72% of B2B Buyers Favor Suppliers With Embedded Payment Options
The PYMNTS Intelligence report, co‑authored with WEX, finds that B2B buyers are increasingly demanding embedded payment options, with 72% saying they prefer suppliers who offer them. Companies are moving away from building their own payment stacks and instead adopting white‑label platforms that provide proven fraud protection, compliance, and brand‑aligned experiences. The data shows 79% of organizations faced payment fraud in 2024, underscoring the risk of in‑house solutions. The study concludes that buying ready‑made embedded finance is now the faster, safer path to growth.
The Small-Test Rule: How Investors Verify Financial Platforms Before Scaling Capital
The article outlines the small‑test rule, a disciplined verification process investors use before committing large capital to financial platforms. It details a four‑step workflow—small deposit, standard actions, withdrawal test, and documentation—to assess operational reliability. The rule emphasizes real‑world performance over...
Stablecoin Onboarding Is the New Distribution Moat in Fintech
Stablecoins have become a core layer for cross‑border payments, on‑chain treasuries, and programmable finance, but their competitive edge now hinges on onboarding speed. The first fiat‑to‑stablecoin conversion experience determines whether users adopt the technology or abandon it before any benefit...
Dogecoin Mining Guide: Get a $100 Registration Bonus and Earn Daily Passive Income with Fleet Mining
Dogecoin’s active community and fast transaction times keep demand strong, but traditional proof‑of‑work mining remains hardware‑intensive. Fleet Mining introduces an AI‑driven cloud mining platform that lets users mine DOGE without owning equipment. New registrants receive a $15‑$100 bonus and can...
KeyBank to Pay $7.77 Million to Settle PPP Fraud Allegations
KeyBank agreed to pay $7.77 million to settle allegations it sought forgiveness for fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans. The settlement covers nearly $6 million in SBA loans that a Conshohocken branch manager, Tommy Hawkins, allegedly secured by inflating payroll and employee numbers....
Why WealthTech Matters in Southeast Asia
Urs Bolt and PhD candidate Liam Reeve discuss why WealthTech is crucial for Southeast Asia, highlighting that despite a slowdown in startup funding in 2025, technology is outpacing legacy financial institutions. They explain how digital wealth management platforms can bridge...
Binance Founder CZ Backed YZi Labs Accuses CEA Industries of Shareholder-Hostile Tactics
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao‑backed YZi Labs has accused CEA Industries of deploying a poison‑pill shareholder‑rights plan to block investor influence. YZi, a major stakeholder, lodged regulatory filings to expand the board, reverse recent bylaw changes, and rally an investor coalition....
FreshBooks’ Small Business Software Integrates Kick’s Automated Bookkeeping
FreshBooks announced a strategic partnership with Kick, embedding the latter’s automated bookkeeping engine into its small‑business management platform. The integration automatically categorizes, reconciles and keeps transaction records tax‑ready, extending FreshBooks’ existing invoicing, payments, accounting and payroll tools. Targeted at U.S....
PayPal Boosts Advertising Platform with Cross-Merchant Purchase Data
PayPal has launched the Transaction Graph Insights & Measurement programme, giving merchants a cross‑merchant view of real shopper behaviour and ad performance. Leveraging its network of over 430 million consumer accounts and tens of millions of merchants, the platform maps the...
Stripe Partners Crypto.com to Offer Merchants Crypto Payment Option
Stripe has announced a partnership with Crypto.com to enable merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments directly through Stripe’s checkout platform. The integration allows Crypto.com users to spend their digital assets at online stores without first converting them to fiat. The solution...
Rep. Hill Rolls Out Community Bank Deregulation Package
House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill unveiled a community‑bank deregulation package aimed at curbing regulatory "flip‑flop" when administrations change. The bill proposes tailoring provisions, eliminating reputational‑risk components from examinations, standardizing stress tests, raising size thresholds and redefining brokered deposits....
Zeaks Trade Goes Live, Expanding ZEAKS’ Mobile Product Portfolio
ZEAKS has launched the Zeaks Trade app, expanding its mobile product suite and reinforcing its architecture for mobile‑first users. The app builds on the platform’s core logic while adding performance tweaks for variable network conditions. A streamlined interface places key...
Bowman Details Regulatory Relief Agenda for Community Banks
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman announced a potential overhaul of the regulatory framework for community banks. She proposes separating community‑bank oversight from larger institutions, updating asset thresholds by indexing them to nominal GDP, and reducing data‑reporting burdens....
Lloyds Pushes Tokenized Deposits
Lloyds Banking Group issued a tokenized deposit on the public Canton Network and used it to purchase a UK gilt, marking one of the first real‑world applications of blockchain‑based deposit tokens. The move highlights banks’ push to offer tokenized deposits...
Payhawk’s Valuation Could Soar to $2 Billion With New Funding
Payhawk, the Bulgarian expense‑management fintech, is courting more than $100 million in fresh capital that could lift its valuation to roughly $2 billion, effectively doubling its prior estimate. The prospective round underscores sustained investor appetite for European fintechs even as AI startups...
Marqeta Names Stripe, JPMorgan Alum as CFO
Marqeta announced that former Stripe finance executive Patti Kangwankij will become its chief financial officer on February 9, succeeding CEO Mike Milotich, who has been serving in an interim CFO capacity. Kangwankij brings extensive experience from Stripe, JPMorgan and her...
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Top Crypto Marketing Agencies In Jan 2026 [Based on Real Client Reviews]
The January 2026 ranking of crypto marketing agencies, based on verified client reviews from Clutch, G2, GoodFirms and Trustpilot, places Bond Finance at the top for its strategic, institutional‑grade positioning. Ninja Promo follows as the execution powerhouse capable of large‑scale, multi‑channel campaigns, while...
Dow Jones Consumer Platforms to Feature Polymarket’s Prediction Market Data
Polymarket has entered an exclusive partnership with Dow Jones to supply real‑time prediction‑market data across the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch, Investor’s Business Daily and other consumer platforms. The collaboration will embed market‑derived probability signals on economic, political and cultural...
Ant International Revenue Jumps 25% as Digital Wallet Thrives
Ant International, the overseas arm of China’s Ant Group, posted revenue of roughly $3.7 billion last year, a 20‑25% increase and about 10% of the parent’s projected 2025 earnings. The surge is driven largely by its digital‑wallet platform, which now underpins...
Baltimore Sues Fintech Dave over Cash Advance Product
Baltimore filed a lawsuit against fintech Dave, accusing the company of misleading marketing and usurious fees tied to its ExtraCash Advances product. The city alleges the product’s APR can exceed 2,500%, far above Maryland’s 33% cap, and that mandatory overdraft...
Rosstex LP Helps an Elderly British Citizen Recover Funds From Crypto Scam
Rosstex LP, a cryptocurrency fund recovery firm, helped an elderly British retiree reclaim a portion of money lost to a crypto investment scam. The victim was lured by a fake platform promising high returns, then blocked from withdrawing and pressured...
Hiring a Chief AI Officer: Compensation, Recruitment, Candidates, Responsibility
The episode explores why companies are creating Chief AI Officer (CAIO) roles, highlighting demand from boards and CEOs for unified AI risk and ROI accountability, regulators seeking clear governance, and business units needing strategic guidance. It delves into compensation benchmarks,...
Clover Adds Face and Palm-Payments With Wink Partnership
Clover, the Fiserv‑owned point‑of‑sale platform, announced a partnership with biometric payments provider Wink to embed face and palm authentication into its checkout flow. The integration leverages Wink’s AI‑powered biometric engine and Clover’s secure token vault, keeping biometric data separate from...
FinovateEurope Best of Show Winner Finshape Introduces New CEO Neil Budd
Finshape, the Czech digital‑banking fintech that won Best of Show at FinovateEurope 2022, has named Neil Budd as its new chief executive. Budd succeeds founder Petr Koutný, who will become chairman of the board. The veteran brings more than 25...
BofA Sued over Alleged Jan. 6 ‘Surveillance’
Bank of America faces a federal lawsuit alleging it data‑mined its entire customer base to flag anyone who used a BofA product in the Washington, D.C., metro area between Jan. 5‑7, 2021, linking them to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The plaintiff claims...
The Architects: The Finternet: GenAI, Tokenization, & the Future of Public Infrastructure
The Architects episode explores the emerging "Finternet," a programmable, interoperable financial layer inspired by India’s open‑public‑infrastructure model. Guests explain how tokenization adds verifiable ownership and universal transferability, while GenAI promises an intelligent interface for moving value. The Federal Reserve’s perspective...
JPMorgan Eschews Proxy Advisers for Internal AI Tool
JPMorgan Asset & Wealth Management will replace external proxy advisors with its own AI-driven tool, Proxy IQ, for U.S. shareholder voting. The change, slated for completion in Q1 2026, follows CEO Jamie Dimon's criticism of proxy advisers and aligns with...
Zilch Buys Lithuanian Lender to Secure European Banking Licence
London‑based buy‑now‑pay‑later unicorn Zilch announced the acquisition of Lithuania’s Fjord Bank, securing a full European banking licence. The deal gives Zilch direct access to the EU’s passporting rights, allowing it to offer regulated credit products across 27 member states. Management...
PNC Head of Data, Automation Ned Carroll Featured Fireside Chat at FinAi Banking Summit
Ned Carroll, PNC's Head of Data and Automation, discussed the bank's evolving data strategy, recent $5 billion acquisition of FirstBank, and the rollout of agentic AI in software development during a fireside chat at the FinAi Banking Summit. He highlighted how...
Infrastructure Over Hype: Why Broker Architecture Matters More Than Features in 2026
By 2026 crypto traders have moved beyond flashy token lists and high leverage, judging brokers primarily on the robustness of their underlying architecture. Platforms that separate client funds, log execution paths, and document risk controls now earn credibility, especially in...
ChartDetector.ai Highlights Shift Toward Risk Validation as Traders Navigate Volatile Global Markets
ChartDetector.ai reports that traders across crypto, equities, FX and commodities are moving away from pure price‑prediction models toward pre‑trade risk validation. Heightened volatility, tighter cross‑asset correlations and a flood of real‑time data have exposed the limits of traditional chart‑reading for...
Retail Investing in 2026: How Technology Is Reshaping the Way Beginners Enter the Markets
Retail investing in 2026 has moved from mere access to sophisticated, technology‑driven decision support for beginners. Mobile apps now bundle trading, AI‑powered analytics, education, and risk controls in a single interface, eliminating the old broker‑branch friction. While low‑cost execution and...
Exploring the End of Piecemeal Cybersecurity Solutions
The article argues that piecemeal cybersecurity, built from isolated point solutions, is reaching its limits as digital environments grow more complex. Fragmented tools erode visibility, slow response, and create policy gaps. Organizations are shifting toward unified platforms that centralize data,...
CFPB: U.S. Credit Cards Are Prosperous and Strong
The CFPB’s 2025 credit‑card market report shows a robust U.S. payments landscape, with retail, professional services and food spending leading categories and overall balances rising, especially among subprime and deep‑subprime consumers whose APRs have climbed sharply. Payment behavior has improved,...
How Non-Payments Became Big Business at Visa and Mastercard
Visa and Mastercard are rapidly expanding value‑added services to offset slowing card‑payment growth and mounting regulatory pressure. Mastercard posted $3.4 billion in VAS net revenue, a 25% year‑over‑year rise, while Visa’s VAS reached $17.5 billion, up 9% YoY. Both networks are forging...
How Agentic AI Will Lure Shoppers
Nick Campbell, chief product officer at Xplor Pay, discussed the rise of agentic commerce – AI‑driven buying agents that can search, select and pay for goods. The market is forecast to reach $1.7 trillion in sales by 2030, with major players...
Fiserv’s Clover Adopts Biometrics
Fiserv announced that its Clover point‑of‑sale platform will soon support biometric payments, allowing customers to authorize purchases with facial or palm scans. The feature, built in partnership with fintech firm Wink, will debut at the National Retail Federation conference and...
Restricting Industrial Loan Charters Would Be Bad for the Economy
Industrial banks, regulated and FDIC‑insured, provide crucial credit to small businesses, gig workers, and underserved Main Street enterprises. Since their creation in 1987, only one has failed, and capital ratios are roughly 50 % above industry averages, indicating strong safety. Proponents...
Banks Are Banks, Non Banks Are Non Banks, Clarifies the American Fintech Council
The American Fintech Council (AFC) sent a joint letter to the FDIC, CFPB, FTC, OCC and the Federal Reserve asserting that banks and non‑banks must be regulated distinctly. The council emphasized that “banks are banks, and non‑banks are non‑banks” to...
Is There a Future for Unattended Retail?
The episode explores the promise and pitfalls of unattended retail, tracing its evolution from vending machines to modern cashierless concepts like Amazon Go and German smart stores. Guest Don Apgar highlights three core challenges—safety, security, and customer service—that have limited...
Aevi and Verifone Team to Scale In-Person Payments
Aevi and Verifone announced a strategic partnership that unifies in‑person payment orchestration with Verifone’s global device portfolio. The joint solution offers a single, acquirer‑agnostic integration for all Verifone terminals across EMEA and North America. It provides multi‑acquire capabilities, local European...
Cross-Chain Liquidity Solutions: The Next Stage of DeFi Evolution
DeFi’s biggest hurdle—liquidity fragmentation across Ethereum, Solana, Arbitrum, and other chains—is prompting the rise of cross‑chain liquidity solutions. These systems coordinate pools via messaging, smart contracts, and relayers, allowing traders to access deep, unified liquidity without moving assets through risky...
AI-Powered Song Generation Platform JGGL Token Goes Live on MEXC
JGGL AI’s creative token launched on MEXC on Dec 25, 2025, with a fixed 1 billion supply. The listing saw a 24‑hour high of $1.1456 and closed near $0.95 on $3.94 M volume. JGGL’s platform uses four integrated neural models to turn short voice...
4 Banking Trends to Watch in 2026
Banking activity surged in 2025, with M&A announcements jumping 45% to 181 deals, driven by regional players seeking scale. Regulatory agencies shifted tone, reopening de novo charter doors and sparking interest in industrial‑loan‑company structures. AI investments accelerated, with banks like JPMorgan...
Features Every Startup Should Look for in Modern Accounting Management Tools
Modern accounting tools are essential for early‑stage startups, automating bookkeeping, invoicing, and reporting to free founders for growth. Key features include automatic bank reconciliation, real‑time financial dashboards, and multi‑platform integrations that streamline data flow. Robust security, intuitive interfaces, and dedicated...
Modulr Expands to the US with FIS Relationship
Modulr, a UK‑based modern payment platform, announced its launch in the United States, partnering with global fintech giant FIS. The collaboration will embed Modulr’s API‑driven payment infrastructure into FIS’s extensive banking network. This move gives US enterprises instant access to...
Permutable AI Expands AI-Driven Macro Intelligence Into Asia-Pacific
Permutable AI announced a strategic expansion of its AI‑driven macro intelligence services into the Asia‑Pacific region, responding to heightened institutional demand for granular, real‑time insights on commodities and macro markets. The move targets investors, risk managers, and strategy teams focused...
NIX Foundation Announces $10 Million Strategic Investment in BOHR Chain to Power Next-Generation Decentralized Compute Infrastructure
The NIX Foundation announced a $10 million strategic investment in BOHR Chain, a modular Layer‑0 blockchain built for AI workloads and verifiable compute. The funding will fast‑track the rollout of BOHR’s Quantum Structural Model and supports CaryPact, the first ecosystem protocol...
Card Program Management: What Is It and Who Does It Benefit?
Marcin Glogowski, SVP at Marqeta, defines card program management as the end‑to‑end process of designing, launching, and operating payment programs. He emphasizes the tension between launching quickly to capture market momentum and the risk of over‑engineering that can delay timing....
Worldline Brings One Commerce to the UK
Worldline has made its One Commerce platform commercially available in the United Kingdom, marking the first market launch of the unified commerce solution. The offering consolidates payment services and operational back‑office functions for enterprise merchants across online, mobile, in‑store and...