How a 21% Increase in Fintech Investment Is Reversing Previous Downturns
Global fintech investment surged to $53 billion in 2025, a 21% year‑over‑year increase after three years of decline. The United States led the rebound with $25.1 billion, almost half of all capital, while the UK’s funding slipped to $3.6 billion – a 21% drop that nevertheless kept it in second place globally. The recovery was fueled by lean, capital‑efficient survivors, the return of pension‑fund and sovereign‑wealth investors, and clearer regulatory frameworks across the UK, EU and India. Deal flow shifted toward payments and crypto‑infrastructure, with the three biggest 2025 rounds going to Binance, Ramp and Kraken.
What a 21% Decline in UK Fintech Investment Reveals About Macroeconomic Pressures
UK fintech funding fell 21% in 2025, driven by the Bank of England’s base rate reaching 5.25%. Higher rates made government bonds more attractive, pulling capital from venture funds and limiting limited‑partner contributions, especially from pension schemes. The squeeze also...
Why the UK Fintech Market Reaching $21.44 Billion in 2026 Confirms Sustained Growth
The UK fintech sector is projected to reach $21.44 billion in 2026, up from $18.57 billion in 2025, according to Mordor Intelligence. Post‑Brexit regulatory flexibility—exemplified by the FCA’s sandbox and open‑banking standards—has accelerated digital‑bank licensing and innovation. London secured $3.6 billion in funding...
How Global Fintech Growth Rates Above 16% Are Outperforming Traditional Finance
Fortune Business Insights projects global fintech to expand at an 18.2% compound annual growth rate through 2034, reaching roughly $1.76 trillion. This pace dwarfs the 3% global GDP growth, 10% equity market returns and the 5‑8% growth of traditional banking. The...
How India’s $26.58 Billion Fintech Market in 2026 Reflects Emerging Market Growth
India’s fintech ecosystem is projected to reach $26.58 billion by 2026, driven largely by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) that now handles over $230 billion in annual transaction value. The low‑cost, frictionless payment rails have spurred rapid growth in digital lending, investment...
Iran War Oil-Price Shock Revives Inflation Trade and a New Stablecoin Play
The Iran‑related oil shock has pushed U.S. inflation up 0.9% in March, reigniting investor interest in inflation hedges. Michael Ashton’s USDi stablecoin aims to fill a gap in crypto by tracking the CPI rather than a fixed dollar, preserving purchasing...
Crypto Clarity Bill Has 30% Chance of Passing This Year, Wintermute’s Hammond Says
Wintermute policy chief Ron Hammond estimates a 30% chance the Crypto Clarity Act will pass in 2026, citing bank opposition over stable‑coin yield, shifting timelines, and broader political friction. A recent Punchbowl survey of lobbyists placed odds at 26%, while...
NatWest and Sainsbury’s Expand Partnership to Launch Embedded Financial Products
NatWest and Sainsbury’s have signed an expanded agreement to embed a suite of financial products—savings, loans and a Nectar‑linked credit card—into the grocery retailer’s digital channels, with rollout slated for the second half of 2026. The deal builds on NatWest’s...
Millennials Spark BNPL Revolution as Inflation Surges
Americans are turning to buy‑now‑pay‑later (BNPL) as inflation spikes, with 64% of adults having tried the service and 70% planning purchases in 2025. The March CPI rose 0.9%—driven by an 11% jump in energy prices and a 21.2% surge in...
Legacy Payments Failing UK Businesses: GoCardless Points to Commercial VRPs as the Fix
GoCardless’ new research shows that outdated card‑based payment rails are eroding UK merchants’ profitability, costing an average of 3.5 % of monthly revenue. Among 489 recurring‑revenue leaders, 73 % report chronic friction, and 42 % spend over three hours each week managing fraud...
Federal Court Blocks Arizona Crackdown on Kalshi’s Event Contracts
A federal judge in Arizona issued a temporary restraining order that bars state officials from enforcing gambling laws against Kalshi’s event‑based contracts, aligning with a request from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The order, effective until at least April 24,...
The Caucasus: Georgia’s Fintech Landscape in 2026
By 2026 Georgia has turned its geographic advantage into a deliberate digital‑finance strategy, coupling broadband expansion and e‑government reforms with a proactive central‑bank regulator. Leading banks such as TBC and Bank of Georgia operate like tech firms, offering integrated mobile...
Morningstar Moves on From ByAllAccounts -- Sending It to a Startup Incubator -- 12 Years After Former CEO Joe Mansueto...
Morningstar has sold its ByAllAccounts account‑aggregation business to Pello Companies, a tech‑startup incubator founded in 2024. The divestiture ends a decade‑old, $28 million acquisition that many analysts said was overpriced in a market that has become increasingly commoditized. Morningstar will keep...
Tokenovate Founder Claims IMF Warning on Tokenization Fails to Identify Where Risk Actually Exists
The International Monetary Fund released a report warning that tokenization could accelerate market stress by eliminating the settlement‑delay buffer that currently slows trades. Tokenovate founder Richard Baker counters that the real risk lies in fragmented, manual post‑trade systems, not in...
Binance Joins Crypto Rivals in Race to Launch Prediction Markets
Binance announced a partnership with Predict.fun to embed fee‑free prediction markets directly into its app, allowing users to wager on real‑world events using Spot and Funding balances. The one‑click interface eliminates complex onboarding, positioning the service as a low‑friction entry...
Fintech Industry Professional Shares Insights on Polgyon Labs’ Move Into Stablecoins
Polygon Labs announced plans to raise up to $100 million to launch a dedicated stablecoin payments arm, signaling a strategic shift from pure trading utilities to core payment infrastructure. Artur Firstov, CBO of Mercuryo, highlighted that 2026 will be the year...
Persistent Systems Launches Fraud Detection Service
Persistent Systems unveiled a Merchant Risk Management and Fraud Detection solution built on the Databricks Data Intelligence platform. The service leverages Agentic AI to vet merchants during onboarding and continuously monitor transactions, chargebacks, and external risk signals in real time....
Bank of France Pushes EU to Rein in Non-Euro-Backed Stablecoins
The Bank of France is urging the EU to tighten the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA) to curb the use of stablecoins that are not backed by the euro. It wants restrictions on everyday payments, stricter rules on multi‑issuance, and...
Perplexity Uses Plaid to Personalize Money Insights
Perplexity has expanded its partnership with Plaid to let U.S. and Canadian users link bank accounts, credit cards and loans directly within its AI platform, providing read‑only, real‑time access to data from over 12,000 financial institutions. The integration enables users...
Securitize Appoints Former SEC Official as President
Securitize has appointed former SEC Markets and Trading Director Brett Redfearn as its president and board member, bolstering the firm’s regulatory credentials ahead of a planned public listing. The tokenization fintech is pursuing a SPAC merger that values the company...
PNG Expands Mandatory Digital ID to Businesses Taking Gov’t Contracts
Papua New Guinea’s government has mandated the use of its national SevisPass digital ID for every business submitting a state tender. Acting ICT Minister Peter Tsiamalili announced the rule at the Department of Works and Highways Contractors Conference, emphasizing the...
Affirm’s Max Levchin: I Want to Be the Money Lender with Morals
Max Levchin co‑founded PayPal, which IPOed in 2002 at a $800 million valuation. A personal embarrassment—being denied a car loan due to a junk credit score—prompted him to rethink lending practices. Ten years later he launched Affirm, a fintech focused on...
Ratio Lands $15.8M Financing Round
Ratio, an AI‑driven fintech platform serving B2B technology scale‑ups, closed a $15.8 million venture financing round and added $100 million of lending capacity. The funding follows the company’s achievement of GAAP profitability in August 2025, underscoring its capital‑efficient growth model. Ratio’s solution links...
Why Banks Like Tokenized Deposits
American Banker’s analysis shows tokenized deposits are gaining traction faster than stablecoins among U.S. banks. Nineteen of the 50 largest banks are developing tokenized‑deposit strategies, compared with 15 pursuing stablecoins, and four banks already offer deposit tokens versus one stablecoin...
Visa Direct Integration Lets OwlTing Users Fund USDC Straight From a Debit Card
Visa Direct is now integrated into OwlTing’s OwlPay platform, enabling U.S. debit cardholders to fund USDC instantly without a separate exchange. The live feature appears in OwlPay Harbor and the consumer‑focused OwlPay Wallet Pro, with plans to extend to the...
Kalshi, IC360 Launch New Prediction Market Self-Exclusion Initiative
Kalshi, a CFTC‑regulated prediction‑market exchange valued at over $20 billion, has teamed with compliance firm IC360 to launch SelfExclude, a cross‑platform self‑exclusion hub. The tool lets users place themselves on a shared blacklist that blocks betting on Kalshi and any future...
The Crypto News Today That Proves This Market Will Never Die as BTC Holds $72,900 and Pepeto Fills
Stablecoin transaction volumes are projected to hit $719 trillion by 2035, dwarfing traditional payment networks. Bitcoin remains above $72,900 after a cease‑fire rally, with $75,000 as the next resistance level. Pepeto has raised roughly $8.8 million, offers zero‑fee swaps and 185% APY...
The Payment Type Publix Doesn't Bother With Anymore
Publix announced it will retire its in‑app payment service, Publix Pay, effective March 2026. Launched in 2019, the QR‑code based system let shoppers link cards, store gift cards, and redeem digital coupons, but offered no unique rewards. Internal sources said...
Implementing the Digital Euro Project
The European Central Bank is advancing its digital euro project, originally launched in 2020, as EU legislation clears the path for implementation. The digital currency is envisioned as a cash‑like token to complement physical euros in everyday transactions. ECB officials...
Inside the Freshly Vendor-Neutral Payments Protocol Putting the 402 Status Code to Use
The Linux Foundation announced it will steward a newly created, vendor‑neutral payments protocol that operates directly at the HTTP layer. The protocol revives the rarely used HTTP 402 “Payment Required” status code to enable automated, machine‑to‑machine transactions for SaaS, API, and...
Upstart Sued over AI Model’s ‘Overreaction’
Fintech lender Upstart faces a class‑action lawsuit alleging its executives misled investors by inflating 2025 revenue guidance on the back of a new AI model, Model 22, and later revising the outlook downward when the model over‑reacted to macroeconomic conditions. The...
Greenlight Partners With RBFCU to Help Parents Raise Financially Smart Kids and Teens
Greenlight Financial Technology announced a partnership with Randolph‑Brooks Federal Credit Union (RBFCU) to provide the credit‑union’s members with free access to Greenlight’s family‑finance app. The “Greenlight for Credit Unions” program lets parents manage allowances, chores, and real‑time spending controls while...
How SAP Concur Automates Expense Reporting with Agentic AI
SAP Concur has upgraded its ExpenseIt platform with an agentic AI layer that goes beyond OCR, using Google Cloud’s Gemini models to infer missing receipt details. The new Receipt Analysis Agent applies routing, reflection, and tool‑use design patterns, automatically pulling...
Middle East Retail Investing: The WealthTech Opportunity
Retail investing is rapidly gaining momentum across the Middle East, driven by a young, digitally native population and strong economic growth in hubs like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The GCC digital neobrokerage market reached $1.2 bn in 2024, while government...
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Backs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's CLARITY Act Push
Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong publicly endorsed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s push for the CLARITY Act on April 10, 2026. The legislation seeks to create a unified regulatory framework for digital assets across U.S. financial regulators. Armstrong’s backing adds a...
Nordic Banks Turn to CaaS to Fight Rising Fraud
Nordic banks are grappling with a surge in digital fraud as cashless payments dominate the region. Norwegian banks blocked roughly NOK 2.3 bn (about $250 m) and Danish banks prevented DKK 500 m (around $70 m) in attempted fraud in 2025. At the same time, compliance...
Global FinTech Funding Tops $2bn as RegTech Deals Run Rampant
Global FinTech funding surged to $2.17 billion across 23 deals in the past two weeks, driven largely by RegTech and AI‑security investments. RegTech accounted for over a third of transactions, while the largest single deal was German insurer Talanx’s €1 billion ($1.09 billion)...
Repay Faces Kubra Purchase Opposition
Repay Holdings announced a $372 million cash‑plus‑debt acquisition of Kubra Data Transfer, aiming to merge complementary payment platforms. The combined entity would have generated roughly $548 million in revenue and $178 million of adjusted EBITDA last year. Veradace Partners, an 8.4 % shareholder, publicly...
Square Deepens Ties With NYC’s Birch Coffee as POS Push Continues
Square, the payments arm of Block Inc., is deepening its partnership with New York‑based Birch Coffee by powering the coffee chain’s 12th location. Birch reported a 16% year‑over‑year revenue increase in 2025, attributing part of that growth to Square’s commerce...
Adyen Tool Speeds Business Payments
Netherlands‑based fintech Adyen unveiled Intelligent Money Movement, a unified platform that combines payment collection, payout processing, and liquidity management for large enterprises. The tool addresses the typical treasury setup of five to six banks, over 40 accounts and roughly a...
MoonPay Partners with WalletConnect and Ingenico for Stablecoin Retail Payments
MoonPay announced a partnership with WalletConnect and payment‑terminal provider Ingenico to bring stablecoin payments to physical retail locations worldwide. The collaboration uses MoonPay’s Virtual Accounts to instantly convert stablecoins into fiat at the point of sale, enabling merchants to accept...
Securitize Integrates with TRON Network to Expand Tokenized Asset Offerings
Securitize announced integration with the TRON blockchain on April 10, allowing its tokenized securities to be issued and managed on one of the world’s highest‑throughput networks. The move expands Securitize’s multichain strategy, giving institutional‑grade assets access to TRON’s fast, low‑cost infrastructure...
Bank of France Calls for Tougher MiCA Limits on Stablecoin Payments
French officials are tightening crypto oversight as Bank of France Deputy Governor Denis Beau urged the EU to impose stricter limits on non‑euro stablecoins under the MiCA framework. At the same time, France’s National Assembly approved a provision requiring annual...
Rogers Unveils Red Scheme for Small Businesses
Rogers Communications launched the Red Partner programme, a point‑of‑sale and credit‑card offering aimed at Canadian small‑ and medium‑sized businesses. The scheme promises a 20% reduction in transaction fees and a tiered cashback model—1% on all purchases and 3% at participating...
Why AI Agents Are the New Era of UK Retail Banking
UK retail banking has become overwhelmingly digital, with 88% of adults—about 48 million people—using online channels for everyday transactions. While neobanks like Monzo and Revolut have set new service standards, traditional banks still lose customers; 265,000 switched banks in Q3 2025, and...
The Merchant’s Hand in the Consumer’s Choice of Payment Instruments: An Agent-Based Model
The paper presents an agent‑based model that simulates the German retail‑payment ecosystem using detailed sociodemographic and transaction data from the Deutsche Bundesbank. By varying merchant acceptance rates—such as reducing cash outlets or expanding card terminals—the model shows that even modest...
New Vanguard AI Tool Aims to Scale Investment Advice
Vanguard has launched "Expert Insights," an AI‑driven add‑on to its Portfolio Analytics platform that generates real‑time, client‑ready portfolio analysis for financial advisors. The tool, currently in a pilot with a select group of advisors, uses generative AI to translate complex...
Making Zelle Work Better for Users—And Banks
Zelle processed $1.2 trillion in 2024, a 20% year‑over‑year increase that dwarfs rivals Venmo and Cash App. Despite this scale, the service still lacks core peer‑to‑peer features such as recurring payments, favorite payees, and group splits. Because Zelle is accessed through...
ICYMI Fintech Funding Round-Up: Trent AI, Kulipa, Octostar and More
FinTech Futures’ weekly ICYMI roundup highlights six recent funding events across AI security, crypto payments, and digital identity. UK‑based Trent AI emerged from stealth with a $13 million seed to develop autonomous security agents, while European AI‑security firm Octostar closed a...
Inside the Prediction Markets: Who Controls the Trade
Prediction markets are caught in a federal‑state showdown as regulators vie for jurisdiction. A U.S. Third Circuit court ruled that Kalshi’s sports contracts are derivatives, not gambling, giving the CFTC a foothold. The CFTC and DOJ have sued Arizona, Connecticut...