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Daily
Every morning
Weekly
Tuesday recap
Millions of dollars in crypto risk disappearing when owners die without proper estate planning. Recent updates like the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) clarify that executors can access assets held by custodians, but many holders still lack documented access or trusted fiduciaries. Advisors must identify how assets are stored—exchange accounts, custodial services, hardware wallets, or paper keys—and ensure clear instructions. Strategies such as transfer‑on‑death trusts, LLC shells, and secure key inventories can protect wealth for heirs.
Digital identity systems are transitioning from centralized databases to decentralized architectures. Centralized stores pose massive breach risks, prompting firms to seek models that limit data exposure. Decentralized solutions leverage cryptography and distributed ledgers, granting users control over their credentials. This...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have postponed their joint digital‑asset forum to Thursday, January 29, 2026, after originally planning it for January 27. The live‑streamed event will begin at 2 p.m. ET and feature a...
Russia’s prosecutor general has designated Ukrainian‑founded crypto exchange WhiteBIT and its parent W Group as “undesirable,” criminalising any interaction by Russian citizens. The move follows accusations that WhiteBIT funneled funds to Ukraine’s military, donating $11 million and processing over $160 million in defense...
Mobile payment users now have seven primary ways to convert digital balances into cash or bank funds, ranging from standard bank transfers to dedicated debit cards, peer‑to‑peer swaps, ATM withdrawals, mailed checks, third‑party cash‑out services, and direct merchant payments. Each...
Yieldstreet has rebranded as Willow Wealth, aiming to shed the stigma of more than $200 million in investor losses reported in late 2025. The platform now offers evergreen private‑market funds and an in‑house robo‑advisor alongside traditional alternative assets. Mitchell Caplan, former...
The article warns of a brewing standards war as major players roll out new protocols to unify identity, data, and payments. Google’s Agentic Unified Commerce Protocol (UCP) and Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the industry‑wide ISO 20022 upgrade, and Visa’s Commerce Enablement...
Merchant acquiring, long seen as a low‑margin commodity, is poised for a strategic revival as artificial intelligence reshapes its economics. Capgemini’s World Payments Report highlights that global acquiring revenues could double from $25 bn to $50 bn within a decade, driven not...
The KYC sector is undergoing rapid change as AI‑driven agents enable true straight‑through processing (STP), eliminating manual breakpoints in onboarding. Muinmos showcases how collective AI agents, combined with client lifecycle management (CLM) platforms, can automate decision‑making, regulatory checks, and document...
Ripple announced a memorandum of understanding with Jeel, the innovation arm of Riyad Bank, to explore blockchain applications in Saudi Arabia. The partnership will focus on cross‑border payments, digital‑asset custody and tokenisation, aligning with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 agenda to modernise...
ARK Invest has filed with U.S. regulators to launch two new cryptocurrency ETFs that track the CoinDesk 20 benchmark. One fund will replicate the full index, while the second will mirror the index but exclude bitcoin by pairing long index futures...
A coalition of major banking associations sent a joint letter to Congress opposing the Credit Card Competition Act and any expansion of the Durbin amendment. The groups argue that government‑mandated routing and fee caps would hurt small businesses, community banks,...
AI is getting better at answers. The next step is knowing when not to rush one. New research argues for artificial metacognition: giving AI systems the ability to reflect on their own thinking, detect uncertainty, spot conflicts, and slow down when...
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 proposes a two‑pronged framework that classifies digital assets and assigns oversight to the CFTC for spot trading of digital commodities while keeping the SEC in charge of primary offerings and investor disclosures....
Falcon Finance announced that its synthetic dollar USDf can now be converted to fiat through Altery’s crypto‑to‑fiat infrastructure, powered by Synterra Connect. Holders transfer USDf to a Synterra address and receive fiat in their Altery accounts, with SEPA, SWIFT, local...
Wealth intelligence firm 1fs Wealth has partnered with professional services group S&W to deliver AI‑driven digital wealth management tools to the firm’s family office, trust and ultra‑high‑net‑worth clients. The London‑based platform consolidates assets, manages risk, and provides AI insights for...
Jeel, the innovation arm of Riyad Bank, has entered a strategic partnership with Ripple to explore blockchain‑based payment solutions in Saudi Arabia. The collaboration will pilot use cases such as cross‑border remittances and real‑time domestic settlements, aiming to deliver faster,...
FIS closed a strategic swap with Global Payments, acquiring the card‑issuing technology unit while off‑loading its merchant‑technology division. The move sharpens FIS’s focus on bank clients amid rising fintech competition. In parallel, FIS announced a bank‑centric suite of agentic AI...
Sage Capital Management has unveiled an integrated private banking service tailored for institutional digital‑asset clients, combining fiat and crypto operations in a single platform. The offering includes multi‑currency accounts linked to UK Faster Payments, SEPA, SWIFT and over 140 currencies,...
Europe has moved from drafting to enforcing the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA), establishing clear timelines, licensing pathways, and compliance milestones for crypto‑asset service providers across all EU member states. The EU’s single‑license model lets firms obtain authorization in one...
Betterment has partnered with fintech Capitalize to embed its rollover API into Betterment’s platform, enabling users to transfer old 401(k) accounts into a Betterment IRA with a few clicks. The digital integration automates the traditionally paper‑heavy rollover process, allowing investors...
A new study by Dynatrace, FreedomPay and Retail Economics estimates U.S. retail and hospitality lose $44.4 billion annually due to payment system disruptions. Outages average two hours, yet shoppers abandon purchases after just seven minutes, costing $1.2 billion per minute in the...
BlackRock filed an S‑1 to launch the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which will use a covered‑call strategy on bitcoin or its IBIT holdings to generate income. The fund will actively manage call options, trading upside potential for regular premium...
Mine, a New York‑based personal‑finance startup, closed a $14 million financing round led by 359 Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, FJ Labs, Y Combinator and U.S. News & World Report. The new capital brings its total funding to $28 million. Mine...
MIT researchers challenge the assumption that more data always improves AI decisions. They propose a framework that identifies the minimal dataset needed to guarantee an optimal decision under uncertainty, and an algorithm that tests whether additional data could change the...
The Treasury, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, is pushing a fundamental overhaul of U.S. anti‑money‑laundering (AML) rules, moving away from a checklist mindset toward outcome‑focused supervision. Citi’s Brent McIntosh argues that the current framework over‑prioritises technical minutiae, prompting costly account closures...
NCR Atleos (NYSE: NATL) announced Rohan Pal as its new chief information officer, reinforcing the firm’s focus on innovation and growth. Pal brings over 25 years of experience in technology strategy, cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and digital transformation. His prior roles...
Kontigo looks and acts like a neobank, but there’s no bank standing behind it. At least with BaaS middleware, the end user had a legal and contractual relationship with a bank. So, there's a clear line of responsibility (whether the issue was...
🇺🇸 The U.S. Senate will vote on a crypto market structure bill on January 29. If the bill is passed, it could help reduce the level of manipulation in the crypto market. https://t.co/iiOfHCj6Fu
Wells Fargo announced Faraz Shafiq as Head of AI Products and Solutions, effective Feb. 9. Shafiq will report to AI Co‑CEO Saul Van Beurden and operate from San Francisco. He brings more than 15 years of leadership at Amazon Web Services, Google, Verizon and...
Kraken's DeFi Earn is powered by @aave, the most trusted lending protocol. Veda, Sentora, and Chaos vaults leverage Aave’s deep liquidity and long-established track record to deliver yield to Kraken users through a seamless experience. DeFi will win.
With Davos over, the only thing we have left to discuss is stablecoins, Strategy buying more Bitcoin, BlackRock's latest application for a Bitcoin product, and the AVAX ETF. https://t.co/GztfLJvb4F
Insurers are confronting the limitations of legacy core systems that prioritize stability over flexibility, resulting in long release cycles, costly integrations, and hindered innovation. To overcome these constraints, many are shifting to API‑first, cloud‑native platforms that offer modular architecture and...
Monex USA announced Kyle Falconi as its new Head of Sales, adding him to the executive leadership team. Falconi arrives from a long tenure as Managing Director at Citi, where he delivered record FX sales and launched a Salesforce‑based CRM...
A UK Cryptoasset Business Council survey finds that roughly 40 % of transfers to crypto exchanges are blocked or delayed, with eight out of ten exchanges reporting a rise in such incidents over the past year. The study, based on data...
Nationwide Building Society has signed an expanded agreement with Amazon Web Services to deepen its cloud footprint and accelerate digital transformation for its 17 million members. The partnership builds on existing use of Amazon Connect, which powers the new Call Checker...
TODAY:🚨VanEck launches $VAVX, the first U.S.-listed ETF offering spot exposure to $AVAX. Source: Vaneck https://t.co/gbzVuyLjWO
The episode explores how digital banking’s rapid expansion—driven by AI, AI‑powered search, and an ever‑growing suite of services—makes it harder for banks and credit unions to stand out. Guest Dylan Lerner critiques the current “door” approach to embedding wealth‑management tools...
Inyova SICAV has become the latest ETF issuer on the SIX Swiss Exchange, launching its inaugural Inyova Impact Investing Active Equity Fund EUR UCITS ETF. The fund trades in Swiss francs under ISIN LU3075459852 and follows an actively managed, impact‑focused strategy....
CrazyLive executed a governance separation, creating the independent CL Global Education Foundation while retaining CrazyLive Inc for commercial operations. The foundation will oversee ecosystem standards, content coordination, and contributor recognition, focusing on technology‑enabled learning and AI‑era knowledge. CrazyLive Inc continues...
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance announced that 18 banks have entered Phase 2 of the MyDigital ID sandbox, testing e‑verification capabilities for digital onboarding and high‑value transactions. The sandbox, overseen by Bank Negara Malaysia and MyDigital ID Sdn Bhd, evaluates operational readiness...
Financial services firms are turning to ensemble AI to strengthen compliance risk detection across multimodal communications. Theta Lake reports that combining lexicon‑based rules, fuzzy matching, and multiple machine learning models yields higher accuracy and fewer false positives than single‑model approaches....
GeoComply’s digital identity platform, integrated with Dabble, combines device integrity, precise location, behavioural and network signals to enhance KYC. The partnership delivered KYC pass rates above 90% and uncovered large fraud clusters, including 250+ accounts from a single address and...
Stock futures are derivative contracts that let traders capture equity price moves without owning the shares, offering two‑way exposure and higher capital efficiency. The contracts rely on notional value, margin, and leverage, meaning gains and losses are amplified relative to...
Euroclear will introduce same‑day settlement for stock‑loan returns (SLRs) in its CREST platform on June 15, 2026. The new service lets lenders approve immediate settlement by raising transaction priority, otherwise defaulting to T+1. This change accelerates collateral release, cuts settlement risk and...
The article argues that blockchain supremacy will be decided by distribution rather than pure technical metrics. Companies such as Coinbase, Circle and Stripe can launch proprietary chains by routing their massive existing user bases directly onto new networks, instantly generating...
UK‑based wealth‑creation platform Vennre closed a $9.6 million pre‑Series A round structured as equity and debt. The financing was co‑led by Vision Ventures and anb seed Fund, with participation from Sanabil 500, Ace & Co, Plus VC and strategic angels. Vennre’s technology‑driven platform gives high‑earning professionals...
AML teams are grappling with soaring alert volumes that mask true risk exposure. Regulators are moving beyond simple activity counts, demanding evidence of coverage, precision, prioritisation, and case‑aging in daily operations. The focus now is on whether high‑risk alerts surface...
Bitcoin slipped below $88,000, breaking the $95,000 support and sparking over $1 billion in liquidations as the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell into the low 30s. The sell‑off highlighted the market’s high leverage and thin liquidity, prompting traders to reassess...
Bitcoin is on track for a fourth consecutive monthly decline, a streak not seen since 2018‑19, with the price hovering around $87,000. The cryptocurrency has fallen roughly 36% from its October peak, marking a sharp correction after a series of...
