Articles
Tracking Fintech Insights and Trends That Shape Money & Markets
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Why the crypto industry is unhappy about Hong Kong’s stablecoin issuance licenses
In fairness to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), it is rare that the digital assets industry is satisfied with regulations. Crypto firms want regulations that provide them with the legal and safety benefits enjoyed by the rest of the financial industry without slowing down their preferred breakneck speed of development or putting them at
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Are Malaysia’s digital banks in trouble?
Malaysia decided to greenlight digital banks amid a wave of investor excitement and regulatory acquiescence in early 2020. Led by Hong Kong and Singapore, many East Asian economies sought to introduce more competition to their staid banking sectors. The backers of digital banks – venture capitalists, large tech firms, telecoms giants and even incumbent lenders
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TikTok steps up its fintech foray
Chinese social media giant TikTok is borrowing a page out of the book of Alibaba and Tencent with its push into digital financial services. The ByteDance-owned company has super app ambitions. Fintech is a logical progression for the massively popular short video app, which generated an estimated US$23 billion in annual revenue in 2024. It is the
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Why is Monzo leaving the U.S.?
UK neobank Monzo can’t seem to make up its mind about the U.S. market. The company first launched in the U.S. in June 2019 but withdrew its application for a banking charter in October 2021. Monzo remained in the U.S. market, though, operating through its partner bank, Sutton. Then on April 1, the UK online lender abruptly
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Vietnam advances crypto licensing while fighting scammers
Vietnam is discovering that developing a cryptocurrency industry is harder than it looks. After all, how many other segments of financial services are regularly rocked by massive scams in which victims have little recourse? To that end, in late March, Vietnamese police busted a multi-billion-dollar scam that focused on selling fake crypto to victims on a large
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Is the U.S. having second thoughts about stablecoins?
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It was only a matter of time before the United States had second thoughts about rapidly adopting stablecoins. Even if the White House remains supportive of fast adoption, powerful regulators are less sanguine about the fiat currency-backed cryptocurrencies. In a speech to the Federalist Society on March 31, Federal Reserve Bank Governor Michael S. Barr noted
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How Ualá hit a US$3.2 billion valuation
In about nine years’ time, Ualá has become one of the most valuable and competitive fintech startups in Argentina. The company reached a US$3.2 billion valuation following a $195 million funding round led by Allianz X – the venture capital division of Germany’s insurance behemoth Allianz SE – in March. Only weeks after the Argentinian firm introduced
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Revolut doubles down on India expansion
Revolut has long had its eyes on India, the world’s largest remittances market and the country in Asia where its growth prospects are most promising. The UK fintech unicorn first entered India five years ago and has been gradually beefing up local operations. Revolut’s India foray now looks set to kick into high gear—but not
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Is Plaid worth $8 billion?
American fintech startup Plaid secured an US$8 billion valuation in a February 2026 funding round/share sale, representing a 31% increase from its US$6.1 billion valuation in April 2025. Plaid used this round to provide liquidity for employees while still remaining 40% below its 2021 peak of $13.4 billion. Plaid’s valuation is unlikely to ever again
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How Korean digital banks are taking divergent paths
Korean digital banks are among the most consistently successful in Asia and internationally. In fact, Kakao Bank was one of the first major digital lenders to reach profitability in 2019, and it did so just two years after its founding. Recently IPO’d K Bank and soon-to-IPO Toss Bank (under its Viva Republica parent) have also consistently posted
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Nubank logs another record-breaking quarter
Brazil’s Nubank just might be the most successful digital bank in the world right now. After a record-breaking third quarter, it followed that up with—what else?—a record-breaking fourth quarter that well exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Nubank’s net income in the fourth quarter surged 50% annually to a record US$895 million, and revenue rose 45% to
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Airwallex charges full speed ahead in EMEA
When AUSTRAC announced in January it would audit Airwallex for suspected breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFL) laws, the plucky fintech unicorn remained cool as a cucumber. Like many well-funded fintech disruptors, the company has become supremely confident in its prospects. It’s going to take more than an audit (or two) to rattle the
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Sea’s fintech business booms, but stock still plummets
Sea Group has long been seen as one of the more resilient Asian platform companies, with a diversified portfolio including gaming, e-commerce, and digital financial services. Sea’s fintech business, Monee, accounts for less than 15% of its overall revenue but has been a consistent bright spot for the company, which faces intense pressure in the ultra-competitive
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Revolut has big plans for the U.S. market
Revolut applied for a U.S. banking charter on March 5, signifying its determination to become a licensed bank in the world’s largest economy. “The United States is a key pillar of our global growth strategy. Filing for a national bank charter is a major milestone toward our vision of building the world’s first truly global
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Will Stripe buy PayPal?
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A Bloomberg report about a possible Stripe acquisition of PayPal has spurred intense discussion in the fintech industry. After all, Stripe is the digital payment colossus of 2026, the most valuable private fintech firm in the world. PayPal once dominated the online payment processing market, but not anymore. Any conversation about the digital payments pioneer
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Klarna fights an uphill battle with investors
Swedish payments giant, sometimes bank and stablecoin issuer Klarna is learning that it’s a lot harder being a listed fintech firm than a unicorn whose eye-popping valuation is decided by private investors who cannot resist hitting the inflate button. The aura of invincibility enjoyed by erstwhile unicorns like Klarna dissipates pretty quickly after an IPO “pops” and
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Why Swift Is Still The Global Payments Hegemon
Many a well-funded fintech upstart has burst onto the scene with the intention of challenging the dominance of the Swift (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) payments network. The Belgium-based interbank messaging network is and continues to be a convenient poster child for the woes of traditional correspondent banking. Yet disrupting the organization has proven,
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Why most Australian neobanks have failed or been bought
In many countries, neobanks are thriving. Australia is not one of them. In fact, we would say Oz is where neobanks go to die. If you think that’s an exaggeration, consider this: Just one major native digital Australian lender has survived for a decade. That would be Judo Bank. More on Judo in a moment.
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Why Google Fintech Is A Bigger Success Than Meta
Google and Meta are both Web 2.0 giants that are among the largest companies in the world by market capitalization. Google dominates search globally outside of China, while Meta – including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – has a huge share of social media platforms ex-China. One area in which the two tech juggernauts differ sharply
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Why the UAE is a better crypto hub than Hong Kong
We still remember clearly when Hong Kong abruptly decided it wanted to be a cryptocurrency hub. It was late 2022, and the city, reeling from Covid-19 restrictions, needed to get its mojo back as quickly as possible. The timing was almost comical, coinciding neatly with FTX’s dramatic implosion. Almost 3 ½ years later, Hong Kong’s