Hello Fintech Friends,

Um – a lot of things happened this week.

Welcome to the 721 new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 228,000+ other subscribers. Today's newsletter is brought to you by our friends at Persona.

First and foremost, we launched our Call For Speakers for Stablecon EMEA, taking place in Amsterdam next May 19-20. If you haven't registered yet, tickets are available at a steeeeeeep discount until the end of the year.

Speaking of – If you’re a stablecoin company, who are your top 3 wishlist customers? Let us know and we'll invite them to the conference.

We’re also looking for more great writers at TWIF! I'm excited to share that Vivi Giacaman is joining us as our new TWIF LatAm Editor, leading our coverage and content of all fintech in Latin America. If you've ever wanted to write about fintech for an audience of 225k+ subscribers, let us know.

And we're hiring a few Event Leads to join our US team. Demand for fintech events has exploded over the last year, and we're growing the team to keep up. If you're interested in making $1k to $4k per event to organize corporate events, drop me a line by replying to this email.

On the topic of LatAm fintech, I'm excited to share the conversation I had with Nubank co-founder Cristina Junqueira on her journey from an office in a rented apartment to a team of 9,000 (and 120 million users). Cristina recently moved to the US to launch Nubank's US strategy, and drops some great nuggets about what we can expect from them – check out the full conversation here.

It's pretty crazy to see the CEO of the world's largest $10T+ asset manager, Larry Fink of Blackrock, talking about tokenization in The Economist and discussing how a world of tokenized investment options will create new opportunities for finance.

Stablecoins are the wedge product that will lead into tokenized funds.

Once dollars become tokenized, the barrier are lowered for equities, debt instruments, and more exotic instruments to move on-chain.

We'll also have some coverage on Sunday of the year's last (maybe?) fintech IPO! Investment and asset manager Wealthfront announced this week that it will go public, seeking out a $2 billion valuation.

The last piece of news from this week that I found interesting was that Coinbase is funding a test universal basic income program in New York, partnering with GiveDirectly on $12k cash transfers to recipients in-need. As a long-time believer that there is a strong intersection between tech and UBI programs, I'll be very curious to see the results.

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm

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Inside this guide, you’ll find step-by-step workflows and the high-impact signals that matter most for each fraud type, plus best practices for calibrating thresholds, layering behavioral and device-based indicators, and refining your response using real-world data. 

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Financial Services & Banking

Product Launches

Qivalis — a new company backed by 10 major European banks announced a plan to issue a euro‑denominated stablecoin by the second half of 2026.

Asset and fund manager WisdomTree launched a new fund to facilitate

Other News

Banks, brokers and money managers across Wall Street are eager to find a role in a newly-proposed administration program offering Americans investment accounts at birth. The US plans to seed each of the “Trump Accounts” with $1,000, costing $15 billion through 2034, to provide Americans with investment accounts they can draw down on later in life – an interesting experiment to effectively build a US sovereign wealth fund.

Visa pushed a wave of new digital‑wallet launches across Europe prepping an NFC‑wallet pilot for early 2026 and joined with AWS to bring its Intelligent Commerce payment platform to AWS Marketplace — enabling developers and businesses to deploy AI‑driven “agentic commerce” payment flows.

The FDIC claims it has prepared a set of draft rules under the GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoin issuers by month’s end.

HSBC adopted foundational AI models from Mistral AI — aiming to embed generative‑AI tools bank‑wide to improve internal productivity, document analysis, onboarding, and fraud/AML processes.

Mastercard added built‑in fraud‑protection tools (like “My Cyber Risk” and identity‑theft monitoring) to its SME credit cards in Latin America and the Caribbean — aiming to help small businesses better defend against cyber threats while they grow digitally and used data from its network and proprietary insights to launch the “Credit Intelligence” suite, helping lenders make smarter credit decisions by supplementing traditional credit‑bureau data.

Vanguard opened its platform to crypto‑focused ETFs and mutual funds, letting its brokerage clients trade digital‑asset funds after years of excluding them.

Deutsche Börse formed a wide‑ranging digital‑asset partnership with Kraken, aiming to combine traditional financial‑market infrastructure with crypto trading, custody, settlement, and tokenized‑asset services.

The Financial Conduct Authority started live testing of AI applications in banking — opening a program that lets firms trial AI‑based tools for customer service, complaints handling, and financial advising under regulated conditions.

Seven U.S. state attorneys general have launched an inquiry into the “buy now, pay later” sector to investigate whether providers are exposing consumers to hidden fees, unclear terms, or debt traps.

CME Group suffered a multi‑hour trading outage after a data‑center cooling failure disrupted its systems — halting futures and options trading across markets including equities, commodities, FX and Treasuries.

Quote of the Week

Fintech

Product Launches

Klarna expanded its U.S. membership program and launched new Premium and Max tiers — giving Americans access to lounge-access, travel insurance, lifestyle perks and cashback without needing a credit card or spending minimum.

Sony Bank plans to issue a U.S.-dollar-pegged stablecoin as soon as fiscal 2026, aiming to let customers pay for games, anime, and other digital content via stablecoin instead of credit cards.

QuickBooks — via its payments arm — added invoice-payment functionality so that businesses can embed a “Pay Now” button in invoices and get paid faster, reducing manual reconciliation and easing cash-flow issues.

Zepz partnered with infrastructure provider Bridge to launch stablecoin-linked Visa cards for Sendwave Wallet users — allowing customers to spend stablecoins while merchants receive local-currency settlements.

Binance unveiled a new product — Binance Junior — that opens parent-controlled crypto savings accounts for children and teens (ages 6–17), enabling parents to supervise deposits, limit transfers, and help kids earn via interest-bearing crypto savings.

Worldpay launched its public “Model Context Protocol (MCP)” to provide AI‑driven, agent‑enabled payments — making it easier for developers and merchants to integrate AI agents directly into checkout flows without extra licensing.

InFlow launched a payments system to power monetization for AI agents, enabling agents to onboard and pay autonomously inside their workflows.

Kurv launced an instant payments app for merchants.

CredoLab introduced a new Income Prediction Model that enabled lenders to estimate applicants’ income from privacy‑consented smartphone metadata — helping assess creditworthiness where traditional income data is unavailable.

Kraken began rolling out its “Krak Card” debit card across the UK and EU to extend multi‑asset payment capabilities — allowing users to spend fiat or crypto assets at everyday merchants with 1% cash‑back rewards.

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SPONSORED

Every fraud vector tells a different story, from account takeovers to synthetic identities and deepfakes. But they all share one thing in common: every fraud vector leaves a trail of data in its wake. Persona’s latest ebook, 17 top signals for fighting ATOs, synthetic IDs, and deepfakes, shows how leading fraud teams use these data breadcrumbs to detect and stop fraud attacks before they scale.

Inside this guide, you’ll find step-by-step workflows and the high-impact signals that matter most for each fraud type, plus best practices for calibrating thresholds, layering behavioral and device-based indicators, and refining your response using real-world data. 

Learn more

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

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Job of the Week

Deal Operations Consultant

ABOUT US Sydecar is on a mission to transform the world of private markets. Our goal is to make these markets more accessible, transparent, and liquid, and we’re achieving this by revolutionizing the way investment vehicles are created and executed. At Sydecar, we’re not just a platform; we’re a trusted partner in venture capital. We’re dedicated to simplifying and standardizing the private investing experience, empowering capital allocators to discover and support visionary entrepreneurs who are shaping the future. Our platform is designed with ease and efficiency in mind. We take care of all the behind-the-scenes tasks, from automating banking, ensuring compliance, handling contracts, managing taxes, to streamlining reporting. This leaves investors the freedom to concentrate on what matters most: making valuable deals and nurturing meaningful relationships. Join us at Sydecar, as we lead the charge in revolutionizing private investing. Location: New York City (hybrid, 2 days/week in office) ABOUT THE TEAM The Deal Operations team owns the full lifecycle of every deal launched on Sydecar. We are responsible for making sure every deal on our platform runs smoothly. We work directly with fund managers and investors to solve problems, keep timelines on track, and make sure nothing slips through the cracks. We’re the first point of contact when something needs fixing, and we work closely with teams across Sydecar to get the right outcome. ABOUT THE ROLE As a Deal Operations Consultant, you’ll take the lead on some of the most complex or time-sensitive deals on the platform. You’ll work closely with fund managers, support your teammates when questions come up, and help improve how we work. This is a hands-on role where good judgment, clear communication, and follow-through matter. You’ll also help shape how we train, review, and scale this function over time. This role is a good fit for someone who enjoys staying close to the work, but who also wants to play a role in improving the system around them. WHAT YOU’LL DO As a Deal Operations Consultant, you will: - Build relationships with our largest and most important customers to execute their deals as smoothly as possible. - Triage and resolve time-sensitive customer issues—especially those that block deal execution—using judgment, urgency, and clear communication. - Make fast, responsible decisions in ambiguous situations—and know when to escalate or pull in the right cross-functional partner. - Identify product and process improvements that will shape the future of our product and our workflow. - Liaise with senior members of the team, as well as our Legal, Tax, and Product teams to answer customer questions and educate first-time Deal Organizers. - Develop an expert knowledge of our product, our customers, and our industry. - Support customer-facing projects and product discovery. ABOUT YOU - 4-6 years of experience working in deal operations, customer support, fund accounting, or a similar role that required accuracy, communication, and time management. - Excited about working directly with customers, especially when something’s urgent. - Interest and/or familiarity in venture investing and/or back office VC administration. - Excellent and professional written and verbal communication skills. - You thrive in fast-paced, customer-facing environments and are energized—not stressed—by helping unblock critical moments in a deal, even when they fall outside the usual schedule. - Ability to effectively evaluate problems and propose sensible, scalable solutions. - Comfortable working under pressure and context-switching across dozens of tasks, customers, and workflows in a single day. BONUS IF YOU HAVE - Experience working in a startup, fintech, or investment operations role. - Exposure to fund administration, deal execution, or compliance workflows. - Experience mentoring or onboarding team members. SYDECAR’S VALUES Our values are important to the way we live and work at Sydecar. They guide our priorities, behaviors and interactions. Be Committed As a team, we rise to meet challenges and recognize that we become stronger and develop character when facing adversity. Be Excellent We measure our success not just by what we achieve, but by how we achieve it—through integrity, creativity, elegance, and a commitment to continuous improvement. Excellence is not just doing things well—it’s looking for ways to do them better. Be Humble Humility is our key to personal and professional growth. We appreciate that great ideas can come from anywhere, regardless of seniority, pedigree, or experience. We care more about collective outcomes than who gets credit or who does what. We try to not let our ego cloud our judgment. Win Together Winning is no accident. It is the result of collective hard work, perseverance, sacrifice, and most of all, loving what we do. Winning requires that we give extra—sometimes winning calls for late nights or extra effort, and we show up for clients and each other with urgency and heart. While excellence is a journey, winning is a destination. Sydecar is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Sydecar are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Sydecar will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Sydecar encourages applicants of all ages.

Other News

Propel Holdings received regulatory approval to launch Propel Bank in Puerto Rico, allowing it to expand into banking services.

WISE secured conditional approval from the South African Reserve Bank to operate and entered the African market, its first regulated presence on the continent.

Block unveiled a three-year financial outlook, driving its stock up 9% on the back of expectations for annual gross profit growth through 2028 to be in the mid-teens, with adjusted operating income climbing about 30% annually.

Partnership Corner

Navro* integrated with BVNK to activate international stablecoin payment rails — giving its customers the option to send cross-border payments using stablecoins alongside traditional fiat methods.

Highnote expanded its partnership with Ferry and launched Instant Payments — making Ferry the first to deploy real-time payouts for tips and wages in restaurants.

Lithic powered Coinstar’s new “CINQ by Coinstar” GPR debit-card, which transformed physical cash inserted at kiosks into digital funds that users could access via virtual or physical cards.

Trulioo joined Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which enabled it to provide identity verification and establish trust infrastructure for agent-led digital payments.

The Bad News

Nothing this week!