The Connecting the Dots in FinTech Podcast is LIVE!
Hey FinTech Fanatic!
Big news to kick off the day, my FinTech Podcast is finally live! 🎙️
I’ve been working on this project for months, lining up the right voices and making sure we bring you the conversations that matter. And today, it all starts.
In the very first episode, Kelley Andersen (Microsoft) joins Arthur Bedel to dive into Agentic Tokenization. Trust me, you don’t want to miss this one.
👉 Hit that subscribe button on our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode.
And here’s where I need your help: which FinTech experts should we invite next?
Drop their names in the comments, let’s make this podcast a place where the entire community gets a seat at the table.
And that’s just the kick-off, scroll down for the full line-up of today’s FinTech stories.
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
FINTECH NEWS
🇦🇺 Airwallex hits $200 billion: FinTech’s overachiever isn’t slowing down. Jack Zhang, Co-founder and CEO of Airwallex, stated that the company's mission is to become the financial operating system for modern businesses, empowering them to scale seamlessly across borders, currencies, and markets, without being held back by the friction of traditional financial systems.
🇺🇸 How Robinhood’s CEO is future-proofing the company through selective leadership. CEO Vlad Tenev says he has created a community of the best people across the company to ensure he is not just interacting with direct reports. Read more
PAYMENTS NEWS
🇬🇧 What is card acquiring & how it affects your payment processes by Andrew Kononenko, Head of Merchant Operations at Solidgate. Kononenko highlights the strategic importance of card acquiring in digital business growth. As digital businesses scale, their payment systems should function as strategic assets rather than mere back-end infrastructure.
🇮🇳 The Unified Payments Interface has truly transformed how money moves across the nation and is now gaining global recognition. As per the ACI Worldwide Report 2024, in 2023, an astounding 49% of all global real-time payment transactions originated in India, highlighting its leadership in digital payment innovation.
🌎 Instant payments replace ACH delays for global merchants. Real-time payments are becoming a global standard, driving investment in modern infrastructure by FinTechs, banks, and central banks. ACI Worldwide has launched ACI Connetic, a cloud-native hub that connects banks to global networks like SWIFT and SEPA Instant, streamlining payments and fraud detection through AI.
🇩🇿 Bank of Algeria joins Pan-African Payment and Settlement System. This development is expected to further support cross-border payments and enhance the regulatory framework governing intra-African trade. Read more
🇯🇵 Indonesian QR code payment system now works in Japan as of August 17, 2025, marking its first expansion outside ASEAN. Indonesia's national QR code payment platform can be used at 35 merchants, allowing Indonesian visitors to pay by scanning JPQR Global with their domestic apps.
🇦🇪 Worldpay leverages Mastercard's Move to empower consumers and businesses to send and receive payments quickly and securely in the UAE. Through this collaboration, Worldpay's Push-to-Card solution will enable a wide range of fast, seamless domestic and cross-border payouts to cards.
🇮🇳 IRCTC harbours FinTech ambitions with new payment aggregator entity. With the RBI's in-principle nod for IRCTC Payments, the rail PSU plans to process transactions in-house, cut costs, and expand payment services beyond railways. With about 100 million registered users and more than 1.4 million transactions daily, IRCTC sits on a payments goldmine.
🇺🇸 BNPL FinTech Affirm launches on Stripe Terminal, allowing consumers to pay over time. This integration enables U.S. and Canadian merchants to offer Affirm’s flexible, transparent payment options to in-store shoppers directly through Stripe Terminal, which has over one million devices in use.
OPEN BANKING NEWS
🇺🇸 Ninth Wave launches ‘Portal’ to help US FIs monetise Open Finance data sharing. The new Portal, which can be used along with Ninth Wave’s Open Finance direct connection platform, monitors and measures Open Finance data to give financial institutions insights into security and usage patterns by FinTechs and other third parties.
REGTECH NEWS
🇺🇸 Fed to scrap program devoted to policing banks on crypto and FinTech activities. The Fed launched the new program in 2023 as a way to focus on how banks interact with those emerging technologies. But the central bank said it was no longer needed.
DIGITAL BANKING NEWS
🇬🇧 Monzo reclaims top spot in banking league table. Monzo has dominated the league tables, but was briefly dethroned by Chase UK in the last update. It has, however, returned to the number one ranking for both personal and business account providers. Additionally, Monzo plans a UK mobile service as competition intensifies for big phone groups. The London-based digital bank is exploring launching its digital SIM and offering monthly contracts.
🇪🇬 Misr Digital Innovation gains Central Bank approval to transition into onebank, the country’s first fully digital bank, which will deliver all services exclusively through digital channels. The bank aims to reach underserved segments and unbanked populations, aligning with Egypt’s national digital economy agenda.
🇦🇪 UAE employees can now receive salaries in digital wallets as du launches new platform. Through the multilingual du Pay platform, UAE residents can transfer money globally, pay bills, recharge telco accounts, order a debit card, and make card payments.
BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS
🇺🇸 BVNK to offer stablecoin payments across all 50 U.S. states. This development is supported through a strategic partnership with Paxos, enabling stablecoin capabilities that power payments for BVNK’s entire U.S. customer base. BVNK is leveraging Paxos’s status as a regulated Trust and qualified custodian.
🇹🇭 Thailand launches TouristDigiPay to let visitors convert crypto to Baht. By enabling tourists to seamlessly convert crypto into fiat currency under a regulated system, Thailand hopes to position itself as a forward-looking, crypto-friendly destination while maintaining strict financial safeguards.
🇺🇸 Coinbase smart wallets surpass 1 million as adoption accelerates. The success of Smart Wallets underscores Coinbase’s strategy of bridging the gap between traditional exchange services and the decentralized Web3 ecosystem. It incorporates social login features and more intuitive recovery processes, eliminating one of the most daunting aspects of onboarding for new users.
🇯🇵 JPYC expects to secure approval for Japan's first regulated Yen-backed stablecoin. The company has already been operating a version of the token but will now bring it under the country’s stablecoin framework, with broader sales to individuals, corporations, and institutional investors expected to begin once its registration as a money transfer business is completed.
🇺🇸 Crypto exchange Gemini files for a US IPO. Gemini says in a statement: "The proposed offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or as to the actual size or terms of the offering."
🇳🇱 Dutch firm Amdax plans a Bitcoin treasury listing on Euronext Amsterdam. The company said it plans to raise capital in stages through the markets to expand its Bitcoin holdings, grow equity value, and increase Bitcoin-per-share metrics for investors.
🇪🇺 Crypto exchange ByBit introduces 10x spot margin trading in Europe. The service allows users of Austria-based Bybit EU to borrow funds against their existing crypto holdings, using them as collateral to buy or sell more assets than their wallet balance would otherwise allow.
🇺🇸 Kraken pauses Monero deposits following 51% attack. A 51% attack occurs when one mining pool controls more than 50% of a blockchain network’s total hashing power, giving it the ability to double-spend and reorder transactions on the ledger.
🇨🇳 CMB International launches licensed 24/7 BTC, ETH, and USDT trading in Hong Kong. The new platform provides both retail and institutional investors with compliant access to leading digital assets, where they can trade around the clock through the bank-backed service.
PARTNERSHIPS
🇦🇪 Wio Bank launches direct integration with Xero to simplify accounting for UAE businesses. The integration with Xero enables Wio Business customers to simplify their accounting processes with seamless bank feeds, automated reconciliation, and real-time financial insights, all within a few clicks.
🇯🇵 Finastra supports JICA with Loan IQ to transform the private-sector investment finance system in Japan. With Loan IQ at its core, the system enables end-to-end management of international private sector loan transactions and supports loans denominated in Japanese yen, U.S. dollars, euros, and local currencies.
🇬🇧 Ebury announced as the official FinTech partner of Southampton Football Club for the second season. As part of the partnership, Southampton will have ongoing access to Ebury’s online payments platform, currency exchange solutions, and money transfer services.
🇺🇸 PayLaterr partners with Experian to enhance fraud detection and leverage alternative data for smarter budgeting decisions. With the partnership, PayLaterr will integrate Experian's industry-leading fraud detection tools and alternative credit data solutions into its identity verification and decision-making processes.
🇺🇸 PowerPay partners with Synovus Bank and Nearwater Capital. The partnership is expected to provide PowerPay with the capital needed to continue scaling its originations and serve its growing network of over 12,000 contractors, merchants, and medical professionals nationwide.
🇸🇲 VeChain Foundation taps Crypto.com to offer institutional custody and liquidity services. As a result of the integration, institutions can now safeguard, administer, and conduct transactions with VET and VTHO within Crypto.com’s regulated custody platform.
🇺🇸 Payoneer and Stripe partner to empower SMBs to accept a broader range of payment methods. Through this partnership, they are enabling enhanced customer conversion rates, improving acceptance rates, helping to reduce fraud, and expanding payment acceptance options for SMBs selling direct-to-consumer via their e-commerce webstores.
🇱🇹 Akurateco partners with PAYSTRAX to expand European payment capabilities. Under this collaboration, PAYSTRAX will serve as one of Akurateco’s provider partners, integrating its acquiring services for Visa, Mastercard, and alternative payment methods.
🇺🇸 eToro signs multi-year sponsorship deal with Nottingham Forest. The deal is tied to eToro’s Loud Investing campaign, an initiative aimed at reducing the gender investment gap by making investing more visible and relatable. Keep reading
🇧🇭 Aquanow and SGB partner to deliver real-time global fiat access for crypto institutions. The agreement allows Aquanow’s institutional clients, which include exchanges, OTC desks, neobanks, payment providers, and FinTechs, to open USD bank accounts, settle transactions, and transact in numerous currencies.
DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS
🇲🇳 IFC leads $21.4M series B for Mongolian FinTech firm And Global. The capital will enable the expansion of AND Global’s AI-driven solutions throughout Southeast Asia and launch new tools specifically designed for financial institutions catering to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
🇦🇺 Crypto FinTech Block Earner lands $8 million Series A. It plans to use the new capital for local growth and product expansion as well as early-stage moves into international markets. CEO and cofounder Charlie Karaboga said they now build products to help investors use their crypto in the same way they would use their other assets.
🇺🇸 IVIX raises $60 million Series B to fight financial crime with AI. IVIX will use this growth capital to accelerate its research and development capabilities and widespread adoption of its AI-powered solution to illuminate and combat financial crime at scale.
🇿🇦 South African FinTech Startup TurnStay secures $2 million seed funding to revolutionize travel payments across Africa. TurnStay’s platform facilitates secure, instant, and cross-border payments, reducing delays and operational friction for hospitality businesses.
🇺🇸 Klarna secures $26 billion forward flow deal with Nelnet to expand U.S. Pay in 4. Klarna stated that the deal will provide scalable funding for U.S. growth, strengthen balance sheet flexibility, and support its long-term capital strategy. Read more
M&A
🇮🇳 Niyo acquires Kanji Forex and appoints Amit Talwar of IndusInd Bank as CEO of the forex business. It will look to offer forex products across foreign currency, forex cards, and outward remittances, which are allowed as per the regulatory licence. Niyo will further expand Kanji Forex’s physical presence and set up new branches to grow the business.
🇨🇳 China's Ant Group says Bright Smart deal on track following report of delay. China's Ant Group said it is moving forward as planned, in response to a report that said the deal may face higher regulatory scrutiny and could be delayed. Continue reading
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
🇩🇪 Susanne Krehl joins wealthAPI management team as Chief Growth Officer. Krehl will focus on the growth and European expansion. Susanne Krehl brings over fifteen years of experience in the financial technology sector and was honoured as a Woman in Banking and FinTech 2023 by the German Handelsblatt newspaper.
🇺🇸 Akemona appoints Alex de Lorraine as CEO to drive RWA expansion. De Lorraine’s experience in both traditional and digital finance is expected to help the company navigate the evolving landscape of RWA tokenization. Continue reading
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