Tether Chasing a $500B Valuation 🤯
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
We’ve got some serious mileage to cover today, both on the roads and in the markets.
First up, the FinTech Running Club is adding three fresh pins on the global map this week:
- Sept 25 – Philadelphia, PA with host Andrew Kampf (5.30 PM - 6.30 PM EDT) 👉 join here
- Sept 25 – Geneva, Switzerland 🏞️ Lakeside Run with host Ron Meyer (12:30–13:30 CEST) 👉 join here
- Sept 27 – Sofia, Bulgaria with host Momchil Elenkov (9 AM - 10 AM EEST)👉 join here
From Philly’s cobblestones to Sofia’s boulevards, more FinTech folks are pounding the pavement, swapping stories, and building connections that last way longer than a 5K.
If you’ve been thinking about hosting one in your city… maybe it’s time.
And while we’re adding cities, Tether is adding zeros. The world’s largest stablecoin issuer is in talks to raise up to $20 billion, a deal that could value the company around $500 billion 🤯
That would place it in the same league as OpenAI and SpaceX—an insane milestone for a company that only a few years ago was settling reserve allegations with regulators.
Running clubs grow, valuations stretch, and FinTech keeps moving fast.
Let’s dive in 👇
Cheers,
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FINTECH NEWS
🌍 PayPal commits $100 million to accelerate digital growth across the Middle East and Africa. This strategic investment will be deployed through a mix of minority investments, acquisitions, PayPal Ventures funding, people, and technology deployments that will help local businesses scale and unlock new opportunities for innovators. Additionally, PayPal announces a multi-year relationship for US buy now, pay later receivables with funds managed by Blue Owl Capital.
🇸🇻 Crypto giant Tether seeks funding at $500 billion valuation. Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, said the company is evaluating a raise from a group of high-profile investors “to maximize the scale of the Company’s strategy across all existing and new business lines”.
🇺🇸 Stripe’s valuation rises above its 2021 peak to $106.7 billion. Stripe has opted to remain private as its valuation soared, much to the chagrin of retail investors who have been forced to watch its growth from the sidelines. Continue reading
🇮🇳 Walmart-backed PhonePe files for India IPO and targets mid-2026 listing. The application has been filed via the confidential route, which allows firms to keep their filings private until the public issue launches. PhonePe's IPO plan comes against the backdrop of buoyant Indian primary markets, where fundraising is expected to surpass the record $20 billion achieved in 2024.
🇬🇧 Funding Circle secures £300m TPG & Barclays agreement. The renewed partnership will provide ongoing support for the SME finance platform’s core term loan product, which has delivered strong investor returns and supports its wider suite of products, including FlexiPay and its business credit card.
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇨🇴 Colombia’s instant payment leap: Bre-B goes live. The country’s new instant payments infrastructure enables real-time P2P and merchant transfers across banks, FinTechs, and digital wallets. Erika Dietrich from ACI Worldwide highlighted Bre-B as one of Latin America's most ambitious payments modernization projects that sets the stage for financial inclusion, interoperability, and a thriving digital economy.
🇬🇧 GoCardless to open ‘Northern Hub’ in Leeds. The new GoCardless office will serve as the company’s base in the north of England, with a team of 50 staff employed within the first 12 months of opening. The Leeds location will be the firm’s third, with its headquarters in London and an international site in Riga.
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 DashDevs recognized at the Open Banking Expo Awards 2025 for Best Regulatory Open Banking Initiative. The recognition highlights DashDevs’ work on the Tarabut open banking platform, a groundbreaking project spanning Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. This initiative has redefined the region’s financial ecosystem.
REGTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Reap partners with Flagright for real-time transaction monitoring and AML compliance to power expansion. With Flagright, Reap enables its compliance teams to monitor every transaction in real-time, configure rules in minutes, and surface high-risk events through automated risk scoring.
🇳🇴 Signicat launches ReuseID. The reusable digital identity solution under the business’s control helps companies to eliminate the risks associated with fragmented identity systems, often composed of mixed verification and authentication tools from multiple providers, which can expose security gaps exploited by fraudsters.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇹🇷 Revolut seeks banking license in Turkey and hires new execs. The London-headquartered FinTech has hired Erkin Aydin as its Country Director in Turkey and Eren Cicek as the Head of Strategy and Operations in the country. Revolut is also looking to obtain a banking license either through an application or by acquiring a local bank.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇨🇳 HSBC has launched its Tokenised Deposit Service (TDS) in Hong Kong with Ant International as its first client. A blockchain‑based settlement platform that enables instant payment and remittance settlement via digital tokens representing fiat deposits, reinforcing its leadership in digital treasury and liquidity solutions.
🇺🇸 Morgan Stanley to offer crypto trading through E*Trade following zerohash investment. zerohash will help Morgan Stanley with liquidity, custody, and settlement around crypto trading on E*Trade. In addition to crypto, the bank plans to offer tokenized versions of traditional assets.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇺🇸 Mastercard partners with Stripe, Google, and Antom to launch AI-driven agentic payments for global digital merchants. In an effort to advance AI-driven payments, Mastercard is introducing new tools for developers, expanding consulting services, and deepening collaboration with the global tech and finance ecosystem.
🇸🇦 Visa and intella partner on Arabic-Language Conversational AI for Financial Institutions. The companies will use intella’s technology to analyze every customer interaction and transform this conversational data into actionable intelligence that will enhance the customer service delivered by Visa’s partner banks.
🇺🇸 Bybit partners with QNB Group and DMZ Finance to accept DFSA-approved tokenised funds as collateral. The partnership sets a new benchmark for the integration of Real World Assets (RWAs) in digital finance. By supporting a DFSA-approved, institutional-grade tokenised fund, Bybit aims to enhance its institutional credibility and attract new capital inflows to the digital asset space.
🇦🇪 Telr partners with Kema to drive payment solutions. The alliance leverages Telr’s payment solutions and Kema’s platform to help merchants build and scale payment experiences in just a few clicks. The alliance contributes to digital payment in the region, unifying innovation and regulatory compliance to drive growth.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇬🇧 London FinTech TRIVER raises £114M to speed up cash flow for UK small businesses. The fresh capital injection is aimed at accelerating TRIVER’s growth trajectory, expanding its reach through further partnerships with software providers and SME lending brokers.
🇮🇳 Y Combinator-backed Gullak raises $7.5M funding led by Chiratae Ventures. Gullak plans to deploy the capital primarily for brand building, expansion into Tier II and Tier III cities, and deepening partnerships with major jewellers to develop innovative solutions for India's gold buyers.
🇬🇧 Elliptic secures strategic investment from HSBC to accelerate global growth, first blockchain analytics firm backed by four GSIBs. Elliptic’s solution provides HSBC with greater transparency, helping to meet rising regulatory expectations and industry standards.
🇺🇸 Mastercard invests in income verification firm Argyle. CEO Shmulik Fishman emphasized that the funding strengthens Argyle’s ability to streamline verification workflows, helping lenders, FinTechs, and tenant screeners make faster, more accurate decisions through open finance capabilities.
🇺🇸 Coinbase leads $14.6 million investment in stablecoin startup Bastion, founded by former a16z execs. Bastion is a white label issuer of stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to underlying assets like the U.S. dollar. Rather than hire lawyers to secure regulatory licenses and software developers to write code, companies hire Bastion to more easily spin up their own branded stablecoins.
M&A
🇺🇸 FIS acquires Amount to deliver unified digital account origination, empowering financial institutions to accelerate growth and simplify banking. With the addition of Amount, FIS strategically expands its portfolio of innovative solutions that support the world’s money lifecycle, encompassing when money is at rest, in motion, and at work.
🇲🇽 Bitso wants to buy CIBanco's brokerage firm. The cryptocurrency exchange platform is seeking to acquire one of the businesses of the entities mentioned earlier that remain for sale. The purchase could include CIBanco's banking licenses. Keep reading
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇬🇧 Napier AI appoints Adam Flowers as Chief Revenue Officer to accelerate global growth. In his role, Flowers will be responsible for all aspects of Napier AI’s revenue generation, including marketing, partnerships, direct sales, and customer growth through upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
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