Deus X CEO Tim Grant: We Aren't Replacing Finance; We're Integrating It
Deus X Capital CEO Tim Grant will speak at CoinDesk’s Consensus Hong Kong conference, emphasizing that digital assets are meant to augment, not replace, traditional finance. Grant, who entered crypto in 2015 after meetings with Ripple and Coinbase, leads a family‑office‑backed firm that began with roughly $1 billion in assets and now operates across London, Malta and the UAE. The firm’s growth strategy is infrastructure‑led, combining investment and operating capabilities to build regulated payment, prime‑service and institutional DeFi platforms. His panel promises “real talk only,” focusing on practical integration rather than hype.
How to Build a High-Quality Local Business Database That Drives Real Growth
Local businesses increasingly rely on high‑quality databases to drive sales and marketing efficiency. Fragmented lists and outdated spreadsheets cost time and revenue, while a systematic, verified data set enables precise targeting and stronger customer relationships. The article outlines a step‑by‑step...
Europe's Payment Sovereignty Depends on Pay by Bank - ETTPA
European leaders have accelerated the digital euro agenda amid geopolitical tensions, yet the earliest launch is projected for 2029, raising cost concerns. The European Trade Association of Third‑Party Providers (ETTPA) argues that a private‑sector alternative—Pay by Bank—already exists, linking directly...
Millions in Crypto Wealth at Risk of Vanishing when Holders Die. Here's How to Protect Them
Millions of dollars in crypto risk disappearing when owners die without proper estate planning. Recent updates like the Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA) clarify that executors can access assets held by custodians, but many holders still...
Why Digital Identity Systems Are Moving Away From Centralized Data Storage
Digital identity systems are transitioning from centralized databases to decentralized architectures. Centralized stores pose massive breach risks, prompting firms to seek models that limit data exposure. Decentralized solutions leverage cryptography and distributed ledgers, granting users control over their credentials. This...
SEC, CFTC Joint Event Rescheduled for January 29th
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have postponed their joint digital‑asset forum to Thursday, January 29, 2026, after originally planning it for January 27. The live‑streamed event will begin at 2 p.m. ET and feature a...
Crypto Exchange WhiteBIT Flagged by Russia as 'Undesirable' Over Support for Ukraine Military
Russia’s prosecutor general has designated Ukrainian‑founded crypto exchange WhiteBIT and its parent W Group as “undesirable,” criminalising any interaction by Russian citizens. The move follows accusations that WhiteBIT funneled funds to Ukraine’s military, donating $11 million and processing over $160 million in defense...
Comparing 7 Popular Ways to Cash Out Your Mobile Payments
Mobile payment users now have seven primary ways to convert digital balances into cash or bank funds, ranging from standard bank transfers to dedicated debit cards, peer‑to‑peer swaps, ATM withdrawals, mailed checks, third‑party cash‑out services, and direct merchant payments. Each...
Yieldstreet Rebrands to Willow Wealth, Looks to Move Beyond Investor Loss of Over $200 Million
Yieldstreet has rebranded as Willow Wealth, aiming to shed the stigma of more than $200 million in investor losses reported in late 2025. The platform now offers evergreen private‑market funds and an in‑house robo‑advisor alongside traditional alternative assets. Mitchell Caplan, former...
There’s a New Standards War Brewing Around Identity, Data and Payments
The article warns of a brewing standards war as major players roll out new protocols to unify identity, data, and payments. Google’s Agentic Unified Commerce Protocol (UCP) and Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), the industry‑wide ISO 20022 upgrade, and Visa’s Commerce Enablement...
AI Is Rewriting the Economics of Merchant Acquiring
Merchant acquiring, long seen as a low‑margin commodity, is poised for a strategic revival as artificial intelligence reshapes its economics. Capgemini’s World Payments Report highlights that global acquiring revenues could double from $25 bn to $50 bn within a decade, driven not...
The Major Trends Shaping the Future of Know Your Customer Compliance
The KYC sector is undergoing rapid change as AI‑driven agents enable true straight‑through processing (STP), eliminating manual breakpoints in onboarding. Muinmos showcases how collective AI agents, combined with client lifecycle management (CLM) platforms, can automate decision‑making, regulatory checks, and document...
Ripple Partners with Saudi Bank Unit on Blockchain Payments, Custody
Ripple announced a memorandum of understanding with Jeel, the innovation arm of Riyad Bank, to explore blockchain applications in Saudi Arabia. The partnership will focus on cross‑border payments, digital‑asset custody and tokenisation, aligning with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 agenda to modernise...
Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest Files for Two Crypto Index ETFs Tied to CoinDesk 20
ARK Invest has filed with U.S. regulators to launch two new cryptocurrency ETFs that track the CoinDesk 20 benchmark. One fund will replicate the full index, while the second will mirror the index but exclude bitcoin by pairing long index futures...
US Bank Lobby Scaremongers in Face of Credit Card Cap
A coalition of major banking associations sent a joint letter to Congress opposing the Credit Card Competition Act and any expansion of the Durbin amendment. The groups argue that government‑mandated routing and fee caps would hurt small businesses, community banks,...
What the CLARITY Act Is Actually Trying to Clarify in Crypto Markets
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 proposes a two‑pronged framework that classifies digital assets and assigns oversight to the CFTC for spot trading of digital commodities while keeping the SEC in charge of primary offerings and investor disclosures....
Falcon Finance Provides Fiat Off-Ramp for USDf
Falcon Finance announced that its synthetic dollar USDf can now be converted to fiat through Altery’s crypto‑to‑fiat infrastructure, powered by Synterra Connect. Holders transfer USDf to a Synterra address and receive fiat in their Altery accounts, with SEPA, SWIFT, local...
S&W Selects 1fs Wealth for Tech Upgrade
Wealth intelligence firm 1fs Wealth has partnered with professional services group S&W to deliver AI‑driven digital wealth management tools to the firm’s family office, trust and ultra‑high‑net‑worth clients. The London‑based platform consolidates assets, manages risk, and provides AI insights for...
Riyad Bank Tech Unit Jeel Explores Blockchain Payments with Ripple
Jeel, the innovation arm of Riyad Bank, has entered a strategic partnership with Ripple to explore blockchain‑based payment solutions in Saudi Arabia. The collaboration will pilot use cases such as cross‑border remittances and real‑time domestic settlements, aiming to deliver faster,...
What FIS Has Planned After the Global Payment Deals
FIS closed a strategic swap with Global Payments, acquiring the card‑issuing technology unit while off‑loading its merchant‑technology division. The move sharpens FIS’s focus on bank clients amid rising fintech competition. In parallel, FIS announced a bank‑centric suite of agentic AI...
Sage Capital Management Launches Integrated Private Banking for Digital Assets
Sage Capital Management has unveiled an integrated private banking service tailored for institutional digital‑asset clients, combining fiat and crypto operations in a single platform. The offering includes multi‑currency accounts linked to UK Faster Payments, SEPA, SWIFT and over 140 currencies,...
What Happens as Europe Enforces MiCA and the US Delays Crypto Rules
Europe has moved from drafting to enforcing the Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation (MiCA), establishing clear timelines, licensing pathways, and compliance milestones for crypto‑asset service providers across all EU member states. The EU’s single‑license model lets firms obtain authorization in one...
Betterment Teams Up with Capitalize to Streamline 401(k) Rollovers
Betterment has partnered with fintech Capitalize to embed its rollover API into Betterment’s platform, enabling users to transfer old 401(k) accounts into a Betterment IRA with a few clicks. The digital integration automates the traditionally paper‑heavy rollover process, allowing investors...
Payment Outages Cost $44B in Lost Sales Annually
A new study by Dynatrace, FreedomPay and Retail Economics estimates U.S. retail and hospitality lose $44.4 billion annually due to payment system disruptions. Outages average two hours, yet shoppers abandon purchases after just seven minutes, costing $1.2 billion per minute in the...
BlackRock Doubles Down on Bitcoin Fund Offerings with Income-Focused Filing
BlackRock filed an S‑1 to launch the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which will use a covered‑call strategy on bitcoin or its IBIT holdings to generate income. The fund will actively manage call options, trading upside potential for regular premium...
Mine Raises $14M in Funding
Mine, a New York‑based personal‑finance startup, closed a $14 million financing round led by 359 Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, FJ Labs, Y Combinator and U.S. News & World Report. The new capital brings its total funding to $28 million. Mine...
More Data Isn’t Always Better for AI Decisions
MIT researchers challenge the assumption that more data always improves AI decisions. They propose a framework that identifies the minimal dataset needed to guarantee an optimal decision under uncertainty, and an algorithm that tests whether additional data could change the...
An Overhaul of US Anti-Money-Laundering Rules Is Long Overdue
The Treasury, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, is pushing a fundamental overhaul of U.S. anti‑money‑laundering (AML) rules, moving away from a checklist mindset toward outcome‑focused supervision. Citi’s Brent McIntosh argues that the current framework over‑prioritises technical minutiae, prompting costly account closures...
NCR Atleos Appoints New CIO
NCR Atleos (NYSE: NATL) announced Rohan Pal as its new chief information officer, reinforcing the firm’s focus on innovation and growth. Pal brings over 25 years of experience in technology strategy, cybersecurity, cloud solutions, and digital transformation. His prior roles...
Wells Fargo Hires Faraz Shafiq as Head of AI
Wells Fargo announced Faraz Shafiq as Head of AI Products and Solutions, effective Feb. 9. Shafiq will report to AI Co‑CEO Saul Van Beurden and operate from San Francisco. He brings more than 15 years of leadership at Amazon Web Services, Google, Verizon and...
From Legacy to API-First: How Insurers Modernize Their Core Systems
Insurers are confronting the limitations of legacy core systems that prioritize stability over flexibility, resulting in long release cycles, costly integrations, and hindered innovation. To overcome these constraints, many are shifting to API‑first, cloud‑native platforms that offer modular architecture and...
Monex Appoints Kyle Falconi as Head of Sales
Monex USA announced Kyle Falconi as its new Head of Sales, adding him to the executive leadership team. Falconi arrives from a long tenure as Managing Director at Citi, where he delivered record FX sales and launched a Salesforce‑based CRM...
UK Banks Block or Delay 40% of Crypto Exchange Transfers: Survey
A UK Cryptoasset Business Council survey finds that roughly 40 % of transfers to crypto exchanges are blocked or delayed, with eight out of ten exchanges reporting a rise in such incidents over the past year. The study, based on data...
Nationwide Signs New Contract with AWS
Nationwide Building Society has signed an expanded agreement with Amazon Web Services to deepen its cloud footprint and accelerate digital transformation for its 17 million members. The partnership builds on existing use of Amazon Connect, which powers the new Call Checker...
Digital Transformation and the Challenge of Differentiation for FIs
The episode explores how digital banking’s rapid expansion—driven by AI, AI‑powered search, and an ever‑growing suite of services—makes it harder for banks and credit unions to stand out. Guest Dylan Lerner critiques the current “door” approach to embedding wealth‑management tools...
Swiss Stock Exchange SIX Now Supports ETF Issuer Inyova SICAV
Inyova SICAV has become the latest ETF issuer on the SIX Swiss Exchange, launching its inaugural Inyova Impact Investing Active Equity Fund EUR UCITS ETF. The fund trades in Swiss francs under ISIN LU3075459852 and follows an actively managed, impact‑focused strategy....
CrazyLive Announces Governance Separation and Launch of CL Global Education Foundation
CrazyLive executed a governance separation, creating the independent CL Global Education Foundation while retaining CrazyLive Inc for commercial operations. The foundation will oversee ecosystem standards, content coordination, and contributor recognition, focusing on technology‑enabled learning and AI‑era knowledge. CrazyLive Inc continues...
Malaysia Tests Bank Readiness for MyDigital ID Rollout
Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance announced that 18 banks have entered Phase 2 of the MyDigital ID sandbox, testing e‑verification capabilities for digital onboarding and high‑value transactions. The sandbox, overseen by Bank Negara Malaysia and MyDigital ID Sdn Bhd, evaluates operational readiness...
Ensembling AI Models to Improve Compliance Risk Detection
Financial services firms are turning to ensemble AI to strengthen compliance risk detection across multimodal communications. Theta Lake reports that combining lexicon‑based rules, fuzzy matching, and multiple machine learning models yields higher accuracy and fewer false positives than single‑model approaches....
GeoComply Uses Device and Location Data to Stop Fraud
GeoComply’s digital identity platform, integrated with Dabble, combines device integrity, precise location, behavioural and network signals to enhance KYC. The partnership delivered KYC pass rates above 90% and uncovered large fraud clusters, including 250+ accounts from a single address and...
Stock Futures Explained in Plain English: A Bitget-Focused Starter
Stock futures are derivative contracts that let traders capture equity price moves without owning the shares, offering two‑way exposure and higher capital efficiency. The contracts rely on notional value, margin, and leverage, meaning gains and losses are amplified relative to...
Euroclear to Launch Same-Day Settlement for Stock Loan Returns Within CREST System
Euroclear will introduce same‑day settlement for stock‑loan returns (SLRs) in its CREST platform on June 15, 2026. The new service lets lenders approve immediate settlement by raising transaction priority, otherwise defaulting to T+1. This change accelerates collateral release, cuts settlement risk and...
In the Battle of Chains, Distribution Is King
The article argues that blockchain supremacy will be decided by distribution rather than pure technical metrics. Companies such as Coinbase, Circle and Stripe can launch proprietary chains by routing their massive existing user bases directly onto new networks, instantly generating...
Vennre Completes $9.6M Round to Grow Private Market Platform in MENA
UK‑based wealth‑creation platform Vennre closed a $9.6 million pre‑Series A round structured as equity and debt. The financing was co‑led by Vision Ventures and anb seed Fund, with participation from Sanabil 500, Ace & Co, Plus VC and strategic angels. Vennre’s technology‑driven platform gives high‑earning professionals...
AML Under Pressure: Coverage, Precision and Case Aging
AML teams are grappling with soaring alert volumes that mask true risk exposure. Regulators are moving beyond simple activity counts, demanding evidence of coverage, precision, prioritisation, and case‑aging in daily operations. The focus now is on whether high‑risk alerts surface...
Will Bitcoin Drop Again? Why Bitcoin Everlight Is Attracting Downside Hedgers
Bitcoin slipped below $88,000, breaking the $95,000 support and sparking over $1 billion in liquidations as the Crypto Fear & Greed Index fell into the low 30s. The sell‑off highlighted the market’s high leverage and thin liquidity, prompting traders to reassess...
Bitcoin Risks Fourth Straight Monthly Loss, a Streak Not Seen Since 2018
Bitcoin is on track for a fourth consecutive monthly decline, a streak not seen since 2018‑19, with the price hovering around $87,000. The cryptocurrency has fallen roughly 36% from its October peak, marking a sharp correction after a series of...
Quantexa Launches Claims AI Accelerator on Guidewire
Quantexa has launched a Decision Intelligence accelerator for Guidewire ClaimCenter, enabling insurers to embed real‑time analytics into their claims workflows. The accelerator, now listed on the Guidewire Marketplace, provides instant claims segmentation, fraud detection and contextual analytics across the entire...
Axos Bank’s Kevin Hearn Simplifies, Trains and Embraces AI
Axos Bank’s SVP Kevin Hearn has overhauled the bank’s technology stack, retiring legacy tools like SharePoint and K2 in favor of the OutSystems low‑code platform. The shift has accelerated application delivery to eight‑week cycles, delivering a 60% productivity boost and...
Traders Skip the Guessing Game with Prop Firm Match
Prop Firm Match launched a data‑driven marketplace that aggregates verified trader reviews and compliance‑checked rankings for proprietary trading firms. In its first year the platform attracted over 100,000 users, logged 12 million website visits, and listed 41 firms that passed its...