The Free Spirit Debit Card Is Coming: Here Are Its Features
Spirit Airlines is preparing to launch its Free Spirit Debit Mastercard, a new debit‑card offering that promises a modest welcome bonus and a suite of loyalty perks. The card carries a $6.99 monthly fee and awards 200 Free Spirit points at sign‑up, followed by 200 points each month for the first twelve months. Earn rates are limited to 1 point per $1 spent in undisclosed categories and 1 point per $2 elsewhere, with a potential boost of up to 4,000 bonus points based on average account balances. Compared with Spirit’s existing credit cards, the debit card’s value proposition appears weaker, especially given its recurring fee.
Untitled
The Bank of England is spearheading a sovereign payment system to challenge Visa and Mastercard’s dominance in the UK. A dedicated industry group will receive detailed infrastructure blueprints next year, outlining the technical and regulatory framework. The initiative aims to...
Falling in Love with a Safer Way to Pay
The episode commemorates the 20‑year anniversary of mandatory CHIP and PIN in the UK, explaining how the shift from signature to chip‑and‑PIN cards dramatically cut fraud and set a global benchmark for secure payments. It highlights the liability shift that...
(Update) Bilt 5x Points Welcome Promo Details
Bilt Rewards launched a 5x points welcome promotion for new cardholders, originally slated for February 7‑12, 2026, with a maximum of 50,000 points on $10,000 spend. Many users reported the bonus not crediting, prompting Bilt to email affected members to file...
BankrBot & BankrCoin “Onchain Agents”
Bankr is launching an on‑chain agent protocol that lets users execute DeFi actions—swaps, limit orders, DCA, token launches—via natural language commands through its BankrBot and BankrCoin. The platform already ships a live swapping interface (swap.bankr.bot) and an External Orders API...
BlackRock Just Chose Uniswap. The Market Didn’t Care. Here’s Why.
BlackRock announced its $2.4 billion tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, will be listed on UniswapX through a partnership with Securitize, and disclosed a strategic purchase of UNI tokens. The fund settles on Ethereum, allowing qualified investors to swap BUIDL for USDC 24/7....
The Bank Charter Gold Rush: What’s Really Happening and What It Means for Banking
After a four‑year freeze under the Biden administration, the OCC is now granting preliminary approvals for over 30 fintech‑driven bank charter applications. Experts warn that these approvals are only the first step, with an 18‑month “in‑organization” phase required to build...
8am Expands LawPay Into Full Financial Management Platform for Law Firms, with Payments, Billing and Reporting
8am has upgraded its LawPay platform into a full‑service financial management solution for law firms, adding invoicing, time‑tracking, expense management, and real‑time reporting to its existing payments engine. The new offering features Smart Spend, an automated expense tool powered by...
The First Banking Disruptor?
The episode examines Midland Bank's 1984 decision to eliminate fees for cheques, statements, and standing orders, effectively making personal banking free in the UK. It explores how this bold move reshaped the competitive landscape, prompting other banks to adopt similar...
🏹 Robinhood: Strong Platform, Weak Crypto, Split Narrative
The episode dissects Robinhood's latest earnings, highlighting a modest EPS beat but a revenue miss at $1.28 billion, with investors zeroing in on the platform's faltering crypto segment. It examines how the slowdown in crypto trading revenue is weighing on the...
DAT Question for Clear Street
Clear Street (CLRS) is set to price its IPO at $40‑44 per share, aiming to raise roughly $1 billion. The offering values the company at about 12 times revenue and over 25 times adjusted EBITDA, positioning it among high‑multiple fintech peers. Founded in...
AI Disrupts Financials. Bad Data Misleads On Economy.
Altruist, a wealth‑management startup, rolled out AI‑driven tax‑planning tools, prompting a sharp sell‑off in legacy financial firms such as Charles Schwab, LPL Financial and Morgan Stanley. The reaction reflects investor anxiety that AI could erode traditional advisory revenue streams. Despite...
Banks, Stablecoins, and Base by Coinbase: Fighting for Open Money Without Gatekeepers
The article argues that the U.S. legislative debate over stablecoins will decide whether digital dollars become bank‑like deposits or remain programmable assets that spur competition. It highlights how stablecoins now serve as payment rails, collateral, and yield sources, prompting banks...
Interactive Brokers Taps Coinbase for ‘Perpetual-Style’ Crypto Futures
Interactive Brokers (IBKR) has launched nano‑sized Bitcoin and Ethereum futures by partnering with Coinbase Derivatives, offering both monthly‑expiry and perpetual‑style contracts. The new products give IBKR’s 4.5 million clients access to crypto derivatives previously limited to specialist exchanges. This follows IBKR’s...
Earn High Yield From Insurance Products With Re
Re is a DeFi protocol that tokenizes access to U.S. reinsurance markets through two yield‑bearing tokens. The lower‑volatility reUSD token generates about 7% APY by investing in Treasury bills and delta‑neutral ETH basis trades, while the higher‑yield reUSDe token targets...
Affirm & Wayfair Expand Partnership to Launch BNPL Options in the U.K. & Canada
Affirm announced the expansion of its buy‑now‑pay‑later service with Wayfair into the United Kingdom and Canada. The partnership extends the flexible, zero‑interest payment plans that debuted in the United States last year to international shoppers buying home goods. Customers will...
Robinhood Launches Public Testnet for Ethereum Layer 2 Blockchain
Robinhood has launched a public testnet for Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum Layer 2 network built on Arbitrum that already holds over $2.3 billion in total value locked. The testnet gives developers access to tools, documentation, and testnet‑only assets such as tokenized stocks,...
Enhanced Financial Tools To Grow Your Business with Shopify
The episode outlines Shopify’s Winter 2026 updates to its suite of finance tools—including Balance, Capital, Credit, Bill Pay, and Tax—designed to simplify cash‑flow management and accelerate growth for merchants. New features such as the flexible Capital flex account, dynamic credit limits, automated budget...
Business Checking Accounts For DTC Founders: Your Operations Command Center
In this episode Steve Hutt explains how DTC founders should treat their business checking account as an operations command center, outlining a staged setup that separates operating cash, tax reserves, and marketing spend. He highlights practical tactics like tracking payout,...
How to Roll Out AI in a Large Company without Losing Customers (Fintech Reality Check)
Fintech firms are racing to embed AI in customer support, but the biggest risk is eroding trust when high‑risk issues funnel users into endless bots. The article warns that without a clear, reachable human escalation path, incidents like fraud or...
The Agility Advantage: Navigating Growth with a Composable Operating Model
Bloomberg’s Head of IBOR Product Mark Ellis outlines a composable operating model that lets asset managers replace, scale, and evolve technology components without disruptive overhauls. The model leverages Bloomberg’s API‑first, cloud‑native microservices and high‑fidelity data to create a modular stack...
Enso: Real DeFi Execution Layer
Enso is building a universal DeFi execution layer that lets applications invoke complex, multi‑step strategies with a single API call. By offering reusable templates and deterministic routes, it abstracts integrations with protocols like Aave, Curve, and cross‑chain bridges. The platform...
Unpacking PayPal’s Missed Moment: 7 Takeaways
Former PayPal president David Marcus posted a candid post‑mortem outlining why the company’s silent turnaround lost steam. He argues that a shift from product‑led conviction to pure financial optimization eroded PayPal’s core checkout moat. The analysis distills seven actionable takeaways,...
Aptos-Based Perp DEX Merkle Trade Shutters Business
Merkle Trade, the leading Aptos perpetual futures DEX, announced it will wind down operations, disabling new positions on Feb 6 and closing all positions by Feb 10. The platform, which processed nearly $30 billion in cumulative volume, will redeem its MKL token without...
Best Software for Factoring: The Platforms That Make Funding Faster, Risk Tighter, and Back Office Cleaner
The episode breaks down the essential features of top factoring software platforms, highlighting how an all‑in‑one solution can curb revenue leakage, boost real‑time cash‑flow visibility, and automate the invoice lifecycle from submission to settlement. SOFT4Factoring is championed as the premier...
Is BTC Postage the Same as Using a Post Office?
The episode explains that "BTC postage" simply means paying for a standard shipping label with cryptocurrency via third‑party services like uspostage.io, while the actual mail handling remains unchanged. It highlights that the only difference is the payment method, which can...
Aave Delegate Platform Proposes Pausing Three L2 Deployments Citing Weak Revenue
Aave's governance delegation platform has proposed pausing its V3 deployments on three underused Layer 2 networks—zkSync Era, Metis and Soneium—due to minimal user activity and revenue. The three chains together generated under $1,600 in fees over the past 30 days, while...
Perp Pioneer BitMEX Launches Hyperliquid Copy Trading
BitMEX has launched Hyperliquid Copy Trading, letting its users automatically replicate the positions of top traders on the leading perpetual futures DEX, Hyperliquid. The feature executes trades on BitMEX, supports up to five copied traders, and includes basic risk‑management tools...
Strong US Earnings, Fed Hold to Counter Weak Dollar Concerns
The Federal Reserve left its policy range at 3.5‑3.75% after a 10‑2 vote on Jan. 28, citing an improving economic outlook. Early S&P 500 earnings reported a 20% jump in aggregate profits, reinforcing the Fed’s view of resilience. Meanwhile, the Bloomberg Dollar...
Shopify Chargeback Dos and Don’ts | Eastside Co
The episode breaks down Shopify chargebacks, explaining their causes—fraud, shipping issues, inaccurate listings, and refund disputes—and why they matter financially and reputationally. It walks listeners through Shopify’s built‑in dispute workflow and highlights the platform’s fee‑refund policy when merchants win a...
Multiverse Computing Celebrates Major Milestone as Foundational Quantum Finance Paper Exceeds 1,000 Academic Citations
Multiverse Computing’s 2019 paper "Quantum Computing for Finance: Overview and Prospects" has now exceeded 1,000 academic citations, placing the firm alongside quantum heavyweights such as IBM and D‑Wave. The work emphasized quantum software for finance rather than hardware, establishing a...
PayPal Shares Plunged 86% From the 2021 Goofball High and Right Into Our Imploded Stocks
PayPal’s stock tumbled 20% to $41.70 after it reported a Q4 earnings miss, weak total payment volume growth, and announced a surprise CEO change, appointing HP chief Enrique Lores as its new leader effective March 1, with CFO Jamie Miller serving...
Earn Yield From These Market Neutral Strategies
Neutral is a DeFi platform that generates yield through market‑neutral strategies, balancing long and short positions via basis trading and funding‑rate arbitrage. The protocol operates on‑chain across both centralized exchanges like Binance and decentralized venues, offering eleven active strategies and...
Fedgraph-Vasp Achieves 0.855 AML Accuracy with Post-Quantum Privacy Preservation
Researchers introduced FedGraph‑VASP, a privacy‑preserving federated graph learning framework that enables virtual asset service providers to jointly detect money‑laundering without sharing raw transaction data. The system exchanges compressed graph embeddings secured with Kyber‑512 key encapsulation and AES‑256‑GCM, delivering quantum‑resistant protection....
CFPB Moves to Restrict Credit Reporting Complaints
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it will modify its complaint system to make filing disputes against credit reporting agencies more difficult. The change follows a request from Experian to tighten identity verification and cap the number of complaints...
India Negotiates Alipay+ Link for Instant Payment System
India is in negotiations with Ant International to connect its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with the Alipay+ platform, creating a seamless cross‑border payment channel. Officials are scrutinising security protocols as part of the deal, reflecting a softening of economic ties...
EU Regulatory Outlook 2026
The EU will accelerate a sweeping regulatory agenda in 2026, focusing on capital‑markets integration, digital resilience, and sustainable finance. Key initiatives include the Savings and Investment Union to mobilise €33 trillion of household savings, expanded ESMA supervision over market infrastructures, and...
Tom Ilube CBE Appointed Chair of LINK
The episode announces Tom Ilube CBE as the new Chair of LINK, the UK’s cash access and ATM network, highlighting his extensive background in technology, finance, education, and philanthropy. Ilube emphasizes the importance of maintaining cash access for millions as...
Regulators at the Heart of the National Payments Vision
In his keynote at the Payments Regulation and Innovation Summit, David Geale, MD of the Payment Systems Regulator, outlined how the FCA and PSR are steering the National Payments Vision by focusing on system trust, resilience through choice, and upcoming...
Aave’s GHO Stablecoin Supply Hits $500M
Aave’s native stablecoin GHO crossed the $500 million market‑cap threshold in early February, marking a 245% increase since the start of 2025. The circulating supply stayed above half a billion while holder numbers rose to roughly 23,000, up about 300% year‑to‑date....
Beyond Headwinds: Building Durable Growth in APAC Insurance
APAC insurers are poised for double‑digit growth through 2026, but must navigate heightened geopolitical tensions, rising claim costs from new‑energy vehicles, and an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Bloomberg’s suite—including MARS, PORT, AIM, and RMS—offers end‑to‑end asset‑liability management, scenario testing, and...
Jane Street Enhances ETF Liquidity and Execution Efficiency with Bloomberg RFQe
Jane Street is expanding ETF liquidity and execution efficiency in Asia‑Pacific by leveraging Bloomberg RFQe. The platform uncovers deeper order‑book depth than exchange screens and supports sophisticated NAV and portfolio trades. Automated RFQe workflows deliver sub‑second responses, saving two hours...
Inside the Rise of Apps That Let You Pay with Crypto, Even Where Merchants Don’t Accept It
Startups are piloting pay‑on‑behalf solutions that let consumers spend cryptocurrency at ordinary merchants without altering point‑of‑sale systems. Thailand’s PlebQR routes Bitcoin Lightning payments through local partners who settle in fiat, reporting over 1,270 transactions worth roughly $21,500 with a 75 %...
Compliance Fundamentals: Communications Surveillance
Bloomberg Vault’s guide outlines how financial firms must move beyond simple record‑keeping to active communications surveillance, monitoring emails, chats, voice and social media for misconduct. Regulators worldwide demand comprehensive capture of business‑related communications and risk‑based supervisory review, penalising off‑channel activity....
What Does 2026 Hold for Fintech?
Founders and investors see 2026 as a turning point for fintech, with stablecoins poised to become core infrastructure for cross‑border payments. AI is rapidly moving from theory to production, driving faster product launches and embedding agentic capabilities in financial workflows....
Gulf Regulatory Outlook 2026
Regulatory momentum in the Gulf is shifting from rapid framework‑building to concrete execution, as authorities embed recent reforms into supervision, enforcement and market infrastructure. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are loosening foreign‑ownership rules and aligning with IOSCO standards to attract...
PicPay Prices IPO at $19 per Share
Brazilian digital bank PicPay priced its initial public offering at $19 per share, targeting roughly $434 million in proceeds. The offering comprises 22.9 million Class A common shares that will debut on Nasdaq under the ticker “PICS” on January 29, 2026. PicPay currently serves...
Shopify Updates Chargeback Rate Calculations to Include RDR
Shopify has revised its chargeback rate calculations to incorporate every dispute, including those resolved through Visa’s Rapid Dispute Resolution (RDR) program. The updated metric lets merchants filter data by dispute type, delivering a more precise view of account risk. By...
Bloomberg Pro Tips: Discover Curated Charts Faster Across Sectors with CHRT
Bloomberg’s latest Pro Tips episode showcases the CHRT tool on the Bloomberg Terminal, a centralized hub for curated charts across sectors, tickers, and portfolios. The feature lets users pull sector‑wide visualizations, apply custom filters, and export charts without leaving the...
Bridging Compliance and Cybersecurity in Financial Reporting in 2026
The SEC is drafting rules that will require public companies to disclose their cybersecurity controls as part of regular financial reporting. This links cyber risk directly to compliance, forcing firms to treat security as a core reporting element. The article...