October 28, 2024 @ 1:03 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

EtherMail founder and CEO Shant Kevonian said Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, a stablecoin API provider, is a pivotal moment in bridging the Web2/Web3 divide. Kevonian said the move is the latest step in the ongoing convergence of the crypto and fintech markets –… Read More

October 27, 2024 @ 7:51 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, FINRA released The Metaverse and the Implications for the Securities Industry. It is intended to raise awareness among FINRA member firms and the broader securities industry by providing an overview of how developments related to the metaverse may impact business models and processes…. Read More

October 27, 2024 @ 5:51 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

A new report from J.D. Power analyzes if mortgage customers are prepared for AI-powered chatbots. The signs are encouraging. Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. Three-fourths of business leaders say they are planning to escalate their AI investments as they see its potential to redefine… Read More

October 27, 2024 @ 4:50 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Security platform Socket recently confirmed a $40 million Series B round. It was led by Abstract Ventures, with participation from Elad Gil, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bret Taylor (OpenAI), Phil Venables (Google), Scott Johnston (Docker), Christina Cacioppo (Vanta), Ann Mather (Pixar, Alphabet, Netflix, Airbnb), and Tobias… Read More

October 24, 2024 @ 9:34 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

The latest edition of LexisNexis Risk Solutions’ Taking the Pulse of Major Sanctions Lists suggests a heightened level of sanctions activity may be the new normal. The report analyzes activity from the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU), Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and… Read More

October 22, 2024 @ 8:05 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

As more companies gravitate toward card programs to drive customer attraction and retention, they are learning that success significantly depends on the quality of the customer experience. Today, Marqeta (NASDAQ:MQ) released a pair of tools designed to make creating front-end payment experiences a much easier… Read More

October 21, 2024 @ 9:39 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

People have long sought to declutter their homes. A more recent trend is doing the same with their online lives. Yorba helps them do that while offering benefits like money savings, improved online security, and a cleaner email inbox. Yorba has expanded into Canada. The company has linked… Read More

October 21, 2024 @ 9:14 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Unity Wallet (formerly Savl) COO James Toledano believes DeFi has the potential to break Visa’s and Mastercard’s dominance of European payment rails, while also allowing Europe to at least partially free itself from depending on American payment rails. Savi is a self-custodial crypto and Web3 wallet… Read More

October 21, 2024 @ 8:54 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

AI accounting automation platform Numeric has raised a $28 million Series A round. It was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from new investors IVP and Socii Capital, and existing investors Founders Fund, 8VC, Long Journey, Access Industries, Friends & Family Capital, and others. This investment will accelerate engineering hiring and product development. In the past year,… Read More

October 20, 2024 @ 6:46 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Drop Protocol, a liquid staking protocol for interchain assets and an inaugural member of the Lido Alliance, is reporting that it successfully closed a $4 million seed funding round. The round was led by CoinFund, with additional backing from CMS Holdings, Anagram, Interop Ventures, and… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 7:35 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Swift is planning to roll out new AI-enhanced fraud detection for the global payments industry. It will be available in January 2025. The new capability builds on Swift’s existing Payment Controls Service by drawing on pseudonymized data from the billions of transactions that flow over… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 4:34 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, XTM launched a Global Workers Payout Program called PayNow. XTM is a provider of payment solutions, including tipping-payout and certified earned wage access (EWA) through QRails AnyDay. The new program empowers temporary workers to open a secure digital bank account to receive earnings,… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 4:23 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Simplismart announced this week a $7 million funding round for its infrastructure, which enables organizations to deploy AI models. The company hopes to position itself as the critical enabler for AI’s transition into mainstream enterprise operations. The Series A funding round was led by Accel,… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 4:15 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The Financial Technology Association (FTA) this week spoke out against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) final interpretive rule on BNPL products. FTA president and CEO Penny Lee said the two organizations share the goal of consumer health. However, the CFPB’s results are inadequate. “Millions… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 10:17 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

DNA Fund, a player in emerging tech and Web3 investments, has acquired Coral Capital Holdings, an investment management firm that has previously managed millions in the DNA founders’ funds. DNA and its founders have invested in or founded projects such as Tether, EOS, Mastercoin, Bancor,… Read More

October 19, 2024 @ 10:14 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week Surfshark released Data Leak Checker, a free, online service that lets users monitor the safety of their personal information. Powered by Surfshark Alert, this tool allows users to check if their personal data has been compromised in a data leak by simply entering… Read More

October 16, 2024 @ 9:24 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

This week, Strise, an anti-money laundering (AML) automation company, launched The AML Megaminds Report, a resource featuring insights from more than 80 financial crime experts. It includes tidbits from more than 60 hours of conversations from The Laundry, a money laundering podcast. The report uses… Read More

October 16, 2024 @ 9:50 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

FlexFactor, a provider of decline recovery solutions for e-commerce brands, has announced the completion of its $16.8 Series A funding round. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with additional participation from seed investors. Annual global e-commerce sales exceed $5 trillion, yet failed checkout payments… Read More

October 16, 2024 @ 7:32 am By Tony Zerucha  |  

Recently Xalts announced a deeper collaboration to bring its enterprise-grade real-world asset tokenization platform, RWA Cloud, to the Polygon blockchain network. RWA Cloud provides solutions to enable financial services, governments, and other enterprise developers looking to build digital asset platforms for implementing blockchain, tokenization, and… Read More

October 15, 2024 @ 6:16 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Several factors will impact Bitcoin prices, YouHodler markets chief Ruslan Lienkha believes. Lienkha said Bitcoin prices remain in a consolidation and corrective phase following the strong growth seen earlier this year. The weekly chart remains optimistic, showing a bullish flag pattern, often indicating an upward… Read More