fintech

The fintech company and crypto-friendly bank Revolut announced that it has obtained a banking license in France, becoming the second full banking license the company has acquired in the EU after Lithuania. The license was jointly reviewed by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) and the European Central Bank, and approved by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank. After obtaining the license, Revolut Bank S.A. will be able to offer a wider range of banking services in France, including loans, mortgages, and regulated savings products. France is one of Revolut's largest markets in Western Europe.Previously, the company primarily operated in France under its Lithuanian banking license, mainly providing payment and financial services. Following this licensing, Revolut will gradually migrate its French operations to the new French banking entity and plans to subsequently expand to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Revolut stated that it has invested over 1 billion euros in the Western European market over the past few years and has created over 600 new jobs locally, with plans to establish its Western European headquarters in Paris by 2027. However, the license comes with regulatory conditions. Reports suggest that the European Central Bank may impose restrictions on new products for Revolut's French operations, similar to the regulatory measures previously implemented on its Lithuanian entity, which may affect the speed of launching loan and savings products.This year, Revolut has continued to advance its global regulatory expansion. The company obtained a full banking license in the UK in March 2026 and a full banking license in Australia in July. Currently, Revolut covers 40 markets, with its valuation rising to $115 billion after secondary stock trading in 2026.

The real-time cross-border capital flow platform OpenFX announced the acquisition of Global Ledger, with its founder Tyler McIntyre appointed as the head of banking. At the same time, it launched a multi-currency account service. McIntyre previously co-founded the new bank Novo, which serves over 300,000 businesses and is valued at over $700 million.The account allows customers to make payments in local currency, and companies can hold received funds directly without the need for immediate conversion. OpenFX has launched the USD account in its first phase, which can receive and send funds to over 100 countries through ACH, Fedwire, and SWIFT, and supports instant connection with stablecoins like USDC.

Founder of 1confirmation, Nick Tomaino, disclosed data indicating that in the past month, the Polymarket website received 43.1 million visits (according to Similarweb data), surpassing the combined total of FanDuel, DraftKings, and Kalshi, and has become one of the most visited fintech applications globally.Nick Tomaino believes that the core reason for Polymarket's growth is not marketing investment, but rather its value as a "source of information," as users seek to better understand the real world through prediction markets.Polymarket currently dominates the on-chain prediction market space, with the transparency and global accessibility provided by its on-chain architecture being key to achieving the long-term goal of "better information and more truth." However, the Polymarket application in the U.S. is still in its early stages, but the product and business model are gradually maturing and beginning to enter an accelerated execution phase.

According to Cointelegraph, South Korean fintech giant KSNET will integrate Solana Pay into its network of over 330,000 merchants, with a monthly payment processing volume exceeding $4 billion.

Solana tweeted that the South Korean fintech company KSNET has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation to integrate Solana Pay into its payment network. This network covers over 330,000 merchants and processes approximately $4 billion in transactions monthly.

Hong Kong, July 23, 2026 - PhotonPay, a next-generation global financial operating system built on a stablecoin-native architecture, has been recognized in the CNBC 2026 World's Top Fintech Companies rankings, Payments category. The list, compiled jointly by CNBC and Statista, covers 500 leading fintech companies worldwide. PhotonPay supports unified fiat and stablecoin transactions with real-time settlement, serving tens of thousands of enterprises globally. Customers have reduced fund transfer costs by over 75% and improved finance team efficiency by 60% (as of December 2025).

According to Bloomberg, Venezuela's largest fintech company Cashea recently completed two rounds of financing totaling $100 million, including a $60 million Series B round led by FinSight Ventures in June this year, and a $40 million Series A round completed in March led by Spice Expeditions, which included $20 million in debt provided by Architect Capital. Several U.S. donor funds and Latin American investment institutions participated.Founded in 2022, Cashea provides "buy now, pay later" services for Venezuelan consumers who have long been credit-constrained. Users can make a down payment via the app or by scanning a code offline and then pay in interest-free installments. The company claims to have processed over 110 million transactions, serving more than 10 million accounts, with partnerships reaching 40,000 merchants. The new funds will be used to expand credit products and support post-disaster reconstruction.

According to TechFundingNews, Nvidia's venture capital division NVentures previously invested approximately $196 million in the UK fintech company Revolut.A confirmation statement disclosed by the UK Companies House shows that a shareholder entity suspected to belong to NVentures LLC holds about 141,834 shares of Revolut. Based on the issuance price disclosed in this round of financing by Revolut, this portion of shares is valued at approximately $195.9 million.Previously, neither Nvidia nor Revolut publicly disclosed the specific investment amount and shareholding scale of NVentures in the company. The exposure of this document indicates that Nvidia is further positioning itself in the fintech sector through strategic investments.Founded in 2015, Revolut is one of Europe's leading digital banking platforms, covering areas such as payments, foreign exchange, investment, and cryptocurrency services. In recent years, Nvidia has continuously invested in AI, fintech, and next-generation internet infrastructure companies through NVentures, and this investment in Revolut is also seen as part of its expansion into the AI and digital finance ecosystem.

South Korean fintech company Toss announced a partnership with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs to jointly explore a stablecoin pegged to the Korean won.In the coming months, the three parties will conduct a proof of concept (PoC) test to assess the feasibility of building compliant blockchain digital financial infrastructure based on the OP Stack, providing technical validation for applications related to the Korean won stablecoin.

The Italian fintech company Hodli has been authorized by the Bank of Italy to become the first licensed crypto asset portfolio management institution in the country under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). It is reported that this authorization allows Hodli to break through the traditional limitations of single custody services and directly provide clients with active crypto asset portfolio management services.

Early space fintech company Nebex, founded by former Axiom Space CEO Tejpaul Bhatia, announced the completion of a $30,000,000 seed round financing, led by Google Ventures, a subsidiary of Alphabet.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee held a hearing to discuss the changing roles of banks and fintech companies, with one focus being the "streamlined master account" proposal that the Federal Reserve is considering, which would allow certain crypto banks and fintech companies limited direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment system. A Federal Reserve master account allows financial institutions to directly use the Federal Reserve payment network and gain the most direct access to the U.S. dollar monetary system. Institutions without this account typically need to rely on partner banks that have master accounts to provide services.The so-called "streamlined account" is a limited-function version intended to provide limited access for new financial institutions. Republican Congressman Dan Meuser stated at the hearing that access to the Federal Reserve payment system is no small matter, and the core issue is which institutions should be allowed to directly use these critical payment channels. Traditional institutions like community banks are concerned that crypto and fintech companies are not subject to equally stringent regulation, and direct access could pose risks to security and stability. The crypto industry generally supports the proposal, arguing that direct access to the Federal Reserve payment system should have been opened long ago, as it would help reduce reliance on intermediary banks and promote innovation.In May of this year, Trump also signed an executive order requiring the Federal Reserve to assess policies for opening central bank payment channels to fintech companies, including crypto companies. Previously, the Kansas City Federal Reserve had approved Kraken's parent company Payward for a "limited purpose account" in March, sparking discussions in the market about the extent to which crypto and fintech companies should have direct access to Federal Reserve services. A representative from Anchorage Digital stated at the hearing that if the U.S. wants to continue as a global financial center, it needs to allow for innovative federal and state regulatory frameworks.

According to an official tweet from Sovra, Sovra has completed a $2 million Pre-seed funding round, led by Pharsalus Capital. Sovra is a self-custodied fintech platform primarily targeting the Middle East and North Africa, providing users with USDC-based global digital dollar accounts. The platform enables users to hold, send, use, and earn digital dollar yields while maintaining control over their funds without relying on traditional banks or custodians.

According to Reuters, Italian crypto fintech company Conio, supported by Poste Italiane and Banca Generali, has obtained a crypto asset service provider (CASP) license under the EU MiCAR framework in Italy. This authorization was granted after review by the Italian Consob and the central bank, allowing Conio to provide services such as digital asset custody, transfers, and distribution.Reports indicate that the MiCAR transition period will end on June 30, 2026, after which unlicensed companies will be unable to provide crypto services in Italy and the EU.

According to South Korean media SBS Biz, South Korea is considering allowing various parties, including exchanges and fintech companies, to participate in the upcoming virtual asset overseas remittance business system. This system is expected to be implemented in December this year. Relevant individuals revealed that the government has recently begun drafting the implementation details of the partial amendment to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act and is reviewing the registration requirements for virtual asset transfer businesses.The core content of the amendment is to include cross-border virtual asset transfers within the regulatory framework of the Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, defining it as "virtual asset transfer business." Companies intending to engage in virtual asset transfer business must register with the Office of the Minister of Economy and Finance of South Korea and report relevant information through the foreign exchange computer network of the Bank of Korea when cross-border transfer transactions occur. Previously, cross-border virtual asset transactions had been outside the foreign exchange regulatory framework, raising concerns that these transactions could be used for illegal foreign exchange trading or money laundering activities. This system improvement aims to incorporate virtual asset transfer transactions into the management and regulatory system.

According to a report by Reuters, the Italian fintech company Conio has obtained a European Union cryptocurrency asset service provider license, allowing it to provide custody, transfer, and distribution services for digital assets under the MiCAR framework. The license was granted after a review by the Italian market regulator Consob and the Bank of Italy.

According to Livecoins, Brazilian Federal Deputy Lincoln Portela proposed Bill No. 2.901/2026, which aims to establish a framework for a national fintech and digital finance platform, creating a permanent regulatory sandbox system for testing blockchain technology and asset tokenization, supervised by the Central Bank of Brazil.The bill requires regulatory requirements to be proportional to the size of the company, allowing small fintech startups to apply simplified standards, and prohibits the government from imposing bureaucratic measures or obligations that do not align with the digital nature of the cryptocurrency market. The sandbox testing scope includes financial flow tracking, artificial intelligence credit applications, and programmable payment practices.The bill also allows companies to share network infrastructure and institutional adaptation databases, but they must comply with data protection regulations. The cooperation mechanism aims to combat financial crimes in cryptocurrency transactions, promote customer identity verification, and enhance cybersecurity.The bill also proposes the establishment of a national system for digital financial integrity, coordinating network regulatory actions to combat criminal structures that use cryptocurrency to hide wealth. Fines for non-compliant companies can reach up to 20% of their annual profit or revenue. The bill will be discussed in various committees of the House of Representatives.