Sri Lanka Waives Fees on Low‑Value QR Payments to Spur Digital Adoption
Sri Lanka's central bank approved a fee waiver for low‑value QR code payments, eliminating transaction charges to encourage mobile payments. The move targets small merchants and consumers, aiming to deepen digital finance in a country still recovering from a prolonged economic crisis.
After Pivoting, Y Combinator Grad Glimpse Raises $35M Led by A16z
Fintech startup Glimpse announced a $35 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from 8VC and Y Combinator. The company, a Y Combinator graduate, pivoted from an Airbnb product‑placement venture to an AI‑driven platform that automates retailer...
Fintrac Crypto Crackdown Tests Real Bite of Canada’s AML Regime
Fintrac, Canada’s AML watchdog, revoked the registrations of 23 cryptocurrency money‑services businesses on Tuesday, adding to 12 revocations earlier this month for a total of 35 firms in days. The moves represent over 10 percent of all revocations in the past...
Paisalo Digital Adds Indian Overseas Bank to Its BC Network
Paisalo Digital Limited announced that Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has joined its Business Correspondent (BC) network, marking the third public‑sector bank partnership after State Bank of India and Bank of India. The move expands Paisalo's Banking‑as‑a‑Service platform to 4,872 touch...
With $8M, Eunice Brings Institutional-Grade AI to Due Diligence
London‑based Eunice, which builds AI‑driven due‑diligence infrastructure for regulated markets, closed an $8 million seed and pre‑seed round led by Moonfire Ventures and Speedinvest. The funding will accelerate development of its institutional‑grade AI agents and broaden coverage beyond digital assets into...
PRA Fines The Bank of London Group and Oplyse £2m
The UK Prudential Regulation Authority has fined The Bank of London Group and its parent Oplyse Holdings £2 million (≈ $2.5 million) for deliberately misrepresenting their capital position between October 2021 and May 2024. The regulator said the firms provided fabricated documents, breached capital adequacy...
AI Banking Success Requires Region‑Specific, Production‑Scale Deployments
AI is not “one-size-fits-all,” and we need to recognize that use cases that work in SEA won’t work in LatAm. While the AI spend in banking is projected to surge over 10x from $35 billion in 2023 to $368 billion by...
Bol Also Allows Customers to Check Out at External Online Stores
Ahold Delhaize’s Dutch e‑commerce platform Bol is extending its checkout technology to third‑party online stores. The move lets merchants embed familiar payment methods such as iDEAL and pay‑later, aiming to cut friction and lift conversion rates. Initial integrations are live for...
Pressure Piles on Social Media as Fintechs Demand Fraud Action
Fintech firms are urging social‑media platforms to shoulder more responsibility for fraud after a new Payments Association report highlighted their role in scams. The study found roughly two‑thirds of authorised push‑payment (APP) fraud originates on social networks, marketplaces and messaging...
Nick Candy-Backed Fintech VibePay Falls Into Liquidation, Job Losses
Fintech VibePay, a UK peer‑to‑peer payment app backed by Nick Candy’s Candy Ventures, entered liquidation after investors withdrew funding. The company, founded in 2019 by Luke Massie, had raised over £12 million (approximately $15 million) and aimed to enable open‑banking account‑to‑account transfers...
DXtrade Integrates Gold-I’s Visual Edge to Enhance Risk Management Capabilities
DXtrade, Devexperts' multi‑asset trading platform, has integrated Gold‑i’s Visual Edge risk‑management tool, giving brokers real‑time visual analytics, automated alerts and scalper detection. The addition expands DXtrade’s feature set beyond its existing MatrixNET liquidity‑management integration. Brokers can now monitor exposure, P&L...
Nevermined Unveils Card Delegation for AI Agents, Enabling Autonomous Payments
Nevermined introduced persistent card delegation, letting AI agents hold delegated credit cards and make real‑world payments without human approval. The feature embeds spending limits, duration controls and revocability directly into the infrastructure, mirroring corporate expense policies. By enabling continuous, automated...
The Man Who Wired Africa
Dare Okoudjou, a Benin‑born telecom engineer, founded MFS Africa—now rebranded as Onafriq—to build the continent’s underlying payments rail. The network interconnects more than 500 million mobile wallets and 200 million bank accounts across 40 African nations, turning a fragmented ecosystem into a...
Hyperliquid Strategies Launches First Listed Options on PURR Stock
Hyperliquid Strategies Inc. began trading listed options on its PURR common stock on the Nasdaq Options Market, giving investors new hedging and speculative tools. The launch arrives as crypto‑linked derivatives expand, highlighted by Wintermute’s new oil CFD offering.
Bitpanda Unveils Vision Chain to Fuse Tokenized Assets with EU Banks
Bitpanda announced the launch of Vision Chain, a public blockchain built with the Vision Web3 Foundation and Optimism, to let banks and fintechs issue and settle tokenized assets under EU rules. The move targets a market projected to hit $18.9 trillion...
RBA Moves From ‘If’ to ‘How’ on Wholesale Digital Tokens, Eyes Rollout
Assistant Governor Brad Jones told Bloomberg the Reserve Bank of Australia is now focusing on how to implement wholesale digital tokens, not whether they belong in the system. The shift follows a pilot that showed efficiency gains and comes as...
The UK’s Payments Overhaul Will Be Won or Lost in the Build
The UK is moving from strategic planning to the practical build of its National Payments Vision, launching the Payments Forward Plan to define how the new retail payments infrastructure will be assembled. The article highlights that execution decisions—such as system...
CUBE Partners with Microsoft to Automate RegTech at Scale
CUBE has teamed with Microsoft to launch its RegPlatform on Azure, delivering AI‑driven regulatory intelligence that automates compliance for global financial institutions. The integration leverages Microsoft Azure’s secure, globally distributed cloud and data services, enabling real‑time tracking of thousands of...
Paymentology Brings in Visa Veteran Peter Theunis to Accelerate Global Growth
Paymentology has appointed payments veteran Peter Theunis as principal advisor to accelerate its global expansion. Theunis, formerly Visa’s country manager for Belgium and Luxembourg, brings deep experience launching neobanks, modernising legacy banks, and building fintech ecosystems. His background spans card...
Fintech Startup Kiwi Appoints Sumeet Basrani as CBO
Fintech startup Kiwi has named payments veteran Sumeet Basrani as its new Chief Business Officer, bolstering the firm’s leadership as it pivots toward mass‑scale credit distribution on India’s UPI network. Basrani arrives with more than 15 years of experience at...
Can Prediction Markets Predict?
Prediction markets such as Kalshi are gaining prominence as alternative forecasters of macroeconomic variables. A recent academic study finds Kalshi's inflation and Fed Funds Rate forecasts are statistically more accurate than traditional Fed Funds Futures and on par with the...
Programmable Liquidity: Five Foundations Reshaping Modern Treasury
Programmable liquidity is emerging as a core capability for modern treasury functions, enabling real‑time, event‑driven payments without restricting spend. The approach relies on a multi‑instrument digital money ecosystem—including CBDCs, stablecoins and tokenised deposits—while AI‑driven payment libraries provide controlled automation. Quantum‑computing...
Blog 110a. Ripple, XRP, FedNow, and the Future of Secure Bank-to-Bank Transactions
The blog highlights that the real shift in payments is infrastructure modernization, not crypto hype. Ripple is developing a blockchain‑based cross‑border rail while the Federal Reserve’s FedNow service provides instant domestic payments for U.S. depository institutions. Both initiatives are anchored...
Fluxa Launches to Enhance Payment Processing for UK SMEs
Fluxa, a UK‑based card payment processor founded by Paul Jones in 2026, launched a platform offering a flat 1.8% transaction fee for online merchants. The service includes a fully hosted checkout with Apple Pay, Google Pay and 3D Secure, plus a real‑time dashboard...
SGB Net Bridges Legacy and Digital Finance Through Real-Time Settlement
SGB has launched SGB Net, a real‑time settlement platform that links traditional banking infrastructure with digital‑asset ecosystems through SWIFT and stablecoin integration. The service processes roughly $2 billion in monthly volume and is growing at a 50% month‑on‑month rate. Backed by...
Behavioral Analytics in Fraud Detection: Spotlight on High-Risk Jurisdictions
Financial institutions are increasingly deploying behavioral analytics powered by AI and machine learning to pinpoint fraudulent activity across digital channels. By merging transaction data with historical fraud incidents, risk teams can assign behavior‑based risk scores and uncover hidden patterns. The...
PrimeXBT Wins Best Forex & CFD Broker – Asia Awards, Boosting Derivatives Platform Growth
PrimeXBT was named Best Forex & CFD Broker – Asia and Best Trading Conditions – Asia at the World Business Outlook Awards 2026. The accolades highlight the broker’s rapid expansion in Asian derivatives trading and its integrated crypto‑TradFi offering.
Schwab Posts Record $519 B Net New Assets in Q4 2025, Boosting Banking Growth
Charles Schwab announced $519 billion of net new assets in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 42% year‑over‑year increase. The surge lifted total client assets past $12 trillion and pushed bank‑lending balances to a record $58 billion, underscoring the firm’s accelerating banking and...
Invesco Takes Over Superstate’s $900 Million Tokenized T‑Bill Fund
Invesco has acquired Superstate’s $900 million tokenized Treasury‑bill fund, USTB, positioning the asset manager as the fourth‑largest real‑world asset (RWA) fund on the blockchain. The deal expands Invesco’s digital‑asset capabilities and signals a broader shift toward tokenized money‑market products for institutional...
Muddy Waters Issues Short Thesis on SoFi, Flags $1.8B Fair‑Value Adjustments
Muddy Waters Research published a 28‑page short‑seller report on SoFi, accusing the digital bank of inflating earnings through questionable fair‑value accounting and under‑reporting loan charge‑offs. The firm says SoFi’s cumulative fair‑value adjustments total more than $1.8 billion, and that true charge‑off...
Revolut and Nationwide Sharpen Swords in Battle to Bank Britain
Revolut has secured a full UK banking licence, positioning itself to directly challenge incumbent banks such as Lloyds. Nationwide, after acquiring Virgin Money, is gaining momentum, adding over 40,000 new customers in Q3 2025, while Lloyds continues to shed users,...
Stripe's In‑Ads Checkout Makes Shopify Optional
Uhhh is this the beginning of the inevitable breakup between Stripe and Shopify? This is a big deal. It’s also a bunch of my predictions coming to life at once. Here's what's happening: Stripe is powering a native checkout inside Facebook ads....
Ripple Partners with Singapore Central Bank to Test RLUSD
NEW: Ripple joins Singapore central bank’s BLOOM initiative to test RLUSD for programmable cross-border trade settlements https://t.co/ucOB11gheA
Leap Forward
In this episode of Leap Forward, host David Orsenko chats with a founder and a pivotal early supporter—someone who believed in the founder before anyone else—to uncover the behind‑the‑scenes moments that shaped a successful startup. They recount how chance encounters,...
Securing the Agentic Economy: Future of Finance Webinar
Excited to be joining Skyler Fox from @ProveIdentity to lead a webinar exploring the practical requirements for securing the agentic economy and what this means for the future of financial services. Register here: https://t.co/YLubCFXpnR @chyppings #agenticai #digitalidentity https://t.co/xeWxcrgXty
Fintech's Impact: Just a Slicker Banking UI
What has #fintech ever done for us? Apart from a better UX in my bank app. https://t.co/Tvnowb75O3
Cross-Border Hiring Accelerates as B2C Payout Solutions Simplify Global Payrol
Cross‑border hiring is accelerating as businesses adopt B2C payout platforms to streamline global payroll. Providers such as Thunes, Wise Platform, Payoneer, Stripe Connect, Adyen and Airwallex now offer APIs that consolidate local payment methods, currency conversion and compliance into a...
Metaplanet Unveils 1.6% Bitcoin Reward Card for Shareholders
METAPLANET TO LAUNCH BITCOIN REWARD CARD FOR SHAREHOLDERS Metaplanet has announced a new Bitcoin card called The MetaPlanet Card It is set to launch this summer, exclusive to company shareholders, offering 1.6% spending returns in Bitcoin https://t.co/RiLeBqYZgd
Revolut Must Tailor Services for US Market Success
What Revolut Needs To Do To Succeed In The US Digital bank Revolut reported record annual profits and growth in 2025, and recently filed for a US national bank charter. What does it need to do to succeed here? New Fintech Snark...
Rexi Raises $1.2M Pre-Seed Funding
Argentine fintech Rexi announced a $1.2 million pre‑seed round backed by multiple U.S. venture capital firms. The AI‑native platform automates bank reconciliation for fintechs, banks and payment companies by deploying intelligent agents that match transactions and resolve queries within minutes. The...
Gary Liu and Liu Xiaochun on What Role Stablecoins Could Play in China and the US
Gary Liu and Liu Xiaochun argue that stablecoins will become the backbone of cross‑border payments and remittances, eliminating high fees and slow settlement. They foresee AI agents executing billions of decisions daily, using stablecoins for instant settlement. The U.S. Genius...
Armstrong and Fink Signal Tokenization’s Next Big Wave
Brian Armstrong is bullish on tokenization just like Larry Fink. They are telling you exactly what comes next. Are you paying attention? https://t.co/5nnxps5h65
Connect Your Brokerage Directly in One‑Stop Dashboard
Up next to the @fiscal_ai Terminal... Connect your portfolio directly to your brokerage inside of the dashboard feature 🥳 Officially a one-stop shop for fundamental investors. - Syncs your portfolio daily - Tracks performance - Curates notifications Launches April 8th.
American Express Announces Zero‑Downtime Migration of Payment Network
American Express completed a migration of its core payment processing network with no customer‑impacting downtime, showcasing the firm’s deployment automation and reliability capabilities. The move underscores the growing importance of zero‑downtime strategies in large‑scale financial services.
Automated Trading Now Handles 70‑80% of Market Trades
i just mentioned in a talk that 1/3 of stock trades are automated, but that was widely outdated apparently it's now 70-80% of market transactions that are carried out through automated trading software
Mastercard Launches 85‑partner Blockchain Network as XRP Payments Make up 53% of XRPL Activity
Mastercard unveiled a blockchain payment initiative that brings together 85 crypto partners, including Ripple, to run pilots on its global payments infrastructure. A concurrent on‑chain analysis found that 53.20% of XRP Ledger transactions are payment‑related, highlighting the token’s growing role...
SEC, Gov’t Agencies Boost Crackdown on Abusive Lending Practices
The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and the National Privacy Commission, issued a joint advisory tightening compliance for online lending platforms. The directive reinforces the Data Privacy Act and consumer‑protection rules,...
Digital Payments via InstaPay, PESONet Surged 43% in January ’26
Philippines’ central bank reported a 43% year‑on‑year jump in digital payments through InstaPay and PESONet, reaching a combined value of roughly $47 billion in January 2026. Transaction volume surged to 688 million, more than triple the previous year’s level. InstaPay alone grew...
Senator Calls for FTC Investigation Into FICO Score Pricing
Senator Josh Hawley has asked the FTC to open an investigation into Fair Isaac Corp.'s (FICO) mortgage‑score pricing after documenting a 16‑fold jump from $0.60 to $10 per pull over five years. He argues the surge adds roughly $500 million in...