Stablecoins Gain Ground for Paychecks and Daily Spending: BVNK Report
A BVNK‑commissioned YouGov survey of 4,658 crypto‑savvy adults across 15 countries shows that 39% receive income in stablecoins and 27% use them for everyday payments, attracted by lower fees and faster cross‑border transfers. Respondents hold an average of $200 in stablecoins, rising to $1,000 in high‑income economies, and 77% would open a stablecoin wallet with their primary bank. Payroll platforms such as Deel and Paystand are adding stablecoin payout options, while Africa leads ownership at 79%. The overall stablecoin market has grown to $307.8 billion.
Polygon Daily Fees Flip Ethereum Amid Prediction Market Boom
Polygon recorded higher daily transaction fees than Ethereum for three consecutive days, peaking at $407,100 versus Ethereum's $211,700. The surge was driven primarily by activity on the prediction‑market platform Polymarket, which alone contributed over $1 million in fees last week. A...
DeFi Lender ZeroLend Shuts Down, Blames Illiquid Chains
ZeroLend, a decentralized lending protocol focused on Ethereum layer‑2 networks, announced it will wind down after three years due to unsustainable liquidity conditions. The platform’s total value locked plummeted from $359 million in November 2024 to roughly $6.6 million, and its native token...
Exponent Energy Launches EV Financing Arm Exponent One; New Entity Raises $2M From AdvantEdge Founders
Exponent Energy has spun off Exponent One, a fintech and asset‑management platform aimed at financing commercial electric vehicles, and secured $2 million in pre‑seed funding from AdvantEdge Founders. The subsidiary, led by former Ola executive Sandeep Divakaran, will leverage real‑time data...
Razorpay Becomes India Payments Partner for Replit’s Global AI Platform
Razorpay and Replit have partnered to embed Razorpay’s payments stack into Replit’s AI development platform for Indian users. The integration, currently in beta, lets Indian developers pay for Replit subscriptions in INR using UPI and cards, and enables AI‑built products...
Crypto Sentiment Hits Extreme Fear as Matrixport Flags Possible Bottom
Crypto sentiment has plunged to extreme fear levels, according to Matrixport’s proprietary index, signaling a potential market bottom. The 21‑day moving‑average metric fell below zero and is now reversing, a pattern historically linked to short‑term rebounds. Alternative.me’s Fear and Greed...
Kraken Sponsors Trump Accounts in Wyoming, Citing Crypto Alignment
Kraken announced it will fund the new Trump Accounts program for newborns in Wyoming, aligning with President Trump’s savings initiative for children under 18. The exchange highlighted Wyoming’s crypto‑friendly regulatory framework as the primary reason for the partnership, noting the...
Marietta Also Affected by BridgePay Ransomware Attack.
The BridgePay Network Solutions ransomware attack disrupted the City of Marietta’s online credit‑card processing, halting business‑license payments on February 6, 2026. BridgePay’s forensic review found no payment‑card data was compromised, and the ransomware group remains unidentified. The city is deploying a temporary,...
Germany‘s Central Bank President Touts Stablecoin and CBDC Benefits for EU
Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel endorsed the creation of a euro‑pegged retail CBDC and euro‑denominated stablecoins, arguing they would strengthen Europe’s payment independence. He highlighted that a wholesale CBDC would allow programmable payments in central‑bank money. Nagel warned that a surge...
Mortgage Originator Maestro AI Announces $1.2M Pre-Seed
Maestro AI, an AI‑powered platform for mortgage origination, secured $1.2 million in pre‑seed funding led by New Stack Ventures, with participation from Family VC, ZFO, Roark’s Drift, and local angels. Founded by industry veteran David Rogove—who previously built and sold Wemlo...
Philippine “Revolut” Maya Eyes Up to $1 Billion US Listing
Philippine fintech Maya, an all‑in‑one digital banking app, is eyeing a U.S. IPO that could raise up to $1 billion. The platform now serves 5.4 million customers and disbursed 68 billion pesos ($1.2 bn) in loans in 2024. Its filing comes amid a volatile...
Kinetic Treasury Arrives
J.P. Morgan’s Kinexys platform demonstrated kinetic treasury by instantly minting $40 million of stablecoins using a tokenized vacation‑home as collateral, freeing a semiconductor shipment for a Rotterdam logistics firm. The transaction bridged a retail client’s idle digital asset with an institutional...
MoonPay Deposits to Launch
MoonPay announced MoonPay Deposits, a cross‑chain funding solution that lets users top‑up applications directly from any crypto wallet, regardless of token or blockchain. The service automatically handles swapping, bridging, and routing, delivering the chosen asset to the destination wallet. It...
UK Bank Bosses Plan to Set up Visa and Mastercard Alternative Amid Trump Fears
UK bank leaders are convening to launch a sovereign payments network, DeliveryCo, as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard. The initiative, backed by City funders and the Bank of England, aims to mitigate risks from potential US political actions, such...
'We Do Not Do Illegal Things': Inside a U.S.-sanctioned Stablecoin Issuer's Race to Build a Crypto Giant
A7A5, a Kyrgyzstan‑incorporated ruble‑pegged stablecoin, added roughly $90 billion to its circulating supply last year, outpacing USDT and USDC. The issuer’s affiliates and reserve‑bank partner are listed on the U.S. sanctions list, yet the firm claims full KYC/AML compliance and positions...
OpenAI Expands Agentic Commerce Push
OpenAI is turning ChatGPT into a full‑service commerce platform by expanding its Instant Checkout feature and launching the open‑source Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). The company has integrated payments through Stripe and PayPal and added grocery ordering via Instacart, initially supporting...
Japanese Fintech PayPay Looks Enter the U.S. Via a Visa Partnership And an IPO
Japanese fintech PayPay Corp. announced a U.S. market entry strategy that pairs a Visa partnership with an upcoming initial public offering. The collaboration will enable PayPay to bundle its Balance, Card and Bank services into a single Visa credential, expanding...
Backbase and Plaid Partner to Power AI Banking
Backbase and Plaid have announced a partnership that embeds Plaid’s secure, real‑time financial data connectivity into Backbase’s AI‑powered Banking Platform. The joint solution tackles data fragmentation, streamlines onboarding, and delivers a 360‑degree view of customers’ financial health. It replaces fragile...
Nexo Re-Enters the U.S. Market Three Years After Its ‘Dead End’ Exit
Digital‑asset platform Nexo has re‑entered the U.S. market, launching a suite of regulated services powered by Bakkt. The company returns with $11 billion in assets under management, offering fixed and flexible yield accounts, a crypto exchange, and crypto‑backed credit lines with...
India’s Game-Changing Digital Money Model
India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become the world’s largest real‑time payments network, handling billions of free transactions daily. Built on a public, open‑source infrastructure managed by the National Payments Corporation of India, UPI lets banks, fintechs and merchants interoperate...
Hoot Host’s Launch and Other Digital Transactions News Briefs From 2/16/26
Digital payments and real‑estate markets saw notable shifts on Feb. 16, 2026. Hoot Host rolled out an expanded SaaS platform integrating PayPal, Square and Stripe, while cryptocurrency exchange OKX obtained a Malta Payment Institution license to extend stablecoin payment services across the...
Fed's Bowman Wants to Boost Banks' Share of Mortgage Market
Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman announced that the Fed will soon propose two mortgage‑related regulatory changes aimed at lowering banks' capital costs and encouraging greater bank participation in mortgage origination and servicing. The proposals could revise Basel...
Why some Major Banks Are Bringing Embedded Finance In-House
Capital One is reshaping its business by bringing embedded finance capabilities in-house through two high‑profile acquisitions. The 2024 purchase of Discover gave the bank broader credit‑card reach, payment rails and consumer data, while the January 2026 acquisition of Brex adds...
RBI Approves Rajan Bajaj as MD and CEO of Slice
Fintech firm Slice announced that its founder Rajan Bajaj has been appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, with the appointment cleared by the board, shareholders and the Reserve Bank of India. Bajaj, who previously served as Executive Director, steered Slice...
The Hidden Cost of Poor Compliance Reconciliation
Reconciliation has become a strategic priority for financial services as hybrid work, AI‑generated messages and multichannel tools expand. Theta Lake’s latest report shows 92 % of firms struggle to capture communications in line with record‑keeping obligations, with native retention windows as short...
Monica Cash Highlights Three Years of Growth, Processing Over ₦500 Billion in Transactions
Monica Cash celebrated three years of uninterrupted service, processing more than ₦500 billion in crypto and everyday payment transactions. The platform has become Nigeria’s most trusted crypto app, offering instant bitcoin‑to‑naira and USDT‑to‑naira conversions alongside bill‑pay, airtime, and bank transfers. Its...
FINTECH Circle Partners with JournoLink to Bring AI-Powered PR Tools to Fintechs
FINTECH Circle has struck a strategic partnership with JournoLink to deliver its Volt AI‑powered public‑relations and competitor‑intelligence suite to the Circle’s fintech community. The collaboration gives members automated press‑release distribution, continuous media monitoring and real‑time competitor analysis. By bundling enterprise‑grade...
Busha Champions Stablecoins as a Catalyst for African Trade at Africa Tech Summit Nairobi
Busha, a leading African digital‑asset exchange, highlighted stablecoins as a catalyst for cross‑border trade at the Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi. COO Moyo Sodipo argued that the focus should move from speculation to infrastructure, emphasizing payroll, trade settlement and institutional...
Exponential Data vs Linear Compliance: The Crunch
FinTechs and digital banks are witnessing exponential growth in compliance data, driven by 150% annual customer expansion and increasingly complex regulatory requirements. Meanwhile, compliance operations remain linear, relying on manual, siloed processes that cannot keep pace with the data surge....
Tembo Raises £16M in Funding Round
London‑based fintech Tembo announced a £16 million funding round led by Gresham House Ventures and existing backers such as Goodwater Capital and the British Business Bank. The capital will fuel expansion of its digital savings and mortgage platform, including the recently...
ACH Volume Is Soaring. Here's How that Threatens Banks.
ACH network volume surged in 2025, reaching 35.2 billion payments worth $93 trillion, a 5 percent rise year‑over‑year. Person‑to‑person transfers grew 19.8 percent and business‑to‑business payments rose 9.9 percent, while check usage in B2B fell to 26 percent. Nacha has proposed lifting the same‑day ACH transaction...
Intelliflo Launches AI-Powered IQ Suite
Intelliflo has introduced intelliflo IQ, an AI‑driven suite embedded in its cloud platform for financial advisers. The suite includes an intelligent engagement assistant that automatically records client meetings, extracts key information, and updates more than 190 fact‑find fields, cutting administrative...
IG Unveils Fat Cat Index Exposing ISA Fee Gaps
IG launched its “Check Your Fees” campaign and unveiled the Fat Cat Index, revealing that most UK investors are overpaying on Stocks and Shares ISA platform fees. The index shows 52% of investors use the 12 most expensive providers, with...
Asset Finance Demand Steady as Renewables Rise
Allica Bank’s survey of more than 570 asset‑finance brokers shows demand holding steady, with 29% reporting higher application volumes in the second half of the year and 26% seeing no change. Renewables have broken into the top three sectors for...
Insurance Revolution Partners CM.com to Power WhatsApp Service
Insurance Revolution has teamed with CM.com to embed WhatsApp into its broker workflow via the Mobile Service Cloud. The move has driven a 50‑fold rise in message volume, cut email traffic by 22% and reduced calls per agent by 11%....
A Welcomed Turning Point for Earned Wage Access
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a December 2025 advisory opinion clarifying that employer‑integrated earned wage access (EWA) is not a loan under the Truth in Lending Act. This guidance removes a major regulatory uncertainty that has limited EWA adoption....
Natwest Group CEO Touts Near-Term Agentic AI Workflow Future
NatWest Group CEO Paul Thwaite announced that the bank is shifting from basic chatbots to autonomous AI systems capable of executing complex banking workflows for customers. He expects many of the underlying components to be operational within the year. However,...
OPay Wins Fintech Company of the Year for Second Time at Leadership Awards
OPay was named Fintech Company of the Year 2025 at Nigeria’s Leadership Annual Conference, marking its second back‑to‑back win after 2024. The award, presented in Abuja, recognized OPay’s innovation, security and broad financial‑inclusion impact for millions of individuals and MSMEs....
Binance Rolls Out Mastercard Crypto Card Across CIS
Binance has launched a Mastercard‑branded crypto debit card in the CIS region, allowing users to spend digital assets at any merchant that accepts Mastercard. The card supports instant conversion of major cryptocurrencies into fiat, with zero‑fee withdrawals and a 5%...
Cregis at iFX EXPO Dubai 2026: Shaping the Next Era of Enterprise Payments and Digital Asset Infrastructure
Cregis showcased its upgraded Cregis Payment Engine at iFX EXPO Dubai 2026, positioning the solution as a multi‑chain, multi‑currency platform for enterprise payments. The engine promises near‑real‑time cross‑border settlement, automated routing, and real‑time compliance monitoring, targeting use cases such as...
DPP Link Rolls Out GS1 Shield for ESPR Rules
DPP Link has launched its GS1‑integrated Shield platform to help exporters and manufacturers meet the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The solution automates product registration using GS1 Digital Link standards and tracks material composition with a ten‑year data...
Firms Report Improved Financial Performance Linked to Use of Embedded Finance
A new PYMNTS Intelligence study of 515 senior leaders shows embedded finance is now a strategic imperative for mid‑size and large firms. Nearly 90% of respondents prioritize strengthening customer and employee relationships, while 75% plan technology upgrades within the next...
Stablecoin Payments Show Up at Checkout Despite Crypto Markets Slump
Despite a broad crypto market downturn, stablecoin‑linked cards are gaining traction at U.S. checkout counters. Monthly payment flows through these cards have surpassed $1.5 billion, and annualized spend now tops $18 billion. The growth is driven by card networks embedding stablecoins as...
Rethinking SARs in the Fight Against Financial Crime
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) remain the cornerstone of global AML frameworks, yet many institutions misunderstand their purpose, treating them as accusations rather than suspicion flags. Regulatory pressure and soaring transaction volumes have driven firms to prioritize filing speed over narrative...
The Spreadsheet Trap in Financial Crime Risk
Spreadsheets have long been the default tool for financial crime risk assessments, prized for their flexibility and low cost. However, they cannot enforce governance, version control, or audit trails required by modern compliance frameworks. As institutions expand across products and...
Cradton Token: Forging Ahead with Groundbreaking Partnerships to Revolutionize Web3 Commerce
Cradton Token (CRN) is building a Web3‑enabled commerce platform by leveraging a suite of high‑impact partnerships. AI collaborations enhance review integrity and fraud detection, while exchange listings aim to boost liquidity and price stability. Merchant onboarding agreements promise plug‑and‑play integrations,...
OKX Snags European Payments License for Stablecoin and Crypto Card Expansion
OKX has obtained a Payments Institution (PI) licence in Malta, bringing the exchange into compliance with the EU’s upcoming Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) regulation and the revised Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The licence authorises OKX to offer stablecoin‑linked payment...
A Founder’s Guide to Launching a Token Project in a Competitive Market
The guide treats a token launch like a traditional IPO, stressing that investors now demand solid business models, compliance, and sustainable value. It walks founders through choosing the right blockchain, evaluating Layer 2 options, and deciding between no‑code generators and custom...
Feedzai and Neterium Partner to Streamline Financial Crime Screening
Feedzai and regtech specialist Neterium have announced a strategic partnership that merges Feedzai’s Watchlist Screening with Neterium’s Transaction Screening. The combined, cloud‑native platform delivers real‑time financial‑crime detection, leveraging AI‑driven matching to cut false positives. By consolidating multiple compliance tools into...
Bitpanda Teams Up with LuLu Financing Holdings to Support Digital Assets Trading
Bitpanda has partnered with LuLu Financial Holdings to embed regulated crypto trading into LuLuFin's existing digital and physical channels across the MENA, APAC and Indian subcontinent regions. Leveraging Bitpanda’s VARA‑compliant brokerage infrastructure, LuLuFin users will be able to buy, sell...