🎤 Klarna Chairman Drops the Mic: “10 Years Behind Revolut”
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
At Klarna’s big employee bash in Stockholm last week, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski traded spreadsheets for a rap performance.
But once the music stopped, the reality check came fast: Chairman Michael Moritz reminded everyone that, despite a shiny $15B IPO, Klarna is “10 years behind Revolut.”
It’s a striking comparison, Klarna at 111M users versus Revolut’s 52M, but with Revolut racing ahead into full-service banking, insurance, investing, and crypto, while Klarna still leans heavily on payments and BNPL.
The Swedish giant clearly has work to do if it wants to match London’s favorite neobank.
⚡ And speaking of payments… I’ve got a question for you: I’m currently looking for a small to medium-sized Payment Service Provider with an EU license that’s up for acquisition.
Got a lead? Please send me a message or drop it here so I can contact you asap.
Cheers,
#FINTECHREPORT
🇺🇸 Citi GPS - Stablecoins 2030. Citi now sees 2025 as blockchain’s "ChatGPT moment," driven by surging stablecoin adoption and institutional interest. Issuance has jumped from $200B to $280B this year, prompting forecast upgrades to $1.9T (base) and $4T (bull case). While stablecoins offer promise, Citi expects bank-issued tokens may ultimately dominate by 2030.
FINTECH NEWS
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🇺🇸 Klarna chairman to CEO: We're 10 years behind Revolut. The warning came just after Klarna's IPO debut on the New York Stock Exchange, where shares jumped 30%. While the event featured celebrations, Michael Moritz’s sharp message underscored the challenge of catching up with Revolut.
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PAYMENTS NEWS
🇪🇸 PagoNxt Explores the A2A payments boom. It highlights the rapid rise of account-to-account (A2A) payments, revealing how evolving technology, regulatory changes, and shifting customer expectations are transforming global money movement. The report outlines key opportunities A2A presents for banks, FinTechs, and corporates, positioning PagoNxt at the forefront of this accelerating payments shift.
💰 ARK Invest forecasted that AI agents could facilitate nearly $9 trillion‼️ in payments by the end of the decade (25% of ecommerce), growing from basically zero today 🤯
🇧🇪 Swift to set new rules for retail cross-border payments on its network in bold move to further ramp up speed and predictability. The new Swift scheme will require full predictability of price and speed for retail transactions, with no hidden fees, full value transfers, and instant settlement, where domestic infrastructure and regulations allow.
🇨🇳 China opens digital Yuan hub in Shanghai to boost global use. The People’s Bank of China’s new digital yuan hub will oversee the development and operation of cross-border payment systems and blockchain infrastructure, while also promoting connectivity between domestic and international financial networks.
🇪🇺 ECB to conduct new digital euro experiments next year. The European Central Bank announced that it will conduct new experiments next year to explore the potential of a digital euro, marking a further step in a project it views as crucial for preserving the euro zone's financial autonomy from the United States.
🇧🇷 Trump supports Visa and Mastercard and targets the popular payment platform Pix in Brazil. Pix is used daily by tens of millions of Brazilians to pay everything from utility bills to street vendors, and increasingly for transactions previously made with plastic cards. It has become a symbol of sovereignty in the face of the escalating US trade war, which Brasilia vows to resist.
🇨🇴 Colombian FinTech Kamin aims to lead immediate corporate payments with Bre-B. Through a strategic alliance with ACH Colombia, Kamin will enable its clients to send and receive payments in real time, regardless of the financial institution of the payer or recipient, and will enable automatic payment reconciliation.
🇳🇱 Global FinTech Adyen continues to enable digital commerce with flexible payments. It has announced several partnerships in order to enhance payments and checkout experiences via digital commerce platforms. These collaborations demonstrate Adyen’s focus and ability to unify payments across channels, enabling brands to deliver more personalized, efficient customer experiences.
🇧🇷 PicPay triples profits and increases customer base. PicPay tripled its net profit in the first half of 2025, rising from R$61.8 million to R$208.4 million year-over-year. By June of this year, the app reached 64 million accounts, representing annual growth of 13%.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇮🇪 Revolut to join Zippay in a major boost for banks’ instant payments project. While no timeline is set, Revolut says it supports initiatives that improve user experience and will join after careful evaluation. Zippay, set to launch in 2026, will let users send, request, and split payments via mobile numbers.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇫🇷 Flowdesk integrates Morpho to support its global trading business. Flowdesk utilizes Morpho’s various markets and robust liquidity to borrow stablecoins against crypto assets, including cbBTC, WETH, and more. The leverage generated against these assets is used across the broader trading business to help facilitate trading activity.
🇺🇸 Cloudflare launches a payments stablecoin to support transactions on the AI-driven Internet. The token is reportedly intended for autonomous software agents, developers, and online creators, enabling automated payments for services and content across borders.
🇺🇸 Anchorage to double stablecoin team as Tether launch looms. The Digital Bank plans to more than double the size of its stablecoin team over the next year as a boom in digital dollars and new legislation prompts a rush for talent and products. Anchorage will be the legal issuer of the new token USAT, as part of a partnership with Tether.
PARTNERSHIPS
🌎 Solidgate partners with EBANX: Simplifying your entry into Latin America and emerging markets. Integrated into the Solidgate orchestration platform, EBANX enables merchants to access local payment methods, accelerate market entry, improve approval rates, and streamline operations across key LatAm countries and beyond, all through a single API connection.
🇸🇦 Qoyod and HALA have announced a strategic partnership to support the growth and success of SMEs in Saudi Arabia. By integrating HALA’s advanced payment technologies with Qoyod’s comprehensive business management platform, the collaboration aims to enhance operational and financial efficiency for SMEs.
🇬🇧 Zoyo partners with Velexa for an elite global trading app to develop its new digital securities trading platform. With Velexa’s technology at the core of its new platform, Zoyo is positioned to deliver a secure, compliant, and scalable solution on a global scale, redefining how investors engage with capital markets.
🇺🇸 Citi and Dandelion collaborate to transform cross-border payments, enabling full value, near-instant payments into digital wallets across the globe. The collaboration empowers Citi’s institutional clients to deliver near-instant, full-value payments into digital wallets across the globe, with near 24/7 availability.
🇹🇷 Yapı Kredi and Mastercard usher in a new era of digital payments in Turkey. Thanks to this pioneering collaboration, Yapı Kredi customers will be able to complete their transactions in accordance with Yapı Kredi security standards using the card of their choice from any bank.
🌍 Mastercard and Smile ID to scale digital identity across Africa. This partnership will enable banks, FinTechs, mobile money operators, and other enterprises to onboard new customers faster, reducing identity fraud and expanding access to the financial system.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇨🇴 Colombian FinTech Sempli raises US$10 million in debt. With this new funding, the FinTech company has reached a cumulative total of US$68 million and aims to increase the value of its portfolio by more than 15% by year-end. Keep reading
🇮🇩 Indonesian FinTech Ayoconnect secures new funding boost. According to the firm, the fresh capital will provide the final push towards achieving breakeven. The company offers tools for recurring payments, digital products, virtual cards, instant transfers, and more.
🇧🇷 Batista family to keep injecting capital into its PicPay FinTech. The capital raising comes at a time when PicPay is becoming more profitable because of a broader credit offering, something that also increases demand for capital. Read more
🇺🇸 Kraken quietly closes $500M round as its unusual CEO pushes toward the IPO finish line. Operating partly from his home, co-CEO Arjun Sethi is driving Kraken’s expansion through acquisitions and new products. With a $15 billion valuation to meet, the crypto exchange is making bold moves to step out of Coinbase’s shadow and prepare for the public spotlight.
M&A
🇺🇸 Fiserv expands advisory services for financial institutions with acquisition of Smith Consulting Group. This acquisition enhances Fiserv’s ability to deliver strategic value to its customers by embedding deeper expertise directly into its service model. By bringing more expertise in-house, the company is expanding its ability to advise earlier and deliver smarter solutions.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇨🇠Crypto giant Tether has appointed Benjamin Habbel as its Chief Business Officer. Habbel, who served as CEO of private equity firm Limestone Capital and held senior roles at Google, will oversee Tether's growth strategy, finance, investment, and portfolio expansion.
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