Crypto.com Hits $20B Valuation with Citadel's Backing
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Crypto.com just landed its first-ever institutional funding round (and it's a big one!).
Citadel Securities is putting $400M into the platform at a $20B valuation, taking a 2% stake. It's the first institutional investment in Crypto.com's decade-long history.
The timing isn't random, since Kraken recently pulled in $200M from Deutsche Börse.
Traditional finance isn't just watching crypto anymore... it's buying in!
Scroll down to get your daily FinTech dose. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
Marcel
HOW FINTECH PERFORMED LAST WEEK
📈 Here’s how listed FinTech companies performed over the past week:
PAYMENTS NEWS
🌎 Mastercard has launched Wallet Services, enabling banks, FinTechs, merchants, and digital platforms to build digital wallets for iOS and Android. The launch follows Apple's expanded NFC access, allowing partners to add contactless payments through a single solution across both platforms.
🇬🇧 Wise Group reported 26% year-over-year growth in cross-border volume to $69.3 billion in Q1 FY27, with active customers rising 21% to 11.9 million. Customer holdings increased 31% to $41.2 billion, while transaction revenue grew 27%, net revenue rose 25%, and the average cross-border fee fell to 50bps. Read more
🇨🇱 Wise has launched its international money transfer service in Chile, allowing customers to send Chilean pesos to more than 40 currencies across 160 countries. The launch also includes access to Wise's global account, supporting international payments, multi-currency balances, and local account details.
🇳🇱 Dutch FinTech Mollie will invest €100 million in Italy over the next five years to expand its local operations. The investment will fund product, engineering, sales, and customer support teams, strengthening its payment offering and reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Italian market.
🇨🇦 VukaPay has secured Payment Service Provider registration with the Bank of Canada through its Canadian entity, Wirpaid Limited. The milestone strengthens its infrastructure strategy, supporting cross-border payment corridors between Africa, Canada, and other global markets.
🇧🇷 Brazilian FinTech Jeitto is expanding access to digital credit through its app, which combines credit and everyday financial services. Its e-Grana product offers revolving monthly credit from R$50 to R$500. The company has more than 15 million registered customers, 35% of whom accessed formal credit for the first time.
🇦🇷 Alipay+ has expanded QR payment acceptance across Argentina through the country's Transferencias 3.0 scheme in partnership with PVS. The rollout enables international visitors to pay with Alipay+ partner wallets while allowing merchants to accept cross-border QR payments using existing infrastructure.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇵🇱 Revolut is expanding in Poland with a new Warsaw office and plans to hire more than 300 employees over the next year across engineering, data analytics, operations, sales, and services. The expansion will increase its workforce in the country to more than 1,600 people.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇸🇬 Singapore-founded Paymonade has secured a MiCA licence from Liechtenstein's Financial Market Authority, allowing it to provide regulated crypto-asset services across the 30-member European Economic Area. The company plans to double its European headcount over the next year.
🌎 Bitunix has launched the Bitunix Card, a Visa debit card that lets users spend crypto at more than 130 million merchants worldwide. Available through its web and mobile platforms, the card also supports yield on eligible balances and is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal.
🇳🇱 Dutch crypto exchange Knaken has been declared bankrupt after prosecutors alleged that around €7 million in customer funds could not be accounted for. A Rotterdam court found the company lacked sufficient assets to fully repay customers, while prosecutors continue investigating the alleged shortfall.
🌎 BitGo to provide institutional custody and off-exchange settlement services for USDM1, described as the world's first natively issued onchain sovereign bond. The integration enables institutional clients to hold and use the Treasury-backed asset for collateral and settlement through BitGo's platform.
🇹🇿 The Bank of Tanzania is preparing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and virtual assets after completing a study on digital assets. The proposed rules aim to strengthen investor protection, combat money laundering and fraud, and support financial stability.
PARTNERSHIPS
🌎 Sav has signed a five-year partnership with Visa, making it the exclusive card network for its card portfolio across the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The agreement supports Sav's digital payments expansion and future products, including multi-currency and credit cards, subject to regulatory approval.
🇯🇵 Japan and the European Union have successfully validated the cross-border interoperability of digital identity wallets through a pilot using academic credentials. The project demonstrated that credentials can be issued, stored, presented, and verified across both digital identity systems.
🌎 Circle’s Gateway and Circle Payments Network (CPN) are now available through Fireblocks, enabling institutions to manage USDC across supported blockchains and access near real-time cross-border settlement into local fiat. The integration adds operational and compliance controls for institutional stablecoin use.
🇺🇸 FIS has expanded its partnership with Anthropic by joining Project Glasswing, an initiative that uses frontier AI to identify software security vulnerabilities. FIS is testing Anthropic’s Mythos 5 model to strengthen the security of systems supporting global financial infrastructure.
🇵🇱 BLIK now available for ChatGPT users. OpenAI users can now pay for ChatGPT subscriptions using BLIK Recurring Payments through Stripe. The integration allows automatic subscription payments while letting users manage active subscriptions through their banking apps, expanding the BLIK recurring payments ecosystem.
🇲🇬 Airtel Money Madagascar has partnered with Baobab Bank to expand mobile banking services. The integration enables Baobab Bank customers to access banking services through Airtel Money, while Airtel Money users can transfer funds directly from their mobile wallets to Baobab Bank accounts.
🌎 Stripe to make first entry into sport sponsorship via a deal with the Mercedes Formula 1 team, according to SportBusiness. The multi-year agreement is set to begin with the 2027 Formula 1 season, marking Stripe's first sports sponsorship.
🇪🇸 BBVA becomes the first Spanish bank to join Swift’s new global retail scheme, enabling faster, more transparent, and 24/7 cross-border transfers for individuals and SMEs. The bank will initially process inbound transactions from markets including China, Australia, and Türkiye, and will progressively expand the number of international payment corridors.
🌎 Turnkey and Breez partner to launch non-custodial Bitcoin payment infrastructure, enabling developers to integrate Lightning, Spark, and Bitcoin payments into applications. The solution combines Breez’s payment SDK with Turnkey’s secure enclave signing technology. Read more
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇸🇬 Crypto.com has secured a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities, valuing the company at $20 billion. The funding will support its expansion into tokenized securities and derivatives, marking Crypto.com's first institutional funding round.
🇳🇬 Nigeria’s Mathesis Analytics has secured a strategic investment from First Ally Capital to scale its AI-powered credit decisioning infrastructure. The funding will support expansion across Africa, where the FinTech aims to improve credit access by helping lenders assess borrowers beyond traditional credit histories.
🇧🇷 Brazilian FinTech Pinbank has raised R$100 million ($19.6 million) through a Credit Rights Investment Fund (FIDC). The funding will expand financing capacity for its acquiring business, which processes R$4 billion in annual card, Pix, and digital wallet transaction volume, while supporting its broader growth strategy.
M&A
🇨🇭 Temenos completes acquisition of Swiss FinTech additiv, integrating its AI-powered wealth management orchestration technology into the Temenos platform. The deal supports Temenos’ strategy to expand its wealth management capabilities while retaining additiv’s founder-led management team.
🇸🇬 SBI Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto platform Coinhako after receiving approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The deal supports SBI’s expansion in digital assets, including stablecoins, onchain finance, and tokenized assets across Asia. SBI said it plans to hold its first overseas branch managers’ meeting in Singapore this summer to strengthen its local business foundation.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Yana Shkrebenkova has stepped down as CEO of Revolut Trading and Head of UK Wealth & Trading. Yana had led the FCA-regulated brokerage arm since its launch in 2023 and said she remains a strong supporter of the company. A successor has already been identified.
🇺🇸 USBC has appointed former Apple Pay and Cash App executive Dave Baldwin as Head of Partnerships. He will lead the commercial growth of the company’s tokenized deposit and digital payments platform, supporting adoption among payment networks and enterprise partners. Read more
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