European Digital Banking Platform CaixaBank Introduces Digital Assets Investment Services
Spain’s CaixaBank has obtained EU‑wide authorization under the MiCA framework to operate as a crypto‑asset service provider. The bank will roll out regulated custody, order execution and transfer services for digital assets, building on its 2025 launch of bitcoin‑linked exchange‑traded products. Partnerships with Swissquote Bank and Coinbase Custody will enable real‑time transactions through the bank’s app and its digital arm imagin. This move marks a significant step in bringing crypto services into mainstream banking channels across Europe.
AI Enabled Credit Data Platform 9fin Reports $170M Funding Round at $1.3B Valuation
9fin, the European AI‑driven credit data platform, closed a $170 million Series C round that lifts its valuation to $1.3 billion, granting it unicorn status. The round was led by HarbourVest with participation from CPP Investments and existing backers. Over 300 banks, asset...
Tokenization: Republic Talks to SEC Regarding Secondary Markets, Innovation Exemption
Republic, a leading crowdfunding platform, met with the SEC to discuss tokenization and secondary trading of private securities. The company highlighted its recent acquisition of INX Securities’ ATS and a strategic investment from Hamilton Lane to expand retail access. Republic...
Fintech Founder Slams Coinbase Tax Document Process
Fintech veteran Mike Cagney publicly criticized Coinbase’s tax‑document process, citing a erroneous 1099‑MISC that reported $1,600 of income on a $10 portfolio. He described the support experience as a “nightmare” that ended with generic advice to consult a tax advisor....
Phantom Cryptocurrency Wallet Grapples with Brief Operational Disruption Affecting Asset Displays
On April 7, 2026 Phantom, a leading non‑custodial crypto wallet, experienced a brief technical interruption that displayed inaccurate token prices and balance totals on its desktop interface. The glitch was confined to the visual and data‑presentation layer, while the underlying blockchain data...
Legacy Payment Systems Leave Banks Exposed to Fintech Disruptors : Analysis
Banks are hamstrung by legacy payment infrastructures designed for batch processing, creating bottlenecks that fintech rivals exploit. Studies show 59% of banks still rely on outdated systems, while 45% of executives cite payments platforms as their top competitive threat. Fintechs...
Anchorage Digital, Custodies USDM1, On-Chain Sovereign Debt Issued by the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered digital‑asset bank, announced it will custody USDM1, a U.S.‑dollar‑denominated sovereign debt instrument issued on the blockchain by the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The debt is collateralized one‑to‑one with U.S. Treasury securities and is issued...
Innovation Exemption, Reg Crypto on Track for Digital Asset Capital Raising
SEC Chair Paul Atkins reaffirmed plans to introduce a new “innovation exemption” and a dedicated “Reg Crypto” framework for digital‑asset fundraising. The proposals would create a time‑limited startup exemption allowing up to $5 million to be raised over four years, and...
Fintech Investors Are Sharpening Criteria for Backing AI Ventures : Analysis
Fintech investors are tightening their standards for AI‑driven ventures, moving beyond the earlier hype‑driven frenzy. Capital continues to flow, with global fintech funding hitting $42.8 billion in 2025 and AI‑focused deals rising to $16.8 billion. Investors now favor applications that deliver clear...
Miami Fintech Pepper Pay Files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy with $3.4M Debt
Miami‑based fintech Pepper Pay LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on March 31, 2026, initiating liquidation of its modest assets. The company reported roughly $665,000 in assets against over $3.4 million in liabilities, with a single unsecured creditor, TSYS Acquiring Solutions, owed about...
Coinbase Integrates Chainlink Data
Coinbase announced that it will publish its premium exchange data on‑chain through Chainlink’s DataLink service. The integration makes billions of dollars of institutional trading information available via Chainlink’s oracle standard for the first time. By leveraging Chainlink’s battle‑tested infrastructure, developers...
Open-Source Software Malware Surging: Endor Labs
Open-source software (OSS) malware exploded in 2025, with more than 90% of OSV malware advisories issued—a 14‑fold increase over the prior two years, and 92% of NPM account takeovers occurring that year. Although 81% of organizations rank OSS malware as...
UK Fintech Wise Expands Into Everyday Banking with Current Account Offering
Wise, the cross‑border payments fintech, has entered the UK retail banking market with a new Current Account that offers a variable 3.26% interest on GBP balances. The product is available to its more than three million UK users and combines...
UK Parliamentarians Call for Royal Commission to Review Financial Regulation
A cross‑party All‑Party Parliamentary Group, led by former shadow finance minister John McDonnell, has called for a Royal Commission to overhaul the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory framework. The group released a 250‑page report highlighting systemic oversight failures that have persisted over...
BNPL Fintech Klarna Commits to $1.7B Transaction Supporting Up to $40B+ of Lending,
Klarna announced two major funding moves to boost its capital efficiency. A $2 billion forward‑flow facility with Elliott Investment Management will support up to $17 billion in U.S. loan originations over the next three years. On April 1, the fintech completed its largest...
Digital Payments Provider Checkout.com Focuses on APAC Region, Enters New Partnerships to Enhance Operations
Checkout.com reported a 71% year‑over‑year rise in APAC payment volume, marking its third consecutive year of over 50% net‑revenue growth in the region. The fintech firm returned to full‑year EBITDA profitability and saw worldwide net revenue climb 30%, processing more...
Western Union Takes Control of Dash, Adding Singapore Wallet to Global Network
Western Union completed its acquisition of Singapore‑based digital wallet Dash, giving the payments giant its first consumer wallet in the Asia‑Pacific region. The deal, first announced in October 2024, brings over 1.4 million Dash users under Western Union’s umbrella and aligns...
Drift Hack Fallout : Circle Faces Sharp Criticism for Not Freezing Stolen USDC
Circle faced intense criticism after the $285 million Drift Protocol hack on April 1, during which attackers converted roughly $230 million of the stolen assets into USDC and moved them from Solana to Ethereum via Circle's Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol. Despite possessing on‑chain tools...
Personetics, Atomic Announce Digital Banking Partnership
Personetics and Atomic have formed a partnership to embed Atomic’s switching engine into Personetics’ Cognitive Banking Platform, creating a native, end‑to‑end solution for contextual direct‑deposit and bill‑payment switching. The combined offering leverages Personetics’ transaction intelligence to identify the right financial...
CPPO: Canadians Are Avid Multi-Bankers
New CPPO research reveals that Canadians are increasingly adopting a multi‑banking approach, blending traditional banks with digital‑first providers. Forty‑seven percent now use online or challenger banks and 41% maintain relationships with both types, while usage among 18‑64‑year‑olds climbs to 52%....
Report Slams Reg A Issuers Who Hide Pre-Money Valuations
KingsCrowd’s latest study of 880 Regulation A equity crowdfunding deals finds only 21.4% of issuers disclose pre‑money valuations, compared with 88.7% for Regulation CF offerings. The report criticizes issuers for burying valuation data behind low share prices and dense circulars, arguing...
Bithumb Postpones IPO Plans as Crypto Exchanges Hit Pause Amid Geopolitical Uncertainty
Bithumb has postponed its IPO until after 2028, extending previous timelines that aimed for a 2025‑2026 debut. The delay follows a $43 billion Bitcoin transfer error that triggered regulatory fines and a temporary suspension of operations. Executives are now focusing on...
Crowdfunding: Reg CF Contracted Dramatically in Q1 2026
Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) activity plunged in Q1 2026, with total capital commitments dropping 28% year‑over‑year to $87.8 million. New issuers fell 32% to 187 filings, the lowest quarterly count in years, while closed offerings fell from 485 to 258. Despite fewer deals,...
Bitget Now Offers Crypto Card Enabled by Visa
Bitget has teamed with Visa and DCS to launch the Bitget Card across Asia Pacific markets, initially as a digital‑only offering with a physical version slated for release in a few months. The Visa‑powered card enables instant crypto‑to‑fiat payments, aiming to...
Crypto Exploit Losses Climb Sharply in March 2026 as Security Threats Evolve, Report Reveals
PeckShield reported that cryptocurrency hacks stole about $52 million in March 2026, a 96 percent jump from February’s $26.5 million. The surge stemmed from roughly 20 major incidents, pushing Q1 2026 losses to $501 million across 145 events. The most severe breach at Resolv Labs involved...
Q1 2026 Generated Most Venture Capital Funding Ever for the Three Month Period: Report
Q1 2026 recorded an all‑time high of nearly $300 billion in venture capital funding, driven largely by AI startups. The five largest deals—OpenAI $120 billion, Anthropic $50 billion, xAI $20 billion, Waymo $16 billion—accounted for 64 % of the quarter’s total. U.S. firms captured 83 % of...
US Department of Treasury Requests Feedback on Stablecoin Legislation, the GENIUS Act
The U.S. Treasury has opened a notice‑and‑comment rulemaking to solicit feedback on implementing the GENIUS Act, which legalizes payment stablecoins. The agency proposes that issuers with up to $10 billion in outstanding stablecoins may be regulated at the state level if...
Finally. EToro Now Allows New York Residents to Trade Crypto
eToro has secured both a New York BitLicense and a Money Transmitter License, allowing the platform to offer cryptocurrency trading to New York residents for the first time. The approval follows a 2024 SEC settlement that forced the firm to pull most...
DTCC Launches Rapid Issuance
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) unveiled Rapid Issuance, a new service on its Underwriting Central platform that automates the full lifecycle of equity‑linked structured notes. The solution enables issuers to complete closings within an hour, promising faster time‑to‑market,...
Businesses Struggle to Adapt as Late Payments Surge, Tariffs Reshape Costs, Report Reveals
Billtrust’s March 31 report reveals finance leaders grappling with longer invoice cycles, rising tariff costs, and economic uncertainty. Two‑thirds of respondents say customers are paying later, prompting nearly half of firms to tighten cash handling and 70% to delay or cancel...
Benchmark Starts Coverage on Digital Assets Firm Securitize
Benchmark has started analyst coverage of Miami‑based fintech Securitize, assigning a Buy rating and a $16 price target. The firm is set to list on Nasdaq via a merger with SPAC Cantor Equity Partners II. Securitize commands roughly 70% of the...
Insurtech: Digital Transformation Is Reshaping Insurance Services via D2C Models, Report Reveals
Citi’s latest report warns that digital transformation, especially direct‑to‑consumer (D2C) models, is fundamentally reshaping the insurance industry. By leveraging AI, data analytics, and IoT devices, insurers can streamline underwriting, claims and pricing while cutting intermediary costs. The shift promises higher...
Worldcoin’s WLD Token Plunges Nearly 97% Following Foundation’s Large OTC Transaction
Worldcoin’s native token WLD collapsed by almost 97% after the World Foundation executed a large over‑the‑counter (OTC) sale, removing a substantial block of tokens from the market. The sudden supply shock sparked a cascade of selling, wiping out years of...
Swift Advances Blockchain Shared Ledger to Pilot Phase for 24/7 Global Payments
Swift has moved its blockchain‑based shared ledger from planning to full‑scale development, creating a minimum viable product that will pilot live tokenized deposits in 2026. The platform extends Swift’s existing payment standards with an open‑source, EVM‑compatible layer built on Hyperledger...
Customers Less Loyal to Retail Banks: JD Power
JD Power’s 2026 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study reveals a subtle erosion of customer loyalty despite a modest rise in overall satisfaction to 657 on a 1,000‑point scale. The study highlights a “soft switching” trend, with the average checking‑account holder...
Austrian Venture Capital Firm Speedinvest Reduces Workforce to Streamline Operations
Vienna‑based Speedinvest announced a roughly 10 percent workforce reduction, primarily targeting operational and support roles. The move, presented at an all‑hands meeting, is framed as a shift toward senior‑focused investing and AI‑enabled efficiency. By late 2024 the firm employed over 80 staff...
Mined in America Act Aims to Bring Crypto Mining to the US
The bipartisan Mined in America Act, sponsored by Senators Bill Cassidy and Cynthia Lummis, proposes a voluntary certification program for U.S. crypto‑mining facilities. It seeks to eliminate hardware sourced from geopolitical adversaries while providing federal energy grants and technical assistance...
UK’s Digital Bank Monzo Reports 15M+ Customers
Monzo announced it has surpassed 15 million customers, marking a major milestone for the UK challenger bank. The growth includes more than one million accounts held by users under 16, reflecting its strong youth‑focused offering. Over half a million customers are...
Impersonation Scam Lands CoinDCX Founders in Police Custody, Highlighting Deeper Operational Issues in Crypto Ecosystem
CoinDCX co‑founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal were detained in Bengaluru on accusations of a ₹71.6 lakh (≈ $86,000) fraud, but a Thane magistrate released them after 72 hours due to lack of prima facie evidence. Investigators traced the scheme to sophisticated...
Binance Australia Derivatives Ordered to Pay AUD 10M Fine for Onboarding Failures That Led to Millions in Client Losses
The Federal Court ordered Binance Australia Derivatives, operating as Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, to pay a A$10 million (≈ US$6.6 million) civil penalty for mis‑classifying over 85% of its retail clients as wholesale investors between July 2022 and April 2023. The mis‑classification exposed hundreds of...
SadaPay Restored After AWS Bahrain Outage
SadaPay’s mobile app was completely offline on March 25 after a drone strike damaged the Amazon Web Services data centre in Bahrain, a critical hub for the fintech’s infrastructure. The outage halted the app for all users, though debit‑card, ATM and...
Bitcoin Focused Nakamoto’s Collapse Underscores Fragility of Crypto Treasury Strategies
Nakamoto’s stock collapsed 99.34%, erasing roughly $23.3 billion in market value and highlighting the fragility of Bitcoin‑focused treasury firms. Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, posted a $17.4 billion operating loss in Q4 2025 as Bitcoin prices fell below $67,000. MARA Holdings sold 15,133 Bitcoin for...
Custodia Bank Clarifies Fed Master Account Listing as Hazel Network Partnership Advances
Custodia Bank clarified that its recent appearance in the Federal Reserve’s master‑account database reflects a partnership entry, not a fresh application for direct Fed access. The listing ties to its collaboration with Texas‑based banks in the Hazel Network, which offers...
Singapore’s Tazapay Secures $36m Series B to Expand Cross-Border Payment Rails
Singapore fintech Tazapay closed a $36 million Series B extension led by Circle Ventures, bringing its total Series B to $36 million. The round added new backers Coinbase Ventures, CMT Digital and others, while existing investors like Ripple also participated. Funds will fuel licensing...
Cryptio CEO Comments on Stablecoin Yield Hurdle in CLARITY Act Impasse
The CLARITY Act’s current language bans stablecoin yield, prompting strong opposition from legacy banks that fear deposit outflows to higher‑yield digital assets. Cryptio CEO Antoine Scalia highlighted that while direct‑issuer stablecoins may remain restricted, third‑party structures could provide a workaround....
Crowdcube Lists Opportunity to Invest in Blockchain.com in Pre-IPO Opportunity
Crowdcube, a leading UK crowdfunding platform, is running a pre‑IPO secondary offering for Blockchain.com. Shares are priced at £10.47 (about $13.4) each, valuing the crypto firm at roughly $4 bn, a steep drop from its 2022 $14 bn peak. The deal has...
Capital Ideas: Why All Assets Belong On-Chain & Why the Future of Markets Isn’t More Blockchains
Vertalo CEO Dave Hendricks argued on the Capital Ideas podcast that distributed ledger technology is a fundamental upgrade to ownership recording, not a speculative crypto fad. He highlighted the SEC’s recent multi‑division statement confirming tokenized securities are still traditional securities,...
SaveLend Alters Updates Goals as Regulatory Environment Changes
SaveLend Group AB, a Nordic fintech, announced revised financial targets as Sweden tightens consumer‑loan regulations. The company will apply for a credit‑market company licence, divest its billing platform Billecta, and shift focus from consumer credit to SME lending. New goals...
Reg CF Issuers that Set Artificially Low Funding Targets Undermine the Entire Sector of Online Capital Formation
Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) lets startups raise up to $5 million with a simple notice filing, but many issuers set unrealistically low minimum targets, such as $10,000, to claim a "successful" raise. This practice inflates success metrics while delivering little operational capital,...
Polygon Now Serving as Specialized Payments Blockchain, Report Reveals
Polygon has rebranded from a generic Ethereum layer‑2 to a dedicated payments blockchain in 2026, bolstered by six network upgrades that lifted the gas limit to 110 million and theoretical throughput above 2,600 TPS. The launch of the Open Money Stack and...