Circle Secures $222 Million From BlackRock, Apollo and A16z for Arc Blockchain
Circle announced a $222 million raise led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from BlackRock, Apollo and others, valuing its Arc token at $3 billion. The funding backs a public blockchain aimed at institutional finance and AI‑driven applications, expanding Circle beyond its USDC stablecoin business.
What I Heard Between the Sessions at FinovateSpring 2026
FinovateSpring 2026 highlighted a sea change in financial services as the distinction between banks and fintechs fades, with fintechs increasingly acting as infrastructure providers. Attendees noted that stablecoins are making decentralized finance seamless for consumers, erasing the need to understand...
The Intelligence Advantage: How AI Is Reshaping the American Mortgage Broker
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping U.S. mortgage brokers, with 55% using AI daily and 72% forecasting further growth. While general‑purpose models like ChatGPT dominate, only a third employ mortgage‑specific tools for underwriting or lead generation. AI automates back‑office tasks, pulls...
The Rise of Agentic Finance
The fintech landscape in the United States is moving toward an agentic economy where AI agents not only assist but actually execute financial transactions. At Stripe Sessions 2026 the company announced over 280 AI‑native product launches, including agent wallets and...
Priority Payables Rockets 36% as Enterprise Giants Join
Priority Technology Holdings reported Q1 2026 revenue of $249.6 million, up 11.1% year over year. Its Payables segment led growth, surging 36% to $32.4 million as larger enterprise customers increased both buyer‑funded (up 37%) and supplier‑funded (up 31%) revenues. Treasury Solutions grew...
Hourly Workers Are Drowning in Liquidity Gaps, and FinTech Has a Lifeline
PYMNTS Intelligence’s Wage to Wallet Index reveals that hourly, Labor‑Economy workers face severe liquidity gaps, with nearly half missing or delaying bills as paychecks lag. The “liquidity tax” – overdraft and late‑fee costs – eats about 3.4% of their monthly...
Augustus Receives Conditional Charter Approval From OCC
Augustus, formerly known as Ivy, secured a conditional national‑bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The fintech plans to replace the legacy, paper‑heavy clearing system with an AI‑driven, code‑first model that settles in real time. Co‑founder...
MONETA Money Bank: Scaling with Discipline in a Competitive Czech Market
Since its 2016 IPO, MONETA Money Bank has pursued a disciplined growth plan centered on digital transformation, SME expansion, and operational efficiency. The Czech lender targets at least a 2× increase in size through organic client acquisition, leveraging its Smart...
CME to Launch 24/7 Crypto Futures Trading on May 29, Covering Nine Major Coins
CME Group announced that its Crypto Complex will begin continuous 24‑hour, seven‑day trading of cryptocurrency futures on May 29, expanding to nine digital assets that represent over 75% of market cap. The move follows the recent launch of Avalanche and...
Iran-Linked Media Proposes Data Tax on Hormuz Cables, Threatening $10 Trillion Daily Digital Flow
An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps‑linked media outlet announced a plan to levy licensing fees and tolls on submarine fiber‑optic cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz. The proposal targets more than $10 trillion in daily financial transactions and could force multinational enterprises...
Crypto.com CMO Steven Kalifowitz Exits After Nearly Six Years
Crypto.com confirmed that chief marketing officer Steven Kalifowitz will leave the firm after nearly six years at the helm. Kalifowitz guided the exchange through a period of rapid user growth and high‑profile partnership deals, making his exit a significant leadership...
UAE‑US AI Pact Commits $2.4 Trillion, Sets Blueprint for Secure Banking Tech
The United Arab Emirates and the United States announced a $2.4 trillion AI partnership that creates a regulated technology environment for secure AI deployment. The deal includes a $1 trillion investment already made and a $1.4 trillion commitment over the next decade, with...
Temenos Unveils Composable Core Banking Suite and AI Compliance Tools
Temenos announced a dual rollout: composable retail deposit and lending products that let banks upgrade core functions incrementally, and a set of AI tools for digital banking, development and financial‑crime compliance. The moves target legacy‑heavy institutions seeking flexible, low‑risk transformation.
Free Bloomberg Terminal Clone Built in Minutes, No Setup
A Bloomberg Terminal costs $30,000 a year. Someone just built one for free. In minutes. With no local setup.
3 Common Mistakes Using Algo Wheels and How Traders Can Drive Performance
Algo wheels have moved from simple broker‑bias mitigation tools to core execution frameworks that generate clean, comparable data across buy‑side equity desks. Bloomberg’s Finance Hive discussion highlighted that performance gains now depend on wheel design, objective alignment, and iterative governance...
Alipay AI Pay Further Engages Its 100 Million Users With New Delegated Payment Feature on Taobao
Alipay AI Pay has launched a delegated payment feature on Taobao, allowing its 100 million users to complete purchases with AI‑driven authorization instead of manual entry. The new flow uses biometric and behavioral signals to verify transactions in real time, streamlining...
Square for Drive-Thru Debuts and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 5/11/26
Block Inc.’s Square unit rolled out Square for Drive‑Thru, a joint solution with The Howard Company and Nanonation that merges order capture, kitchen workflow and customer handoff for fast‑food lanes. PayPal announced a multiyear sponsorship with the Seattle Seahawks, becoming...
Zong Announces Partnership with Mashreq Bank Pakistan
Pakistani telecom provider Zong has entered a partnership with Mashreq Bank Pakistan to embed its telecom services within the bank’s digital platform. The integration will allow Mashreq’s mobile‑app users to purchase mobile recharges, subscribe to bundles and settle other telecom...
Nearly Half of UK Consumers Want Personalised Bank Rewards
Cardlytics' Banking Index surveyed 4,000 UK adults and found that 47% would stay with their bank if they received personalized cashback tied to their spending. The appeal is strongest among 18‑34‑year‑olds, where 55% say it would increase loyalty. Although 65%...
Venmo's New App Design Comes With a Great Privacy Update
Venmo is rolling out a major redesign that modernizes its interface with larger rounded blocks, bold typography and fresh imagery. The update introduces three new navigation "surfaces"—Send, Money and Rewards—aimed at consolidating payments, crypto trading and cash‑back offers. Most notably,...
Boku Goes Live with Pix Payments in Brazil
Boku has launched live processing of Brazil’s Pix instant‑payment system after securing a Payment Institution licence from the Central Bank. Pix, adopted by over 150 million Brazilians—about 70% of the population—now processes more transactions than Visa and Mastercard combined. Boku initially...
JPMorgan Chase Focuses on Improved Fintech Apps to Attract Gen Z Clients
JPMorgan Chase is overhauling its digital banking experience to win over the roughly 30 million U.S. adults aged 18‑24. The refreshed mobile app spotlights quick transaction views, an upgraded digital wallet, seamless Zelle transfers, and easy external account linking. Chase also...
Beeline Uzbekistan, Ipoteka Bank Sign Memorandum on Strategic Partnership
Beeline Uzbekistan and Ipoteka Bank OTP Group have signed a memorandum of strategic partnership to create joint digital and financial services in Uzbekistan. The agreement covers the development of new financial products delivered through Beeline’s digital channels, as well as offline...
Romania Signs MoU with Mastercard Deploying the EUDI Wallet
Romania’s government signed a memorandum of understanding with Mastercard to deliver a European Digital Identity (EUDI) wallet by December 2026. The partnership builds on an ongoing interoperability testing phase that involved regulators, developers and wallet providers. A pilot led by...
Senators Query Credit Bureaus on BNPL
A coalition of Democratic senators has sent letters to Equifax, Experian and TransUnion demanding clarity on how buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) data is collected, reported, and used in credit scoring. The lawmakers note that the credit‑reporting industry lacks a standard method for...
Restrictions Imposed on Kingscrown Finance Limited
Kingscrown Finance Limited announced that, effective 21 April 2026, it will cease onboarding new customers and will not extend any further credit to existing clients. The firm, which offers business and property‑investment loans, has never been authorised or registered with the FCA....
Admiral Money Partners with D•One for Smarter Credit Pricing
Admiral Money, the personal finance arm of Admiral Group, has partnered with D•One, ClearScore’s open‑banking unit, to embed its AI‑driven risk‑scoring model into the lender’s credit assessment workflow. The model mines transaction‑level data from open banking feeds to surface both...
Report Predicts Tokenization Will Change Financial Infrastructure by Intermediaries Stay
Moody’s Investors Service published a report forecasting how tokenization will reshape U.S. financial infrastructure. It outlines three scenarios—steady growth, low growth, and rapid growth—with the steady‑growth base case deemed most likely, keeping banks and asset managers as key intermediaries. Tokenized...
Blackstone to Offer Loans to Help Build 50,000 US Homes a Year
Blackstone announced a new lending platform, backed by its Brio Homebuilder Solutions affiliate, to finance the construction of more than 50,000 single‑family homes each year in the United States. The initiative seeks to partner with builders and other stakeholders to...
DeFi Protocol Aave Teams Up with LatAm Fintechs to Enable Greater Financial Inclusion
Aave has deepened its foothold in Latin America by embedding its lending protocol into several regional fintech apps, allowing users to earn dollar‑denominated yields on stablecoins without direct blockchain interaction. The initiative targets inflation‑hit economies such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico...
American Fintech Council (AFC) Asks for Clarity of Rules on Trump Accounts
The American Fintech Council (AFC) has formally asked the IRS for clearer rules on the newly created Trump Accounts, a youth‑focused savings vehicle funded by a one‑time $1,000 federal deposit and up to $5,000 annual contributions. High‑profile donors, including Michael...
Businesses Reject Tap Payments Over Dispute Risks
Apparently A LOT of businesses are no longer taking tap payments …. Been to like 5-6 places over the past 2-3 days that have said no we don’t take tap or not allowed to anymore. Are yall experiencing this? I...
Staying Afloat as Payment Operations Rapidly Evolve
AutoRek’s *Future of Payments Operations 2026* report warns that rapid volume growth and new rails are outpacing the industry’s infrastructure. 69% of surveyed firms point to manual, people‑dependent workflows as the chief scalability blocker, while 96% have deployed AI but...
Lunar Co-Founder Exits CEO Role After 11 Years
Lunar co‑founder and CEO Ken Villum Klausen is stepping down after eleven years, handing the role to former Saxo Bank and Danske Bank executive Søren Kyhl in early June. Klausen cites the bank’s strong team, healthy business and ambitious next phase...
Expedier Processes Over $150M in FY2025, Driven by Rising Demand for Cross-Border Payments
Expedier reported processing more than $150 million in transaction volume for FY2025, underscoring a solid growth trajectory. The fintech’s user base grew beyond 200,000, with over 70,000 monthly active users and a 23.8% average monthly growth rate. Fees were up to...
Is RegTech Becoming Infrastructure, or Is It Being Absorbed Into It?
RegTech is moving from a stand‑alone category toward becoming embedded infrastructure within financial systems. Industry leaders argue that while niche tools will persist, their survival hinges on seamless integration with broader technology stacks. The conversation now centers on orchestration layers...
Fintech Landscape in the Caribbean: Dominica in 2026
Dominica’s fintech ecosystem remains modest, with fewer than a dozen active firms focused on bank‑led digital banking, credit‑union upgrades and niche payment solutions. The island relies on the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s regional infrastructure, including the DCash central‑bank digital currency...
Venmo’s Biggest Makeover in Years Comes at a Very Interesting Time
Venmo is launching its most extensive redesign since 2021, introducing a richer visual feed, reaction options, and new tabs for sending money and managing accounts. The update adds a “Give a Shoutout” button for endorsing local merchants and a consolidated...
As Payment Partnerships Proliferate, Here's How Bank Risks Are Changing
Banks are deepening partnerships with fintechs for payments, buy‑now/pay‑later, international transfers, stablecoins and other crypto services, but regulators are tightening oversight. A 2024 Alloy report shows 80% of sponsor banks struggle with compliance and 39% incurred losses of $250,000 or...
Green Dot and the Case to Make Financial Experiences Feel Calmer
Green Dot is turning its attention to the emotional friction that follows a financial transaction, coining the term “Cortisol UX” to describe stress‑inducing moments. Chief Product Officer Melissa Douros says the company will redesign interfaces to absorb, rather than amplify,...
Millions Turn to AI for Mortgage Advice Despite Concerns
A Barratt Homes‑commissioned survey reveals that nearly one‑quarter of Britons have turned to AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Grok for mortgage advice, yet only 7% are very confident in the accuracy of the information. Respondents use AI to...
UPI Thrives; Dollar‑stablecoins May Harm India, Regulator Praise.
UPI has been incredible for India to say the least. Also to all the smart folk, some friends of mine who champion the need for a dollar backed stable coins(I’m speaking for dollar backed stablecoin specifically), this seems like a bad...
AI Agents Cut Month‑end Close by One Day
We shaved 1 day off our already fast month-end close with accounting AI agents Here is how we built them... https://t.co/e7DsRg4Pcb
Laying the Foundation for Confidence – Financial Conduct Authority
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) unveiled a multi‑phase programme aimed at restoring investor confidence across the UK financial sector. The initiative introduces a new consumer‑confidence framework, tighter transparency rules for fintech firms and a 20% increase in supervisory visits beginning...
On‑chain Margin Accounts Enable Multi‑Asset Trading Across Blockchains
Should really call it "margin accounts" more than "lending" since it feeds into lending, spot, leverage, total return swaps, perps, options, insurance, the works. Margin based trading directly onchain coming to all blockchains (as we slowly rollout).
Five-Year Review: How 869 Fintechs Actually Performed
Over the past 5 years I've covered 869 companies in Fintech Brainfood. I thought I'd go back and look and how they've fared. 👇 https://t.co/pdOhXfOCEo
Pallas Capital Teams with CitoPlus to Digitize Commercial Loan Submissions
Non‑bank lender Pallas Capital has launched a digital loan application platform with fintech CitoPlus, allowing commercial‑real‑estate brokers to submit deals in a single online workflow. The partnership promises to eliminate manual paperwork, accelerate approval times and keep Pallas' relationship‑driven origination...
Exclusive: Centricity in Talks to Raise $30 Mn Round Led by MUFG and SIG
Wealth‑tech startup Centricity is negotiating a $30 million financing round led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Susquehanna International Group. The deal would value the Gurugram‑based firm at roughly $250 million, doubling the $125 million valuation from its September 2024 seed round. Centricity plans...
Digital Gold and Silver Players Form Self Regulatory Body DPMACI
India’s digital precious‑metals market has launched a self‑regulatory council, the Digital Precious Metals Assurance Council of India (DPMACI). The body brings together nine leading players such as MMTC‑PAMP, SafeGold, PhonePe and CRED to set common governance, audit and custody standards....
Vodacom’s Fintech Machine Tops 100 Million Customers
Vodacom Group’s fintech arm surpassed 100 million active customers, reporting 103 million users for the year to 31 March 2026 – a 17.4% year‑on‑year increase. Financial‑services revenue rose 19.6% to R16.8 billion (≈ $884 million), lifting fintech’s share of total service revenue to 12.6%. Growth was driven...