All Rise: Courtrooms Stole The FinTech Headlines

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

What a rough day it's been for FinTech's legal teams.

I can't remember the last time we had this much legal drama. What do you want me to begin with? The billion-dollar win or the courtroom chaos?

Let's start with today's biggest legal headache.

For Binance, when it rains, it pours. Just days after missing out on a MiCA licence and watching rivals like Coinbase and OKX scoop up affected users, the crypto exchange is now facing a £150 million lawsuit from nearly 1,700 UK investors.

The lawsuit targets both Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, alleging the company illegally sold high-risk crypto derivatives to retail customers.

NatWest isn't off the hook either, facing a fresh £250 million lawsuit tied to the Thurrock Council scandal. Liquidators claim the bank's Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiary processed unauthorised payments that helped siphon funds from companies linked to the failed investment scheme that pushed the council into effective bankruptcy.

But not every courtroom story ends badly. Klarna is celebrating after winning a major antitrust case against Google, securing $1.97 billion in damages linked to its acquisition of PriceRunner.

There's plenty more waiting below.

See what else is shaping FinTech. 👇 See you tomorrow!

Cheers,

Marcel

INSIGHTS

🎤 Yapily Webinars: How intelligent data and integrated payments are reshaping SME lending. Yapily will host a panel discussion on 8 July exploring how real-time data, AI, and integrated payments are reshaping SME lending. Moderated by Jason O'Shaughnessy (Director of Lending, Yapily), the panel features Tigana Sari (Allica Bank), Kai Hunter (Lovey), and Kate Kennedy (Navrisk). Register here

FINTECH NEWS

🌍 Airwallex has launched AgentOS, an AI toolkit that enables agents on platforms such as Claude, Cursor, and OpenAI to manage end-to-end financial workflows. The solution helps businesses unify financial data, automate cash management, execute transfers and currency conversions, and use AI to forecast liquidity and future cash flows.

🇺🇸 Robinhood to lay off dozens of employees at Bay Area HQ. The job cuts are part of a broader overall effort to "maintain a high-performance culture, further accelerate product velocity, and remain lean and disciplined," according to the SEC filing.

🇪🇬 Klivvr invests $10m to scale AI-driven FinTech ecosystem in Egypt. The platform leverages artificial intelligence in finance via its K.ai assistant to provide real-time spending insights, personalized guidance, and comprehensive financial control for consumers across the country.

🇺🇸 Klarna has received a favorable ruling in the PriceRunner litigation, awarding $1.97 billion. The award compensates for lost revenue caused by Google's preferential treatment of its own comparison-shopping service over independent price-comparison services, conduct that also drives up costs for consumers.

🇺🇸 Binance expands Triparty Banking Network with Anchorage Digital’s Atlas integration. The integration gives eligible institutional and professional clients another banking partner to manage collateral, custody, and exchange access through a custody-separated model, all while accessing Binance liquidity seamlessly.

PAYMENTS NEWS

🇺🇸 Taxbit has launched a free CARF and CRS Self-Assessment Tool to help businesses evaluate their readiness for evolving crypto tax reporting requirements. The 12-question assessment reviews onboarding, transaction reporting, and internal systems, providing a summary of compliance status and potential gaps.

🇪🇸 Getnet has rebranded PagoNxt’s SaaS payment infrastructure business as Getnet Platforms. The new brand unifies its cloud-native payment technology under Getnet, helping financial institutions modernize and scale payment capabilities without replacing their core infrastructure.

🇺🇸 American Express has expanded Membership Rewards® by enabling eligible U.S. Card Members to redeem points directly at checkout with Apple Pay for online purchases, giving customers more flexibility to use rewards on everyday spending. 

🇬🇧 SumUp launches consumer account paying users to shop small. The account aims to reward spending at small and medium-sized businesses by offering 5% cashback on purchases made in SumUp’s merchant network, much of which is composed of smaller businesses and independent service providers.

🇮🇳 Bangladesh launches ‘Bangla QR’ nationwide to simplify digital payments. Introduced by Bangladesh Bank, the unified QR code platform is designed to modernise the country's payment ecosystem by enabling cashless transactions that are faster, more transparent and more cost-effective.

DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇬🇧 NatWest hit with £250m lawsuit tied to Thurrock Council scandal. NatWest Group is facing claims exceeding £250 million after liquidators alleged its subsidiary, Royal Bank of Scotland, processed unauthorized payments linked to the collapse of Rockfire Group. 

🇲🇽 Banco Plata expects regulatory approval in Mexico to launch its brokerage firm in December 2026. The move would expand Plata beyond banking, credit cards, and savings into local investment services for its more than three million customers.

#FINTECHREPORT

📊 Revolut 🆚 Nubank

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BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇦🇺 Maple brings its onchain credit engine to Robinhood Chain with syrupUSDG. The asset will power Robinhood Earn, combining regulated stablecoins, overcollateralized institutional lending, and onchain transparency through partnerships with Paxos, Steakhouse Financial, and Morpho.

🇹🇷 Türkiye’s leading digital asset platform Paribu has expanded into DeFi by integrating perpetual trading via Hyperliquid and prediction markets via Polymarket, while also opening a waitlist for U.S. and Turkish equity trading. The launch moves Paribu toward a unified platform combining crypto, DeFi, yield, and traditional investing.

🇺🇸 MetaMask launches Money Account, bringing DeFi yield and global spending to stablecoin balances. Money Account is a self-custodial account inside MetaMask that combines automated earning, instant spending, and one-click trading in a single balance.

🇪🇺 near.com brings Euros Onchain, enabling EU users to trade across crypto markets confidentially using their own wallets. Users can deposit euros into a crypto wallet via SEPA Instant, the EU's real-time payment rail, and receive EURe stablecoins against those euros.

🌍 OKX has launched OKX AI, a marketplace where autonomous AI agents can hire and pay each other using blockchain and stablecoins. Following a closed beta with partners including CertiK, CoinAnk, and GenLayer, the platform aims to accelerate the growth of agentic commerce.

PARTNERSHIPS

🇬🇷 Allianz Trade teams up with Mastercard to better support B2B travel payments. The enhanced solution protects issuers using Mastercard Virtual Card Numbers (VCNs), helping them extend credit to online travel agencies with reduced payment risk.

🇲🇾 Adyen powers online and offline payments for CeX Malaysia. The integration centralizes payment processing and reporting, helping CeX streamline operations across its franchise network and support multiple local and international payment methods.

🌍 Eurobank has presented Banking Forward, a comprehensive overview of the Bank's digital banking ecosystem, highlighting the new digital banking experience, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the evolution of mobile banking, and the redesign of customer journeys for both retail and business customers.

🇧🇷 Nubank and Amazon Brazil expand their partnership with a complete checkout experience and greater payment flexibility. NuPay will now offer a complete checkout experience on Amazon, with all major payment options available.

🇹🇷 Turkey is pursuing membership in the Single Euro Payments Area, with government and financial institutions working on the initiative. Joining SEPA would enable faster, lower-cost, and more secure cross-border euro payments between Turkey and participating European countries.

🇨🇩 Visa and M-Pesa test stablecoins in DRC for cross-border payments, using stablecoins behind the scenes to settle M-Pesa wallet top-ups and make cross-border digital payments faster and more efficient. Read more

🇮🇳 J.P. Morgan Payments and NPCI team up to power real-time FX for cross-border UPI. The collaboration will enable end-to-end FX with secure, real-time conversion and settlement thereafter, helping clients make and receive cross-border payments with speed and transparency across multiple currencies.

DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇧🇷 Jota raises R$ 150 million and launches version 2.0 of its assistant. With the Series A funding, the intention is to accelerate the development of the infrastructure of Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) and expand the assistant's functionalities. 

🇦🇪 Rentify raises a $ 2 million seed round to launch Earn AI. The seed funding supports the launch of Earn AI, an agentic AI platform that autonomously manages rental revenue on behalf of landlords & property managers and marks Rentify’s expansion from payment infrastructure into the full operating and intelligence layer of real estate.

🇮🇳 Spense raises $2.8 Mn from Arkam Ventures to build secured lending infrastructure. It enables banks to launch modern asset-backed credit products, including secured credit cards and credit lines, without replacing their existing technology infrastructure

M&A

🇹🇷 Turkish regulator approves Freedom Holding’s acquisition of Turkish Bank. Freedom intends to bring its experience to the Turkish market. The bank acquisition provides a foundation for scaling a model that has already proven its effectiveness.

🇸🇪 Morrow Bank AB completes the acquisition of MedMera Bank. The acquisition increases Morrow Bank’s scale in Sweden and establishes an exclusive long-term partnership with Coop, one of Sweden’s largest retail brands, with access to its distribution channels and over 4 million members.

🌎 Payward completes acquisition of Reap, expanding B2B offering with global payments infrastructure. The acquisition expands Payward Services, the company’s B2B infrastructure platform, unlocking globally regulated infrastructure for card issuance and stablecoin payments.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

🇦🇺 Banking Circle appoints Piers Cracknell as Chief Executive Officer. He brings more than 25 years of experience across Australian and international banks and payments companies. He takes charge of the local unit at a time when specialist banking and payments providers are competing to serve financial institutions.

🇫🇷 Unzer appoints Isabelle Bénard as Chief Product and AI Officer. At Unzer, she will lead product strategy and oversee the company's AI agenda, ensuring that artificial intelligence becomes an integral part of how products are developed, decisions are made, and merchants are served.

🇺🇸 Robinhood CFO hands off PAO role. Robinhood CFO Shiv Verma has handed the principal accounting officer role to newly appointed Chief Accounting Officer Dara Bazzano. The move adds senior accounting leadership as Robinhood continues scaling as a public company, while Verma remains CFO and principal financial officer.

🇨🇦 Nuvei has strengthened its executive team with three key appointments: Samir Zabaneh as Chief Operating Officer, David McLaughlin as Chief Financial Officer, and Eli Rosner as Chief Product and Technology Officer. The hires support Nuvei’s next phase of global growth, with a focus on operational scale, financial discipline, and AI-driven product innovation.

🇺🇸 CPI Card Group has appointed Terra Grantham as Chief Financial Officer, following her tenure as interim CFO since February 2026. A longtime CPI executive, Grantham previously led Enterprise Strategy and Growth and brings more than 25 years of finance leadership experience to the role.

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