Crowdcube Lists Opportunity to Invest in Blockchain.com in Pre-IPO Opportunity
Crowdcube, a leading UK crowdfunding platform, is running a pre‑IPO secondary offering for Blockchain.com. Shares are priced at £10.47 (about $13.4) each, valuing the crypto firm at roughly $4 bn, a steep drop from its 2022 $14 bn peak. The deal has attracted 263 investors who have committed £110,699 (≈ $141,700) so far, with the window closing in about 20 days. Blockchain.com, founded in 2011, now serves over 94 million users and was granted MiCA approval in 2025.
Acquirers Are Sitting on a Gold Mine of Data. RS2 Thinks AI Is the Key to Digging It Up
RS2, a Frankfurt‑based payment‑processing infrastructure provider, released a white paper titled “AI in Merchant Acquiring: From Fraud Mitigation to Revenue Generation.” The paper argues that merchant acquirers sit on a massive, under‑utilized data set that AI can unlock to address...
Earn Up to $825 Bonus Today with New SoFi Checking and Savings Account
SoFi is rolling out a new checking and savings account promotion that can net new customers up to $825 in cash and points. The core offer provides a $400 bonus for deposits of $5,000 or more within a 30‑day evaluation...
MindBridge Unveils Developer Portal to Support Continuous Financial Oversight
MindBridge announced a new Developer Portal that consolidates API documentation, SDKs, and workflow guides for over 130 endpoints, giving developers a single place to integrate continuous financial oversight into existing enterprise systems. The portal is designed to bridge the "governance...
Embedding Payments for Growth: How ISVs Can Scale Through Vertical Focus and Partnerships
Embedded finance, also called embedded commerce or integrated payments, is reshaping how Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) deliver value, with the market projected to grow from $85.8 billion in 2026 to $370.9 billion by 2036 – a 15.8% CAGR. ISVs that adopt a...
PayNearby Introduces Integrated UPI Cash Withdrawal Solution Through Retail Network
PayNearby has become the first Business Correspondent in India to launch a fully integrated UPI cash‑withdrawal solution, allowing users to pull physical cash from nearby retail outlets. The service is built in partnership with IndusInd Bank and supported by YES...
![[Live 3/31] SoFi Plus Now Costs $10/Month (Removes Free Option) + 4.5% Savings Rate](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/sofi.png)
[Live 3/31] SoFi Plus Now Costs $10/Month (Removes Free Option) + 4.5% Savings Rate
SoFi is ending the free SoFi Plus subscription, charging every member $10 per month starting April 1, 2026. The plan now includes a 4.5% APY on balances up to $20,000, a modest bump from the 4.25% baseline. However, the extra...
Turkmenistan Legalizes Crypto Mining and Exchanges Under State Licensing
Turkmenistan enacted a sweeping virtual‑assets law that legalizes crypto mining and exchange operations under a state‑controlled licensing regime effective Jan. 1, 2026. The move signals a new phase of regulated digital‑asset adoption in a historically closed economy.
Palantir Wins £360K FCA Pilot, Boosting Its Government‑Sector Credibility
Palantir Technologies has secured a 12‑week pilot with the UK Financial Conduct Authority worth more than £30,000 a week—about £360,000 ($460,000) in total. The deal gives the data‑analytics firm access to flag fraud, money‑laundering and insider‑trading activity, prompting praise from...
Capital Ideas: Why All Assets Belong On-Chain & Why the Future of Markets Isn’t More Blockchains
Vertalo CEO Dave Hendricks argued on the Capital Ideas podcast that distributed ledger technology is a fundamental upgrade to ownership recording, not a speculative crypto fad. He highlighted the SEC’s recent multi‑division statement confirming tokenized securities are still traditional securities,...
Square Updates AI to Expand and Speed up Merchant Lending
Square, the merchant‑focused arm of Block, has upgraded its machine‑learning underwriting engine to extend loans to seasonal and newly onboarded merchants. The new model can assess creditworthiness from a business’s first payment, cutting the evaluation period from weeks to minutes....
ICYMI Fintech Funding Round-Up: Chexy, Littlefish, Happy Pay, and More
FinTech Futures’ weekly ICYMI roundup highlights a wave of funding across the sector, with nine companies securing between $3.6 million and $14 million. Canadian paytech Chexy raised $14 million to scale its rewards‑based payments platform, while South Africa’s Littlefish secured $9.5 million to expand...
From CFO to Founder: Christina Ross on Building Cube and the Future of FP&A
Cube, a fintech startup founded by former CFO Christina Ross, is redefining financial planning and analysis by layering automation onto existing spreadsheet workflows. The platform integrates with ERP, CRM and cloud data sources to provide real‑time visibility without requiring a...
How Digital WealthTech Journeys Convert Clients to Advisors
Morgan Stanley disclosed that over $100 billion moved from digital and workplace channels into advisor‑led relationships in a single year, signaling that WealthTech serves as an on‑ramp rather than a replacement for human advice. Kidbrooke’s analysis shows that clients who complete...
Case Study: Regulation Is Becoming Nigeria’s Fintech Advantage
Nigeria’s fintech surge is now being credited to a deliberate regulatory foundation built by the Central Bank of Nigeria. The 2011 launch of the NIBSS Instant Payments platform cut interbank transfer times from days to seconds, generating real‑time data that...
Interactive Brokers Enhances IBKR Desktop Platform, Adds Synthetic Price Calculation in Option Chain
Interactive Brokers rolled out version 2.2 of its IBKR Desktop platform, adding a Synthetic Price column to the Option Chain. The new calculation blends live market data, interest rates, dividends and other inputs to generate a theoretical option price and implied...
SaveLend Alters Updates Goals as Regulatory Environment Changes
SaveLend Group AB, a Nordic fintech, announced revised financial targets as Sweden tightens consumer‑loan regulations. The company will apply for a credit‑market company licence, divest its billing platform Billecta, and shift focus from consumer credit to SME lending. New goals...
Kalshi Puts SpaceX IPO Odds at 94%, Signaling Event‑Contract Boom
Kalshi, the U.S. event‑contract exchange, listed SpaceX with a 94% probability of going public in 2026, the highest odds among all companies tracked. The surge in trading activity around corporate‑event contracts highlights a new frontier for investors seeking exposure to...
FinTech Futures: Top Five News Stories of the Week – 27 March 2026
Monument Bank announced the UK’s first tokenised retail deposits programme, aiming to mirror up to £250 million ($317 million) of client funds on the Midnight public blockchain while keeping deposits protected under the FSCS. The Prudential Regulation Authority fined The Bank of...
Turning a Prepaid Card Into a Long-Term Relationship
Javelin Strategy’s new report reveals prepaid cards are evolving from one‑time gifts into recurring spending tools as consumers repeatedly load them. Loyalty programs at brands like Starbucks and Chick‑fil A incentivize continuous use, turning cards into everyday payment methods. Issuers focus...
Square Signs Steak Escape and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 3/27/26
Block Inc.'s Square unit will outfit Steak Escape’s 23 locations with POS terminals, kiosks and kitchen-display systems, extending its fast‑food footprint. Visa partnered with Pinwheel to launch an Enhanced Subscription Manager, aiming to help consumers track the projected 12 billion global...
STARTRADER Launches 24/5 US Stocks Extended Hours Trading
Dubai‑based broker STARTRADER has launched 24‑hour, five‑day trading for 20 of the most actively traded U.S. stocks, branding the instruments with a “.24H” suffix under a dedicated US.24H security group. The new offering arrives as Nasdaq prepares to extend its...
Only Half of APAC Banks Harness AI’s 70% Value Potential
A survey of APAC’s banks in 2025 found that four functions—customer relationships, customer service, innovation, and IT—were so important that they were expected to contribute more than 70% of AI value. The problem, however, is that while half of APACs are...
Walmart's OpenAI Exit Signals AI Model Battle for Finance
Walmart dropping OpenAI is hitting the headlines. What does this reveals about Agentic Commerce and what every Bank, Insurer, and Fintech should take from it? Which model will financial institutions choose when AI agents start selecting and purchasing financial products on...
The New Geography of Money: How Cross-Border Payments Are Being Reinvented
Cross‑border payments are undergoing a fundamental shift as fintech innovators replace legacy banking corridors with real‑time, low‑cost networks. New infrastructure—blockchain ledgers, API‑driven platforms, and regulated e‑money licences—cuts settlement times from days to seconds. Traditional banks are partnering with or acquiring...
Invisible AI: Finance Benefits Without Seeing the Model
The best AI harness for finance will be invisible You won't see the model You'll see the outcome Faster settlements Better risk management Smarter capital allocation The tool disappears when it actually works
Stablecoin Yield Talks Remain Complex, Senate Chair Says
LATEST: 🇺🇸 Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott says the stablecoin yield debate is complex, with banks and crypto firms like Coinbase still at the table negotiating https://t.co/guK3dR2LRR
Lean Technologies Secures Saudi Arabia’s First Open Banking License From SAMA
Lean Technologies has become the first firm granted a Major Payment Institution license by Saudi Arabia’s central bank, SAMA, to operate open‑banking services. The license transitions the kingdom’s open‑banking framework from a regulatory sandbox to a fully licensed commercial environment....
Digital Credit: Blueprint for Billion‑Dollar Finance Companies
“The best way to build a billion-dollar finance company today is Digital Credit.” $STRC My keynote, “Digital Capital, Credit, Money, and Yield,” at the @Blockworks Digital Asset Summit 2026. https://t.co/YZ8lzp5uis
Kalshi Dedicates up to 15% Staff to Market Integrity
At the Kalshi conference this morning. COO Luana Lopes Lara just noted that 10-15 percent of the company’s team is devoted to market intregrity, preventing insider trading etc https://t.co/kvA31jTP0B
March 2026: Top Five AI Stories of the Month
Mastercard and Banco Santander completed Europe’s first live end‑to‑end payment executed by an AI agent, leveraging Santander’s payment network and Mastercard’s Agent Pay protocol. Visa launched the Agentic Ready programme to ready issuers for agent‑initiated commerce across Europe, enlisting major banks...
Startup Evaluation Metrics Shifting Beyond Headcount and Capital
What’s changing is how we evaluate startups. The old metrics around headcount and capital are being rewritten in real time. https://t.co/ZtzGkZRjgM
Privacy Solution Arrives for DeFi: Introducing STRK20
Privacy is one of the most important missing pieces for DeFi adoption. We're building it. STRK20 is coming soon. https://t.co/1qXEkrjvY9
Charles Schwab Rolls Out No‑Minimum, Commission‑Free Brokerage for Teens
Charles Schwab introduced the Schwab Teen Investor account, a joint brokerage with no minimum deposit and commission‑free equity trades for 13‑17‑year‑olds. The product includes a $50 fractional‑share bonus for completing an education course and is backed by survey data showing...
AI Automates Expense Reporting, Ending Manual Submissions
Claude just did my expenses across 5 Gmail accounts and submitted the receipts and memos to Ramp. There's now a weekly scheduled task and cron job to sweep for expenses and submit them. I'll never have to submit an expense report again....
Mastercard Rolls Out AI‑Powered Virtual CFO for Small Businesses
Mastercard has launched an AI‑powered Virtual CFO service aimed at small‑business owners, offering automated cash‑flow insights and decision support. The tool is bundled with Recorded Future’s threat‑intelligence platform, signaling a push into finance automation and cybersecurity for merchants.
White House Names David Sacks Co‑Chair of AI and Crypto Advisory Council
The White House announced that entrepreneur David Sacks will serve as co‑chair of the President’s AI and Crypto Advisory Council, a step that deepens government involvement in artificial‑intelligence policy and cryptocurrency regulation. Details of the council’s mandate and funding were...
Coinbase, Better Home & Finance and Fannie Mae Launch First Crypto‑Backed Mortgages
Coinbase, mortgage platform Better Home & Finance and government‑sponsored Fannie Mae announced a pilot that lets homebuyers use Bitcoin or USDC as collateral for down‑payment loans. The product keeps crypto holdings intact, avoids taxable sales and marks the first integration...
Digital Communications Governance: AI in Action
Artificial intelligence is now integral to Digital Communications Governance and Archiving (DCGA) in financial services, automating the monitoring, summarising, and risk detection of employee communications across text, voice, video and AI‑generated content. Theta Lake showcases six real‑world use cases, from...
The Rise of Virtual Credit in a Cashless Philippines: What It Means for Consumers
The Philippines is rapidly transitioning to a cashless economy, driven by e‑wallets, QR codes and online shopping. Alongside this shift, virtual credit products—instant, app‑based loans and digital credit cards—are gaining traction, with fintech platforms reporting double‑digit growth in approvals. Consumers...
Pavestone Leads $3 Mn Seed Round in Lending Solutions Platform Uncia
Uncia, an AI‑native lending‑technology platform, closed a $3 million seed round led by Hyderabad‑based venture capital firm Pavestone. The capital will fuel accelerated growth in India and support expansion into the MENA region and North America. Founded in 2020, Uncia offers...
FiatPe Joins Mumbai Indians as Official Payments Partner
FiatPe has been named the official payments partner of the Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2026 season. The fintech will roll out QR, POS and card‑based solutions across matchday venues, covering food, beverage and merchandise counters. By handling the surge of...
Lloyds Bank Forks Out Compensation After Tech Glitch Hit Nearly Half a Million
Lloyds Banking Group disclosed that a technical failure in its mobile app on March 12 exposed transaction data for nearly half a million customers across Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland. About 447,936 users saw rogue transactions, and 114,000 inadvertently...
XTransfer Executive Participates in Rwanda Roundtable
XTransfer’s Chief Strategy Officer Neil Ni joined the Remittances Roundtable at the Inclusive FinTech Forum 2026 in Kigali, discussing how policy, interoperability and corridor liquidity can accelerate cross‑border flows for African SMEs. The panel highlighted the Kenya‑Rwanda cross‑border payment access initiative,...
Ping An Digital Bank Launches New Strategic Phase
Ping An Digital Bank unveiled a new brand identity that highlights its deep ties to Ping An Group and its integrated insurance DNA. The Hong Kong‑based digital bank now offers a single mobile‑first account that combines deposits, foreign exchange, wealth...
UK Watchdog Hits Bank of London with New Client Freeze
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has ordered Bank of London to halt onboarding new clients, citing deficiencies in its anti‑money‑laundering and risk‑management frameworks. The freeze, effective immediately, applies to all prospective corporate and retail accounts and could delay the bank’s...
zypl.ai Closes $5.5 Million Bridge Round at $80 Million Valuation
UAE‑based credit‑scoring startup zypl.ai secured a $5.5 million bridge round, valuing the company at $80 million. The round was led by Silicon Valley’s Carbide Ventures and featured investor Shukhrat Ibragimov. Zypl.ai will use the capital to accelerate global expansion and roll out...
Coinbase's Sports‑Bet Spam Marks Major Crypto Misstep
Coinbase spamming its users to bully them into sports gambling might turn out to be one of the great unforced errors for the blunder-prone crypto exchange
PipVertex Unveils Multi‑Asset Trading Platform for Global Digital Investors
FinTech startup PipVertex has launched a new multi‑asset trading platform that consolidates currencies, stocks, commodities, precious metals and digital assets into a single, speed‑focused interface. The service is available on browsers, mobile phones and tablets, aiming to simplify market access...
Muddy Waters' Short Report Sends SoFi Shares Tumbling Near 50%
SoFi Technologies was hit by a Muddy Waters short‑seller report accusing it of inflating loan profitability, which drove the stock down nearly 50% in a single session. The lender, which posted 41% year‑over‑year growth in deposits and adjusted revenue and...