Unused Gift Card Balances Surge After Holiday Season
The episode examines the $23 billion of unused gift‑card balances that accumulate after the holidays, noting that digitizing cards and offering reloads can improve redemption rates. It highlights a growing trend of using leftover balances for charitable donations, which retain tax benefits and provide a flexible currency for nonprofits. Finally, the discussion covers how retailers are integrating gift‑card and stored‑value programs with loyalty initiatives to boost self‑use and reduce dormant balances.
Crypto Compliance Under MiCA Drives Focus on Audited Projects Like Pepeto
The EU's MiCA regulation is tightening crypto compliance, prompting projects like Pepeto to secure dual audits. Pepeto completed independent security reviews by SolidProof and Coinsult, covering its token, bridge, exchange, and swap contracts. The presale has raised $7.14 M at $0.000000175...
Why Trust Structures Are Becoming Popular Among Canadian Professionals
Canadian professionals are increasingly turning to trust structures to manage growing financial complexity, protect assets, and streamline estate transitions. Rising incomes, multigenerational responsibilities, and heightened legal exposure have made traditional wills insufficient. Trust options such as Alter Ego, Joint Partner,...
Fed Draws a Hard Line Between Payments and Banks
The Federal Reserve has issued a request for information on a prototype “Payment Account” aimed at non‑bank institutions that focus on payments innovation. The proposal limits access to core Fed services such as Fedwire and FedNow while excluding deposit‑taking, lending,...
GIRAFFE AI LABS Recognized as a Global Leader in Web3 Financial Infrastructure
GIRAFFE AI LABS, a Singapore‑based fintech with a Korean R&D hub, was chosen for the CES 2026 Seoul Integrated Pavilion. The company currently runs stablecoin‑backed financial services in 25 countries and will showcase its reward platform that links digital assets to...
Bitcoin Cash & Zcash Defend Support While Zero Knowledge Proof Moves Into a Rare Zone as Analysts Predict 500x ROI
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) slipped 2.24% but remains above its 20‑, 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages, keeping its bullish structure intact. Zcash (ZEC) is testing a well‑defined resistance zone as volume improves, leaving its short‑term direction uncertain. Meanwhile, Zero Knowledge Proof...
DBTC DeFi Insights: BTC and ETH Enter Consolidation Phase, Market Focuses on Potential Upside Potential
Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading in narrow, range‑bound zones, marking a clear consolidation phase after recent volatility. Both assets remain the primary barometers of crypto market sentiment, with price action reflecting a pause as macro‑economic and network developments are digested....
Citi and CredAble Partner on Trade Finance Solution
Citi has teamed with fintech CredAble to launch a globally‑available digital trade finance platform that adds a white‑label verification layer to its trade loan workflow. The solution cross‑checks invoices against government‑backed digital public infrastructure, validating more than ten critical data...
Why the CFPB's EWA Opinion Won't Dramatically Impact Fintechs
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued an advisory opinion stating that employer‑partnered earned‑wage‑access (EWA) products are not credit under the Truth in Lending Act, dropping the earlier free‑product requirement and loosening payroll‑deduction rules. While fintechs view the guidance as validation...
Understanding the Role of Trading Fees in Cryptocurrency Markets
Cryptocurrency exchanges charge transaction fees that can significantly affect traders’ net performance, especially for frequent or high‑volume participants. A dedicated fee‑comparison platform aggregates discount tiers, incentive programs, and fee structures across major exchanges in a neutral, educational format. The resource...
Banks Are 2026’s Secret Weapon for Supplier Enablement
Banks are emerging as the 2026 catalyst for supplier enablement, leveraging modern API‑driven onboarding, real‑time payments, and embedded finance. After a turbulent 2025 marked by tariff shocks and supply‑chain strain, banks are repositioning from passive utilities to active partners that...
How Payments Will Evolve: 6 Industry Trends to Watch in 2026
Payments will undergo major shifts in 2026 as regulators solidify a stablecoin framework under the Genius Act and states step up oversight of BNPL and earned‑wage‑access products. AI‑driven agentic commerce and personalized checkout experiences are set to boost transaction volumes...
Capitolis Appoints Roy Saadon to Drive Portfolio Optimisation Growth
Capitolis, a fintech focused on capital markets, appointed Roy Saadon as head of market development for its portfolio optimisation unit. Saadon, a veteran with 25 years in technology, product development and financial services, previously co‑founded Access Fintech and Traiana. In...
Consumer Groups Attack Card Settlement
Consumer and small‑business advocacy groups have joined merchants in objecting to a new Visa and Mastercard settlement aimed at ending long‑running antitrust lawsuits over interchange fees. The proposal, unveiled in November, would trim credit‑card interchange rates by just 0.1% for...
Cred Hires Matt Trueman as CEO to Accelerate Expansion
Cred, the AI‑enabled credit platform, has appointed Matt Trueman as its new chief executive officer. The hire is aimed at accelerating the company’s 2026 expansion, scaling new accounts and boosting lending activity for its Credit on Demand product. Cred’s roadmap...
“What Blockchain Really Does Is Eliminate the Need for Visa.”
Fintech veteran Mike Cagney argues that blockchain’s public‑ledger stablecoin transactions can replace Visa’s core services, from fraud protection to merchant acceptance. He frames blockchain as a "great disintermediary" that could wholesale replace traditional payment rails and even extend to entities...
DailyPay $195m Senior Secured Revolving Credit Deal
DailyPay, an on‑demand pay platform, closed a $195 million senior secured revolving credit facility on Dec 30, 2025. The facility, led by JPMorgan Chase as administrative agent and sole bookrunner, strengthens the company’s balance sheet and provides greater financial flexibility. DailyPay plans to...
Regtech SlowMist Releases MistTrack Analysis on Stolen Crypto Funds
SlowMist’s Q4 2025 MistTrack analysis examined 300 user‑submitted theft reports, highlighting a surge in process‑oriented social‑engineering attacks. Phishing remained the most frequent method, with novel tactics like look‑alike address poisoning causing a $50 million USDT loss. The firm assisted nine victims...
DOJ Presses Visa Antitrust Case
The Justice Department is advancing its antitrust lawsuit against Visa, alleging the company maintains an illegal monopoly in the U.S. debit‑card market. The case, filed in September 2024, now faces a scheduling battle as DOJ proposes a four‑month discovery delay...
The CFPB's Small-Dollar Lending Rule Has Clearly Backfired on Consumers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2017 small‑dollar lending rule, revived in 2025, imposed strict payment‑attempt limits and mandatory notices. Online Lenders Alliance data show the rule has driven higher delinquency, default and collection rates, while forcing lenders to tighten credit...
Former Piedmont Bank Execs Start Georgia De Novo
Former Piedmont Bank executives have received FDIC and Georgia banking department approvals to launch Georgia Skyline Bank, a de novo community lender based in Roswell. They are closing in on a minimum $25 million capital raise, targeting $25‑35 million to fund operations and...
Google Opens the Ad Door to Prediction Markets and Keeps It Shut on Binary Options
Google announced that, starting Jan 21 2026, it will allow ads for exchange‑listed event contracts—commonly known as prediction markets—only from firms regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The policy draws a clear line between CFTC‑authorized platforms such as Kalshi and...
Meme Trading Volume Recovers, Pepeto Leads As The Next Crypto To Explode
Meme‑coin trading volume is rebounding, signalling renewed retail enthusiasm for the sector. Pepeto ($PEPETO) completed a $7.14 million presale at $0.000000175 per token and offers a 216 % APY staking rate. Unlike typical meme projects, Pepeto launched a functional bridge, zero‑fee swap...
Cross River Bank Shares 2025 Recap of Progress
Cross River Bank released its 2025 progress recap, highlighting a transformative year driven by AI and digital assets. The fintech‑first bank processed over $1 billion in payment transactions and facilitated $1.5 billion in loans, including its first $288 million CMBS deal. Its Principal...
Bitcoin Mining Data Center to Heat Greenhouse in Canada
Canaan Inc. is piloting a 3 MW Bitcoin mining data center in Manitoba that will capture and redirect waste heat to a nearby greenhouse operated by Bitforest. The proof‑of‑concept aims for a 90% heat‑capture rate and runs under a two‑year agreement....
Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance Targets Women and Financial Inclusion with New Women Regulators Network
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at Cambridge Judge Business School has launched a Women Regulators Network (WRN) to tackle persistent gaps in women’s financial inclusion. The network will be overseen by a global council of senior women regulators...
How the Principles of the Planogram Can Apply to Payments
The episode explores how retailers' planogram strategies—optimizing shelf space based on sales data—can be applied to payment orchestration, arguing that merchants should selectively adopt payment methods that maximize approval rates while controlling back‑office costs. Don Apgar explains that, like stocking...
Video: ABN Amro at Money20/20 USA - Building BUUT
ABN Amro’s new digital‑only bank BUUT was highlighted in a video interview with FinTech Futures at Money20/20 USA, where chief architect Annerie Vreugdenhil explained its launch strategy. BUUT targets millennials and Gen‑Z with a mobile‑first experience, leveraging ABN Amro’s existing infrastructure while...
Encompass Forms Executive Advisory Board to Drive Innovation
Encompass Corporation has launched an Executive Advisory Board (EAB) to steer its global corporate digital identity (CDI) strategy and accelerate innovation in KYC solutions. Chaired by Doris Honold, the board brings together former senior leaders from JP Morgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered...
Rimes Names Ex-Snowflake, FactSet Exec as CRO
Rimes announced Kieran Kennedy as its new Chief Revenue Officer, bringing over three decades of leadership in financial data, cloud platforms, and institutional investment workflows. Kennedy most recently oversaw Snowflake's data cloud partnerships, generating more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue,...
Capitolis Appoints Roy Saadon as Head of Market Development, Portfolio Optimisation
Capitolis has appointed Roy Saadon as Head of Market Development for its Portfolio Optimisation unit, based in London. Saadon brings 25 years of technology and financial‑services experience, including co‑founding Access Fintech and Traiana. He will drive product adoption, expand the client network, and...
Singapore Jails Two for Falsifying Accounts Linked to Wirecard
A Singapore court sentenced two men for falsifying escrow account confirmations linked to Wirecard, involving over €1 billion. Director R Shanmugaratnam received a 10‑year term, while British national James Henry O’Sullivan was sentenced to six and a half years. Between 2016 and...
Top 5 Prediction Market Platforms To Keep An Eye On in 2026
Prediction markets have evolved into multi‑billion‑dollar ecosystems, offering real‑time insight on events from elections to interest rates. In 2026 the sector is dominated by five platforms—Polymarket, Pariflow, Kalshi, PredictIt and Manifold—each catering to distinct trader profiles. Polymarket provides unmatched liquidity,...
Swift’s Blockchain Pilot Signals a Turning Point for Cross-Border Payments
Swift, Ant International and HSBC completed a pilot that moved tokenised deposits between HSBC entities in Singapore and Hong Kong using ISO 20022 messages over the Swift network. The test proved that blockchain‑based money can travel on the same messaging standards...
Payment Accessibility Is Now Business Critical: New Report Reveals Billions Excluded at the Checkout
Castles Technology’s new report warns that billions of consumers are excluded from modern point‑of‑sale systems due to visual, motor, hearing and cognitive impairments. The study estimates UK retailers lose £70 billion each year as disabled shoppers abandon purchases, and highlights the...
Real-Time Payments Have Rewritten the Risk Equation
Real-time payment rails now settle in milliseconds, reshaping customer expectations and forcing banks, fintechs, and processors to rethink risk management. The instantaneous nature of settlement compresses the window for fraud detection, rendering legacy AML and sanctions‑screening tools ineffective. Traditional batch‑oriented...
The Human Factor Shaping the Future of AI-Driven AML
Financial institutions are entering 2026 with a renewed focus on human oversight for AI‑driven anti‑money‑laundering (AML) systems. While AI continues to deliver real‑time monitoring, large‑scale data analysis and higher detection accuracy, the industry faces a widening skill gap that threatens...
Signals Q4’25: Who Authorized This Agent?
Fintech funding surged in Q4 2025, reaching $12.98 billion—a 36% rise quarter‑over‑quarter and 61% year‑over‑year. While the total capital pool expanded, the number of equity raises slipped 14% QoQ, pushing the average deal size up 57% QoQ (11% YoY). The market is...
Brits Turn Back to Cash as ATM Withdrawals Reach Record
Nationwide data shows UK ATM withdrawals reached £4.2bn in 2025, a new record surpassing the 2017 peak. The number of withdrawals rose 6% to 34.7 million and the average amount per transaction increased to £120. About 13% of Britons say using...
BIA Explained: How ChainThat’s Building the Future of Insurance Finance
ChainThat’s Beyond Insurance Accounting (BIA) platform automates the entire insurance finance workflow, capturing transactions at policy binding and generating real‑time accounts and billing schedules. By ingesting data from bordereaux, bank statements and emails with Gen‑AI tools, BIA eliminates manual reconciliations...
Pluto Debuts AI-Driven Lending Platform for Private Assets
Pluto Financial Technologies has unveiled an AI‑driven lending platform targeting investors with private market assets. The service, backed by $8.6 million in equity and hundreds of millions in lending capacity, offers a Wealth Equity Line of Credit that can be repaid...
Yuze and Zand Join Forces to Provide SMEs with Digital Business Accounts
Yuze, an AI‑enabled digital business banking platform, has teamed up with Zand, a UAE‑based AI and blockchain‑powered digital bank, to launch digital business accounts for eligible SMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs. The joint offering provides fast onboarding, an IBAN account, and...
Overdraft Fee Income Is on the Rise at These Big Banks
Several large U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citizens Financial and TD Bank, reported higher overdraft‑related revenue in the first three quarters of 2025, with JPMorgan up 7.66% and Citizens up 16.9% year‑over‑year. The increases come despite overall overdraft income remaining...
Citi Signs with CredAble for White Label Trade Finance Verification Package
Citi has partnered with fintech CredAble to launch a white‑label trade‑finance verification platform. The solution digitises invoice validation, cross‑checking more than ten critical fields against government‑backed digital infrastructure. By automating verification, it reduces exceptions, cuts manual follow‑ups, and accelerates capital...
Cash Withdrawals Rise for Fourth Year in a Row
UK ATM cash withdrawals reached a record £4.2 billion in 2025, surpassing the 2017 peak of £4 billion. Nationwide reported 34.7 million withdrawals, a 6% rise from 2024, with the average transaction climbing to £120. The growth occurs alongside a wave of bank‑branch...
StoneX Secures MiCA Authorisation
StoneX Group announced that its digital arm, StoneX Digital, has received a Crypto‑Asset Service Provider licence under the EU’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA) from the Central Bank of Ireland. The CASP authorisation allows the firm to offer regulated execution...
TON Foundation Taps OpenPayd for Global Fiat Infrastructure
The TON Foundation announced a partnership with OpenPayd to provide a single‑API global fiat infrastructure for its blockchain ecosystem. The integration will enable seamless multi‑currency treasury management and faster grant disbursements across borders. TON’s blockchain, embedded in Telegram’s Mini App...
Revolut, Wise and Bits Join the European Payment Council
The European Payments Council (EPC) announced that Revolut Bank, Wise and Bits became members on 1 January, raising the council’s total to 83 payment service providers and associations. The EPC positions itself as the key scheme manager for European account‑to‑account (A2A)...
Sagent Appoints Chris Marshall as CEO
Sagent announced that board chairman Chris Marshall will assume the role of chief executive officer on January 5, while retaining his board seat. Current CEO Geno Paluso will transition to vice‑chairman and serve as senior advisor during the handover. Marshall brings extensive mortgage‑banking...
VoPay Establishes Global Headquarters in Qatar
VoPay International Inc. announced that it will locate its global headquarters in Doha, Qatar, positioning the Gulf state as the central hub for its fintech infrastructure platform. The move supports VoPay’s strategy to modernize financial systems across the Middle East,...