July 16, 2025 @ 11:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Two Prime, an SEC-registered investment advisor and institutional lender with total assets under management of ~$1.75 billion, announced a $20 million equity investment led by MARA Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), deepening the companies’ existing relationship. The investment round, which includes additional participation from Susquehanna Crypto,… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 10:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ripple, a firm that provides digital asset infrastructure for financial institutions, has today announced a partnership with Ctrl Alt, a tokenization infrastructure platform. The partnership sees Ctrl Alt using Ripple’s institutional-grade digital asset custody technology to “support the Dubai Land Department’s (DLD) Real Estate Tokenization… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 10:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Xero, a global small business platform, has announced a partnership with Plaid, which seeks to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States. For many small businesses, access to community-focused finance providers is crucial, given the vast number of… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 5:21 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ICBA Payments, a subsidiary of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), announced the renewal of its four-decade relationship with Visa. Together, the organizations are deepening their efforts “to equip local financial institutions with the modern payment tools and support they need to grow and… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 3:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital bank OakNorth has provided $79 million of new funding to New York-based lending platform S3 Capital. Founded in 2013 by Joshua Crane and Robert Schwartz after they recognized a significant “lack of institutional quality, middle market construction lenders in NYC, the firm has since… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 2:59 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

More than half of U.S. companies (57%) reported declining gross margins as a direct result of tariffs, according to the new KPMG Tariff Pulse Survey. As tariffs continue to reshape the global trade landscape, American businesses are already feeling “negative impacts, while anticipating that they… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 2:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

OKX is reporting that it has integrated PayPal as a payment method on its platform, making cryptocurrency access and payments more accessible to customers across Europe. Customers across the European Economic Area (EEA) can now purchase crypto on OKX directly “using any available funding source supported by PayPal,… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 11:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

IsraJets, a boutique private aviation company operating in the United States, Israel and Cyprus, has partnered with Airwallex, a global payments and financial platform for growing businesses. Through the partnership, IsraJets has adopted Airwallex’s financial infrastructure to “improve the speed and efficiency of its global… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 9:49 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Smart Pension, one of the UK’s workplace pension providers, has appointed Raj Mody as a Trustee Director of the Smart Pension Master Trust Board, taking on the role of Chairman from 1 September 2025. Raj brings  a wealth of experience in “the pensions industry, spanning… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 9:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In an evolving financial services ecosystem, payment modernization has emerged as a critical focus for banks across the EMEA region. According to the latest Volante Technologies research report, The Big Survey 2025: Modernising Payments, an overwhelming 99% of EMEA banks plan to implement new payment… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 8:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

OakNorth, a digital bank for entrepreneurs, has provided a $53m loan to DAC Developments and Melrose Ascension Capital. Founded in 2016, DAC Developments is a Chicago-based real estate development company “with a focus on multifamily residential and mixed-use ground up developments.” With 85 projects completed… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 8:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

PensionBee, a Fintech in the consumer retirement market, is calling again for the urgent introduction of a legally mandated 10-day pension switch guarantee, as new consumer research “reveals the UK’s pension transfer system is failing millions of savers.” Ending Pension Purgatory builds on this year’s… Read More

July 16, 2025 @ 8:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Deloitte announced a series of new artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities within Omnia, Deloitte’s global cloud-based Audit & Assurance platform, designed to evolve the audit and assurance experience, “advancing Deloitte’s effort to drive innovation with enhanced technology.” As the external landscape and client businesses transform, these… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 10:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

ZBD, a Fintech creating a payment experience for interactive entertainment, and ClearBank, an enabler of real-time clearing and embedded banking, have announced a new partnership, coming on the heels of ZBD being granted an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license in the Netherlands. ZBD was one… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 10:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

In line with its commitment to offer clients safe, trusted and efficient digital assets solutions and following the successful launch of its digital assets custody service, Standard Chartered has launched “a fully integrated digital assets trading service for institutional clients.” The offering includes spot trading… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 3:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tether Holdings SA, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, USDT, has revealed it holds an $8 billion in gold reserves, stored in a private vault in Switzerland. This strategic decision, announced on July 8, 2025, positions Tether as one of the largest non-state gold… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 3:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) has introduced legislation aimed at overhauling the tax treatment of digital assets, addressing long-standing grievances within the cryptocurrency community. The bill aims to eliminate the practice of double taxation on digital assets, a significant barrier that currently taxes cryptocurrencies both… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 12:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Canada is taking significant steps to regulate the stablecoin market, with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) collaborating with the Department of Finance and the Bank of Canada to develop a comprehensive legislative framework. Announced recently, this initiative aims to establish clear… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 12:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A long-simmering legal battle between veteran Chicago floor traders and CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, finally reached the courtroom. Nearly 4,000 traders, once the lifeblood of Chicago’s iconic trading pits, are seeking over $2 billion in damages in a class-action lawsuit that accuses… Read More

July 15, 2025 @ 11:11 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Circle Internet Financial (NYSE:CRCL), the issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin, USDC, is making moves to redefine its role in the global financial ecosystem. With a market cap of over $63 billion and a recent blockbuster IPO, Circle is focused on becoming the leading stablecoins… Read More