Currensea Secures Netherlands Payment License
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Currensea, the UK-based platform behind co-branded and travel debit cards, has secured a Payments Institution Licence from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), marking its first step into the European market as it prepares to serve customers across the continent.
The milestone comes on the heels of the company being named the UK's second fastest-growing FinTech in the Financial Times' FT1000 ranking of high-growth European businesses.
Currensea's platform works by linking a co-branded debit card directly to a customer's existing bank account, letting them earn rewards on everyday spending.
“This licence enables us to build on our success in the UK and bring our award-winning, multi-bank debit rewards offering to customers across the continent, operating out of one of the EU’s leading FinTech hubs,” said James Lynn, CEO and Co-Founder of Currensea.
Keep moving with the rest of today’s top FinTech headlines below. 👇 See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
POST OF THE DAY
➡️ All Stripe Sessions 2026 updates in 12 minutes.
For everyone who missed it, here's a breakdown 👇
Stripe Sessions 2026
FINTECH NEWS
🌎 Anthropic launches 10 AI agent templates tailored for financial services, covering workflows like pitchbook creation, KYC screening, financial modeling, and month-end close processes. The update also expands Claude’s integration with Microsoft 365 apps and financial data providers, helping firms deploy AI-powered automation across research, compliance, and finance operations more quickly.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇳🇬 BMONI and Mastercard collaborate to unlock instant card access for consumers in Nigeria. The collaboration aims to introduce a new generation of virtual and physical payment cards designed to enable seamless local and global transactions for consumers in the country.
🇵🇹 Mastercard completes first ‘real-world AI agent transaction’ in Portugal using credentials from a Portuguese payment card, marking a milestone for agentic commerce. The demonstration took place during the launch of Mastercard’s Innovation Centre of Excellence in Lisbon, highlighting the company’s growing focus on AI, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and next-generation payment infrastructure.
🇵🇱 BLIK processed 756 million transactions worth nearly PLN 120 billion in Q1 2026, maintaining double-digit growth driven largely by e-commerce activity. Online payments accounted for half of all transactions, with newer services like recurring payments and Buy Now, Pay Later contributing to increased adoption among its 21.1 million active users.
🇳🇱 Currensea expands into Europe after securing Dutch regulatory approval. The approval enables Currensea to roll out its co-branded debit card platform throughout the European Economic Area in partnership with airlines, hotel groups, and other major brands.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇲🇽 Revolut invests $64 million to boost Mexico's growth after launch. "The response from Mexicans has exceeded our expectations," Revolut Mexico CEO Juan Guerra said, adding that the new funds will accelerate product rollout and growth.
🇨🇱 Carlos Urrutia on British neobank Revolut’s plans. In an interview ahead of the Chile FinTech Forum 2026, the senior Revolut executive said the company sees strong long-term potential in Chile and broader Latin America, highlighting underserved populations, growing remittance flows, and increasing digital adoption as key drivers for expansion.
🇧🇷 Nubank confirms participation in Novo Desenrola Brasil and announces a complementary initiative to expand renegotiations. As one of the main private partners in the initiative, the institution will offer special conditions to eligible clients, reinforcing its strategy of being the main ally in people's financial lives. Offers will be sent to clients gradually through official channels.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🌎 Bitget enables scan to pay for instant payments via USDT. The feature is now live across selected markets in Southeast Asia and Latin America at launch. By integrating with existing local payment networks, Scan to Pay allows users to complete transactions without changing merchant systems or relying on bank intermediaries.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 FalconX and Sygnum Bank partner to bridge regulated banking and on-chain tokenized credit. Through the collaboration, Sygnum Bank's institutional and private wealth clients will gain access to FalconX's on-chain structured credit facility - a tokenized design to provide exposure to institutional digital asset credit potential and returns from institutional credit participation.
🇨🇳 Geidea and UnionPay roll out dual-card routing upgrade in MEA. The integration aims to reduce friction for Chinese tourists and expatriates by enabling them to use their cards with a level of familiarity similar to that in their home market.
🇬🇧 Thredd and Currensea expand strategic partnership to power next phase of growth. Thredd provides the issuer processing and core programme infrastructure underpinning Currensea’s debit card offering, supporting both physical and virtual cards, tokenisation, digital wallet provisioning, and secure transaction processing.
🌏 Yuno partners with Tabby to enable Buy Now, Pay Later for merchants across the MENA Region. The integration helps merchants tap into one of the region’s most widely used payment methods, supporting higher conversion rates and broader access to underbanked consumers in the GCC.
🇧🇷 TIM closed a partnership with PicPay to distribute financial products to its 61 million customers without investing a single cent in equity. The focus is on credit, and the move marks the operator's return to the financial sector after receiving R$520 million to exit C6 Bank.
🌍 Ripple partners with Coinbase to combat North Korean hackers. The initiative includes a new API for sharing high-confidence security data, helping financial and crypto companies identify and respond to sophisticated social engineering campaigns more effectively.
🇨🇦 Visa Canada and Wealthsimple pilot stablecoin settlement. Through this pilot, Wealthsimple can now satisfy certain settlement obligations with Visa Canada in USD Coin (USDC), bringing stablecoin settlement to the Canadian market.
🇬🇧 PayDo partners with BVNK to add stablecoin pay-ins, payouts, and checkout capabilities, without requiring them to directly handle crypto. By adding stablecoins to its payment stack, PayDo is offering its business customers greater flexibility, speed, and choice when it comes to moving money.
🇭🇰 RedotPay boards Tempo to deliver agentic payments using stablecoins. By integrating Tempo’s Machine Payments Protocol (MPP), RedotPay is spearheading agentic payments to deliver a convenient, fully automated stablecoin payment solution for consumers and merchants.
🇨🇭 Coinbase taps Centrifuge as preferred tokenization backbone and takes equity stake. The partnership includes a strategic investment by Coinbase and is focused on expanding tokenized ETFs, credit, and structured products. Keep reading
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 Spring Labs raises $5M for AI compliance. The new capital will support Spring Labs' mission to improve the quality, consistency, and scalability of compliance across financial services. Continue reading
🇺🇸 Trading start-up Liquid scores $18m seed round. With the new funds, Liquid will look to further democratise access to markets that retail traders previously struggled to get access to. “By equipping everyday users with advanced tools, we enable retail traders to operate with the same speed and sophistication as professional quantitative investors,” states CEO and co-founder Franklyn Wang.
🇺🇸 InstaSwitch raises $4.7 million and launches account activation infrastructure for business banking. The company automates the complex process of switching business banking operations, such as payroll, payments, and deposits, helping financial institutions improve activation and retention rates.
🇬🇧 OpenTrade secures $17M in strategic funding to scale its stablecoin yield infrastructure. OpenTrade raised new funding to expand its stablecoin yield infrastructure, supporting FinTechs and institutions with scalable, secure solutions and advancing its platform to serve a broader range of use cases.
🇬🇧 Standard Chartered expands further into crypto with a stake in GSR at a $1 billion valuation. The partnership aims to build regulated digital asset infrastructure and expand institutional access to tokenization, further advancing Standard Chartered’s push into crypto and blockchain services.
M&A
🇺🇸 MoonPay acquires DFlow, strengthening its capabilities in on-chain trading infrastructure and agent-driven finance. DFlow became one of the fastest-growing infrastructure layers on Solana by pioneering dynamic just-in-time trade routing for improved execution efficiency.
🇺🇸 StoneX not to make an offer for CAB Payments. The decision ends, for now, a high-profile takeover battle over the London-listed payments firm, though StoneX left open the possibility of revisiting a bid under certain future conditions. Read more
🇺🇸 Barclays completes acquisition of the Best Egg. The acquisition is a milestone in the delivery of Barclays' U.S. growth strategy. Best Egg adds a scaled, proven, and capital-light personal lending platform that complements the US Consumer Bank's partnership-driven credit card and deposit businesses.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌎 Mastercard appoints Florencia Solazzi as the new Cluster Leader for Argentina and Uruguay. In this role, Florencia will be responsible for defining and executing Mastercard's strategy, leading business operations, customer, regulatory, and strategic partner relationships, and consolidating a growth model based on innovation, scale, and operational excellence.
🇧🇷 Nubank appoints Carl Rivera as Chief Product Officer. In his role, Carl will work in close partnership with Ethan Eismann, Chief Design Officer, and Eric Young, Chief Technology Officer, ensuring tight alignment between tech, product, and design to deliver exceptional experiences at a global scale.
🇺🇸 PayPal hires Antonio Lucio as new CMO amid restructuring. The company is reorganizing into three core business units, including Venmo and crypto services, as it looks to accelerate growth, streamline operations, and strengthen its long-term innovation strategy.
🇸🇬 Crypto.com’s longtime CMO Steven Kalifowitz departs. The move follows the recent exit of former Chief Legal Officer Nick Lundgren, marking the second C-suite departure at the company in recent months. Read more
🇩🇪 BBVA appoints Jürgen von der Lehr as Head of its digital bank in Germany. His international profile, combined with his experience in payments, accounts, digital products, operational transformation, and the development of new value propositions, makes him a key executive in consolidating BBVA’s development in Germany, a priority market in the bank’s European strategy.
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