Stripe is set to acquire Parafin as it looks to expand its embedded-finance capabilities across a network of around 18,000 platforms. The deal would bring Parafin’s working-capital and financial-services technology deeper into Stripe’s ecosystem, allowing platforms to offer financial products directly to their business customers. The acquisition highlights the continued convergence of payments, lending and embedded financial services, as fintech infrastructure providers increasingly compete to become the financial layer behind other businesses. For Stripe, expanding this infrastructure could strengthen its role beyond payment processing and give more platforms access to integrated financial products.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

The state of AI in 2026: On the road to ROI

Organizations are deploying agentic coding tools and coming to grips with the costs of AI while still seeking to capture more of the benefits that their workers are deriving from their individual use of AI.

Key Insights:

Use of agentic AI is increasing, mostly accounted for by large enterprises. Forty percent of respondents from large organizations (those with annual revenues of more than $1 billion) report scaling AI agents, up from 27 percent last year. The share of respondents from smaller organizations reporting scaling remained flat at 22 percent.

Many organizations are already scaling software coding agents. About two in ten are scaling them (31 percent at larger enterprises).

Organizations are using agentic coding tools to build software in-house in lieu of purchasing it. Nearly a third of respondents (32 percent) report that their organizations have decided against buying one or more software products or features because they could be built internally with agentic coding tools.

The cost of AI is constraining usage in some organizations. About 20 percent of respondents report that AI-related operating costs (including token costs) constrained their AI use. But the majority plan to increase their AI investments.

The share of respondents reporting enterprise-level financial impact from AI use has not changed since last year. Thirty-seven percent of respondents attribute at least some EBIT impact to AI use (about the same share as last year). And the proportion of AI high performers (those who attribute at least 5 percent of EBIT to their use of AI and describe the technology’s impact as “significant”) has remained flat at about 6 percent of all respondents.

However, AI use is boosting the performance of individuals at work. Eighty percent of respondents report that AI has improved their individual productivity, and 50 percent report that AI helps them make better decisions.

Respondents increasingly expect AI to spark workforce declines. Thirty-nine percent of respondents expect AI-related declines in their organizations’ total employment in the coming year, compared with 32 percent last year. (Forty-three percent expect no AI-related change.) But the share expecting workforce declines in last year’s survey was about double the share now reporting actual declines over the past year.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Citi Becomes First Bank to Launch Multi-Market Instant Payments on the Swift Payments Scheme
Citi has become the first bank to launch multi-market instant payments through Swift’s payments scheme. The development is aimed at making real-time international payments more seamless across multiple markets.
Source

European Payments Groups Join Forces to Challenge US Dominance
European payments groups are joining forces in an effort to reduce reliance on US payments infrastructure. The move reflects a broader push to strengthen Europe’s own payments ecosystem.
Source

BMO Joins Project Agorá to Advance Cross-Border Payments Through Tokenization
BMO has joined Project Agorá, an initiative exploring tokenization for cross-border payments. The project brings another major financial institution into efforts to develop tokenized payment infrastructure.
Source

Walapay Raises $4.6M Seed Round to Put Global Payments on Local Terms
Walapay has raised $4.6 million in seed funding to develop its global payments platform. The company aims to make international payments work more like local transactions.
Source

🏦 Banking

Barclays Expands Use of Anthropic’s Claude in Efficiency Push
Barclays is expanding its use of Anthropic’s Claude as part of an effort to improve efficiency. The move reflects the growing adoption of generative AI tools by major banks.
Source

OceanBase Partners with Vietnam’s MB Bank on Database Upgrade
OceanBase is partnering with Vietnam’s MB Bank on a database upgrade. The collaboration focuses on modernising the bank’s underlying technology infrastructure.
Source

💼 Fintech

Monarch Hits $100M ARR and Buys HMBradley Team in First Acquisition
Personal-finance fintech Monarch has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue and acquired the HMBradley team in its first acquisition. The deal expands Monarch’s capabilities as it continues scaling its financial platform.
Source

Australia’s WeMoney Launches AI and Open Banking-Powered Lending Assessment Service
Australian fintech WeMoney has launched a lending assessment service powered by AI and open banking data. The service uses financial information to support automated lending assessments.
Source

Robinhood Deepens Agentic AI Offering in Push to Become Go-To Place for Active Traders
Robinhood is expanding its agentic AI offering as it develops more AI-driven tools for active traders. The move builds on the company’s broader push to integrate AI into its trading platform.
Source

🪙 Crypto

HSBC Names Stablecoin ‘HSBC Redcoin’
HSBC has named its stablecoin HSBC Redcoin, adding a branded stablecoin initiative to its digital-asset strategy. The move reflects the growing involvement of major international banks in stablecoin infrastructure.
Source

Lloyds and Visa Test Faster, Round-the-Clock Cross-Border Settlement Using Stablecoins
Lloyds Banking Group and Visa are testing stablecoin infrastructure for faster, round-the-clock cross-border settlement. The initiative explores how stablecoins could support international payments beyond traditional banking settlement windows.
Source

A16z and CoinFund Back US Fintech Jeeves in $110M Round
Jeeves has secured $110 million in funding backed by Andreessen Horowitz and CoinFund. The round will support the fintech’s expansion of stablecoin and AI-based financial infrastructure.
Source

StraitsX Plans XSGD and XUSD Launch on Monad in 2027
StraitsX plans to launch its XSGD and XUSD stablecoins on the Monad blockchain in 2027. The move would extend the stablecoins into another blockchain ecosystem.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Zilch Reportedly Engages Banks for Potential London IPO
BNPL fintech Zilch is reportedly engaging banks ahead of a potential London IPO. The move could mark another major step in the evolution of the UK-based fintech.
Source

Capitolis to Acquire eSecLending in US$200M All-Cash Transaction
Capitolis has agreed to acquire securities lender eSecLending in a $200 million all-cash transaction. The deal expands Capitolis’ presence in securities-finance infrastructure.
Source

Bloomberg Completes Canoe Intelligence Acquisition
Bloomberg has completed its acquisition of Canoe Intelligence, expanding its capabilities in private-market investing. The deal is intended to support the development of technology for private-market investment workflows.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

New York and Wyoming Join Forces to Regulate Crypto Market
New York and Wyoming are joining forces on cryptocurrency regulation. The collaboration reflects efforts by US states to coordinate approaches to oversight of the crypto market.
Source

Nubank Denies Monzo Acquisition Talks After Reports of Potential Deal
Nubank has denied reports that it is in talks to acquire Monzo. The denial follows earlier reports of a potential transaction involving the two digital banks.
Source

🌍 Other

Apple Pay Launches in India
Apple Pay has launched in India, bringing Apple’s digital payment service to one of the world’s largest consumer markets. The launch expands Apple Pay’s international footprint.
Source

Sibos 2026: Thoughts from Experts at Commerzbank, SMBC and The Clearing House
Experts from Commerzbank, SMBC and The Clearing House have shared perspectives on developments shaping financial services at Sibos 2026. The discussion covers themes emerging across the international banking industry.
Source

Payments Canada Welcomes Six New Members
Payments Canada has welcomed six new members as expanded membership eligibility reaches its one-year milestone. The additions broaden participation in Canada’s payments ecosystem.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Lloyds Banking Group and Visa are testing stablecoin-based infrastructure designed to enable faster, round-the-clock settlement for cross-border transactions. The initiative brings together one of the UK’s major banking groups and a global payments network to explore how stablecoins could operate alongside traditional financial infrastructure. By testing settlement that can take place beyond conventional banking hours, the project targets one of the longstanding constraints of international payments: the dependence on banking and settlement windows across different markets. The collaboration also reflects a broader shift among major financial institutions toward using stablecoins and tokenized money for practical payment and settlement applications.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Benchmark AI Agents x Stablecoins

Three of the five sectors where the impact of agentic AI will be felt most quickly. For each: the main risk and three concrete actions

🔹 Retail banks

RISK: BECOMING INVISIBLE - A consumer asks their AI agent to find the best mortgage rate. The agent queries three banking APIs, compares, and ranks. If your bank is not indexable, it does not appear. The same dynamic extends to corporate treasury management: an agent that manages accounts, optimizes cash allocation, and invests surpluses

▪️ What to do

1) Expose an agent-readable product catalog before end of 2026

2) Test an agentic KYC process in production on a defined client segment

3) Identify 5 high-cost back-office processes and assess their automation potential by Q2 2027

🔹 Asset managers

RISK: ANALYTICAL DISINTERMEDIATION - AI is changing manufacturing (analysis, management, compliance) and distribution. Research shows 50 agents building portfolios using 20 methodologies and evaluating one another. The promise of “human active management” is being challenged from below.

▪️ What to do

1) Select a mandate (screening, reporting, rebalancing) and deploy an agent in cruise control within 6 months

2) Redefine the portfolio manager’s role: strategy architect, not execution operator

3) Prepare real-time, agent-readable reporting (machine-readable factsheets)

🔹 Insurers

RISK: DEMATERIALIZED DISTRIBUTION - Same indexability logic as for banks. Companies are already envisioning contracts sold directly by AI agents: the agent compares and subscribes on behalf of the user; the invisible insurer is left out. Simple claims follow rules that agents can execute.

▪️ What to do

1) Automate one type of simple claim (auto glass, tech equipment damage) using a supervised agent

2) Make policies comparable by an agent (structured product catalog)

3) Appoint a head of agent governance before yearend 2026

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Apple Pay Launches in India
Apple Pay has launched in India, bringing Apple’s digital-wallet and contactless payment service to one of the world’s largest payments markets. The launch expands Apple Pay’s international footprint into another major consumer market.
Source

Citi Rewires Global Payments Through Single Swift Connection
Citi is restructuring its global payments connectivity through a single connection to Swift. The move is designed to simplify how the bank connects to international payment infrastructure.
Source

SMEs Turn from Banks to Fintechs for Cross-Border Payments
Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to fintechs for cross-border payment services. The shift highlights growing demand for alternatives to traditional bank-based international transfers.
Source

Volante and Circle Partner to Bring USDC Payments to Banks
Volante and Circle are partnering to enable banks to support USDC payments. The collaboration connects stablecoin-based payment infrastructure with traditional banking systems.
Source

🏦 Banking

HSBC Launches HSBCnio Digital Banking Solution for Businesses
HSBC has launched HSBCnio, a digital banking solution designed for businesses. The platform expands the bank’s digital services for commercial customers.
Source

Valley National Bancorp Pays $340M for SME Banking Platform Bluevine
Valley National Bancorp is acquiring Bluevine for $340 million, bringing the fintech’s small-business banking platform into the bank’s operations. The transaction represents another example of established banking institutions expanding their SME offerings through fintech acquisitions.
Source

Infosys and ABN Amro Extend Strategic Collaboration
Infosys and ABN Amro are extending their strategic collaboration to simplify the bank’s IT landscape and accelerate its AI-driven transformation. The partnership focuses on modernising technology infrastructure and expanding AI capabilities.
Source

💼 Fintech

Robinhood Rolls Out Agentic AI Trading Accounts
Robinhood is rolling out agentic AI trading accounts aimed at bringing AI-powered trading capabilities to a broader customer base. The move extends the use of AI from financial assistance into more active investment workflows.
Source

Oracle Brings New Agentic Capabilities to the Fight Against Financial Crime
Oracle has introduced new agentic AI capabilities focused on combating financial crime. The technology is designed to apply AI agents to fraud and financial-crime prevention workflows.
Source

Trading Technologies Acquires TRAFiX
Trading Technologies has acquired TRAFiX, expanding its multi-asset order and execution management capabilities into global equities and equity options. The deal broadens the company’s coverage across financial markets.
Source

One Inc Launches XpressOne for Faster Claims Resolution
One Inc has launched XpressOne, a solution designed to accelerate insurance claims resolution through vendor payments. The platform focuses on streamlining payments within the insurance claims process.
Source

🪙 Crypto

HSBC Names Stablecoin ‘HSBC Redcoin’
HSBC has named its stablecoin HSBC Redcoin, adding a branded stablecoin initiative to the bank’s digital-asset strategy. The development reflects the continued exploration of stablecoins by major international banks.
Source

StraitsX Plans XSGD and XUSD Launch on Monad in 2027
StraitsX plans to launch its XSGD and XUSD stablecoins on the Monad blockchain in 2027. The move would expand the stablecoins’ presence within another blockchain ecosystem.
Source

Morph Joins Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program
Morph has joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program, connecting the blockchain project with Mastercard’s broader digital-asset ecosystem.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Zilch Looks to Take BNPL Firm Public in 2027
Zilch is reportedly looking toward a potential public listing in 2027. The planned move would mark another step in the evolution of the UK-based BNPL fintech.
Source

Capitolis Agrees $200M Deal for Securities Lender eSecLending
Capitolis has agreed to acquire securities lender eSecLending in a $200 million all-cash deal. The transaction expands Capitolis’ presence in securities-finance infrastructure.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

UK Watchdog Flags Competition Concerns Over Brink’s $6.6B NCR Atleos Deal
A UK competition watchdog has raised concerns about Brink’s proposed $6.6 billion acquisition of NCR Atleos. The review could affect the proposed combination of the two companies’ ATM and cash-management businesses.
Source

UK’s Crypto Regulatory Application Window Opens
The UK has opened its application window for crypto firms seeking regulatory approval, with a February deadline. The process forms part of the UK’s developing regulatory framework for crypto businesses.
Source

🌍 Other

Sibos 2026: The Quantum Tipping Point
Sibos 2026 is examining the potential impact of quantum computing on financial services. The discussion focuses on how advances in quantum technology could affect the financial industry.
Source

AI Leaves Quarter of UK Adults ‘Overwhelmed’ by Sophistication of Scams
Research indicates that around a quarter of UK adults feel overwhelmed by the increasing sophistication of scams involving AI. The findings highlight growing concerns around the use of AI to make financial fraud more convincing.
Source

SG-Based Bolttech and Bold Penguin Form Global Insurance Partnership
Singapore-based insurtech Bolttech and Bold Penguin have formed a global partnership in the insurance sector. The collaboration aims to connect their respective insurance technology capabilities across markets.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Citi is expanding its Token Services platform into Japan and the United Arab Emirates, extending its blockchain-based banking infrastructure into two major international markets. The expansion gives institutional clients in these markets access to tokenized solutions designed to support faster and more efficient movement of liquidity and payments. Citi’s rollout reflects the broader shift among global banks toward integrating tokenization into established financial infrastructure rather than treating blockchain as a separate financial ecosystem. Expanding across both Asia and the Middle East also highlights how tokenized banking services are becoming part of the international payments landscape.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

How instant payments are transforming the financial landscape

As the global payments industry evolves into an increasingly diverse network of competing systems, instant payments are becoming a bigger part of the landscape. Instant payments value flows reached nearly $22 trillion in 2024 across the 15 largest economies that have adopted these payment rails,1 representing 1 percent of the $2 quadrillion in value flows worldwide. They are expected to grow at 15 to 18 percent annually over the next five years.

Instant payments started gaining momentum in the late 2000s and early 2010s in mature electronic-payment markets such as the United Kingdom and the Nordics and Benelux regions, and in historically cash-dominant emerging markets such as India, Nigeria, and Thailand. Since then, many other markets—from the United States and Europe to developing markets across Latin America and Asia—have introduced instant payments with varying results. Many more instant payments markets are expected to gain traction in the coming years.

In this report, McKinsey looks at how instant payments have developed in markets such as Brazil, India, Mexico, and the United States. These markets provide insights and a glimpse into the future for commercial players across the payments value chain. As demand for instant payments grows, banks, acquirers, and payment schemes may see revenue from traditional sources pressured and will need to adapt their services, products, and business models to remain competitive.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

BNY Enables Pay-to-Wallet Solution for Cross-Border Payments
BNY has launched a pay-to-wallet solution that enables banks to send cross-border payments directly to retail customers’ digital wallets. The service aims to simplify international money movement by connecting traditional bank payment infrastructure with digital wallets.
Source

Brite Payments Launches Pay by Bank in the UK
Brite Payments has launched its Pay by Bank service in the UK, targeting a smoother checkout experience for online shoppers. The launch comes alongside research highlighting widespread frustration with online checkout processes among British consumers.
Source

Mastercard Partners with Mojaloop and AfricaNenda on Payments in Africa
Mastercard is partnering with Mojaloop and AfricaNenda on payment infrastructure in Africa. The collaboration focuses on supporting interoperable payment systems across the continent.
Source

Swift Provides Cross-Border Gateway to Bizum, PayID and Pix Users
Swift is developing a cross-border gateway connecting users of Bizum, PayID and Pix. The initiative aims to make international transactions more accessible across established domestic payment networks.
Source

Volante and Circle Partner to Bring USDC Payments to Banks
Volante and Circle are partnering to enable banks to support USDC payments. The collaboration connects stablecoin-based payments with existing banking infrastructure.
Source

🏦 Banking

HSBC Launches HSBCnio Digital Banking Solution for Businesses
HSBC has launched HSBCnio, a digital banking solution designed for businesses. The platform expands HSBC’s digital banking offering for commercial customers.
Source

Thought Machine and AWS Launch AI Tool for Legacy Core Banking Migrations
Thought Machine and AWS have launched an AI tool designed to accelerate legacy core-banking migrations. The technology targets banks looking to modernize older banking infrastructure.
Source

Valley Bank Courts Small Businesses with Bluevine Acquisition
Valley Bank is pursuing an acquisition of Bluevine as it looks to strengthen its offering for small businesses. The deal would bring a fintech-focused small-business banking platform into the bank’s broader operations.
Source

BankPro Taps Thredd to Power Physical and Virtual Cards
BankPro is partnering with Thredd to support its physical and virtual card programmes. The collaboration will provide infrastructure for BankPro’s card products.
Source

💼 Fintech

Jeeves Raises $110M to Build Stablecoin Wallet and AI Agents
Jeeves has raised $110 million to develop a stablecoin wallet and AI agents. The funding combines two major fintech trends as the company expands its digital financial infrastructure.
Source

Chainlink Enables Financial Institutions to Connect to Swift’s Blockchain Ledger
Chainlink is enabling financial institutions to connect with Swift’s blockchain ledger. The integration is aimed at linking traditional financial institutions with blockchain-based infrastructure.
Source

SMEs Turn from Banks to Fintechs for Cross-Border Payments
Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to fintechs for cross-border payment services. The shift reflects demand for alternative solutions to traditional bank-based international transfers.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Crypto ETFs Surge as Bitcoin Funds Add $2.95B in 30 Days
Bitcoin-focused ETFs have seen significant inflows, with funds adding around $2.95 billion over 30 days. The surge reflects renewed institutional activity in the crypto investment market.
Source

Citi and Coinbase Just Made Stablecoins Invisible
Citi and Coinbase have developed infrastructure aimed at making stablecoin payments more seamless within financial transactions. The development points toward stablecoins becoming increasingly integrated into existing payment experiences.
Source

Bitcoin Hovers at $84K as Treasury Yields Hold Near Multi-Year Highs
Bitcoin is hovering around $84,000 as US Treasury yields remain near multi-year highs. The market continues to respond to broader macroeconomic conditions affecting risk assets.
Source

Ethereum Gets Another Privacy Boost as Aztec Brings Back zk.money
Aztec has brought back zk.money, adding another privacy-focused development to the Ethereum ecosystem. The service uses zero-knowledge technology to support greater transaction privacy.
Source

Morph Joins Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program
Morph has joined Mastercard’s Crypto Partner Program, connecting the blockchain project with Mastercard’s broader digital-asset ecosystem.
Source

📈 WealthTech

MoneyHero Investor Urges Board to Consider Potential Sale
An investor in MoneyHero is urging the company’s board to consider potential sale options. The development could lead to changes in ownership of the personal-finance and financial-comparison platform.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

ECB Invites Expressions of Interest for Digital Euro Innovation Workstreams
The European Central Bank has invited expressions of interest for new digital euro innovation workstreams. The initiative is intended to bring additional participants into the development and exploration of potential digital-euro use cases.
Source

🌍 Other

Sibos 2026: What Does Sovereignty Look Like in a Multi-Rail Payments Landscape?
Sibos 2026 is examining how financial institutions can navigate an increasingly fragmented multi-rail payments environment. The discussion focuses on sovereignty and control as payment systems become more interconnected.
Source

MoonPay Launches South Korea Unit as It Expands in Asia
MoonPay has launched a South Korean unit as part of its expansion across Asia. The move gives the crypto-fintech a dedicated presence in another major Asian market.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Monzo is reportedly in talks over a potential sale to Brazilian digital bank Nubank at a valuation of around £10 billion, according to Sky News. A transaction at that valuation would bring together two major digital banking businesses from different markets, linking Monzo’s UK banking presence with Nubank’s large Latin American fintech operation. The reported discussions come as digital banks continue to expand internationally and look for opportunities to grow through acquisitions as well as organic expansion. For Monzo, a potential deal would represent a significant development for the UK fintech, while for Nubank it would provide a potential route into another major banking market. The reported valuation also underscores the scale that leading digital banks have reached as they compete with established financial institutions.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

How do Europeans really bank, pay & invest in 2026?

If you are in Europe what apps do you use to make payments, bank or invest?

The answer is rarely one app.

Across the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, banking, payments and investing are separate battles. A customer may bank with Monzo or Revolut, pay with PayPal or Google Wallet, and invest through Trade Republic, crypto com or Coinbase.

That matters because the European “super app” thesis has a distribution problem. Owning a current account does not mean owning payments. Winning payments does not mean winning investing. Each category has its own local habits, trusted brands and regulation.

The map is especially clear in investing. Trade Republic tops downloads in Germany, France, Spain and Italy, while crypto platforms still occupy much of the top five. Consumer demand for investing is growing through both traditional assets and digital assets, but the winners vary sharply by country.

The recent French banking licence gives Revolut a stronger base to compete across Western Europe. Yet the bigger opportunity is not to replace every specialist app. It is to become the place where customers can see, fund and move their financial lives, while the best specialist products still do the rest.

Initially shared by Marcel van Oost; don’t forget to follow him.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

FIS Teams With Spade to Bring Clarity to Debit Transactions
FIS is partnering with Spade to provide greater clarity and data around debit-card transactions. The collaboration aims to improve transaction-level information for businesses and financial institutions.
Source

BNY Aims to Bring Cross-Border Bank Payments to Digital Wallets
BNY is working to bring cross-border bank payments directly into digital wallets. The initiative could make international transfers more accessible through wallet-based payment experiences.
Source

Swift and Its Community Innovate Cross-Border Consumer Payments
Swift and its financial community are working to make cross-border payments feel more like familiar domestic consumer transactions. The initiative focuses on improving the convenience and user experience of international payments.
Source

🏦 Banking

Revolut Receives Central Bank Approval for Banco Cetelem Acquisition in Argentina
Revolut has received central bank approval for its acquisition of Banco Cetelem in Argentina. The approval marks another step in Revolut’s expansion of its regulated banking operations in Latin America.
Source

Finastra Launches Supply Chain Finance Solution
Finastra has launched a supply-chain finance solution designed for banks to help businesses access working capital. The platform is intended to help financial institutions scale supply-chain finance offerings.
Source

US Banks Invited to Join Apple Pay Class Lawsuit
US banks have been invited to join a class lawsuit concerning Apple Pay. The development adds another legal issue around the operation of mobile-payment services and their relationships with financial institutions.
Source

💼 Fintech

Marble Raises €6.5M to Automate Compliance
Marble has raised €6.5 million to develop technology for automating compliance processes. The funding will support the company’s efforts to streamline compliance work through technology.
Source

Philippine Fintech Firm Skyro Wins Malaysia License
Philippine fintech Skyro has secured a license to operate in Malaysia. The approval supports the company’s expansion into another Southeast Asian market.
Source

SG Insurtech Igloo and Dana Launch Weather Insurance in Indonesia
Singapore-based insurtech Igloo and Indonesian fintech Dana have launched weather insurance in Indonesia. The product brings insurance coverage for weather-related risks into the digital-finance ecosystem.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Bitget to Resume Withdrawals After $387.5M Crypto Hack
Bitget is set to resume withdrawals following a $387.5 million crypto hack. The development comes as the exchange works to restore normal operations after the major security incident.
Source

Franklin Templeton Expands Collateral Program to Bybit
Franklin Templeton is expanding its collateral program to Bybit, extending its digital-asset offering to another major crypto platform. The move connects traditional asset-management infrastructure with crypto-market activity.
Source

Strategy Sets New BTC Holdings Record After $143M Bitcoin Purchase
Strategy has increased its Bitcoin holdings following a $143 million purchase. The transaction pushes the company’s Bitcoin holdings to a new record level.
Source

Tom Lee’s Bitmine Buys Another $47M of ETH
Bitmine has purchased another $47 million worth of Ethereum, bringing its holdings to 4.9% of the total Ethereum supply. The acquisition further increases the company’s exposure to the cryptocurrency.
Source

Bitcoin Falls as Oil and Yields Rise
Bitcoin has fallen amid higher oil prices and rising yields following developments involving Trump and Iran. The move comes as broader macroeconomic conditions continue to affect crypto markets.
Source

📈 WealthTech

DTCC and iCapital Collaborate to Advance Private Market Infrastructure
DTCC and iCapital are collaborating to advance infrastructure for private markets and expand access. The partnership is aimed at supporting the next phase of growth and scale in private-market investing.
Source

LSEG Appointed as a Super Validator on Canton Network
LSEG has been appointed as a super validator on the Canton Network, strengthening its involvement in blockchain-based financial infrastructure. The role connects one of the world’s major market-infrastructure providers with the network’s digital-asset ecosystem.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

FCA Secures Money Back for Victims of Crypto Fraud
The UK Financial Conduct Authority has secured the return of funds for victims of crypto fraud. The action highlights continued regulatory efforts to recover money lost through cryptocurrency-related scams.
Source

Call for Expressions of Interest in New Digital Euro Innovation Platform Activities
The European Central Bank has opened a call for expressions of interest for a new wave of digital euro innovation activities. The initiative seeks further participation in developing and exploring digital-euro use cases.
Source

🌍 Other

New Forms of Intelligent Money Set to Hit Traditional Bank B2B Revenue Streams
New forms of “intelligent money” could affect traditional bank B2B revenue streams as financial technology evolves. The development points to potential changes in how businesses interact with banking and payment infrastructure.
Source

Sibos 2026: Under the Hood — Where AI Will Really Transform Financial Services
Sibos 2026 is examining where AI could have the most significant impact across financial services. The discussion focuses on practical applications of AI within the industry rather than technology adoption alone.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

BNP Paribas and Google Cloud have expanded their collaboration to advance the deployment of agentic AI across the bank, deepening the relationship between one of Europe’s largest financial institutions and a major global cloud technology provider. The partnership focuses on moving agentic AI into financial workflows, reflecting the growing interest among major banks in AI systems that can perform more complex, multi-step tasks rather than simply generate information. For BNP Paribas, the deal forms part of its broader effort to deploy AI across its operations and develop new capabilities around the technology. The collaboration also illustrates the increasingly international nature of financial-sector AI adoption, as banks work with global technology companies to bring emerging AI infrastructure into regulated financial environments.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

The UK and EU Core Banking Companies Directory

I built this guide because core banking shortlists in the UK and EU are still assembled from analyst quadrants, vendor decks and whoever the systems integrator knows best. I profiled 18 core providers against the same set of criteria: architecture, deployment, product coverage, payment rails, compliance posture, pricing and named UK and EU clients. The market moved a lot this year. Finastra agreed to sell its core banking unit, Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank signed with Thought Machine, and several vendors changed CEOs, so older vendor maps are already out of date.

Fintech Wrap Up

Deep Dive: The UK and EU Core Banking Companies Directory

I built this guide because core banking shortlists in the UK and EU are still assembled from analyst quadrants, vendor decks and whoever the systems integrator knows best. I profiled 18 core providers against the same set of criteria: architecture, deployment, product coverage, payment rails, compliance posture, pricing and named UK and EU clients. The market moved a lot this year. Finastra agreed to sell its core banking unit, Deutsche Bank’s Private Bank signed with Thought Machine, and several vendors changed CEOs, so older vendor maps are already out of date…

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7 days ago · 13 likes · Sam Boboev

Curated News

💳 Payments

FedNow Expands Into Cross-Border Payments as 1,700 US Institutions Join Instant Settlement Push
FedNow is expanding into cross-border payments as 1,700 US financial institutions join its instant-settlement push. The expansion could extend instant payment capabilities beyond domestic transactions and connect US institutions more closely with international payment infrastructure.
Source

UK Banks Make First Interbank Transactions Using Tokenised Deposits
UK banks have completed their first interbank transactions using tokenised deposits, marking a live application of tokenised money between financial institutions. The transactions demonstrate how tokenisation is moving beyond experimentation toward use in institutional payment infrastructure.
Source

Tencent Launches TenPayGo for WeChat Pay Travelers
Tencent has launched TenPayGo, a service designed to make WeChat Pay more accessible for travelers. The launch expands the payment options available to international users of the WeChat ecosystem.
Source

BLIK Joins Dynamic Payment Methods on Stripe
BLIK is joining Stripe’s Dynamic Payment Methods, expanding the availability of the Polish payment method among international merchants. The integration will give Polish consumers access to BLIK across a wider range of online businesses.
Source

🏦 Banking

Revolut Receives Central Bank Approval to Acquire Banco Cetelem in Argentina
Revolut has received approval from Argentina’s central bank for its acquisition of Banco Cetelem. The deal supports Revolut’s expansion of its regulated banking operations in the Argentine market.
Source

NatWest Pilots AI-Powered Spending Insights Tool
NatWest is piloting an AI-powered tool designed to provide customers with spending insights. The initiative brings AI-based analysis directly into customers’ personal-finance experience.
Source

Deutsche Bank Estimates 30% Uplift in Client Onboarding by Deploying KYC AI
Deutsche Bank estimates that deploying AI in its KYC processes could deliver a 30% uplift in client onboarding. The technology is being used to streamline the processes involved in bringing new clients onto the bank’s platform.
Source

💼 Fintech

Feedzai Fusion Tackles Fraud in the Agentic AI Era with Farol Debut
Feedzai has introduced Farol as part of its Fusion platform to address fraud risks emerging in the agentic AI era. The launch focuses on helping financial institutions respond to increasingly sophisticated fraud threats.
Source

Socure Brings AI-Native Identity Verification to Arc at Mainnet Launch
Socure is bringing its AI-native identity verification technology to Arc as the blockchain platform launches its mainnet. The integration adds identity verification capabilities to Arc’s financial infrastructure.
Source

Argentex Founder Harry Adams Raises £7.5M for New Startup Tenora
Argentex founder Harry Adams has raised £7.5 million for Tenora, his new startup. The company is focused on building treasury technology.
Source

🪙 Crypto

IBM Expands Digital Asset Platform with Swift Ledger Integration
IBM is expanding its digital-asset platform through integration with Swift’s ledger infrastructure. The move brings together IBM’s digital-asset technology and Swift’s financial messaging and ledger ecosystem.
Source

Circle and Tether Freeze Stablecoins Tied to Bitget Hack — But Most Funds Slip Away
Circle and Tether have frozen stablecoins linked to the Bitget hack. However, most of the stolen funds reportedly remained beyond their reach.
Source

Morgan Stanley Joins NEXTPredict as Prediction Markets Bet on ‘More Institutional’ Play
Morgan Stanley has joined NEXTPredict as prediction markets seek greater institutional participation. The move comes as prediction-market platforms pursue deeper engagement with traditional financial institutions.
Source

📈 WealthTech

NFU Mutual Selects Bloomberg and Clearwater Analytics for Front-to-Back Investment Management Workflow
NFU Mutual has selected Bloomberg and Clearwater Analytics for its front-to-back investment management workflow. The technology will support the insurer’s investment-management operations.
Source

AG2R LA MONDIALE Reaffirms Its Trust in Linedata and Deploys Linedata Optima
AG2R LA MONDIALE is deploying Linedata Optima as part of its investment-management technology infrastructure. The deployment builds on the organisation’s existing relationship with Linedata.
Source

Hong Kong Seeks Up to $2.5B in Digital Green Bonds
Hong Kong is seeking up to $2.5 billion through digital green bonds. The planned issuance combines digital bond infrastructure with green-finance objectives.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Online Scams Agreement Signed Between UK and Cambodian Governments
The UK and Cambodian governments have signed an agreement focused on tackling online scams. The agreement represents cross-border cooperation against financial crime conducted through online channels.
Source

New York Sues Polymarket for ‘Illegal Gambling Operation’
New York has sued Polymarket over allegations that the prediction-market platform operates an illegal gambling operation. The case puts the legal status of prediction markets under further scrutiny.
Source

Prosecutors Seize Bank Accounts of Montana Firm Linked to Tether
Prosecutors have seized bank accounts belonging to a Montana firm linked to Tether. The action is connected to an investigation involving the company.
Source

🌍 Other

LF Decentralized Trust Adds Swift, Wells Fargo and 13 Additional New Members
The Linux Foundation’s Decentralized Trust initiative has added Swift, Wells Fargo and 13 additional members. The expansion brings more major financial institutions and organisations into the decentralised-technology initiative.
Source

Bitget Hack Timeline: How Its Own System Approved a $387M Theft
A report examines how Bitget’s own system reportedly approved a $387 million theft. The incident highlights the security risks surrounding automated systems in crypto infrastructure.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Revolut is trialling Pay with Smile, a new payment experience that allows customers to make purchases using facial recognition. The technology is being tested as a potential alternative to traditional payment methods, using a customer’s face to authenticate transactions. The move highlights how fintechs are exploring biometric authentication to make payments faster and more seamless. If expanded, facial payments could offer another way for customers to complete transactions without needing to present a physical card or phone. The trial also puts Revolut at the forefront of experimentation around biometric payments and identity.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Amazon Bedrock AgentCore payments is now generally available

Agents have evolved from simple chat applications to autonomous, long-running systems that dynamically discover and compose dozens of tools per task without human oversight. On the other side, service and content providers are moving from human-centric subscription-based, one-size-fits-all pricing to pay-per-use, per-execution models where costs are often a few cents. Today, agents are doing a great job at reasoning, choosing tools, and completing tasks, but they hit a roadblock when payment is involved. To address this, we launched AgentCore payments in collaboration with Coinbase and Stripe in preview in May, enabling agent developers to equip their agents to autonomously pay for paid APIs, MCPs, and content with a few lines of code. Today, we are happy to announce that this service is generally available, enabling enterprises to power agentic payments with security, guardrails, and observability for production workloads.

Use cases

Pay for paid web content

Publishers hosting content on the web today are blocking agent access and monetizing agent traffic. Enterprises deploying AI agents that access the web in real time, whether for information retrieval or web-based automation, AI browser tool providers, and agentic web search providers would benefit from integrating with the AgentCore payments service, which enables their agentic solutions to pay for paywalled web content without breaking the agent workflow. To enable this, we continue to collaborate with Content Delivery Networks (CDN) including Amazon CloudFront and Cloudflare. One of our customers, Anchor Browser, integrated with AgentCore payments to unlock paywalled web content for their customers.

Pay per inference

Pay-per-inference is an emerging use case for agentic transactions, enabling agent developers to dynamically switch between models to optimize for cost without compromising on quality and the overhead of managing API keys and subscriptions with individual model providers. One of our customers, SpreadX, used AgentCore Payments in their new AI product, Incarna, to pay for inference through BlockRun — a routing and payment layer where agents pay per call over the x402 protocol.

Consumer and deep research use case

Travala, a travel provider, has integrated AgentCore payments into their Travala Travel MCP servers, enabling end customers using agentic platforms like Claude to safely and securely book hotels conversationally in a single chat. Similarly, Elsa AI and Heurist AI use AgentCore payments to deliver financial research and advisory to their end customers by accessing pay-per-use APIs over the x402 protocol.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

UK Banks Make First Interbank Transactions Using Tokenised Deposits
UK banks have completed their first interbank transactions using tokenised deposits, marking a step toward integrating tokenised money into the banking system.
Source

Citi and HSBC Back iPiD’s $16M Round to Make Instant Payments Safer Across Borders
Payment intelligence company iPiD has raised $16 million in funding backed by Citi and HSBC to improve the safety of cross-border instant payments.
Source

Cleverbridge Completes First Live AI Agent-Initiated Payment in France with Visa and Revolut
Cleverbridge has completed what it describes as the first live AI agent-initiated payment in France, using Visa and Revolut.
Source

FedNow to Enable Cross-Border Payments
FedNow is set to expand its capabilities toward cross-border payments, potentially connecting the US instant-payment infrastructure with international payment networks.
Source

Solaris Goes Live on ACI Connetic for SEPA Instant Payments
Solaris has gone live on ACI Worldwide’s ACI Connetic platform to support SEPA instant payments.
Source

Finix Enables Businesses to Deploy Custom Apps on Payment Terminals
Finix is enabling businesses to deploy custom applications directly on payment terminals, expanding what merchants can do through their existing payment hardware.
Source

🏦 Banking

IBM Expands Digital Asset Platform with Swift Ledger Integration
IBM is expanding its digital-asset platform through integration with Swift’s ledger infrastructure.
Source

The Clearing House Partners with Quant to Advance the On-Chain Money Initiative
The Clearing House and Quant are partnering on an initiative focused on advancing on-chain money and digital payment infrastructure.
Source

Crux Analytics Secures $2.2M to Scale Small Business Banking
Crux Analytics has raised $2.2 million to expand its small-business banking technology for community lenders.
Source

BNP Paribas and Google Cloud Announce Partnership on Agentic AI and Cloud Innovation
BNP Paribas and Google Cloud have announced a new partnership focused on agentic AI and cloud innovation in financial services.
Source

Trustly Slashes 200 Jobs
Swedish fintech Trustly is cutting around 200 jobs as the company restructures its workforce.
Source

💼 Fintech

Narmi Launches AI Marketplace for Financial Institutions
Narmi has launched an AI marketplace designed to bring practical AI tools directly into financial-institution workflows.
Source

Numeral Lands $100M Series C to Expand AI Tax Compliance
Tax-compliance fintech Numeral has raised $100 million in Series C funding to expand its AI-powered tax compliance platform.
Source

mika Raises €6M to Make Tax Advisers Optional for German Small Businesses
German fintech mika has raised €6 million to develop tools aimed at automating tax-related work for small businesses.
Source

🪙 Crypto

US Aims to Turn Stablecoins Into a Weapon for Dollar Dominance
The US is exploring how stablecoins could reinforce the global role of the dollar, according to the report.
Source

Solana Foundation Hires Binance’s Former Global CMO for Institutional Push
The Solana Foundation has hired Binance’s former global chief marketing officer as it seeks to strengthen its institutional presence.
Source

Canada’s Six Biggest Banks Team Up on a Shared Digital-Dollar Network
Canada’s largest banks are joining forces on a shared digital-dollar network focused on digital payment infrastructure.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

New York and Polymarket File Dueling Lawsuits Amid Illegal Gambling Claims
New York and Polymarket are involved in competing legal actions concerning allegations that the prediction-market platform operates illegal gambling activities.
Source

🌍 Other

Revolut Customers Hit by Second Data Breach in Just One Month
Revolut customers have reportedly been affected by a second data breach within a month, raising further questions around the security of customer information.
Source

Swift and Wells Fargo Join Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust
Swift and Wells Fargo have joined the Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust initiative, expanding participation from major financial institutions.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Mynt, the parent company of Philippine mobile wallet GCash, has secured more than 20 cornerstone investors for its planned IPO, including BlackRock and T. Rowe Price. The offering could raise up to 80.3 billion pesos ($1.3 billion), potentially making it the largest IPO in Philippine history and surpassing Monde Nissin’s 2021 listing. Cornerstone investors have already committed to buying 36.5 billion pesos worth of shares, representing nearly 68.8% of the shares on offer before any overallotment. Mynt plans to sell up to 8.03 billion shares at as much as 10 pesos each, potentially valuing the company at around 669 billion pesos. The proceeds will be used to expand GCash’s digital financial services business and develop new products. The offering is scheduled for October 6–12, with trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange expected to begin on October 20.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Crypto Exchanges are Building Financial Super Apps for the Next Billion Users

The crypto industry is maturing into a new phase, with leading venues becoming wider financial platforms that fold trading, yield, payments, custody, and collateral into a single account, echoing the consumer super apps that reshaped fintech in other verticals. However in this instance, the rails here are digital assets and settlement happens onchain. That shift is being driven by users who now want an exchange to do more than just match buyers and sellers. The contest is no longer only about spot market share or derivatives volume, but about how well one layer of the platform integrates into the next.

Binance crossed 300 million registered accounts in December 2025, a milestone that reflects not just one platform’s growth, but the scale of mainstream adoption now moving through digital-asset infrastructure. The platform now operates across four layers — A trading core, a yield layer, a payment layer, and an institutional collateral layer — and in 2025 handled $34.3T in total volume across 449 assets, against Bybit’s $9T, and OKX’s $13T. Each layer is as important as the next:

Trading liquidity funds yield products

Yield products retain balances

Those same balances move through wallets and cards

And institutional collateral rails settle against the same books that retail trades on.

The significance of this shift is that exchange competition is no longer only about spot market share or derivatives volume. The leading venues are becoming integrated financial platforms where trading, yield, payments, custody, and collateral all reinforce one another. A user may enter through a trade, leave assets in savings or yield products, move funds through a wallet or payment solution, and eventually use the same account infrastructure for tokenized assets or collateralized products. That makes evaluating the strength of the platform more about how effectively each layer feeds the next.

This report uses a four-layer framework to examine how that model is developing across the industry, exploring where the integration is most advanced, where competition is intensifying, and how the exchange model continues to evolve. The trading layer remains the liquidity engine, but the more important question is how that liquidity is being converted into retained balances, usable on chain assets, payment activity, and institutional-grade collateral rails.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Amazon and Affirm Partner on UK Instalment Payments
Amazon and Affirm are partnering to offer UK customers new instalment-payment options. The partnership expands flexible payment choices for Amazon shoppers in the UK.
Source

Atum Launches Open Payments Network
Atum has emerged from stealth with an open payments network designed for global money movement. The platform aims to provide infrastructure for moving money across borders and payment systems.
Source

Citi Unveils Citi Commerce Media
Citi has launched Citi Commerce Media to create more personalized experiences for customers and brands. The offering brings commerce and financial services together through a more targeted digital experience.
Source

🏦 Banking

Canada’s Big Six Banks to Launch Interbank Tokenized Deposit Initiative
Canada’s six largest banks are preparing an interbank initiative focused on tokenized deposits. The project brings major incumbent banks together to explore blockchain-based deposit infrastructure.
Source

Deutsche Bank Private Bank Launches Agentic AI for KYC
Deutsche Bank Private Bank has launched an agentic AI solution for Source of Wealth KYC processes. The technology is designed to automate parts of customer due-diligence workflows.
Source

💼 Fintech

Promenaut Launches With $8.9M and HSBC as Strategic Design Partner
Promenaut has launched with $8.9 million in funding and HSBC as a strategic design partner. The company is developing an enterprise agentic-workforce platform focused on automating business processes.
Source

AI Compliance Platform Footprint Raises $25M
Footprint has raised $25 million in Series B funding for its AI-powered compliance platform. The company is focused on applying AI to compliance workflows and financial risk management.
Source

FactSet Acquires Germany’s BCC Group
FactSet has agreed to acquire Germany’s BCC Group to modernize its real-time data suite. The deal expands FactSet’s data capabilities and strengthens its financial-information infrastructure.
Source

MyComplianceOffice Secures More Than $100M Investment
MyComplianceOffice has secured more than $100 million in strategic investment. The capital will support the company’s compliance technology business and continued growth.
Source

AI Fintech Duqu Raises €1.5M
Duqu has raised €1.5 million to tackle Europe’s late-payment problem using AI. The fintech is applying automation and data-driven technology to improve payment collection.
Source

Argentex Founder’s Tenora Raises £7.5M
Tenora, founded by an Argentex alumnus, has raised £7.5 million to build treasury tools. The startup is developing technology aimed at modernizing corporate treasury operations.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Visa and Reap Expand Stablecoin Card Infrastructure
Visa and Reap’s planned 100-market stablecoin-card rollout connects digital-asset infrastructure with mainstream card payments. The expansion could make stablecoin-linked spending available across a much broader geographic footprint.
Source

Americans Would Use Stablecoins With Bank Protections, Visa Study Finds
A Visa study finds that US consumers show interest in using stablecoins when they come with protections similar to those associated with bank accounts. The finding highlights the importance of consumer protection and trust for broader stablecoin adoption.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Juniper Square and Nasdaq eVestment Launch AI Capital Intelligence
Juniper Square and Nasdaq eVestment have launched Capital Intelligence, an AI-powered tool for private-markets investor-relations teams. The platform is designed to help private-market firms analyze and manage investor information more efficiently.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

ClearToken Enters Bank of England Digital Securities Sandbox
ClearToken’s approval to operate a digital securities depository in the Bank of England’s sandbox gives the company a regulated environment to develop tokenized-market infrastructure.
Source

Polymarket Faces European Regulatory Classification Questions
Polymarket’s reported lobbying campaign concerns whether European regulators should classify prediction markets as gambling. The classification could affect how such platforms operate across European jurisdictions.
Source

🌍 Other

Airtel Money to Launch London IPO
Airtel Money is preparing to launch a London IPO. The listing would bring the African mobile-money business to public markets and increase its access to institutional capital.
Source

Swedish Fintech Trustly to Cut Around 200 Jobs
Swedish fintech Trustly is reportedly planning to cut around 200 jobs. The restructuring comes as the company adjusts its operations and workforce.
Source

Mirai RiskTech Raises €5M
Mirai RiskTech has raised €5 million from Inveready to support its global expansion. The company provides risk-management technology for financial institutions.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Mastercard and SoFi are working to bring stablecoin settlement to card payments, connecting blockchain-based settlement with established card infrastructure. The partnership focuses on using stablecoins to settle transactions while maintaining the existing card-payment experience. It represents another step toward integrating stablecoins into mainstream financial infrastructure rather than limiting them to crypto-native use cases. For fintechs and banks, the model could create new ways to move and settle funds across existing payment networks. The initiative also highlights the growing convergence between traditional card networks, regulated financial institutions and stablecoin infrastructure.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

What Is The PayPal Mafia Building In 2026?

Twenty years after PayPal, the same group of founders and early employees now sits atop SpaceX, xAI, Affirm, Palantir, Craft Ventures, and more.

PayPal’s founding team has produced more billion-dollar outcomes than any other single startup alumni network in tech history, and in 2026 that group isn’t slowing down, it’s rotating into an entirely new set of frontiers (AI drug discovery, orbital rockets, defense software, and federal science policy). Twenty years removed from the company that made them famous, here’s what the PayPal Mafia is actually building right now.

The PayPal Mafia’s staying power isn’t really about the original company at all, it’s about what happens when a single early-stage team gets exposed to the full stack of what it takes to build something from nothing, then goes and does it again a dozen different times across totally unrelated industries. For founders, the pattern worth studying is the range. The same people who built a payments company in the early 2000s are now running rocket companies, AI drug discovery labs, defense software firms, and federal policy councils, often backing each other’s companies along the way through firms like Founders Fund and Craft Ventures. For investors, this group is a two-decade case study in what early operating experience compounds into when it’s paired with capital and a standing network willing to keep betting on each other.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Mastercard, Flybits and Rogers Establish Benchmark for Agentic Commerce in Canada
Mastercard, Flybits and Rogers have established a framework for secure, consumer-controlled agentic commerce in Canada. The initiative focuses on enabling AI agents to transact while keeping consumers in control of their payments and data.
Source

ACI Worldwide to Support Payments Orchestrated Through Swift
ACI Worldwide is expanding its payments capabilities to support payment flows orchestrated through Swift. The integration connects ACI’s payment infrastructure with Swift’s global financial messaging network.
Source

Thunes Powers J.P. Morgan Payments’ Xpedite Remit
Thunes is powering J.P. Morgan Payments’ Xpedite Remit solution to accelerate global payouts. The partnership combines Thunes’ cross-border payments infrastructure with J.P. Morgan’s institutional payments network.
Source

Finzly Certified for Request for Payment on RTP Network
Finzly has been certified for Request for Payment on The Clearing House’s RTP network. The capability gives financial institutions another way to facilitate real-time payment requests.
Source

🏦 Banking

Canada’s Big Six Banks to Launch Interbank Tokenized Deposit Initiative
Canada’s six largest banks are preparing an interbank initiative focused on tokenized deposits. The project brings major incumbent banks together around blockchain-based deposit infrastructure.
Source

Nationwide Taps Equifax UK for In-App Credit Scores
Nationwide is partnering with Equifax UK to provide in-app credit scores to 6 million users. The integration will give customers access to credit information directly within their banking experience.
Source

Deutsche Bank Private Bank Launches Agentic AI for KYC
Deutsche Bank Private Bank has launched an agentic AI solution for Source of Wealth KYC processes. The technology is designed to automate parts of customer due-diligence workflows.
Source

Airtel Money Targets Up to $9B Valuation in London IPO
Airtel Money is targeting a valuation of up to $9 billion in a planned London IPO, according to the Financial Times as reported by Reuters. The potential listing would represent a major capital-markets event for the African fintech business.
Source

💼 Fintech

Promenaut Launches With $8.9M and HSBC as Strategic Design Partner
Promenaut has launched with $8.9 million in funding and HSBC as a strategic design partner. The company is building an enterprise agentic-workforce platform aimed at automating business processes.
Source

Mirai RiskTech Raises €5M
Mirai RiskTech has raised €5 million from Inveready to support its global expansion. The company provides technology focused on risk management for financial institutions.
Source

Monzo EU Chief Leaves to Launch Startup
Monzo’s European chief has left the company to launch a new startup. The move adds another fintech founder to the growing pool of executives spinning out from established digital banks.
Source

BlackRock and Capital Group Set to Back GCash Owner IPO
BlackRock and Capital Group are reportedly set to back the IPO of the company behind Philippine digital wallet GCash. The participation would bring major global asset managers into one of Southeast Asia’s prominent fintech listings.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Visa and Reap to Launch Stablecoin Cards in 100 Markets
Visa and Reap are preparing to launch stablecoin-linked cards across 100 markets. The initiative could expand the practical use of stablecoins by connecting them to conventional card-payment infrastructure.
Source

BVNK Expands Multi-Chain Stablecoin Infrastructure With Stellar
BVNK is expanding its multi-chain stablecoin infrastructure through an integration with Stellar. The partnership broadens the blockchain networks supported by BVNK’s stablecoin infrastructure.
Source

Google Cloud Partners With Puffer on Ethereum Infrastructure
Google Cloud is partnering with Puffer on Ethereum infrastructure. The collaboration brings cloud infrastructure capabilities to a blockchain-focused technology platform.
Source

Bitcoin Breaks Out as Nasdaq Hits Records and Oil Slides
Bitcoin has risen as Nasdaq reaches records and oil prices decline amid hopes for developments around Iran. The move comes alongside broader shifts across global financial markets.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Human Engagement Is the Centre of AI Adoption
A new report from Kaplan highlights the importance of human engagement in the adoption of AI. The findings focus on how financial professionals and organizations can incorporate AI while maintaining meaningful human involvement.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Banks Warn AI Shopping Bots Raise Fraud and Privacy Risks
Banks are warning that AI shopping bots could introduce new scam, fraud and data-privacy risks. The concerns reflect challenges around allowing autonomous agents to access financial and payment systems on behalf of consumers.
Source

Russian Fintech A7 Accused of Exploiting Bank Controls
A Finextra report says Russian fintech A7 exploited bank controls to funnel billions of dollars in sanctioned payments. The report concerns alleged circumvention of financial controls and sanctions.
Source

Polymarket Reportedly Lobbies European Regulators
Polymarket is reportedly lobbying European governments over whether its prediction-market platform should be treated as a gambling website. The issue concerns how prediction markets are classified under European regulatory frameworks.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

The Eurosystem is bringing central bank money into tokenised financial markets, marking a significant step toward connecting traditional central-bank infrastructure with blockchain-based finance. The initiative focuses on enabling central bank money to be used in transactions involving tokenised assets. This could help bridge existing financial-market infrastructure with emerging distributed-ledger systems. For banks and capital-markets firms, the development is particularly relevant to the broader shift toward tokenised securities and digital settlement. It also shows how central banks are increasingly engaging directly with the infrastructure underpinning tokenised finance.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Tokenized Money for Banks

Banks have been issuing tokenized money for the better part of a decade, but those products were primarily tokenized deposits on private networks. Regulation has since cleared a path for tokenized money on public networks, giving financial institutions more options to serve the growing institutional demand.

In most cases, tokenized money at banks means private-ledger products that never left the bank’s network. JPMorgan, Citibank, HSBC, and others tokenized deposit liabilities on infrastructure they controlled. Each served wholesale payments between vetted institutional clients and stayed inside the perimeter. The customer relationship was preserved, and the regulatory uncertainty was small.

Outside the bank perimeter, stablecoins emerged as an alternative form of tokenized money. They moved more than $300 billion in payment volume over the past year. Visa settles over $7 billion in stablecoin card volume annually, across multiple blockchains and stablecoins. Trade XYZ, an institutional perpetual venue, has cleared $100 billion on the S&P 500 perpetual since March 2026, all settled in stablecoins.

The GENIUS Act and Basel SCO60 now give banks a clear rulebook for issuing tokenized money, including stablecoins, on public networks. Banks can serve this emerging demand with tokenized deposits, first-party stablecoins, or third-party stablecoins. Each carries a different trade-off across the deposit franchise, interoperability, and liquidity ratios. Most banks will end up needing more than one.

Three families of tokenized money

Banks have three main options for tokenized money, each with different balance-sheet effects and market reach.

Tokenized deposits

A regular bank deposit represented as a token. The money stays on the bank’s books and can earn interest, but transfers are limited to approved counterparties. JPMD on Base is a live example.

First-party stablecoins

A stablecoin issued by the bank and backed by segregated reserves. The customer holds a redemption claim rather than a bank deposit. This is more capital-intensive but gives the bank control over a 24/7 settlement asset.

Third-party stablecoins

A stablecoin issued by someone else. The bank helps customers convert funds, which then leave its balance sheet. The benefit is the broadest reach across public blockchain venues, including crypto derivatives markets.

No model is universally best. The right choice depends on the bank’s clients and where they settle.

Tokenized deposits protect the deposit franchise but have limited reach. First-party stablecoins create a bank-controlled settlement rail but change the liability profile under Basel rules. Third-party stablecoins provide the broadest liquidity access but move the customer claim outside the bank.

A hedge fund may use tokenized deposits for margin, third-party stablecoins for weekend hedging, and a consortium stablecoin for rebalancing. A bank offering only one option cannot fully serve that client.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Mastercard Helps Danske Bank With Denmark-First Agentic Transaction
Mastercard and Danske Bank have completed what they describe as Denmark’s first agentic transaction. The development demonstrates how AI agents are beginning to interact with payment infrastructure on behalf of users.
Source

dtcpay Completes $25M Series A
Digital-payments company dtcpay has completed a $25 million Series A with SBI Group participating in the round. The funding supports the company’s work around stablecoin-based payments.
Source

Egypt’s Paymob Raises $35M
Paymob has raised $35 million in a pre-Series C funding round. The Egyptian fintech will have additional capital to support its continued expansion in digital payments.
Source

🏦 Banking

Barclays Strengthens Presence in UK Communities
Barclays is continuing investment across its UK branch network as it strengthens its presence in local communities. The investment focuses on maintaining and developing physical banking infrastructure.
Source

Centreville Bank Selects Jack Henry for Digital Modernisation
Centreville Bank has selected Jack Henry to support continued growth, modernization and improved customer experiences. The partnership will help upgrade the bank’s technology infrastructure.
Source

FintechOS Raises $28M
FintechOS has raised $28 million through a combination of debt and equity. The funding will support the financial-technology company’s continued development and growth.
Source

💼 Fintech

Ant International Unveils 100 Products for Agentic Financial Operations
Ant International has unveiled 100 products designed to support agentic financial operations. The broad rollout highlights the company’s push to apply AI and automation across multiple financial workflows.
Source

AI-Driven Cashback-to-Mortgage App Sprive Raises $10M
Sprive, an AI-driven app focused on helping users turn cashback into mortgage savings, has raised $10 million. The funding will support further development of its automated personal-finance offering.
Source

Kastle Raises $24M for AI Workforce in Consumer Lending
Kastle has raised $24 million to build an AI workforce for consumer lending. The company is applying AI to automate and support lending-related workflows.
Source

SMU Cox Launches Fintech Coalition
SMU Cox has launched a fintech coalition in partnership with MassChallenge. The initiative aims to connect fintech education, entrepreneurship and industry collaboration.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Kakao and Fireblocks Explore Korean Stablecoin Infrastructure
Kakao and Fireblocks are exploring stablecoin infrastructure for the South Korean market. The initiative brings a major technology platform together with digital-asset infrastructure to examine potential stablecoin use cases.
Source

Coinbase Brings IPO Shares to US Retail Traders
Coinbase is bringing access to IPO shares to US retail traders, with Oura as the first offering. The initiative expands Coinbase’s role beyond crypto trading into access to newly listed equities.
Source

Apple and Google Hunt for Crypto Talent
Apple and Google are reportedly recruiting crypto talent, potentially signaling increased interest in stablecoin and digital-asset technology.
Source

Bitmine Adds $75M in Ether Holdings
US crypto firm Bitmine has added another $75 million in ether holdings. The purchase increases the company’s exposure to the second-largest cryptocurrency.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Syfe Tops $15.7B in Assets Under Management
Digital wealth platform Syfe has surpassed $15.7 billion in assets under management. The milestone reflects the continued expansion of digitally delivered wealth-management services.
Source

S Korea’s Hana Bank Issues $100M Digital Bond via Euroclear
Hana Bank has issued a $100 million digital bond through Euroclear. The transaction demonstrates the continued use of digital infrastructure in institutional capital markets.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

US Securities Regulator Rolls Out Five-Year Exemption for Tokenized Stock Trading
The US securities regulator has introduced a five-year exemption covering tokenized stock trading. The move creates a defined regulatory window for firms experimenting with blockchain-based versions of traditional securities.
Source

ECB President Reportedly Intervened Over Binance’s EU MiCA Licence
A Wall Street Journal report cited by CoinDesk alleges that ECB President Christine Lagarde intervened to block Binance’s EU MiCA licence. The claim concerns the regulatory treatment of Binance under the EU’s crypto framework.
Source

🌍 Other

Amazon Blocks Meta’s Muse AI Agent From Shopping on Its Site
Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse AI agent from shopping on its platform. The dispute highlights emerging questions around how autonomous AI agents interact with existing e-commerce infrastructure.
Source

CloudTech Powers Institutional-Grade Digital Asset Trading
CloudTech is using Integral technology to provide institutional-grade digital-asset trading capabilities to Australian investors. The initiative brings institutional trading infrastructure into Australia’s digital-asset market.
Source

Bitcoin Tops $85K as $648M in Crypto Shorts Are Liquidated
Bitcoin has climbed above $85,000 amid a wave of short liquidations. More than $648 million in crypto short positions were reportedly liquidated during the move.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

The US securities regulator has introduced a five-year exemption covering tokenized stock trading, creating a defined regulatory window for firms developing blockchain-based versions of traditional securities. The move could give financial institutions and market infrastructure providers more room to test tokenized equities within an established regulatory framework. It also reflects the growing overlap between traditional securities markets and blockchain infrastructure. For fintech and capital-markets firms, tokenization is increasingly becoming an area of practical experimentation rather than a purely theoretical use case. The exemption could therefore provide additional room for innovation in how securities are issued, traded and settled.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Anthropic’s In-House Payment Push Is Easier Said Than Done

Fast-growing software platforms eventually hit a financial scale where off-the-shelf payment software creates operational friction. Anthropic saw its annualized revenue run-rate jump from $787 million to nearly $45 billion within five months by May 2026. The company reached a $965 billion valuation during its Series H funding round. When transaction volumes grow this quickly, small pricing inefficiencies and billing delays multiply into major operational expenses. Anthropic recently posted job listings for billing software engineers, fraud specialists, and treasury managers to evaluate developing proprietary financial tools.

Industry commentary quickly framed these job listings as a direct threat to Stripe. The full operational context presents a more nuanced reality. Anthropic is evaluating which specific financial primitives to build internally, while maintaining its core credit card processing with Stripe. Anthropic wants to unbundle parts of its payment stack. This will improve pricing logic, curb promotional fraud, and consolidate corporate banking operations.

Fintech Wrap Up

Deep Dive: Anthropic’s In-House Payment Push Is Easier Said Than Done

Fast-growing software platforms eventually hit a financial scale where off-the-shelf payment software creates operational friction. Anthropic saw its annualized revenue run-rate jump from $787 million to nearly $45 billion within five months by May 2026. The company reached a $965 billion valuation during its Series H funding round. When transaction volumes grow this quickly, small pricing inefficiencies and billing delays multiply into major operational expenses. Anthropic recently posted job listings for billing software engineers, fraud specialists, and treasury managers to evaluate developing proprietary financial tools…

Read more

14 days ago · 11 likes · Sam Boboev

Curated News

💳 Payments

NCR Atleos Selected by Bank Pekao to Modernize Card Payment Processing
NCR Atleos has been selected by Bank Pekao to modernize its card payment processing infrastructure with Authentic Switch. The upgrade is aimed at supporting more flexible and modern card-processing capabilities.
Source

Mastercard and HyperPay Launch HyperSpend in Saudi Arabia
Mastercard and HyperPay are launching HyperSpend, a spend-management solution for SMEs in Saudi Arabia. The platform is designed to give smaller businesses additional tools for managing corporate spending.
Source

🏦 Banking

Riverty Opens Bank in Luxembourg
Riverty has opened a bank in Luxembourg, expanding its financial-services capabilities in the European market. The move adds regulated banking infrastructure to the company’s existing fintech offering.
Source

Ant International Unveils 100 Products for Agentic Finance
Ant International has unveiled 100 products designed to support agentic financial operations. The initiative highlights the company’s push to apply AI and automation across a broad range of financial workflows.
Source

💼 Fintech

Revolut Explores Dual London and New York Listing
Revolut is reportedly exploring a dual stock-market listing in London and New York. Such a structure would potentially give the fintech access to investors in both major financial markets, although the plans remain under consideration.
Source

Ryft Raises £20M Series B
Payments infrastructure company Ryft has raised £20 million in Series B funding to support expansion across Europe and the US. The funding will help the company scale its payments infrastructure in both markets.
Source

Ex-PayPal CEO Harris Unveils AI Personal Finance App
Former PayPal CEO Harris has launched an AI-powered personal finance app. The product adds another entrant to the growing market for AI-assisted personal financial management.
Source

Skalar Launches With $125M
Skalar has launched with $125 million to provide precision financing for growth-stage startups. The company is targeting the financing needs of startups moving beyond their earliest stages.
Source

SBI Group Joins $25M Funding Round for dtcpay
SBI Group has joined a $25 million funding round for dtcpay. The investment adds further institutional backing to the digital-payments company.
Source

01Fintech Invests in Indonesian Digital Wallet Dana
01Fintech has invested in Indonesian digital wallet Dana, adding fresh capital to the country’s growing digital-payments ecosystem.
Source

🪙 Crypto

UK Watchdog Targets Three Sites Over Suspected Illegal Crypto Trading
A UK financial watchdog has targeted three London sites suspected of involvement in illegal crypto trading. The action reflects continued regulatory scrutiny of unregistered activity in the digital-asset market.
Source

Coinbase Files to List Single-Stock Perpetuals
Coinbase has filed to list single-stock perpetual contracts tied to Apple, Tesla and Nvidia. The move would expand the range of financial instruments available through its crypto-focused trading infrastructure.
Source

Australian Trading Firm BDX Markets Launches Blockchain Platform
Australian trading firm BDX Markets has launched a blockchain platform. The initiative brings distributed-ledger technology into the firm’s trading infrastructure.
Source

Solana Network Upgrade Cuts Block Times
Solana’s latest speed upgrade has reduced block times by 17%. The change is aimed at improving transaction performance on the network.
Source

Zcash Developers Target Faster Private Payments
Zcash developers are working on an upgrade intended to make private payments three times faster. The proposal focuses on improving transaction performance while retaining the network’s privacy-oriented design.
Source

📈 WealthTech

74% of Top North American Investors Are Assessing Climate Risks
A Ceres report finds that 74% of the top 50 North American investors are assessing climate-related risks. The figure highlights the growing role of climate considerations in institutional investment analysis.
Source

Ex-Monzo Founders Raise Seed Round for Payroll Savings Platform
Former Monzo founders have raised seed funding for Sync, a UK payroll savings platform. The startup is focused on integrating savings into the payroll process.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

ECB President Reportedly Intervened Over Binance’s EU MiCA Licence
The Wall Street Journal reportedly reported that ECB President Christine Lagarde intervened to block Binance’s EU MiCA licence. The report concerns the regulatory treatment of Binance under the EU’s crypto framework.
Source

Yahoo Finance Ends Polymarket Partnership
Yahoo Finance has ended its partnership with Polymarket and closed its prediction-markets hub. The change removes the prediction-market integration from the financial platform.
Source

🌍 Other

Portage Announces $600M Ventures Fund IV
Portage has announced the final close of its fourth ventures fund at $600 million. The fund provides additional capital for investment across financial services and fintech.
Source

SEON Expands Fraud-Fighting Signal Intelligence
SEON is expanding its signal-intelligence capabilities to detect fraud rings as AI contributes to the rise of fake identities. The technology is designed to help financial businesses identify increasingly sophisticated fraud patterns.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

S&P Global has agreed to acquire OpenZeppelin, a major provider of blockchain security infrastructure. The deal brings OpenZeppelin’s expertise in smart-contract security and digital-asset infrastructure into S&P Global’s broader financial-data and analytics ecosystem. The acquisition highlights how established financial-information companies are increasingly investing in digital-asset infrastructure rather than treating blockchain as a standalone niche. OpenZeppelin’s technology is used across the blockchain ecosystem to help developers and institutions build and secure digital-asset applications. For S&P Global, the move expands its capabilities further into the infrastructure supporting tokenized and blockchain-based financial markets. The deal is another sign that digital-asset technology is becoming increasingly integrated with traditional financial-market infrastructure.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Agentic Commerce Pulse Report

52% of merchants have already integrated agentic commerce into regular operations.

Key insights:

AI visibility is driving commerce

AI-driven shoppers are ready to buy. Merchants who optimize for AI discoverability can capture high-intent leads, drive stronger conversion, and gain a competitive edge that compounds over time.

Need help scaling agentic adoption

Enterprises are looking for trusted, strategic partners. More than half are partnering with LLM platforms for discoverability, with 80% saying they need external support to scale adoption.

Data security is the top concern

Data security is the top barrier to investing in agentic commerce. Fears around data leaks, lack of visibility, and overall trust are holding merchants back.

Expect payment providers to lead

95% of large enterprises expect payment providers to play a leading or supportive role in agentic commerce. They’re looking for security, fraud detection, and data protection controls.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

ACI Worldwide Expands ACI Connetic
ACI Worldwide is expanding ACI Connetic with advanced financial-messaging technology designed to support more intelligent and connected payments. The upgrade is aimed at helping financial institutions modernize payment infrastructure and improve real-time financial messaging.
Source

Citi and Mastercard Launch Smart Subscriptions in the UAE
Citi and Mastercard have launched Smart Subscriptions in the UAE, giving customers greater visibility and control over recurring payments. The service is designed to make subscription management more convenient while giving cardholders additional control over their spending.
Source

Ryft Secures £20M for Payments Infrastructure
Payments infrastructure provider Ryft has raised £20 million in new funding. The capital will support the company’s continued development and expansion of its payments infrastructure.
Source

🏦 Banking

Deutsche Bank to Launch Digital Asset Custody Solution
Deutsche Bank plans to launch a digital-asset custody solution for institutional and corporate clients. The initiative further integrates digital assets into the services offered by a major traditional bank.
Source

American Express Launches High-Yield Savings
American Express is expanding its business-banking offering with a high-yield savings product. The launch adds another savings-focused product as the company competes for business-banking customers.
Source

Eclipse Bank Taps Lumin Digital
Eclipse Bank has partnered with Lumin Digital to modernize its online and mobile banking experience. The initiative will upgrade the digital tools available to the bank’s customers.
Source

Zopa Moves Into AI Voice Banking
Zopa is expanding into AI-powered voice banking services. The move adds conversational AI to the fintech’s banking offering and reflects the growing use of voice interfaces in financial services.
Source

💼 Fintech

Grab Enters $1.49B Deal for 60% of Atome Financial
Grab has agreed to acquire a 60% stake in Atome Financial in a deal valued at $1.49 billion. The transaction expands Grab’s exposure to consumer finance and strengthens its broader fintech ecosystem.
Source

Revolut Applies for Swiss Banking Licence
Revolut has applied for a Swiss banking licence and committed CHF 150 million in investment. The application represents another step in the fintech’s push to expand its regulated banking footprint internationally.
Source

Integral Lands €18M Series A
Integral has raised €18 million in Series A funding for its AI-native accounting and tax services. The funding will support the company’s continued development of AI-powered financial workflows.
Source

Ant International Launches AI-Native Finance Tools
Ant International has launched a suite of AI-native finance tools. The initiative reflects the growing use of AI to automate and enhance financial operations and services.
Source

Portage Closes $600M Ventures Fund IV
Portage has announced the final close of its fourth ventures fund at $600 million. The fund will provide capital for investments across financial services and fintech.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Crypto’s Clarity Act Stumbles
The U.S. Senate blocked consideration of the Clarity Act in a 50–49 vote on September 15, leaving the proposed federal framework for digital-asset regulation stalled for now. The legislation had previously advanced through the House and required 60 votes for Senate consideration. The outcome means federal regulators remain central to developing the near-term regulatory framework for digital assets.
Source

Circle Launches Arc Mainnet
Circle has launched the Arc mainnet, with a focus on building infrastructure for on-chain foreign exchange. The project adds another blockchain-based component to Circle’s broader digital-finance infrastructure.
Source

WisdomTree and MoonPay Expand Tokenized Funds Access
WisdomTree and MoonPay are collaborating to expand U.S. access to tokenized funds and support stablecoin reserves. The partnership connects tokenized investment products with digital-asset payment infrastructure.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Envestnet to Acquire Vestmark
Wealthtech platform Envestnet has agreed to acquire Vestmark. The transaction will expand Envestnet’s wealth-management technology capabilities and strengthen its position in advisor-focused financial infrastructure.
Source

Former Revolut and N26 Alumni Raise £2.7M for Wealth Management App
Founders with backgrounds at Revolut and N26 have raised £2.7 million to launch a new wealth-management app. The startup is targeting digitally oriented consumers with a new technology-led approach to wealth management.
Source

Revolut Eyes Dual London and New York Listing
Revolut is reportedly considering a dual stock-market listing in London and New York. A dual listing could give the fintech access to investors across both major financial markets, although the plans remain under consideration.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Revolut’s Swiss Banking Licence Application
Revolut’s Swiss banking licence application also represents a significant regulatory expansion, with the company committing CHF 150 million alongside the application. The move comes as Revolut continues seeking full banking permissions across additional markets.
Source

🌍 Other

Monzo Launches Metal Credit Card With Auto-Investing Cashback
Monzo has launched a metal credit card that automatically invests users’ cashback. The product combines card spending, rewards and investing into a single offering.
Source

Chinese AI Startup Moonshot Launches Kimi for Finance
Chinese AI startup Moonshot has launched Kimi for finance, bringing its AI capabilities into financial use cases.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Revolut has secured a banking licence in Colombia, marking another step in its international expansion strategy. The licence will allow the fintech to deepen its presence in the Colombian market and operate with greater banking capabilities. At the same time, Revolut has applied for a banking licence in Switzerland, extending its regulatory push into another major financial market. The moves highlight Revolut’s continued shift from a fintech app toward a more fully regulated banking platform. Its expansion across multiple jurisdictions could broaden the range of banking, payments and financial services it can offer customers. The latest licences also come as Revolut continues building its presence across both emerging and established financial markets.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Banking on Banks 2026

Europe’s financial services sector is operating in one of the most challenging and volatile environments in recent memory.

Ongoing geopolitical instability, including the conflict in the Middle East, persistent inflation, spiraling energy bills, rising borrowing costs and the increased threat – and sophistication – of fraud are all impacting simultaneously on consumers and businesses across the continent.

These pressures have manifested into tax increases and base rate rises in many countries, with financial markets now expecting the European Central Bank (ECB) to hike interest rates by at least 50 basis points by the end of this year in a further hit to borrowers.

Since 2022, CRIF’s Banking on Banks series has tracked consumer pain points and evolving expectations, as well as how the financial services industry is responding to their changing needs.

The second report, which will be published later this year, will drill down into specific factors that vary across consumer and business services – with a focus on how bringing business-related services closer in speed and quality to consumer services would support economic growth in Europe at this difficult time.

CRIF’s findings reveal that while trust in financial providers broadly remains, confidence in delivery is fragile amidst ongoing economic shocks. By exploring the critical issues impacting Europe’s financial services sector and those it serves, this report highlights the challenges and opportunities facing forward-looking providers.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Mastercard and Trip.com Pave the Way for Agentic Commerce in Travel
Mastercard and Trip.com are working to bring agentic commerce into travel, enabling AI agents to support parts of the booking and payment journey. The partnership points toward a model where travellers can delegate more purchasing tasks to AI while payment infrastructure handles the transaction.
Source

Ualett Launches Ualett Global Transfer
Ualett has launched Ualett Global Transfer to simplify international money transfers. The new service expands the company’s cross-border payments offering and targets users sending money internationally.
Source

UK Payments Delivery Company Embarks on Equity Raise
A UK payments delivery company is raising equity to fund new retail payments infrastructure. The investment is aimed at supporting the development and expansion of its payments network.
Source

TrueMoney and Fireblocks Work on Blockchain Payments in Thailand
TrueMoney and Fireblocks are collaborating on blockchain-based payments in Thailand. The partnership brings established payments infrastructure together with digital-asset technology to explore new payment rails.
Source

🏦 Banking

ConnectPay Spins Off Core Banking Technology as Independent Product
ConnectPay is spinning off its core banking technology as an independent product. The move could allow the technology to be offered separately to financial institutions looking for core banking infrastructure.
Source

Deutsche Bank to Launch Digital Asset Custody Solution
Deutsche Bank plans to launch a digital-asset custody solution for institutional and corporate clients. The initiative reflects continued integration of digital assets into traditional banking infrastructure.
Source

American Express Launches High-Yield Savings
American Express is expanding its business banking offering with a high-yield savings product. The launch adds another savings-focused product to its push in business banking.
Source

💼 Fintech

Ramp Launches in the UK, Adds ElevenLabs as Client
Ramp has launched its financial-management platform in the UK and announced ElevenLabs as a client. The expansion brings Ramp’s spend-management and financial-control tools to another major market.
Source

Velocity Raises $48M in Series A Extension
Velocity has raised additional funding from Visa, Circle and Haun Ventures, bringing its total Series A funding to $48 million. The round provides fresh capital as the fintech continues developing its payments infrastructure.
Source

Integral Raises €18M Series A
Integral has raised €18 million in Series A funding. The new capital will support the fintech’s continued growth and product development.
Source

Revolut Data Breach Affected Nearly 700 Clients
A reported Revolut data breach affected nearly 700 clients. The incident adds another cybersecurity challenge for a fintech operating across multiple markets.
Source

Quartz Raises £2.75M for AI Personal Banking
Quartz, founded by alumni of Revolut and N26, has secured £2.75 million in pre-seed funding. The startup is developing an AI-powered personal banker designed to provide automated financial assistance.
Source

FI Works Launches AI-Driven Financial Analytics
FI Works has launched AI-driven analytics designed to provide real-time insights for financial institutions. The platform focuses on using AI to turn financial data into more immediate operational insights.
Source

Tabby Raises $233M at $6.5B Valuation
UAE fintech Tabby has raised $233 million at a $6.5 billion valuation. The funding gives the BNPL and consumer-finance platform additional capital to continue its expansion.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Clarity Act Collapse Causes Crypto Turmoil in US
The collapse of the US Clarity Act has triggered renewed uncertainty across the crypto market. The development highlights the continuing importance of regulatory clarity for digital-asset businesses operating in the US.
Source

Circle Launches Arc Mainnet
Circle has launched the Arc mainnet as it looks to build infrastructure for on-chain foreign exchange. The network is positioned around institutional blockchain and FX use cases.
Source

Fasset to List Dirham Stablecoin
UAE digital-asset firm Fasset is preparing to list a dirham-denominated stablecoin. The move adds another example of stablecoin infrastructure being developed around local currencies.
Source

📈 WealthTech

ETFbook Raises $13M to Expand ETF Data and Analytics
ETFbook has raised $13 million to expand its ETF data and analytics business globally. The funding will support the company’s continued development of tools for the growing ETF market.
Source

Monzo Launches Metal Credit Card With Auto-Investing Cashback
Monzo has introduced a metal credit card that automatically invests users’ cashback. The product combines everyday card spending with an automated investment feature.
Source

Danske Bank Expands Wealth Management Offering
Danske Bank has made its largest-ever investment in wealth management with a new advisory solution for affluent private clients. The initiative expands its digital and advisory capabilities for higher-value customers.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

ICE Launches Private Credit Reference Data Service
ICE has launched a private credit reference data service. The offering is designed to provide additional data infrastructure for participants in the expanding private-credit market.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Grab has agreed to acquire a 60% stake in Atome Financial for $1.49 billion, significantly expanding its position in consumer finance. The transaction gives Grab greater exposure to Atome’s digital lending and buy-now-pay-later business across Southeast Asia. At $1.49 billion, it is by far one of the largest fintech transactions in this batch. The deal also strengthens the connection between Grab’s super-app ecosystem and embedded financial services. For Grab, integrating a larger consumer-finance operation could broaden the range of financial products available to its users and merchants. The transaction highlights the continued consolidation and expansion of digital financial services across Southeast Asia.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Let me break down JPMorganChase’s payment strategy

JPMorgan Payments is organized into five key segments, each targeting a different slice of client needs:

-> Treasury Services (TS): Corporate cash management at massive scale. TS processes over $10 trillion in payments per day, giving JPMorgan the largest USD clearing share globally. This is the backbone for multinationals’ wires, ACH, and global treasury operations with JPM aiming to be clients’ “#1 primary operating bank.” All 20 of the world’s 20 largest companies are JPM Payments clients, a testament to TS’s dominance.

-> Embedded Finance & Solutions: Banking-as-a-service and API-driven offerings that let fintechs and corporates embed JPMorgan’s payments, accounts, and compliance services directly into their own products. JPMorgan touts having the “best overall embedded finance platform” and is the largest bank with in-house pay-in, liquidity, and pay-out capabilities. Notably, they built a single consolidated data lake to unify data across products and created an intelligent Trust & Safety (fraud prevention) platform for clients.

-> Trade & Working Capital: Trade finance, supply chain payments, and working capital solutions. This includes tools like receivables finance, supply chain payment platforms, and cross-border trade services. JPMorgan has gained ~150 bps of global trade finance market share since 2019, and this segment saw 40% YoY growth in receivables finance revenue. The tech focus here is linking into clients’ systems, e.g., allowing customers to tap JPMorgan’s working capital products from their preferred ERP software.

-> Merchant Services: End-to-end payment acceptance for merchants (online and in-store). JPMorgan is the #1 U.S. merchant acquirer and handled about $2.6 trillion in merchant processing volume in 2024. Historically, JPMorgan’s acquiring was via partnerships, but now they’ve built a full-stack omnichannel commerce platform (internally called Helix) that’s live across the U.S., EU, Canada, and Australia. This lets merchants get everything gateway, processing, terminals, fraud tools from one provider (JPMorgan). The goal: eliminate the disjointed experience of juggling multiple payment vendors. Non-bank players like Stripe and Adyen also offer full-stack payments, so what sets JPM’s apart? The difference is integration into a bank’s infrastructure (we’ll get to that).

-> Digital Solutions: Client-facing digital channels and APIs that tie it all together. This includes J.P. Morgan Access (the corporate portal) and Chase Connect for SMEs, which aggregate 300+ payment methods globally for clients in one interface. Digital Solutions also encompasses blockchain networks – JPMorgan runs one of the industry’s largest blockchain platforms for payments (more on “Kinexys” below). In short, this segment ensures clients have a unified digital experience to interact with all the above services.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

European Central Bank calls for merchants to participate in digital euro pilot
The European Central Bank is calling on merchants to participate in its digital-euro pilot, seeking broader real-world testing of the proposed digital currency.
Source

TreviPay Partners with Dynatos to Add e-Invoicing Capabilities to its B2B Payments Infrastructure
TreviPay and Dynatos are partnering to add e-invoicing capabilities to TreviPay’s B2B payments infrastructure, expanding digital tools for business-to-business transactions.
Source

Wells Fargo Brings International Money Transfers to Mobile Banking
Wells Fargo is bringing international money-transfer capabilities directly into its mobile-banking experience, making cross-border transfers more accessible through its digital platform.
Source

TrueMoney, Fireblocks work on blockchain payments in Thailand
TrueMoney and Fireblocks are collaborating on blockchain-based payments in Thailand, bringing digital-asset infrastructure into the country’s payments ecosystem.
Source

🏦 Banking

Nubank launches US high-yield savings account, credit cards, remittances
Nubank has launched a U.S. offering spanning high-yield savings, credit cards and remittances as it expands its digital-banking model into the American market.
Source

KBC Launches ‘Guardian Angel’ to Protect 4 Million Belgian Customers from Fraud
KBC has launched its Guardian Angel fraud-protection service, designed to protect more than four million Belgian customers from financial fraud.
Source

Deutsche Kreditbank adopts Pega AI tech for customer service
Deutsche Kreditbank is adopting Pega’s AI technology for customer service, bringing automated intelligence into its banking support operations.
Source

ConnectPay spins off core banking technology as independent product
ConnectPay is spinning out its core-banking technology as an independent product, creating a standalone offering for financial institutions and fintechs.
Source

💼 Fintech

Anthropic targets financial advisers with new Claude tool
Anthropic is targeting financial advisers with a new Claude tool, bringing generative AI capabilities deeper into professional financial workflows.
Source

Lloyds Banking Group hunts for the UK’s next standout start-ups and scale-ups
Lloyds Banking Group is seeking promising UK startups and scale-ups, highlighting continued bank involvement in supporting emerging technology businesses.
Source

Velocity adds $10M from Visa, Circle, and Ripple, hitting $200M valuation
Velocity has raised another $10 million from Visa, Circle and Ripple, reaching a $200 million valuation as it continues to scale its fintech business.
Source

UAE fintech firm Tabby raises $233m at $6.5b valuation
Tabby has raised $233 million at a $6.5 billion valuation, giving the UAE fintech significant new capital to expand its financial-services platform.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Hong Kong-based crypto exchange CoinEx says it will shut down
CoinEx has announced plans to cease operations, marking a significant development for the Hong Kong-based crypto exchange.
Source

Bitcoin falls after US Senate blocks Clarity Act
Bitcoin declined following the U.S. Senate’s blocking of the Clarity Act, amid renewed uncertainty around the legislation’s progress.
Source

Tom Lee’s Bitmine Adds $70 Million in Ethereum, Holdings Reach 5.93 Million ETH
Bitmine has added another $70 million in Ethereum, bringing its reported holdings to 5.93 million ETH.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Nasdaq Verafin and Stablecore Partner to Unify Fiat and Digital Asset Financial Crime Detection
Nasdaq Verafin and Stablecore are partnering to bring fiat and digital-asset financial-crime detection together, helping financial institutions address risks across both traditional and digital markets.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Merchants call on judge to reject Visa-Mastercard interchange fee settlement
Merchants are asking a judge to reject the proposed Visa-Mastercard interchange-fee settlement, continuing the dispute over card-acceptance costs.
Source

Vista Equity exploring strategic options for financial software provider Finastra, sources say
Vista Equity is reportedly exploring strategic options for Finastra, potentially setting the stage for a significant development involving the financial-software provider.
Source

Citing political pressure, Enova pulls Grasshopper deal
Enova has withdrawn from its proposed Grasshopper deal, with political pressure cited in the decision.
Source

🌍 Other

Mastercard’s Dreamonomics report finds small business owners are redefining growth for a more demanding economy
Mastercard’s latest Dreamonomics report examines how small-business owners are adapting their growth strategies amid changing economic conditions.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Nasdaq is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, as part of a partnership focused on advancing tokenized equities. The deal brings a major traditional exchange operator deeper into blockchain-based capital-market infrastructure. The partnership is centered on developing tokenized equity products while connecting Payward’s crypto-market infrastructure with Nasdaq’s established market capabilities. It represents a significant convergence of traditional securities markets and digital-asset infrastructure. The investment also gives Nasdaq a direct strategic relationship with one of the largest crypto platforms. As tokenization moves closer to mainstream capital markets, the partnership could become an important bridge between conventional exchanges and blockchain-based markets.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Agentic Commerce: Market to People, Sell to Software

The retail industry has now been through this pattern twice. First with ecommerce. Now with agentic commerce. The lesson from the first transition was that the honest outcome was not replacement. It was coexistence in most categories, near-total displacement in a few, and almost no change in a handful. The lesson is not that software beats physical retail. It is that different categories moved at different speeds, and the brands that survived were the ones that read their category correctly and moved accordingly.

Agentic commerce is the same transition at a different layer of the stack. Some categories will move to agents almost entirely. Some will shift partially. Some will barely move at all. The brands that will do best are the ones that recognize which quadrant they occupy and play to its logic, rather than applying a single playbook to all four.

For the last 25 years, e-commerce operators optimized for human attention: ad placements, landing pages, search rankings, cart abandonment flows. Those levers still work, and they will continue to work for the traffic that arrives directly at brand sites. But a growing share of transactions will originate on surfaces where the buyer is no longer human. Catalog data structured for agent consumption, third-party coverage that shapes how AI models represent a brand, verifiable product attributes that surface in agent comparisons, and service layers that answer agent-mediated queries fast enough to preserve conversion: these are the new levers. They are not improvements on the old marketing stack. They are a parallel stack.

Brands need to market to people. Increasingly, they also need to sell to software. That is not a clever framing. It is the operational fact that the next decade of retail will run on. The operators and investors who do well will be the ones who recognize that both channels are real, that each has its own mechanics, and that treating them as the same channel with different surfaces is the fastest way to lose the transition.

The question for the next decade of retail is not whether agents change commerce. They already have. The question is who reads the shape of that change correctly, and who keeps applying the wrong playbook to the wrong quadrant until the market corrects them. If you are building or investing in this space, we would love to hear your perspective. Where do you believe agents will create the most value?

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Worldline enables agentic commerce payments via Universal Commerce Protocol capabilities
Worldline is enabling agentic-commerce payments through Universal Commerce Protocol capabilities, expanding infrastructure for AI agents to participate in transactions.
Source

Bank of Ireland deepens partnership with Stripe
Bank of Ireland is deepening its partnership with Stripe, expanding collaboration between the established bank and the payments technology provider.
Source

Klarna expands Nordics anti-fraud toolkit with new live call verification tool
Klarna is adding live call verification to its Nordic anti-fraud toolkit, giving customers another layer of protection against fraud and impersonation attacks.
Source

Coinbase and Moov partner to boost stablecoin payments for community banks ahead of CLARITY vote
Coinbase and Moov are partnering to expand stablecoin payment capabilities among community banks, potentially bringing digital-dollar infrastructure to a wider banking network.
Source

Sokin Launches MCP Connector: Customers’ AI Can Now Line Up Payments in Minutes
Sokin has launched an MCP connector that allows customers’ AI tools to prepare and line up payments, another example of AI becoming an interface for financial activity.
Source

Thunes Launches Cross-Border Payouts Across Six New Middle East Markets
Thunes has expanded its cross-border payout network into six additional Middle Eastern markets, increasing its international payments coverage.
Source

🏦 Banking

DBS, OCBC and UOB complete first live blockchain-enabled SGD transactions on Swift’s ledger
DBS, OCBC and UOB have completed live blockchain-enabled Singapore-dollar transactions through Swift’s ledger, demonstrating blockchain-based settlement across major banks.
Source

BBVA Launches Its Partnership With Inter and Unveils New Offers in Italy
BBVA has launched its partnership with Inter in Italy and introduced new financial offerings as it expands its presence in the market.
Source

💼 Fintech

Chift raises €10.5M in a Series A round led by BlackFin Capital Partners
Chift has raised €10.5 million in Series A funding led by BlackFin Capital Partners, providing capital to scale its fintech infrastructure business.
Source

Pave Finance raises $15M Series A for AI wealth platform at $100M valuation
Pave Finance has raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation to expand its AI-powered wealth platform and financial-management capabilities.
Source

Anthropic targets financial advisers with new Claude tool
Anthropic is targeting financial advisers with a new Claude tool, extending generative AI deeper into professional financial workflows.
Source

Finastra and Komgo Partner to Advance Digital Trade Finance
Finastra and Komgo are partnering to advance digital trade-finance infrastructure and modernize processes around trade transactions.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Coinbase Wallet Rebrands to Chase ‘Anything, Anywhere’ Trading as Robinhood Chain Heats Up
Coinbase Wallet is rebranding around broader trading ambitions as competition intensifies among major crypto and fintech platforms.
Source

Bitmine Adds $68 Million in Ethereum as Holdings Near 6 Million ETH
Bitmine has added another $68 million in Ethereum as it continues building its large crypto treasury.
Source

Strategy Buys Back $139 Million of STRC, Bitcoin Stack Frozen for Second Week
Strategy has repurchased $139 million of its STRC preferred stock while its Bitcoin holdings remain unchanged for a second consecutive week.
Source

MetaMask Adds New Wallet Protections Against Crypto Scams
MetaMask has introduced additional wallet protections designed to help users identify and avoid crypto scams and malicious transactions.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Tokenovate Launches First CDM-Native Intra-Day Repo Settlement on Canton Network with USDC
Tokenovate has launched a CDM-native intraday repo settlement on the Canton Network using USDC, combining tokenized financial-market infrastructure with stablecoin settlement.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Merchants call on judge to reject Visa-Mastercard interchange fee settlement
Merchants are urging a judge to reject the proposed Visa-Mastercard interchange-fee settlement, keeping pressure on the payment networks over card-acceptance costs.
Source

Revolut confirms sensitive customer data breach after fake government requests
Revolut has confirmed that sensitive customer data was exposed after attackers used fake government requests, highlighting security risks facing digital financial platforms.
Source

🌍 Other

Nubank expands into the U.S. with high-yield savings, credit cards and remittances
Nubank is expanding its U.S. offering with products spanning savings, credit cards and remittances, broadening its international footprint.
Source

SmartTrade launches post-trade platform
SmartTrade has launched a new post-trade platform aimed at modernizing processes that follow financial-market transactions.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

OpenAI has launched a version of ChatGPT aimed specifically at the financial-services industry, bringing its AI capabilities into a sector where research, analysis and information workflows are increasingly being transformed by generative AI. The move signals a deeper push by AI companies into professional financial services rather than limiting their products to general-purpose consumer use. Financial institutions stand to use specialized AI tools across tasks such as research, analysis and other knowledge-intensive workflows. The launch also puts OpenAI directly into competition for enterprise AI adoption within one of the world’s largest industries. Coming alongside rapid experimentation with AI agents and automated payments, it reflects the broader convergence of AI and financial technology.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Breaking Down PingPong’s Full-Stack Financial Infrastructure

When it comes to today’s cross-border landscape, legacy banking pipelines are largely fragmented. While existing payment orchestration provides connectivity, it does not solve the core structural problems of multi-entity reconciliation and settlement. Transaction routing systems introduce additional fees and latency, and each intermediary screens the payment on its own schedule, making settlement windows unexpected and unpredictable.

Add on another layer: data, and the problem becomes easier to miss and more complex to solve. In a multi-hop correspondent chain, structured remittance fields, ultimate debtor identifiers, and invoice references are stripped during format translations between intermediary core banking systems. That loss breaks straight-through processing for ERP systems and forces manual exception handling at the receiving end.

Replacing these intermediaries requires fully owned, vertically integrated rails. True scale in global payments comes from owning the whole stack rather than layering software over infrastructure someone else controls.

Fintech Wrap Up

Case study: Breaking Down PingPong’s Full-Stack Financial Infrastructure

When it comes to today’s cross-border landscape, legacy banking pipelines are largely fragmented. While existing payment orchestration provides connectivity, it does not solve the core structural problems of multi-entity reconciliation and settlement. Transaction routing systems introduce additional fees and latency, and each intermediary screens the pa…

Read more

21 days ago · 17 likes · Sam Boboev

Curated News

💳 Payments

First pilot BLIK transaction completed independently by an AI agent
BLIK has completed a pilot payment independently executed by an AI agent, providing a concrete demonstration of autonomous payments moving beyond theory into real-world transactions.
Source

Paysera lets clients connect AI assistants to payments
Paysera is allowing customers to connect AI assistants to payment functionality, giving users a way to interact with financial services through AI-powered interfaces.
Source

Singapore banks complete first tokenised SGD transactions on Swift blockchain ledger
Singapore banks have completed tokenized Singapore-dollar transactions on Swift’s blockchain ledger, demonstrating how tokenized money could operate across established international payment infrastructure.
Source

Alipay to launch wallet agent for AI payments
Alipay is preparing to launch a wallet agent designed for AI-powered payments, extending autonomous-agent capabilities into digital-wallet infrastructure.
Source

DBS, OCBC and UOB Complete First Live Blockchain-Enabled SGD Transactions on Swift’s Ledger
DBS, OCBC and UOB have completed live blockchain-enabled SGD transactions on Swift’s ledger, marking another step toward blockchain-based settlement within mainstream banking infrastructure.
Source

🏦 Banking

Nasdaq invests $100m in Payward to advance tokenised equities
Nasdaq is investing $100 million in Payward, Kraken’s parent company, as part of efforts to advance tokenized equities and connect traditional capital markets with blockchain infrastructure.
Source

Coinbase Partners with Moov to Bring Stablecoins to 1,000+ Community Banks
Coinbase and Moov are partnering to bring stablecoin capabilities to more than 1,000 community banks, potentially widening institutional access to stablecoin infrastructure.
Source

Grab in talks to buy majority stake in Atome
Grab is reportedly in talks to acquire a majority stake in Atome, potentially expanding its position in digital consumer finance and lending across Southeast Asia.
Source

💼 Fintech

Kapital lands $125M as its loan book more than triples
Kapital has raised $125 million as its loan book more than triples, giving the fintech substantial additional capital to scale its lending business.
Source

Unlimit expands its Asia-Pacific presence with Hong Kong moneyservice operator licence
Unlimit has secured a Hong Kong money-service operator licence as it expands its presence across Asia-Pacific.
Source

Saldo Bank Partners with finperks to Launch Embedded Rewards and 10% Cashback for Nordic Customers
Saldo Bank and finperks are partnering to introduce embedded rewards and 10% cashback for customers in the Nordic region, combining banking with loyalty functionality.
Source

MoonPay Buys Rhythm in Latest Strategic Acquisition Move
MoonPay has acquired Rhythm as part of its latest strategic expansion, adding another acquisition to the crypto-fintech’s growing portfolio.
Source

Flipkart fintech arm Super.money launches AI shopping agents
Flipkart’s fintech arm Super.money is launching AI shopping agents, combining financial services with autonomous shopping capabilities.
Source

🪙 Crypto

Coinbase Wallet Rebrands to Chase ‘Anything, Anywhere’ Trading as Robinhood Chain Heats Up
Coinbase Wallet is rebranding around broader trading ambitions as competition intensifies among major crypto and fintech platforms.
Source

Robinhood Crypto Trading Volume Jumps 61% in August
Robinhood’s crypto trading volume rose 61% in August, highlighting continued momentum in the platform’s digital-asset business.
Source

Bitwise to Close Dogecoin ETF Before Its First Anniversary
Bitwise is set to close its Dogecoin ETF before it reaches its first anniversary, illustrating the challenges of sustaining demand for niche crypto investment products.
Source

Bitcoin Rises as Markets Digest Inflation Data Ahead of Fed Rate Decision
Bitcoin gained as markets digested incoming inflation data and positioned for the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate decision.
Source

BingX Card Now Available to All Eligible Users, Bringing Crypto Rewards to Everyday Spending
BingX has made its crypto-rewards card available to all eligible users, extending digital-asset rewards into everyday card spending.
Source

📈 WealthTech

72% of US consumers have used an AI assistant – Visa Trust Index
Visa’s Trust Index reports that 72% of U.S. consumers have used an AI assistant, highlighting the rapidly growing familiarity with AI that could support wider adoption of AI-powered financial services.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

UK Payments Industry Backs the National Payments Vision, but Only 29% Are Very Confident It Will Work
The UK payments industry broadly supports the National Payments Vision, but only 29% of respondents are very confident that it will succeed, pointing to concerns around implementation.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Visa, Mastercard and Ant International are teaming up to develop an AI-agent trust framework, tackling one of the biggest challenges facing the emerging agentic-commerce ecosystem: how merchants, payment providers and consumers can safely trust autonomous agents to transact. The collaboration brings together three major players across global payments and digital commerce. A standardized trust layer could help establish how AI agents identify themselves, authenticate transactions and operate on behalf of users. That is particularly important as agents move from simply recommending purchases toward actually executing them. The initiative also comes as payment networks increasingly build infrastructure specifically for agentic commerce. If successful, the framework could become an important piece of the infrastructure underpinning AI-driven payments.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

State of Fintech

Fintech deal volume fell 25% QoQ to 726 in Q2’26, the fewest quarterly deals in more than four years. Funding held up better, down a more modest 20% to $11.7B, with most of it going to a handful of mega-rounds.

Key stats:

- 726 Deals in Q2’26, fewest in 4+ years

Q2 deal volume fell 25% QoQ. Funding fell a more modest 20% QoQ to $11.7B, widening the gap between deal count and dollars.

Median deal size is up 19% YTD to $5.1M. Like the broader venture market, fintech investors are placing fewer, larger bets.

- 96% QoQ jump in digital banking funding

Digital banking funding nearly doubled QoQ to $2.6B, even as deal count slipped 4%.

Three mega-rounds, from Ramp ($750M), Airwallex ($320M), and Mercury ($200M) did most of the lifting, driving 49% of the total.

- 4 New fintech unicorns born in Q2’26

Fintech minted 4 new unicorns, half of Q1’s 8. All four came in near the $1B line: Digital Asset and Rogo at $2B, Slash at $1.4B, nesto at $1.1B. Three of the four are US companies.

- 4 IPOs in Q2’26

Fintech logged its fewest quarterly IPOs in 4+ years, down 64% QoQ and a sharp reversal from Q4’25’s high of 25. M&A fell too, to 203, its own low for the period.

The quarter’s largest exit was Russian neobank Tochka, acquired by Interros Holding for $1.1B.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Mastercard launches Wallet Pay to scale digital wallets worldwide
Mastercard has launched Wallet Pay to help digital wallets connect to its global payments network, making it easier for wallet providers to scale their payment capabilities internationally.
Source

Wirex is Now Live on Tempo for Enterprise Stablecoin Card Programs
Wirex has gone live on Tempo to support enterprise stablecoin card programmes, bringing stablecoin infrastructure closer to large-scale card issuance and payments.
Source

Finix Expands In-Person Payments Suite with Two New Devices
Finix has expanded its in-person payments offering with two new devices, giving merchants additional hardware options for accepting payments at physical locations.
Source

First pilot BLIK transaction completed independently by an AI agent
BLIK has completed a pilot transaction carried out independently by an AI agent, providing another real-world demonstration of autonomous payment execution.
Source

Ant International expands AI-agent payments with global rollout
Ant International is expanding its AI-agent payment capabilities globally, continuing the shift toward payment systems designed for autonomous digital agents.
Source

🏦 Banking

U.S. Bank launches USBDC stablecoin
U.S. Bank has launched USBDC, its own stablecoin, marking another major U.S. bank move into blockchain-based payment infrastructure and digital money.
Source

Nationwide rips out legacy systems and migrates 15 million customers to new core platform
Nationwide has completed a major core-banking migration involving 15 million customers, replacing legacy systems with a new banking platform.
Source

CIB Bank offers customers free contactless payment rings
Hungary’s CIB Bank is offering customers free contactless payment rings, giving consumers another wearable option for making contactless transactions.
Source

💼 Fintech

CloudPay invests in Intermezzo
CloudPay has invested in Intermezzo, expanding its involvement in financial technology and payment infrastructure.
Source

Ripple Adds New AI Capabilities to Treasury Offering
Ripple is adding AI capabilities to its treasury offering, bringing automated intelligence into tools designed for managing corporate financial operations.
Source

Kapital Lands $125 Million to Scale AI-Powered Business Platform
Kapital has raised $125 million to expand its AI-powered business platform, giving the fintech substantial new capital to scale its technology and financial products.
Source

Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken parent company Payward at $21 billion valuation
Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, at a reported $21 billion valuation, strengthening ties between traditional financial markets and crypto infrastructure.
Source

🪙 Crypto

PayPal launches PYUSDx platform for custom stablecoins
PayPal has launched PYUSDx, a platform aimed at enabling businesses and institutions to create customized stablecoin solutions using its PYUSD ecosystem.
Source

Grab in talks to buy majority stake in Atome
Grab is reportedly in talks to acquire a majority stake in Atome, potentially expanding the super-app’s position in digital lending and consumer finance.
Source

Bitcoin at $400K by 2030 Still ‘Reasonable Target’: Coinbase CEO
Coinbase’s CEO has described a $400,000 Bitcoin price by 2030 as a reasonable target, reflecting continued bullish long-term expectations from major crypto-industry executives.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Mistral raises €3B as sovereign AI becomes big business
Mistral’s €3 billion financing highlights the growing importance of sovereign AI as governments and businesses seek greater control over advanced AI infrastructure.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

NYDF issues cybersecurity guidance
The NYDF has issued cybersecurity guidance aimed at strengthening security practices across financial institutions and addressing evolving cyber risks.
Source

UK Payments Industry Backs the National Payments Vision, but Only 29% Are Very Confident It Will Work
The UK’s payments industry broadly supports the National Payments Vision, but research indicates that only 29% of industry participants are very confident it will succeed.
Source

🌍 Other

Consumer trust in agentic payments continues to lag
Consumer trust remains a significant obstacle for agentic payments, highlighting the challenge of convincing people to allow AI systems to transact autonomously on their behalf.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Chime has agreed to acquire nationally chartered Stride Bank for $590 million, marking a major step in the fintech’s evolution from a digital banking platform toward owning a bank outright. The transaction would give Chime greater control over its banking infrastructure and capabilities while expanding its position in the U.S. financial-services market. The deal also highlights a broader trend of fintechs moving deeper into regulated banking rather than relying entirely on partner banks. Investors responded positively, with Chime shares jumping following the announcement. At $590 million, the acquisition is one of the largest and most consequential fintech deals in this batch. It could ultimately reshape how Chime builds and delivers banking products at scale.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

How Financial Services Leaders Approach The Stablecoin Evolution

Key Findings

Stablecoins are not a standalone product but a value-add utility. Leading financial providers view stablecoins less as a crypto product and more as a tool that enables a range of capabilities. This comes as two-thirds of financial decision-makers prioritize alternative money transfer and payment mechanisms in 2026.

AI has gained industry traction, amplifying stablecoin value. AI initiatives are maturing as financial providers scale generative AI (genAI) efforts and launch new agentic capabilities. More than three in four respondents (78%) are prioritizing enhanced decision-making with AI-powered insights and predictions. AI is increasingly used in concert with stablecoins, enabling providers to turbocharge next-gen payments and banking.

Cross-border transactions are the flagship use case, but leading organizations envision more. Two-thirds of organizations say using stablecoin capabilities for cross-border payments offers clear, immediate benefits. A smaller share of financial providers see value in applying stablecoins to use cases like intrabank transactions, cash management, and institutional settlements. Benefits include shorter settlement times, reduced transaction costs, and improved liquidity.

Providers are turning to partners to make the most of the stablecoin opportunity. Three in five respondents place a high priority on using third‑party platforms or marketplaces to integrate their financial services so they can successfully compete. Providers will need scalable infrastructure to enable stablecoin success. They’ll also need help resolving security and regulatory concerns, some of which can only be settled by government agencies.

Source

Curated News

💳 Payments

Revolut and Visa Execute France’s First AI Agent-Initiated Card Payment Using Passkey Authentication
Revolut and Visa have completed France’s first AI-agent-initiated card payment using passkey authentication, demonstrating how autonomous agents could eventually make purchases securely on behalf of customers.
Source

Visa Tests Stablecoin Loans to Fund Card Program Growth
Visa is testing stablecoin-based lending as a potential way to provide working capital for card programmes, connecting stablecoin infrastructure with traditional payment operations.
Source

Mastercard gives merchants a simpler way to build, connect and scale AI-powered shopping experiences
Mastercard is introducing tools intended to make it easier for merchants to integrate AI-powered shopping experiences, as payment networks prepare for the rise of agentic commerce.
Source

Splitit and Jack Henry Team to Help Banks Compete With BNPL
Splitit and Jack Henry are partnering to help banks offer buy-now-pay-later capabilities, giving traditional financial institutions another way to compete in the rapidly expanding BNPL market.
Source

BVNK and Marqeta partner to power stablecoin-card infrastructure
BVNK and Marqeta are partnering on infrastructure that connects stablecoins with card payments, helping bring digital assets closer to everyday spending.
Source

World Bank targets more digital payments in emerging markets
The World Bank is targeting greater adoption of digital payments across emerging markets, emphasizing the role of modern payment infrastructure in financial inclusion and economic development.
Source

🏦 Banking

Block Applies to Establish Builders Bank, a National Trust Bank
Block has applied to establish Builders Bank, a national trust bank that would expand the fintech’s ability to provide financial services through its own regulated banking infrastructure.
Source

U.S. Bank launches USBDC stablecoin
U.S. Bank has launched USBDC, its own dollar-denominated stablecoin, adding another major U.S. bank to the growing institutional stablecoin market.
Source

💼 Fintech

Daloopa Launches Scout, Its Excel-Native AI Assistant for Financial Modeling
Daloopa has launched Scout, an AI assistant built directly around Excel workflows to help financial professionals automate and accelerate financial modelling tasks.
Source

Paystand launches agentic finance suite
Paystand has launched an agentic finance suite designed to use AI agents across financial workflows, continuing the fintech industry’s push toward automated finance operations.
Source

HelmGuard raises $7.3m for agentic GRC platform
HelmGuard has raised $7.3 million to develop an agentic governance, risk and compliance platform, targeting automated oversight for financial and other regulated businesses.
Source

Ant International, Mastercard, Visa develop AI agent framework
Ant International, Mastercard and Visa are collaborating on an AI-agent framework, bringing three major players together around standards and infrastructure for agentic commerce.
Source

🪙 Crypto

PayPal Debuts Developer Platform Tied to PYUSD Stablecoin
PayPal has introduced a developer platform connected to its PYUSD stablecoin, giving developers new infrastructure for building stablecoin-based financial applications and payments.
Source

German Finance Ministry Drafts 25% Tax on Crypto Gains From 2027
Germany’s Finance Ministry is reportedly drafting a 25% tax on crypto gains beginning in 2027, potentially creating a significant change in the country’s treatment of digital-asset profits.
Source

Prediction Markets Abandon Cheap Oil as Brent Passes $100
Prediction markets are adjusting their expectations as Brent crude moves above $100, highlighting how geopolitical and macroeconomic developments are feeding into event-based markets.
Source

Consensys Is Splitting in Two as MetaMask Goes Its Own Way
Consensys is splitting its operations as MetaMask separates from the company, marking a significant restructuring for one of the better-known organizations in the Ethereum ecosystem.
Source

📈 WealthTech

Outline Secures $3M to Launch First Agentic Financial Planning Platform for Mid-Market CFOs
Outline has raised $3 million to launch an agentic financial-planning platform aimed at mid-market CFOs, using AI agents to automate corporate finance workflows.
Source

⚖️ Regulation

Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and others urge EU to rethink €100bn DLT cap
Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and other market participants are calling on the EU to reconsider its €100 billion cap for DLT-based market infrastructure, arguing that the limit could constrain the development of tokenized financial markets.
Source

Consumer trust in agentic payments continues to lag
Consumer confidence in agentic payments remains a challenge, highlighting the gap between rapid technological development and customers’ willingness to let AI agents transact on their behalf.
Source

🌍 Other

Mistral raises €3B as sovereign AI becomes big business
Mistral has raised €3 billion as demand for sovereign AI infrastructure grows, underscoring the enormous investment now flowing into AI technology and national AI capabilities.
Source

Meta Launches Muse Personal AI Agent
Meta has launched Muse, a personal AI agent designed to provide users with more autonomous AI-powered assistance.
Source

Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Circle has agreed to acquire cross-border payments company Tazapay for $400 million, in a major expansion of Circle’s payments infrastructure beyond its stablecoin business. The deal would strengthen Circle’s ability to support international business payments and money movement across emerging markets. It also signals how stablecoin companies are increasingly moving into the broader payments stack rather than relying solely on digital-asset issuance. Tazapay brings established cross-border payment capabilities that could complement Circle’s existing infrastructure. For Circle, the acquisition represents a significant bet on stablecoin-powered global commerce. At $400 million, it is also one of the biggest and most strategically meaningful fintech transactions in this batch.

Source

Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Usage-based Billing: Essential Infrastructure, Wrong Buyer Interface

Usage-based metering is critical, but as infrastructure rather than interface. It’s the layer that lets vendors track token consumption, inference costs, GPU seconds, and cost-to-serve per customer. We mapped this ecosystem in our 2024 research on usage-based billing, covering the metering, billing, and revenue recognition July 2026 The Digital Payroll 3 categories that now underpin every AI pricing model. Metronome (now Stripe Billing) built this layer for the largest AI companies in the world, and we expect it to remain a permanent, growing part of the AI stack. Every vendor needs usage data to understand its margins.

The problem starts when usage-based billing becomes the buyer-facing model. Four in five IT leaders report unexpected charges from consumption pricing, and 61% have cut projects due to unplanned cost increases. When CFOs can’t predict a line item, they cap it and adoption stalls. The pattern repeats across the market. Salesforce ran through three pricing architectures for Agentforce in 18 months and Deutsche Bank found most customers “still trying to understand what constitutes a unit of consumption.” Pure consumption pricing only works when the metered unit is observable and the buyer already budgets for it. Twilio is a good example where AI simply accelerates an existing per-minute model. Outside those conditions, this approach turns into a procurement fight.

The distinction matters for every AI vendor. Unless your product has a metered unit the buyer already understands and budgets for, usage data belongs in the back office, powering margin management and cost-to-serve intelligence rather than the buyer’s invoice.

William Blair projects AI-era gross margins will settle at 60-70% versus the 80% SaaS benchmark, and Adobe’s own management concedes AI’s margin profile is structurally lower because inference costs scale with usage.10,11 Take Cursor for example, the AI-native poster child that abandoned its flat $20 seats for hybrid usage billing once power users started eating frontier-model token costs. Vendors that don’t instrument cost-to-serve before pricing will find out the hard way.

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Curated News

💳 Payments

IT Smart Systems and Feedzai join forces to strengthen AI-driven payment fraud prevention
IT Smart Systems and Feedzai are partnering to strengthen AI-powered fraud prevention, combining their capabilities to help financial institutions detect and stop suspicious payment activity.
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AEON Launches Agentic Checkout, Powered by AI Card for Autonomous Commerce
AEON has launched an agentic checkout solution designed to let AI agents participate more directly in purchasing, pushing the payments industry further toward autonomous commerce.
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Visa and Revolut carry out passkey-based agentic payment in France
Visa and Revolut have completed a passkey-based agentic payment in France, demonstrating how authentication and AI-agent payments could work together without traditional checkout flows.
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Visa Brings Onchain Lending into Everyday Payments
Visa is bringing onchain lending capabilities into everyday payments, linking blockchain-based financial infrastructure more closely with conventional payment experiences.
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Trust Bank launches AI tool to track card spending
Trust Bank has launched an AI-powered tool that helps customers monitor and understand their card spending, bringing more automated financial insights into everyday banking.
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🏦 Banking

TSB CIO leaves bank as Santander merger progresses
TSB’s CIO is leaving the bank as its merger with Santander progresses, marking another leadership change during the integration process.
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Swiss stablecoin project enters testing phase, adds SIX and TWINT as partners
A Swiss stablecoin initiative has entered testing and added SIX and TWINT as partners, bringing established financial-market and payments infrastructure into the project.
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U.S. Bank introduces Private Waterfall Engine to automate alternative fund calculations
U.S. Bank has introduced a new engine designed to automate calculations for alternative investment funds, targeting a traditionally complex and manual part of fund administration.
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UniCredit invests in German fintech VC Trade to accelerate the digital transformation of debt markets
UniCredit is investing in German fintech VC Trade as it looks to accelerate digital transformation in debt markets and expand technology-driven financial infrastructure.
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SoFi, Payward Team up to Connect Banking and Crypto Markets
SoFi and Payward are teaming up to connect traditional banking services with crypto-market infrastructure, further blurring the line between digital assets and conventional financial services.
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💼 Fintech

Outline Secures $3M to Launch First Agentic Financial Planning Platform for Mid-Market CFOs
Outline has raised $3 million to build an agentic financial-planning platform aimed at mid-market CFOs, applying AI agents to corporate finance workflows.
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Mastercard Bets On AI Agent Commerce With New Start Path Cohort
Mastercard is backing startups focused on AI-agent commerce through its Start Path programme, exploring how autonomous agents could participate in shopping and payments.
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Mastercard report predicts that 1 in 10 people will routinely use AI agents to shop and pay by 2030
Mastercard forecasts that AI agents could become a routine shopping and payment channel for one in ten people by 2030, highlighting the potential scale of agentic commerce.
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Ant Group open-sourced finance AI model Ling-3.0
Ant Group has open-sourced its Ling-3.0 finance AI model, making another large financial-services-focused AI model available for broader development and experimentation.
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🪙 Crypto

Robinhood Takes Equity Stake in Crypto.com, Taps Exchange to Power Prediction Markets
Robinhood has taken an equity stake in Crypto.com and is partnering with the exchange to support its prediction-market offering, deepening its connection with crypto infrastructure.
Source

Strive Buys $109 Million in Bitcoin, Pushes Preferred Stock Toward $1 Billion
Strive has purchased $109 million worth of Bitcoin while continuing to build its Bitcoin-focused treasury strategy and expand its preferred-stock programme.
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Bitcoin Holds, Wall Street Stalls as Oil Shock Revives Fed Hike Bets
Bitcoin remained relatively resilient as broader markets reacted to an oil-price shock and renewed expectations around potential Federal Reserve rate increases.
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Brazilian Banks Expand Crypto Offerings as Regulation Takes Hold
Brazilian banks are expanding their crypto offerings as the country develops a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets.
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📈 WealthTech

Trading Technologies Embeds FairXchange Analytics Into Institutional FX Platform
Trading Technologies is integrating FairXchange analytics into its institutional FX platform, giving professional market participants additional tools for analyzing foreign-exchange liquidity and execution.
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⚖️ Regulation

Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and others urge EU to rethink €100bn DLT cap
Nasdaq, Börse Stuttgart and other market participants are calling for changes to the EU’s €100 billion limit on distributed-ledger technology infrastructure, arguing that the existing framework could constrain tokenized-market growth.
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Visa updates Singapore security plan as AI threats grow
Visa is updating its security strategy in Singapore in response to the growing risks posed by AI-enabled threats and increasingly sophisticated attacks.
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🌍 Other

Visa and Revolut carry out passkey-based agentic payment in France
The successful transaction provides a practical demonstration of how passkeys and AI agents could combine to enable new forms of automated payments.
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Swiss stablecoin project enters testing phase, adds SIX and TWINT as partners
The Swiss initiative’s move into testing, alongside major ecosystem partners, represents another step toward bringing regulated digital-money infrastructure into real-world payments.
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Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

PayTabs is set to acquire Amazon Payment Services’ MENA business in a deal valued at $100 million, marking a major move in the region’s payments landscape. The transaction would give PayTabs greater scale and access to Amazon’s established payment infrastructure across the Middle East and North Africa. It also highlights continued consolidation among payment providers as fintechs compete to build broader regional capabilities. For Amazon, the deal represents a strategic shift in how its payments operations are positioned in the region. For PayTabs, acquiring an established payments business could accelerate its expansion significantly. The deal is one of the strongest examples in this batch of fintech M&A reshaping the payments market.

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Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

Q1 2026 SaaS+Fintech Earnings Observations

SaaS and fintech equities have rallied over the past month yet remain laggards to the broader market over the past year. Despite the choppy stock performance, the fundamentals tell a story of continued strength. Average revenue growth accelerated slightly, and gross profit margins continued to expand in the most recent quarter, marking the 11th straight quarter.

Toast: Launched new marketing agent, Toast IG Grow, with pilot customers showing an average 8% lift in sales. Total monetization (recurring gross profit divided by gross payment volume) reached 1% for the first time

Fintech

Shift4: Gross revenue less network fees grew 11% organically and 49% including recent acquisition. Payment volume reached $56 billion in Q1 (+24% YoY)

Lightspeed: AI is now resolving 80% of customer support tickets. Divested Upserve U.S. hospitality segment to focus on core.

Block: Square international GPV grew 35% YoY; U.S. GPV grew 8% YoY; total Square GPV reached $61 billion. Cash App primary banking actives hit 9.7 million (+18% YoY)

E-Commerce

Shopify: Shopify Payments GMV grew 41% YoY to $67 billion in Q1 (67% of total GMV, up from 64% YoY). Q4 offline GMV grew 33% YoY; B2B GMV grew 80% YoY

Wix: Completed a $1.6 billion tender offer to repurchase nearly 30% of shares outstanding. Base44’s vibe coding platform reached $150 million ARR in mid-May, up from $100 million in early March

BigCommerce: GMV grew 14% YoY to $8.3 billion

GoDaddy: Airo AI Builder has scaled to $10 million annualized bookings within weeks of beta launch.

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Curated News

💳 Payments

Brazil, ECB studying instant payments link in potential first cross-border move for Pix, sources say
Brazil and the European Central Bank are reportedly exploring a potential connection between Brazil’s Pix and European instant-payment infrastructure, which could mark a major step toward cross-border instant payments.
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Nexi, JCB and UnionPay team on Italian public transport payments
Nexi, JCB and UnionPay are collaborating to make public-transport payments in Italy more seamless, bringing international card networks into local transit infrastructure.
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DNA Payments links up with iwoca
DNA Payments has partnered with iwoca, bringing together payments capabilities and financing to support businesses with their payment and working-capital needs.
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India’s Juspay expands Wego partnership for Mideast Payments
Indian payments technology company Juspay is expanding its partnership with Wego to strengthen payment capabilities for travel customers across Middle Eastern markets.
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Viva.com Connects Directly to Multibanco, Portugal’s Payment Network
Viva.com has connected directly to Portugal’s Multibanco network, expanding its local payment capabilities and potentially improving access for merchants operating in the country.
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Fipto and Circle Payments Network: Regulated Stablecoin-Powered Payouts from Europe to Latin America and Asia
Fipto and Circle are introducing regulated stablecoin-powered payouts connecting Europe with Latin America and Asia, targeting faster international money movement.
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🏦 Banking

Swiss bank to demand AI proficiency from junior hires
A Swiss bank is reportedly making AI proficiency a requirement for junior hires, reflecting how rapidly AI skills are becoming part of the baseline toolkit for financial-services employees.
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DBS, Citi complete cross-border payment with tokenized deposits
DBS and Citi have completed a cross-border payment using tokenized deposits, demonstrating how blockchain-based deposit representations could be used for faster international settlement.
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TD Successfully Completes Testing of Tokenized Payments Through Project Agorá
TD has completed testing of tokenized payments through Project Agorá, adding another major banking participant to experiments around next-generation payment infrastructure.
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💼 Fintech

EMEA fintech funding declined in H1
Fintech investment across Europe, the Middle East and Africa declined during the first half of the year, pointing to a more cautious funding environment for the sector.
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Xpate releases API-based tool for embedded money management
Xpate has launched an API-based solution for embedded money management, allowing businesses to integrate financial-management functionality directly into their own products.
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Concryt deploys agentic AI to monitor live payment operations
Concryt is applying agentic AI to payment operations, aiming to monitor activity in real time and help identify operational issues more efficiently.
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Hyundai Card blends AI & staff in PR writing tests
Hyundai Card is combining AI tools with human employees in PR-writing tests, offering another example of financial institutions experimenting with AI-assisted workflows.
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Xendit promotes Nazim Ali to president as it expands globally
Xendit has promoted Nazim Ali to president as the fintech continues pursuing international expansion and broader growth.
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🪙 Crypto

XRP Gets Another Boost Through Ripple Deal With Florida Athletics
Ripple has entered a deal involving Florida Athletics, giving XRP another high-profile institutional and sports-related use-case.
Source

Harmony Cites AI Threats in Proposed Blockchain Shutdown
Harmony has cited AI-related security threats in a proposal concerning the shutdown of its blockchain, highlighting growing concerns about how advances in AI could affect crypto infrastructure.
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Bitcoin Starts the Week Flat, But Chainlink Is Flying—Here’s Why
Bitcoin began the week relatively unchanged while Chainlink saw stronger momentum, drawing attention to diverging performance across major crypto assets.
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Ethereum Proposal Would Let Users Pay Gas Without Holding ETH
A proposed Ethereum change would allow users to cover gas fees without directly holding ETH, potentially making interaction with the network simpler for mainstream users.
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📈 WealthTech

European wealthtech funding drops amid investor caution
Funding for European wealthtech companies has fallen as investors become more cautious, adding to broader evidence of a tougher fundraising environment across fintech.
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⚖️ Regulation

Mastercard (MA) Bets On AI Agent Commerce With New Start Path Cohort
Mastercard is backing the development of AI-agent commerce through a new Start Path cohort, focusing on technologies that could allow AI agents to participate more directly in purchasing and payment journeys.
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Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.

Anthropic has unveiled a new blueprint for AI-powered commerce in collaboration with Visa and Mastercard, outlining how AI agents could eventually handle shopping and payments on behalf of consumers. The initiative moves beyond AI simply recommending products toward agents actively participating in transactions. For fintech and payments, this could represent a major shift in how consumers interact with financial services, with the AI agent potentially becoming the interface between the customer, merchant and payment network. Visa and Mastercard’s involvement is particularly significant because agentic commerce will require payment infrastructure capable of securely authenticating and authorizing transactions initiated by software. The development also highlights the growing competition to establish standards for how AI agents interact with financial systems. If agentic commerce scales, the companies building the payment rails today could play a crucial role in defining how autonomous purchasing works.

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Video of the Day

Insight of the Day

When financial institutions should build their own transaction foundation models

Banks and payment companies are changing how they use artificial intelligence. For years, they used separate tools and manual coding to handle tasks like spotting fraud, checking credit scores, and sorting purchases. Building and updating these old systems required a lot of extra work and repeated effort.

Now, companies are switching to larger, unified AI models. Instead of looking at transactions one by one, these new models look at the entire stream of a customer’s activity to understand patterns over time. Financial companies now have to decide if they should build these modern AI tools themselves, buy them from other software providers, or keep tweaking their older, specialized systems.

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Curated News

💳 Payments

Brazil, ECB Studying Instant Payments Link in Potential First Cross-Border Move for Pix
Brazil and the European Central Bank are reportedly studying a potential connection between their instant-payment systems, which could enable faster cross-border payments between the two markets. Such a link would represent a significant international expansion of Brazil’s Pix infrastructure.
Source

Ant International Secures Payment Institution License to Expand Capabilities in Brazil
Ant International has secured a payment institution licence in Brazil, allowing it to expand its regulated payment capabilities in the market. The licence strengthens Ant’s position as it develops its international payments business.
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Paymentology Powers Maxim’s UK Launch, Expanding Access to Credit for the African Diaspora
Paymentology is powering Maxim’s UK launch as the company works to expand access to credit for members of the African diaspora. The partnership demonstrates how payment infrastructure can help fintechs target underserved and internationally connected customer segments.
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JCB Partners with Nexi to Simplify Public Transport in Campania
JCB and Nexi are partnering to simplify payments for public transportation in Italy’s Campania region. The initiative aims to make transit payments more seamless through modern digital payment infrastructure.
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🏦 Banking

Revolut Wins Conditional US Banking License
Revolut has secured a conditional U.S. banking licence, marking a major milestone in its expansion into the American banking market. The approval could eventually allow the fintech to operate with a broader range of banking capabilities directly in the U.S.
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A16z-Backed OpenReserve Gets Approval for Full-Service National Bank
OpenReserve has received approval to establish a full-service national bank, backed by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. The development highlights continued interest in building new technology-driven banks within the traditional U.S. banking framework.
Source

Ping An Digital Bank Launches $5M Ecommerce Financing
Ping An Digital Bank has launched a $5 million financing programme for e-commerce businesses. The initiative expands digital lending for merchants and businesses operating through online commerce channels.
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BNP Paribas and HSBC Complete First Corporate Treasury Payment on Swift’s New Ledger for Siemens
BNP Paribas and HSBC have completed a corporate treasury payment for Siemens using Swift’s new ledger infrastructure. The transaction demonstrates how banks are testing distributed-ledger infrastructure for institutional payments.
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💼 Fintech

Altruist Launches AI-Powered Financial Planning Agent to Automate Wealth Management Workflows
Altruist has launched an AI-powered financial planning agent designed to automate parts of advisers’ wealth-management workflows. The product reflects the growing use of AI to streamline financial planning while keeping advisers at the centre of client relationships.
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WealthAi Launches AI Platform for Independent Financial Advisers
WealthAi has launched an AI platform aimed at independent financial advisers. The technology adds to the rapidly expanding market for AI tools designed to automate and enhance wealth-management processes.
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Incore Bank Trials Agentic AI to Speed Up Customer Onboarding
Incore Bank is trialling agentic AI to accelerate customer onboarding processes. The initiative shows how financial institutions are beginning to move from traditional AI tools toward systems capable of carrying out multi-step workflows.
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Simpaisa Collaborates with Tencent Cloud to Accelerate Fintech Cloud Transformation
Simpaisa is collaborating with Tencent Cloud to accelerate its technology and cloud infrastructure capabilities. The partnership reflects growing fintech investment in scalable cloud infrastructure across emerging markets.
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Plenti Raises $3M in Seed Funding
Fintech startup Plenti has raised $3 million in seed funding to support its development and growth. The new capital will provide additional resources as the company scales its financial technology offering.
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🪙 Crypto

Polymarket Launches Crypto Perpetual Futures With Up to 20x Leverage
Polymarket has expanded into crypto derivatives by launching perpetual futures with leverage of up to 20x. The move broadens the prediction-market platform’s offering into more conventional crypto trading products.
Source

Bitget in Talks with BlackRock on Asia Crypto Push
Bitget is reportedly in talks with BlackRock as it looks to expand its crypto presence in Asia. The potential collaboration highlights the increasingly close relationship between traditional asset managers and crypto platforms.
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South Korea Plans February 2027 Tokenized Securities Rollout
South Korea is planning a February 2027 rollout for tokenized securities, advancing the country’s plans for blockchain-based capital-market infrastructure. The initiative could help accelerate institutional adoption of tokenized financial assets.
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Crypto Traders Are Pairing Meme Coins With Stocks on Robinhood—And It’s Working (Sort Of)
Crypto traders are increasingly pairing meme coins with stocks on Robinhood, creating unusual combinations of traditional and digital assets. The trend highlights how retail platforms are blurring the boundaries between conventional markets and crypto trading.
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⚖️ Regulation

RBA Consultation and Retail CBDC Update
The Reserve Bank of Australia has released an update covering its RITS consultation and approach to retail CBDC development. The update provides further insight into Australia’s evolving position on central-bank digital currency and payment infrastructure.
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Skillcast Report Highlights AI Governance Gap and Accuracy Risks in UK Banking
A Skillcast report highlights gaps in AI governance and concerns around accuracy in UK banking. The findings underscore the importance of stronger oversight as financial institutions increasingly deploy AI across customer-facing and operational processes.
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🌍 Other

GCash Parent Mynt Cleared for $1.47B IPO
Mynt, the parent company of Philippine fintech giant GCash, has been cleared for a potential $1.47 billion IPO. The listing could become one of the region’s most significant fintech public-market events.
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Freedom Credit Union Taps Salus to Help Attract Gen Z and Millennial Members
Freedom Credit Union is working with Salus to develop strategies for attracting younger customers, particularly Gen Z and millennials. The initiative reflects financial institutions’ growing focus on adapting products and experiences for younger generations.
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Disclaimer: Payments Wrap Up aggregates publicly available information for informational purposes only. Portions of the content may be reproduced verbatim from the original source, and full credit is provided with a “Source: [Name]” attribution. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Fintech Wrap Up does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the aggregated content; these are the responsibility of the original source providers. Links to the original sources may not always be included. We use AI tools to brainstorm, draft, edit, and summarize, but the ideas, analysis, and connections Sam draws are his. Every piece is verified and written in Sam’s voice. For questions or concerns, please contact us at sam.boboev@fintechwrapup.com.