🚨It's OFFICIAL: Mastercard Just Bought BVNK
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Mastercard just closed the deal on BVNK, and it's a statement move. 🚨
The payments giant has completed its acquisition of BVNK to advance its global stablecoin capabilities. If you've been watching Mastercard's strategy over the past year, this isn't a surprise, but it's still significant.
Think about what this means: one of the world's largest card networks now owns dedicated stablecoin infrastructure.
It's not a partnership. It's not a pilot. It's full ownership of the rails that move digital dollars at scale.
The timing tells you everything about where the industry is headed. Stablecoins aren't a crypto sideshow anymore, they're becoming core payments infrastructure, and Mastercard clearly doesn't want to be a spectator while that happens.
Keep scrolling for the latest moves across FinTech. 👇
Cheers,
FINTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Mastercard completes acquisition of BVNK to advance global stablecoin capabilities. The card network has finalized its purchase of BVNK, strengthening its position in stablecoin-powered payments and cross-border settlement infrastructure.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇬🇧 Teya unveils a new payments card machine, expanding its hardware lineup for small and medium businesses across Europe. The device is designed to simplify in-store acceptance and integrate with Teya's broader merchant platform.
🇧🇭 Stc pay Bahrain links with PayPal, launching cross-border fund transfers by letting users withdraw PayPal balances in USD directly into their stc pay wallet in Bahraini dinars. The service targets freelancers, creators and SMEs in Bahrain.
🇵🇭 Philippine FinTech firm Skyro posts its first H1 profit, marking a key milestone for the lending company as it scales across Southeast Asia. The result signals growing operational maturity in the Philippine digital lending space.
🇰🇪 Airtel Money has launched Bizna Wallet, a dedicated mobile money account for small businesses in Kenya, offering features including business till numbers, bulk payment capabilities, and a merchant dashboard. The product targets Kenya's underserved SME segment with tools designed to streamline collections, payments, and cash flow management.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇪🇸 Santander launches eSIM service in Spain, letting customers buy international data plans from the banking app. Built with Gigs, the solution covers 160+ countries and will expand to Portugal and Mexico as part of Santander's strategy to scale digital services globally.
🇺🇸 Chime has cut 10% of its total workforce, or about 140 jobs, as the U.S. neobank points to AI-driven efficiencies behind the reduction. The cuts follow a similar move by fellow digital bank Starling Bank earlier this year and are part of a broader wave of FinTech layoffs that has seen major players reduce headcount throughout 2026.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇯🇵 Bitget to exit Japan, closing all remaining positions after Dec. 31 following repeated warnings from the Financial Services Agency. The exchange has stopped accepting new Japanese registrations and will begin account restrictions Nov. 1.
🇰🇷 Bithumb stretches its IPO timeline to 2028, the latest delay in a listing push spanning more than two years. The exchange reported roughly 651 billion won in 2025 revenue but faces regulatory pressure and internal control issues.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇪🇺 UniCredit, Accenture, and IBM are collaborating to build Europe's next-generation banking platform, combining mission-critical system resilience with modern digital flexibility. As part of the deal, Accenture will acquire from IBM the majority stake in the joint venture managing UniCredit's technology infrastructure, setting a reference model for banking technology in Europe and enabling faster AI scaling across the Group.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇦🇪 Bundle raises $5.5M to launch the world's first networked rewards platform, backed by Ethereal Ventures and Further Ventures in a pre-seed round. The Dubai startup lets brands pool incentive budgets into shared reward pools accessible to SMEs.
🇬🇧 Ripple invests in UK digital assets platform Licuido, backing the company as it builds regulated infrastructure for institutional digital asset services. The investment supports Licuido's efforts to expand tokenisation and custody capabilities.
M&A
🇫🇷 Worldline completes the sale of its Indian payment activities to BillDesk for an estimated equity value of c.€60M. The companies also signed a long-term technology pact under which BillDesk will continue leveraging Worldline's payment software.
🌍 Visa to acquire BioCatch, the behavioral biometrics and fraud intelligence leader, bolstering its fraud prevention and identity verification capabilities across its global payments network.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🌏 Mastercard strengthens Asia Pacific leadership team, announcing senior appointments across the region to accelerate growth and deepen local market engagement. The reshuffle reflects Mastercard's push to expand services beyond its core network.
🇮🇳 Setu promotes Richa Chourasia to business head of UPI payments, expanding her role as the Pine Labs subsidiary scales its UPI infrastructure. She will oversee NPCI relations, merchant collections and new payment product launches.
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