Capital.com Granted CMA Licence in Kenya
Capital.com has secured licence number 244 from Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority, authorising it to operate as a Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker. The approval enables the firm to offer regulated online forex and trading services to Kenyan clients, with full onboarding, execution and support under CMA rules. To spearhead the venture, Capital.com appointed Samwel Kiraka as CEO of its Kenyan operations. The move aligns with the company’s broader strategy of expanding into new markets under robust regulatory frameworks.
Digital Assets: Figment, Ledger, Lombard Partner to Enable Earning Opportunities for Bitcoin Holders
Figment, Ledger and Lombard have launched a joint solution that lets Bitcoin holders earn yields while keeping their coins in self‑custody. The system swaps deposited BTC for Lombard’s LBTC token, which accrues rewards via the Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol. Figment...
Wealthtech NAO Partners ARK Invest Europe
Berlin‑based wealth‑tech platform NAO has teamed with ARK Invest Europe to launch the ARK Private Innovation ELTIF, a regulated Irish ELTIF 2.0 fund that gives retail investors exposure to mid‑to‑late‑stage private tech companies from a €1 minimum. The fund allocates roughly...
Fasset Names Rafiza Ghazali MD, Consumer Banking
Fasset, the global banking and investment platform, has appointed veteran banker Rafiza Ghazali as Managing Director of Consumer Banking, effective 1 February 2026. The hire comes as Fasset moves to launch the world’s first stablecoin‑based Islamic digital bank after receiving provisional approval...
The Ultimate Guide to Bitcoin Mining Hosting Companies in 2026
Independent testing of ten Bitcoin mining‑hosting providers using identical Antminer S23 Hyd units revealed a stark performance gap, with the top tier delivering over 105% annual ROI and the lowest falling below 50%. OneMiners.com emerged as the clear leader, posting a...
PayZen Appoints Ken Brause as CFO to Support Next Phase of Growth
PayZen, an AI‑driven patient affordability platform, announced Ken Brause as its new chief financial officer. Brause brings finance leadership experience from fintech firms DailyPay and OnDeck, focusing on strategic finance, capital markets, and scaling fast‑growing businesses. His role will oversee...
Ethereum’s Surprising Usage Drop Suggests the Network Solved the Wrong Problem with Fusaka Upgrade
Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, rolled out in December 2025 and January 2026, raised the blob target from six to fourteen and the maximum from nine to twenty‑one, aiming to lower roll‑up costs by expanding data‑availability capacity. A MigaLabs study of 750,000...
Loyalty in Banking Is Now Fragmented: How Chime Is Winning the Era of Soft Switching
Customers are increasingly opening secondary checking accounts and quietly shifting their primary banking relationship to new providers, a behavior dubbed “soft switching.” JD Power data shows that in Q3 2025, 52% of new checking accounts were additional accounts, with 72% of those...
Strategy’s Preferred 'STRC' Drops Below Par After Ex Dividend Date
Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred (STRC) fell below its $100 par value in pre‑market trading after the latest ex‑dividend date. The preferred offers an 11 % annualized yield on a $100 stated amount, and the dip aligns with typical...
Societe Generale Works with Swift to Settle Tokenize Bonds Using Cash and Stablecoins
Société Générale’s digital‑asset unit SG‑FORGE partnered with SWIFT to settle tokenized bonds using its MiCA‑compliant EURCV stablecoin, the first native stablecoin integrated with the global messaging network. The trial demonstrated end‑to‑end processes—including issuance, delivery‑versus‑payment, coupon payments and redemption—across both fiat...
B4B Payments Co-Founder Paul Swinton Steps Down From Executive Chair Role
Paul Swinton, co‑founder of B4B Payments, has stepped down from his executive chair role after more than 18 years, transitioning to a non‑executive director position. The fintech, acquired by Banking Circle in 2022, will have its senior leadership absorb his...
Property Owners Get New Way to Verify Insurer Estimates
Two independent adjusters have launched InsuranceClaim123, an AI‑driven platform that lets property owners verify insurer repair estimates for gaps. The service combines permit data, photos, material costs and adjuster expertise to flag missing damage, excessive depreciation or inappropriate repair scopes....
PUPI Presale Launches January 17 via Gempad
PUPI, a character‑driven meme crypto project, will launch its public presale on January 17 via Gempad on Ethereum, pricing each token at $0.02. The sale allocates 50 million PUPI tokens with contribution caps of 0.01‑1 ETH per wallet. After the presale, the token...
Best Risk Management Strategies for Cryptocurrency Leverage Trading
Cryptocurrency leverage trading offers amplified profit potential but also magnifies losses, especially in volatile markets. Australian platforms such as Immediate Nextgen provide tools like AI‑enhanced analytics, stop‑loss, and take‑profit orders to help traders manage risk. Effective strategies include using conservative...
Using Analytics to Uncover Forced Labor Risks in Supply Chains
Organizations across banking, asset management, retail and manufacturing face mounting pressure to identify and mitigate forced‑labor risks within sprawling supply chains. Regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder expectations are intensifying, exposing gaps caused by opaque ownership structures and inconsistent global standards. Moody’s...
Sygnum Sees Tokenization and State Bitcoin Reserves Taking Off in 2026
Sygnum predicts that US regulatory breakthroughs such as the CLARITY Act and a prospective Bitcoin Act will unlock sovereign Bitcoin reserves, with at least three G20 economies likely to add Bitcoin to their treasuries by 2026. The firm estimates that...
M&A in 2026 May Put More Distance Between Big, Small Banks
Bank‑M&A activity is set to surge in 2026 as regulators slash approval timelines and raise asset‑size thresholds. After 181 deals in 2025, analysts expect the number of announced transactions to double, creating a barbell market where mid‑tier banks grow larger...
Aon Expands Data Center Insurance Program to $2.5bn
Aon announced a $1 billion expansion of its Data Center Lifecycle Insurance Program, raising total capacity to $2.5 billion. The program, launched in 2025, bundles construction, cyber, cargo and operational risks into a single multi‑line solution for data‑center projects from build‑out to...
Root Partners with Kikoff to Simplify Auto Insurance
Root Insurance has teamed up with personal‑finance app Kikoff to embed its auto‑insurance quoting and purchase flow directly within the Kikoff platform. The integration delivers instant, personalized quotes without requiring users to exit the app, leveraging Root’s data‑driven pricing models....
Construction Payroll Services for Contractors
Construction payroll services provide industry‑specific solutions that automate job‑based pay, multi‑state tax compliance, and certified‑payroll reporting. They enable small contractors to outsource payroll without hiring in‑house staff and give larger firms scalable tools for tracking labor costs by project. By...
LHV Bank Tops £1bn in Deposits
LHV Bank announced it has surpassed £1 billion in customer deposits less than a year after launching its retail operations in the UK. The surge stems from a transparent product lineup that includes a current account paying 3.75% AER and an...
Worldline Empowers Agentic Commerce with New AI Capabilities
Worldline announced two new capabilities—Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and the ConnectAI developer hub—to make its Global Collect payment platform agent‑ready. The MCP acts as a secure bridge that lets large language models initiate payments, refunds, and status checks via...
![Why Financial Control Is Becoming a Technology Problem [Sponsored]](/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,quality=75,format=auto,fit=cover/https://cdn.tech.eu/uploads/2026/01/wallester-169.jpg)
Why Financial Control Is Becoming a Technology Problem [Sponsored]
Financial control has migrated from spreadsheets to software architecture as companies digitise operations. Fragmented spend across cloud, SaaS, ads and contractors creates integration‑driven visibility risks, turning finance into a technology discipline. Finance leaders now must understand system permissions and data...
LSEG Launches Blockchain-Based Digital Settlement Network
LSEG has launched the Digital Settlement House (DiSH), a blockchain‑compatible platform that enables instant, 24/7 settlement of commercial‑bank money for digital‑asset transactions. DiSH Cash tokenises deposits held at participating banks, supporting multiple currencies and both PVP and DVP settlement models....
ClearScore Embeds Automated Debt Repayment Technology Directly Into Lender Applications
ClearScore has launched its automated debt‑repayment engine, Clearer, directly into lender credit‑application flows. The tool automatically channels consolidation‑loan proceeds to pay off existing debts, eliminating fund‑diversion risk and allowing lenders to price loans more accurately. Early partners such as Oakbrook...
Lemon Launches Bitcoin-Backed Credit Card in Cash-Hoarding Argentina
Lemon, one of Argentina’s biggest crypto exchanges, has introduced the nation’s first Bitcoin‑backed Visa credit card, allowing users to obtain peso‑denominated credit without liquidating their BTC holdings. Customers lock up 0.01 Bitcoin—about $960—as collateral to receive an initial limit of one...
Swift to Build Shared Ledger for Tokenised Asset Transactions
Swift will integrate a blockchain‑based shared ledger into its global messaging network after successful interoperability trials with BNP Paribas Securities Services, Intesa Sanpaolo and Societe Generale‑Forge. The ledger aims to enable real‑time settlement of tokenised assets across borders, improving speed and transparency. Trials...
Insurance Policyholders Now Rate Insurers by How Fast They Pay
Insurers are shifting focus to claim‑payout speed as a core loyalty driver. A PYMNTS Intelligence and Ingo Payments study finds half of claimants rank speed above cost or choice, and 23% would pay a fee for instant access to $500‑$1,000...
Critical Moment: The AI Imperative for Credit Unions
Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from novelty to necessity for credit unions as younger members increasingly expect AI-driven budgeting, planning and transaction tools. While 55% of members already rely on AI for financial planning and 42% feel comfortable using it...
Tariffs Force Firms to Rethink Technology as a Survival Tool
Tariff volatility has become a daily operational risk, prompting product leaders at goods firms to confront peak uncertainty. Nearly half view tariffs as a financial drag, while 88% plan supply‑chain reconfiguration and 70% anticipate higher costs. Mid‑sized companies ($100‑$400 million revenue)...
44% of Consumers Hit a Wall When Paying Medical Bills
A PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 2,021 U.S. consumers shows that 44% encountered at least one problem paying for their most recent healthcare service. The issue is especially acute for younger generations, with nearly 70% of Gen Z patients reporting billing...
EToro Signs Four French Clubs in Ligue 1 Push
eToro has signed multi‑year sponsorship agreements with four Ligue 1 clubs—AS Monaco, LOSC Lille, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyon—effective from the 2025/26 season, becoming each club’s Official Trading Partner. The deals give the trading platform prominent branding on LED boards, digital channels and, for Lille,...
Miami’s Crypto-Settled Real Estate Record Broken by $14 Million USDT Transaction
A $14 million property deal in Miami set a new record by settling entirely in USDT, facilitated by tokenization platform Propy and developers Ciprés and Rilea Group. The buyer acquired five commercial units in the Mohawk development, with funds clearing in...
Atomic Insights Raises $10M in Seed Funding
Atomic Insights, a San Diego fintech focused on money‑movement automation for registered investment advisors (RIAs) and family offices, announced a $10 million seed round. The financing was led by Aquiline with participation from Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures and existing backers. The...
What Happens to Card Economics when Stablecoins Stroll up to the Till in SA?
South African retailers are piloting stablecoin‑based settlement at the point of sale, allowing token transfers to clear in seconds and dramatically compressing the traditional card economics stack. Pick n Pay’s rollout showed that merchants can add a crypto tender without...
Crypto Slump Hits ARK ETFs in Q4, Coinbase Becomes Top Detractor
A crypto market pullback in Q4 2025 dragged down Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs, with Coinbase emerging as the top detractor. Coinbase’s shares fell roughly 35%, outpacing Bitcoin’s 22% loss and Ether’s 28% decline, while spot‑trading volumes on centralized exchanges slipped 9%...
DeFi’s Missing Primitive: Insurance
The episode examines why DeFi lacks a robust insurance primitive, outlining how existing protocols like Nexus Mutual, Y2K, and Ante Finance each address only parts of the problem—verification, capital efficiency, curation, pricing, and composability—while failing on others. It highlights the...
Finseta Revenue Growth Slows to 9% as Tariff Uncertainty Weighs on FX Activity
Finseta posted £12.4 million revenue for 2025, a 9% rise that marks a sharp slowdown from the 26% growth recorded in 2024. Corporate client revenue surged 54% and now represents 57% of total sales, while high‑net‑worth individual activity fell amid tariff‑related...
Cosegic Boosts Financial Crime Expertise Through Fintrail Acquisition
London‑based compliance specialist Cosegic announced the acquisition of financial‑crime consultancy Fintrail, though the purchase price was not disclosed. The deal adds Fintrail’s niche expertise in anti‑money‑laundering (AML) investigations and fraud detection to Cosegic’s existing portfolio of regulatory technology solutions. By...
YouHodler’s Tony Severino Looks Back on 2025 and Crypto Investing
Tony Severino of YouHodler reviews 2025, highlighting the end of synchronized global liquidity expansion as central banks diverged, raising funding costs and prompting a broad deleveraging. He notes that crypto, once buoyed by cheap capital, became highly sensitive to macro...
Blockchain Firm Eyes $200M in Tokenized Water Projects Across Asia
Blockchain firm Global Settlement Network (GSN) announced a pilot to tokenize eight Jakarta water‑treatment sites. The pilot aims to raise up to $35 million for upgrades and test rupiah‑stablecoin settlement rails. GSN and Globalasia Infrastructure Fund plan to expand the effort...
The Most Advanced Bitcoin Solo Pool Is Now Online: mysolopool.com
mysolopool.com has launched as the most advanced Bitcoin solo mining pool, offering real‑time hash visualization and a fast, transparent interface. The platform replaces four legacy solo pools with low‑latency connections, instant data dashboards, and a rentable hashpower option. Miners receive...
Crypto Fear & Greed Index Flips to ‘Greed’ for First Time Since October
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 61 on Thursday, marking the first "greed" reading since the October $19 billion liquidation. The jump follows a two‑month Bitcoin rally that pushed the price to $97,704, its highest level since November. At...
Rachel Buscall | Recovery Room Attacks New Capital Link CEO
Rachel Buscall, CEO of New Capital Link, faced a coordinated smear campaign from an unregulated recovery‑room operation that sought to tarnish the firm’s reputation. The investigation revealed that New Capital Link operates as a regulated alternative‑investment introducer, connecting sophisticated investors with vetted...
How to Build a One-Page Retirement Plan (That You’ll Actually Use)
A one-page retirement plan condenses the entire retirement strategy onto a single, printable sheet, forcing four core decisions: goals, savings rate, asset mix, and guardrails. The template includes a clear goal amount, a sustainable savings percentage, a three‑part allocation with...
FTC Seeks Contempt Ruling Against Payment Processor for Breaching Decade-Old Fraud Prevention Order
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a Nevada federal court to hold payment‑processor Cliq Inc., its CEO Andrew Phillips and CTO John Blaugrund in contempt for breaching a 2015 court order that mandated strict fraud‑prevention controls. The agency alleges Cliq...
Walmart Backed Fintech OnePay Achieves $4 Billion Valuation Milestone
Fintech firm OnePay, backed by Walmart, announced a valuation exceeding $4 billion following an employee share‑buyback program. The new figure doubles the $2.5 billion valuation set after a $300 million funding round led by Walmart and Ribbit Capital in late 2024. OnePay’s super‑app...
Comprehensive Fund Comparison: Unlocking Insights with ISS Market Intelligence
ISS Market Intelligence has launched a comprehensive fund‑comparison platform that blends real‑time data, AI‑driven analytics, and customizable dashboards. The solution lets investors evaluate performance, fees, risk, and benchmarks across global funds in a single interface. By integrating advanced risk‑assessment tools...
Blockchain Analytics Platform Nansen, Katana Partner to Provide Enhanced On-Chain Insights
Nansen has partnered with Katana, a high‑performance DeFi blockchain, to embed its analytics suite into the network via a dedicated Growth Dashboard. Katana has processed over 11 million transactions in six months, averaging more than 100 000 daily swaps and serving 35 000+...
Exchange Association Says Regulators Should Prioritize Gen AI Threats over Quantum Computing
The World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) warned regulators that they are over‑emphasizing quantum‑computing risks at the expense of more immediate generative AI threats. WFE estimates a 5‑10+ year horizon before cryptographically relevant quantum computers appear, recommending proportionate resource allocation. The...