and Digital Finance
Halcón Portflow explains that fiat cryptocurrency blends government‑issued money with blockchain technology, offering a stable digital asset for Chile’s evolving financial system. By pegging tokens to fiat currencies, volatility is curbed, making them suitable for daily transactions, payroll, and cross‑border...