Hello TWIF UK & Europe friends,

Please find another week of fintech news, financings and exits below.

👍 👎 Have feedback or news to share? Let me know on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Sign up to TWIF Premium Join us on WhatsApp Join our Slack

Check out our upcoming events and join us for our next London fintech breakfast!

Funding 💸

Highlights below of deals since the last post in the fintech space across the UK & Europe. Deal data powered by Dealroom.

🇬🇧 SMB lender Propel Finance has raised £1.5bn in funding to support businesses in UK.

🇬🇧 Open banking payment provider Yaspa raised a $12m round from Techstars, Metavallon VC and Discerning Capital.

Challenger Banking 🚀

🇪🇺 French business bank Qonto has applied for a French banking licence.

🇬🇧 Credit card startup Yonder is launching premium debit cards.

🇬🇧 Cross-border transfer provider Wise has applied for a national trust bank charter.

🌍A group of tech billionaire s launching Erebor, a new bank to fill the void left by SVB.

Digital Assets ₿

🇪🇺 Stablecoin infrastructure provider Paxos has launched its USDG stablecoin in Europe.

🇪🇺Crypto exchange Gemini has launched tokenized stocks in Europe.

🇪🇺Crypto exchange Bitvavo has secured a MiCA license in Netherlands.

🇪🇺 Kraken and Bybit launched tokenized stocks powered by Backed Finance.

🇪🇺 Deutsche Bank is to launch a crypto custody service in 2026 in partnership with Bitpanda. German banking group Sparkassen will also add a crypto trading service.

🇪🇺 UniCredit will offer a new product tied to BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF according to Bloomberg.

🇪🇺 Deutsche Bank, Galaxy Digital and Flow Traders will launch a German-regulated stablecoin.

🇪🇺 Italian bank Banca Sella is internally trialling a stablecoin custody pilot with Fireblocks.

🌍 Stablecoin issuer Circle has applied for a national trust bank charter to oversee its USDC reserves. It is also to launch Gateway, a way to unify USDC balances across multiple blockchains.

🌍 Robinhood has launched tokenised stocks and its own blockchain.

🌍 Coinbase is to offer perpetual-style futures in the US later in July. It also acquired token management platform LiquiFi.

🌍 Digital asset custodian Anchorage is to stop supporting USDC and AUSD whilst continuing to support its own stablecoin, USDG.

🌍 Digital asset market maker Wintermute secured a bitcoin credit line from Cantor Fitzgerald.

🌍 Ripple has also applied for a a national banking licence.

🌍 Tokenization platform Ondo Finance is to acquire SEC broker Oasis Pro.

Traditional Banking 🏦

🇪🇺 Banco Sabadell sold its TSB unit to Santander for £2.85bn..

Fintech Infrastructure 🚧

🇬🇧 Open banking platform Tink signed wealthtech Chip as a customer for its PIS products.

🇬🇧 Payments infrastructure provider OpenPayd is to collaborate with Ripple.

Payments 💰

🇪🇺 Belgian authorities have opened an investigation into Worldline after earlier allegations about money laundering.

🇪🇺 Viva has launched Tap to Pay on iPhone in Spain.

🇬🇧Open banking platform TrueLayer is launching its Pay by Bank offering in France and Germany through a partnership with Stripe.

🌍 Affirm is partnering with a company that providers in-game payments.

🌍 Early Warning, the bank owned group that owns Zelle, have been pitching it to the Treasury department as a replacement for checks.

👍 👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know

Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn for more fintech content

See you next week!