OpenReserve: Dee Choubey’s Next Big Bet
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Happy Monday!
Some pretty big news to kick off the week, and this one comes from a friend of mine in New York.
Dee Choubey, founder and former CEO of MoneyLion, has officially come out of stealth with his next act: OpenReserve.
And it's not exactly starting small.
The OCC has granted conditional approval for OpenReserve's application to become a full-service U.S. national bank, with Dee and the team building what they describe as a blockchain-native digital bank.
Think real-time settlement across fiat and blockchain rails, direct Federal Reserve connectivity, tokenized deposits, and stablecoin infrastructure built for the GENIUS Act era.
I've known Dee for quite some time and have been following what he's building since his MoneyLion days, so I've been particularly curious to see what his next chapter would look like.
Well... now we know.
Given what he managed to build with MoneyLion, I certainly wouldn't bet against him doing something ambitious again.
Congrats to Dee and the entire OpenReserve team on getting this far. Coming out of stealth is one thing. Doing it with conditional approval for a U.S. national bank charter is quite another.
I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more about this one.
And maybe you'll hear some of it here first. 😉
More coming. Stay tuned.
Now, on to today's FinTech news 👇
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 MassPay: Why Payouts Are the Product for Gig Workers. For gig workers, payout experience can determine whether they stay or leave a platform. Speed, cost, local access, and retention are the four key factors, with 73% of U.S. gig workers saying they would switch platforms for better cross-border payouts. The takeaway is simple: fast, affordable, accessible payouts are no longer an afterthought — they are a competitive advantage. Read the full article here
FINTECH NEWS
🇲🇽 Mastercard doubles down on its commitment to Mexico to accelerate the digital economy. New initiatives and partnerships target over 1.5 million people and businesses, including a new phase of Mastercard Advance SME aimed at reaching one million micro and small businesses.
🇺🇸 Anthropic launches AI commerce agents with Mastercard and Visa. The Claude maker's new agents can browse and transact on behalf of users, with card network payment rails integrated directly into the experience.
🌍 Global FinTech investment rose to $103.1 billion in H1 2026, while EMEA fell to $11.3 billion across 626 deals. Geopolitical tensions and tariff uncertainty weighed on investor sentiment in the region.
🇵🇭 SEC approves GCash parent Mynt's IPO at the Philippine Stock Exchange. The offering covers up to 8.03 billion shares priced at up to P10 each, with Mynt's expected market capitalization at listing reaching P668.96 billion upon listing on October 20.
🇹🇭 Bank of Thailand plans mandatory BNPL licences under new rules targeting Q4 2026. Around six major providers will need BOT approval, with draft regulations expected by end of September.
🇲🇾 Fortefi launches a digital treasury platform for Malaysian SMEs. The Securities Commission-regulated platform helps businesses put idle operating cash to work while preserving day-to-day liquidity.
🇧🇷 Banco do Brasil completes a $5M digitally native structured note trade, a first for Latin America. The note was issued by Citi and settled via Euroclear's digital infrastructure platform.
🇺🇸 PayGlocal secures FinCEN registration for U.S. and global expansion. The registration enables the company to operate as a money services business across U.S. and international markets.
HOW FINTECH PERFORMED LAST WEEK
📈 A snapshot of last week’s stock moves across public FinTechs:
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇧🇷 Paddle adds Pix as a payment method for merchants selling into Brazil. The integration supports one-time purchases and subscriptions in BRL, with no local bank account or Pix merchant account required.
🇮🇳 Hopscotch taps Unlimit to handle payments through India's seasonal shopping spikes. India's largest online children's fashion brand deployed Unlimit's payment solution across its website and mobile app to manage high-volume transaction periods.
🇭🇰 Unlimit wins the Cross-Border Payments Award at the Asian Banking & Finance Awards 2026 in Hong Kong. The recognition highlights the company's expanding footprint across APAC as it continues to grow its cross-border payment services.
🇧🇷 Ant International secures a Payment Institution licence from the Central Bank of Brazil. The licence strengthens local and cross-border payment capabilities for the company, which processes over 20 million transactions daily worldwide.
🇦🇪 Alaan wins in-principle CBUAE approval for two payment licences at once. The UAE spend management platform secured both a Stored Value Facilities and a Retail Payment Services Category II licence, shifting away from its current BaaS model.
🇷🇺 VTB launches QR code payments in Indonesia and the Philippines. The Russian bank's service works via Indonesia's QRIS standard at over 40 million sales points, with clients completing over 1 million QR payments abroad since January 2026.
🇺🇸 MessagePay launches AI Pay+ to help credit unions predict when borrowers will pay. The tool uses AI to forecast borrower payment behavior for improved collections outcomes.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 iwoca brings £1m SME loans to Starling Bank users via full API integration. Starling business customers can apply for loans of up to £1m inside the Starling app, with automated decisions and real-time data sharing cutting time-to-cash for cash-flow-constrained small businesses.
🇳🇱 Dutch central bank to cut 290 full-time jobs as part of a reorganization. DNB aims to reach around 2,090 employees by 2030, with savings of over €70 million from personnel reductions and other cost measures.
🇭🇰 Ping An Digital Bank launches purchase order financing for cross-border e-commerce businesses in Hong Kong. Eligible SMEs can obtain up to 95% of accounts receivable with no traditional collateral required.
🇺🇸 Chime expands Trump Account support for employees' children and broadens access. The neobank also brings its Compound Combine product to Texas as it continues to grow its suite of consumer financial tools.
🇸🇬 Barclays launches a private bank booking centre in Singapore. The move expands the bank's wealth management footprint in Asia, serving ultra-high-net-worth clients across the region.
🇨🇳 Citi eyes a China brokerage unit licence as soon as this month. The bank is seeking regulatory approval to establish a wholly owned securities business in China, marking a significant push into the onshore market.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan and Binance discuss digital economy and AI infrastructure development. Minister Jaslan Madiev met Binance founder CZ to explore computing infrastructure expansion, with two memorandums signed covering digital financial solutions.
🌎 Polymarket launches perpetual futures on oil, competing directly with Kalshi. The new Perps platform covers nine markets including BTC, gold, and SpaceX shares, though US users remain locked out.
🇬🇧 Hargreaves Lansdown ends its crypto holdout, offering Bitcoin and Ether ETNs to its roughly 2 million customers. The UK's largest investing platform lists nine products from providers including BlackRock and WisdomTree, though investors must pass an appropriateness test first.
🇺🇸 Coinbase files for SEC approval to offer equity perpetuals. The product will also need CFTC approval, according to CPO Faryar Shirzad, who noted proven international demand for equity perps.
🇺🇸 Ondo Finance urges the SEC and CFTC to allow stock perpetual futures onshore. The company submitted three comment letters arguing the products fit existing law, as its offshore platform surpassed $8B in cumulative volume.
🇺🇸 The U.S. and UK launch a first-of-its-kind joint alliance to dismantle global scam centers. The MOU links the DOJ's Scam Center Strike Force with UK counterparts to coordinate cross-border enforcement.
🇦🇺 Australia is building a framework for tokenised markets, including a Digital Financial Market Infrastructure sandbox launching in H2 2027. The RBA and ASIC are reviewing settlement, licensing, and custody rules to support tokenised asset development.
🌍 BNP Paribas and HSBC complete the first corporate treasury transaction on Swift's blockchain ledger. The milestone marks a step toward integrating distributed ledger technology into mainstream interbank settlement.
STABLECOINS NEWS
🇰🇷 Beatoz and Danal launch a pilot to enable stablecoin payments at merchants. The partnership pairs Beatoz's blockchain infrastructure with Danal's payment network to test stablecoin acceptance at point of sale.
🇪🇺 Fipto joins Circle Payments Network as an Originating Financial Institution, extending USDC payouts from Europe to seven markets in Latin America and Asia. Payments settle in local currency on domestic rails such as PIX and SPEI.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇭🇰 Citi Hong Kong to launch the city's first Virtual Credit Card with Dynamic CVC, in partnership with Mastercard. The solution generates a one-time verification code per transaction, aiming to reduce unauthorized card-not-present fraud.
🇧🇷 PicPay announces integration with Claude, expanding customer access to financial data through generative AI. Brazil's digital bank lets users check balances and credit card statements via natural language, following its earlier ChatGPT plugin launch.
🇺🇸 Oddpool, a prediction market data startup, joins Kalshi after completing a $3M seed round from Y Combinator. The firm is building a data layer to help institutions interpret predictive market signals.
🇲🇾 Crewstone and MBC partner to scale a RM130 million Malaysian private credit platform. The collaboration aims to expand access to private credit for local businesses.
🇭🇰 HashKey joins Stacks as a launch partner for sBTC Bitcoin staking. The partnership makes HashKey an sBTC signer, supporting the rollout of Bitcoin staking on the Stacks network.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇺🇸 OpenReserve secures $25M seed funding and receives preliminary OCC bank charter approval. The round was led by a16z crypto, with the company combining traditional banking, blockchain, and digital asset services.
🇺🇸 Diameter Pay raises $10 million to expand global access to the US dollar. The Series A was co-led by CMT Digital and Lightspeed Faction, as the platform has processed over $10B year-to-date.
🇸🇦 Nayla secures $17.9M in a pre-Series A to grow micro financing in Saudi Arabia. The round will support the company's expansion of lending products for underserved borrowers.
M&A
🇦🇺 Eftsure acquires AI-powered data validation FinTech Relish. The acquisition adds Relish's AI capabilities to Eftsure's platform as the company expands its data validation and fraud prevention offering.
🇮🇹 The ECB approves Monte dei Paschi's takeover bid for Mediobanca. The green light from the ECB clears a key regulatory hurdle for one of Italy's most high-profile banking consolidations.
🇺🇸 nCino boosts its share buyback by $100M as AI-driven revenue rises 8% in Q2. The company reported $161M in revenue and authorized total repurchases of $300M. Read more
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Paycode appoints Colin Digby as Chief Revenue Officer. Digby joins from senior roles at Mastercard, Crown Agents Bank, and Barclays to lead global revenue strategy and partnerships.
🇺🇸 USBC appoints former JPMorgan and Coinbase product executive Richa Pareek to its leadership team. The hire brings experience from two major financial and crypto platforms as USBC scales its product and strategy operations.
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