Why Lifetime Free Credit Cards Are Gaining Popularity Among First-Time Users
Lifetime free credit cards are gaining traction in India as a low‑risk entry point for young professionals and students. With zero annual or renewal fees, these cards eliminate the cost barrier that traditionally deterred first‑time users. They enable users to manage everyday expenses, build credit histories, and earn rewards without extra charges. The model is reshaping how newcomers approach credit, positioning these cards as a practical financial tool for early credit building.
Most Crypto Holders Want to Pay with Bitcoin but Rarely Do, Survey Show
A GoMining survey of 5,700 crypto holders reveals that over half rarely spend Bitcoin, despite 80% supporting broader adoption. Limited merchant acceptance (49.6%) and high transaction fees (44.7%) are the top barriers, followed closely by price volatility. Users who do...
Suraj Rajwani: Building Global Technology Companies by Standing Beside Founders
Suraj Rajwani, founder and managing partner of DoubleRock Capital, has built a reputation for a hands‑on, founder‑centric venture approach that goes beyond capital provision. Managing roughly $100‑150 million, the firm has backed 21 early‑stage technology companies across cybersecurity, health‑tech, SaaS and...
TreviPay Brings Pay by Invoice to Visa Issuers
TreviPay has launched a Pay by Invoice solution tailored for Visa‑issuing banks, allowing them to offer invoice‑based financing directly to B2B merchants. The product plugs into Visa’s existing network, delivering real‑time credit decisions, instant settlement, and seamless integration with issuer...
Noble Shifts Toward Tempo‑style IBC for Stablecoin Synergy
Everyone has been asking “What does Noble leaving Cosmos mean?” It just means that Noble is becoming more like Tempo with an IBC flavor than the Cosmos SDK chain. This is a path towards improved CCTP support , better commonality with other...
ProgressSoft Secures Business Banking Win at FF Awards 2025
ProgressSoft, a global real‑time payment provider, won the Business Banking category at the 2025 FF Awards in London. The award recognizes its Corporate Banking Suite, which unifies real‑time payments, liquidity, cash management, trade finance and automated workflows on a modular,...
Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Taps AlHuda CIBE for Islamic Banking Overhaul
Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited (PPCBL) has signed an advisory agreement with the AlHuda Center of Islamic Banking and Economics (AlHuda CIBE) to convert its operations to a fully Shariah‑compliant model. The Dubai‑signed pact outlines end‑to‑end support, including a Shariah...
Indonesia’s Payment Revolution: Behind the Breathless Rise of QRIS and the Road to 2030
Stanchion Payments’ latest Voices from the Market report highlights Indonesia’s QRIS as the cornerstone of its fast‑growing mobile‑first payment ecosystem. The QR code standard now connects tens of millions of consumers with more than 30 million merchants, enabling sub‑second transactions and...
Coinbase Says Capital Access Beats Income in Wealth Creation
Coinbase Institute’s new report reframes wealth creation as a divide between the "brokered"—those with direct capital‑market access—and the "unbrokered," an estimated four billion people worldwide. Over the past four decades U.S. capital income surged 136 % while labor income rose only 57 %,...
MSX Announced as Platinum Sponsor for Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026
MSX has been named a Platinum Sponsor for the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026, scheduled for 20‑23 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The four‑day event, now in its third year, draws over 100,000 visitors, 350 exhibitors...
How Real-Time Payouts Are Stress-Testing US Banking Infrastructure
US betting platforms are generating millisecond‑level payout demands that outpace the legacy ACH system, prompting banks to adopt real‑time rails like FedNow. Federal Reserve data shows FedNow transaction volume topped $20 billion in Q4 2024, underscoring the rapid shift toward instant settlement....
As Investors Look Beyond Established Cryptos, VALYGO ($VYO) Is Emerging as One to Watch
Investors are turning attention to emerging crypto platforms as large‑cap assets like XRP and Dogecoin show slower growth. VALYGO ($VYO) positions itself as a real‑world financial ecosystem, offering crypto‑fiat integration, card payments, and cross‑border transfers. Currently in early‑access, the project...
Former FTX EU Trading Specialists Unveil Perpetuals.com, an AI-Powered Derivatives Platform
Former FTX EU co‑founders Patrick Gruhn and Robin Matzke have launched Perpetuals.com, an AI‑powered derivatives exchange that will begin trading on Nasdaq this week. The platform leverages a proprietary AI model trained on more than 10 million retail cryptocurrency trading histories...
Afshin Yazdian, CEO of Kurv | Episode 459
In this episode, Afshin Yazdian, CEO of Kurv, discusses how his company transformed a legacy payments business into a streamlined, SMB‑focused platform by eliminating friction, offering transparent pricing, and prioritizing human‑centered service. He shares his unconventional journey from law to...
Micro Case Studies: The Feud over Interest Rate Caps and the Murky Future of Agentic Commerce
President Trump’s proposal to cap credit‑card interest rates at 10% for one year sent bank and issuer stocks tumbling, prompting fintech CEOs to publicly back the idea. Fintechs such as Bilt and Affirm are rolling out capped‑rate cards and new...
Why Digital Asset Treasuries that only Hodl May Fall Short
Mike Maloney argues that digital asset treasuries (DATs) that merely hold Bitcoin—now exceeding $80 billion in market value—are exposing companies to market volatility and regulatory risk. He proposes a DAT 2.0 model that actively invests in Bitcoin‑related infrastructure such as mining, custody,...
South Korea Weighs Ending One Bank Rule for Crypto Exchanges: Report
South Korean regulators are re‑examining the long‑standing “one exchange‑one bank” rule that forces cryptocurrency platforms to partner exclusively with a single domestic bank. A joint study by the Financial Services Commission and the Fair Trade Commission suggests the model fuels...
UST Acquires Tailwind
UST, a leading AI and technology transformation firm, announced the acquisition of Texas‑based fintech Tailwind Business Ventures. The deal merges Tailwind's digital lending and payment solutions with UST's AI services, creating a broader suite of financial technology offerings. It also...
Synechron Releases Suite of AI Agents
Synechron unveiled Synechron Agentic, a portfolio of production‑ready AI agents designed for complex, regulated workflows in banking, financial services, wealth management, payments and insurance. The agents promise accelerated operations, transparent outcomes and built‑in compliance, while integrating seamlessly with enterprise platforms...
Wise Posts Strong Quarter
Wise reported a robust quarter, serving nearly 11 million active customers globally. The fintech expanded its user base, indicating continued demand for cross‑border payments and multi‑currency services. Revenue and transaction volumes grew, reinforcing its position as a leading digital money‑transfer...
Santander's Getnet Lays Out Agentic Commerce Strategy
Santander-owned fintech Getnet unveiled its agentic commerce strategy, targeting AI‑driven autonomous agents that can initiate, manage and pay for purchases. Deloitte estimates that by 2030, agentic AI could influence up to 30% of e‑commerce value, roughly $17.5 trillion in GMV. Getnet...
PayPal and April Team on Faster Tax Filing
PayPal has teamed with embedded tax platform april to let U.S. PayPal Debit Mastercard holders file their 2025 federal and state returns for free. april’s service pre‑fills data from uploaded documents and offers AI‑chatbot support, enabling most users to complete...
The Startup Compliance Threshold: Why Regulatory Debt Is the New Technical Debt
Startups that focus solely on product‑market fit eventually hit a compliance threshold where informal administration becomes a systemic risk. The article likens this regulatory debt to technical debt, noting that missed filings or outdated corporate records can derail Series A due...
Regulators Give Clarity in Relation to Open Banking Pricing Models
Regulators including the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator issued a joint statement confirming they will not prioritize a Competition Act 1998 investigation into the UK Payments Initiative’s centralized access‑fee pricing model for commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRPs). The CMA...
What Happens After a User Clicks Your Affiliate Link?
The article demystifies the post‑click journey in loan affiliate marketing, showing that a click is merely the entry point to a multi‑step process involving tracking, risk checks, and lender approval. It explains why many affiliates see clicks but no payouts,...
How CCOs Can Manage AI Notetaker Risks Safely
Financial services firms are rapidly adopting AI note‑taker tools to streamline meeting documentation, but the technology creates a new class of records that can capture material non‑public information before compliance review. Unvetted AI‑generated summaries risk breaching information barriers, misrepresenting nuanced...
BlackRock’s PFF ETF Has $380 Million Worth of Exposure to MSTR's Preferred Equities
BlackRock’s iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (PFF) now holds roughly $380 million of MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) preferred equity products, making the crypto‑linked securities a material portion of the fund. The largest of these holdings is Stretch (STRC) with a $210 million allocation,...
DLocal to Launch Localized Paymentsfor Honor in Peru
dLocal announced a partnership with AI‑device maker Honor to power local payment acceptance for Honor’s first website launch in Peru. The collaboration gives Peruvian shoppers access to credit‑card installments, debit cards, bank transfers and popular e‑wallets such as Yape through...
Open Banking Excellence Unveils Expert-Led Consultancy Service Ignite
Open Banking Excellence has launched Ignite, a strategic consultancy service aimed at banks, governments and regulators navigating open banking and open finance. The offering draws on eight years of UK market experience and a talent pool of over 40,000 experts...
Consumer Credit Cards in 2026: Opportunities and Threats in a Complex Landscape
The U.S. consumer credit‑card market remains robust, with purchase volume reaching $6.136 trillion in 2024, a 5.3% year‑over‑year rise, and outstanding receivables climbing to $1.346 trillion, up 7.9%. Federal Reserve data shows balances at $1.23 trillion in Q3 2025, surpassing pre‑pandemic levels as households...
How to Scale Insurance Compliance without Errors
Insurance agencies and MGAs hit a compliance breaking point around 50 producers, where small errors can halt half the team’s ability to write business. As firms scale from 15 to 200 producers, data points multiply from dozens to thousands across...
Data Shows AI Overviews Disappears On Certain Kinds Of Finance Queries via @Sejournal, @Martinibuster
Recent BrightEdge data reveals that Google’s AI Overviews dominate finance queries with an educational focus, appearing in roughly 91% of “what is” style searches. In contrast, real‑time price lookups, calculator tools, and local “near me” queries trigger AI Overviews less...
Klarna’s Stablecoin Bet: The First Real Test of Crypto-as-Infrastructure
Klarna announced the launch of its own stablecoin, KlaraUSD, on the Tempo blockchain, a payment‑focused network backed by Stripe and Paradigm. The initiative targets internal treasury and cross‑border settlements, aiming to cut transaction times from days to seconds and reduce...
Workplace Finance Provider Stream Raises $90 Million
Stream, the workplace‑finance platform formerly known as Wagestream, closed a $90 million Series D round, raising its total capital to $228 million. The funding, led by Sofina and backed by existing investors, will fuel the company’s push into pensions and accelerate its U.S....
Payabl. Appoints Breno Oliveira as Chief Product Officer
Payabl, a European fintech specializing in embedded payments, announced the appointment of Breno Oliveira as its new Chief Product Officer. Oliveira joins after a decade‑plus track record leading product strategy at several high‑growth payment platforms. His mandate includes accelerating Payabl’s...
Portugal Joins Growing List of Countries Cracking Down on Polymarket
Portugal’s gambling regulator ordered blockchain prediction market Polymarket to cease operations within 48 hours after the platform recorded over €103 million in bets on the Jan 18 presidential election. The country’s 2015 online gambling law bans political betting, allowing only sports, casino...
Capital.com Selects Duco to Automate Payment Reconciliations
Capital.com has partnered with AI‑driven data automation specialist Duco to overhaul its client and payment reconciliation processes. Duco’s platform will automate complex, multi‑jurisdictional reconciliations, delivering a scalable, future‑proof solution. The partnership aims to boost efficiency, cut operational risk, and provide...
Finova Partners with Covecta to Bring Agentic AI Capabilities to the UK Lending Market
Finova, a leading UK provider of cloud‑based mortgage and lending software, announced a partnership with AI specialist Covecta to embed agentic AI across its platforms. The integration will debut with support‑agent features on Finova’s lending and broker solutions, automating routine...
Major Firms Leave Critical Cyber Risks Unpatched for Months
A KYND study of over 2,000 firms, including FTSE 350 and S&P 500 members, found that 11% were exposed to vulnerabilities actively exploited by attackers. Of those, 88% remained unpatched for six months or longer, highlighting chronic remediation delays. Remote...
Digital Fraud Prevention: 8 Steps to Protect Your Identity
Digital fraud losses surged to $12.5 billion in 2024, a 25% rise from the prior year, as criminals leverage AI, automation, and social engineering. The article outlines eight practical steps—from slowing down on suspicious messages to deploying multi‑factor authentication and secure...
Hong Kong Group Warns Crypto Licensing Rollout Risks Forced Shutdowns
The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association warned that the city’s upcoming crypto licensing regime could force compliant managers to shut down operations if regulators launch without a transition period. The proposed "hard start" would require firms to be...
AI Boom Driven by Real Productivity, Not Bubble Speculation
AI bubble fears are colliding with a calmer message from the sell side. At the World Economic Forum, Christian Keller argues that the AI investment boom is grounded in real productivity gains, not just speculation. In his view, tech can keep...
Fraud Vs. Conversion: How Payments Can Reduce Risk without Adding Friction
Digital payments must balance speed with security. Consumers abandon 88% of checkout flows due to friction, while e‑commerce fraud costs $44 billion in 2024. The article outlines a multi‑layered strategy—strong authentication, merchant risk scoring, AI‑driven network detection, tokenization, and collaborative data...
Inter Miami CF Names ERGO NEXT Insurance as Main Partner
Inter Miami CF announced a multi‑year deal naming ERGO NEXT Insurance as its Main Partner, Training Apparel Partner, and Official Insurance Partner for the 2026 season. The insurer’s logo will feature on the first‑team training kit, second‑team apparel, and signage...
Akur8 Brings Takayuki Saito on Board to Transform Insurance Pricing
Akur8 has appointed Takayuki Saito as senior advisor to accelerate its Japanese expansion and guide insurers toward transparent, machine‑learning‑based pricing. Saito brings deep actuarial experience from Rakuten, AXA, EY and Deloitte to help local carriers improve profitability. The move targets...
French Accounting Software Platform Pennylane Raises $200M
French fintech Pennylane secured $200 million in a Series E round led by TCV, with participation from Blackstone Growth, Sequoia, DST Global and Alphabet’s Capital G. The financing values the accounting platform at roughly $4.25 billion, though the figure remains unverified. Pennylane, founded in...
Unpredictable Pay Cycles Break Financial Stability for America’s Hourly Workers
The PYMNTS podcast highlighted the Wage to Wallet Index, revealing that unpredictable pay cycles destabilize America’s 60 million hourly workers despite strong job security. Payroll’s two‑week lag creates a "Bill Pay Roulette" where fixed expenses outrun earnings, pushing many into high‑cost...
Zango Adds Senior Santander Exec to Advisory Board for AI Governance Research Project
Zango, a UK AI‑compliance start‑up, has added Santander’s global chief operating officer (legal), Dean Nash, to its advisory board. Nash will guide Zango’s “Future of AI Governance and Compliance in Financial Services” research initiative. The project will convene financial‑institution leaders with...
Multimodal AI Detection: How Tools Like isFake.ai Are Redefining Trust
Multimodal AI detection is emerging as a solution to the growing threat of synthetic media that combines text, images, audio, and video. Platforms such as isFake.ai now offer unified analysis across these modalities, providing format‑specific artifact detection and visual explanations...
Bank Checks Online: A Convenient and Secure Way to Manage Payments
Bank checks online let users create, send, and track checks via secure digital platforms, merging traditional check reliability with modern convenience. The solution streamlines payment workflows for both businesses and individuals, offering remote issuance, built‑in verification, and encryption‑based security. Providers...