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Will Coinbase become a neobank or a superapp? (TWIF 11/14)

Fall

Hello Fintech Friends,

Welcome to the 708 new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 225,000+ other subscribers. Today's newsletter is brought to you by our friends at Persona.

Hello from our annual TWIF & Stablecon offsite! 👋

I'll be heading to Miami for the inaugural Fintech Nerdcon next week, where I'll be interviewing Nubank co-founder Cristina Junqueira on-stage for a fireside. What is the #1 question you've always wanted to ask Nubank?

I'm also very excited to announce that Justin Friedman has joined the Stablecon team as our Head of Policy! Policy, legal, and regulatory conversations are so critical to the health and growth of the US stablecoin industry, and that's why Justin will be helping us craft Stable Congress, our policy track at the 2026 conference in DC (ps - ticket prices go up soon, grab yours before they do).

We'll be hosting a quarterly policy-focused Stablecon Salon roadshow series event in DC throughout the year. Which speakers should we have join our panels?

If you're interested in participating, reach out to justin [at] stablecon.

On today's topic – Coinbase – it stood out to me that the company released two big launches this week, which on their face didn't really look like traditional crypto products: a savings account (crypto-based) in the UK with almost 4% interest, and a pre-ICO investing option for US users to buy into tokens before they list, with some incentive-alignment features like penalties for users who flip tokens.

As neobanks like Revolut move into crypto, it looks more and more like Coinbase wants to move the other direction, providing crypto-based products like wallets and interest as an alternative to money management in the conventional banking system.

I wonder if users' risk appetites will continue to open up to crypto banking alternatives as the distinctions continue to blur and crypto becomes a more household financial product.

Next up – First Bank of COIN?

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

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

Historically, Know Your Business (KYB) has been a manual, disjointed, and complex endeavor. Think of manually collecting info, endless back-and-forths with customers, and piecing together multiple solutions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Check out this guide from Persona to learn how to streamline your KYB-KYC process and better meet ever-changing regulations, combat fraud, and build trust. Download the guide here.

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Financial Services & Banking

Product Launches

JPMorgan Chase & Co. rolled out a new blockchain-based deposit token called JPMD, allowing corporate clients to transfer and settle payments instantly as part of its broader digital-asset and blockchain expansion strategy.

Samsung Electronics entered advanced talks with Barclays to launch a U.S. consumer credit card, aiming to build a financial ecosystem that competes directly with Apple Card and deepen its integration with Samsung Pay and Galaxy devices.

Standard Chartered Bank partnered with DCS Card Centre to support the launch of a stable-coin enabled credit card (“DeCard”) in Singapore, allowing users to spend tokenized assets in real-world merchant transactions.

Other News

JPMorgan Chase & Co. ramped up its crypto-asset activity after the regulatory environment improved under Donald Trump-era policy shifts, coinciding with more than half of traditional hedge funds holding digital assets this year.

Visa and Mastercard Incorporated reached a settlement with U.S. merchants to trim interchange fees and grant merchants new rights to accept or reject certain card types—effectively loosening the “honor-all-cards” rule.

Visa ran pilot trials that let businesses using Visa Direct fund payouts in fiat while recipients opted to receive USD-backed stablecoins in their wallets — targeting creators, freelancers and cross-border payments.

The Bank of England opened a consultation on regulating sterling-denominated systemic stablecoins, proposing backing and holding limits such as allowing up to 60% of the assets to be in UK government debt.

Quote of the Week

"In a free society, the rules that govern economic life should be knowable, reasoned, and appropriately constrained. When we stretch the securities laws beyond their proper scope, when we treat every innovation as presumptively suspect, we stray from that core principle. When we recognize the limits of our authority, when we acknowledge that investment contracts can end and networks can stand on their own merits, we honor it." - Paul Atkins, SEC Chairman

Fintech

Product Launches

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Terminal launched Burner (above), offering native stablecoin tap to pay, which lets users tap the same way you would with a traditional credit card.

Cash App rolled out 11 product updates, including support to send and receive stablecoins, flexible banking benefits, and AI-powered features. The merchant payments provider expanded its platform by enabling users to send and receive custodied Bitcoin ledger payments. The platform will also enable USDC payments in 2026, powered by Solana.

Coinbase launched a savings account in the UK offering a 3.75 % AER interest (variable) with instant deposits and withdrawals and FSCS‑protected GBP deposits. The crypto exchange also introduced a new platform allowing retail investors to buy digital tokens before listing, via USD Coin payments and algorithmic allocation.

Range launched Faraday, to provide stablecoin routing, compliance, and risk screening in one API.

Wise and Wealthsimple collaborated to launch fast, low‑fee international payments for Canadian users through the Wealthsimple app.

Venmo introduced its “Stash” rewards programme giving debit card users up to 5 % cashback depending on direct deposit or auto‑reload activity.

Snap Finance launched a virtual installment‑payment card that retail partners can deploy without integration, enabling customers to shop immediately with pre‑approved credit.

Trulioo launched a new credit-decisioning capability to strengthen business onboarding via global identity verification.

MoonPay entered the stablecoin issuance space by launching a business unit to issue and manage stablecoins for clients.

Robinhood is launching self-custodied cash.

Historically, Know Your Business (KYB) has been a manual, disjointed, and complex endeavor. Think of manually collecting info, endless back-and-forths with customers, and piecing together multiple solutions. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Check out this guide from Persona to learn how to streamline your KYB-KYC process and better meet ever-changing regulations, combat fraud, and build trust. Download the guide here.

Learn more

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

Upcoming Events

Other News

Revolut is offering fee-free, one-to-one conversions of fiat into USDC or USDT within its app, enabling users to link those stablecoins to physical cards, send across blockchains, and bypass hidden spreads.

Job of the Week

Partnership Corner

Extend and PNC Bank collaborated to launch a platform enabling PNC’s commercial clients to issue, track, and manage virtual cards and real-time spend across employees and vendors.

Mastercard partnered with Thunes to bring stablecoin wallet payouts into its global money movement network.

The Front Page of Fintech

The Front Page of Fintech

Will Coinbase become a neobank or a superapp? (TWIF 11/14)

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The Front Page of Fintech

The Front Page of Fintech

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