ASIC: Block Earner Ran Unlicensed Crypto Investments

Adding to the cryptocurrency sector’s 2022 woes, hackers stole $3.8 billion from crypto companies last year. This, as a new crypto crime report from blockchain intelligence platform Chainalysis found that 2022 was the biggest year in the cryptocurrency sector’s decade-plus history for losses stemming from hacks by bad actors.

Unbanked and Mastercard have partnered to accelerate decentralized finance (DeFi) card issuance in Europe. Through this partnership, the two companies will use their existing footprint in the United Kingdom and the continent to work with Web3 organizations to enable the issuance of cryptocurrency-powered card programs, the companies said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

The U.K.’s financial regulator sent out over 1,800 alerts last year to protect consumers from financial scams. In a Friday (Feb. 3) press release, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it required firms to amend or remove 8,582 promotions during 2022, a 14-fold increase from the previous year. The...

Airswift and Cloud Payments have teamed to simplify cryptocurrency payments with Visa and Mastercard. Airswift, a crypto payments provider, announced the partnership in a Thursday (Feb. 2) news release, saying it would “enable cryptocurrency spenders with instant access to crypto at the points-of-sale” using Visa and Mastercard payment.

TransUnion has invested in British open banking and data intelligence firm Bud Financial Limited. The global information and insights company said in a Tuesday (Jan. 31) press release that this partnership will drive innovation in the personal finance market and greater financial inclusion among consumers. “This strategic investment marks the...

Upstart is laying off 365 employees due to reduced demand for lending. The artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform said in a Tuesday (Jan. 31) filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the cuts will amount to about 20% of its current workforce. “On January 31, 2023, in response...

B2B FinTech company SendFriend has acquired U.S. compliance provider DigiPli. The move will combine DigiPli’s anti-money laundering (AML) model with SendFriend’s cross-border payments solution for financial institutions (FIs) needing access to the U.S. market, SendFriend said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release. With this combination, SendFriend will...

Egypt’s MNT-Halan has raised $400 million at a valuation of over $1 billion. The funding was announced by the Cairo-based FinTech on Monday (Feb. 1). The largest chunk of the fresh capital was from Chimera Abu Dhabi, which has invested more than $200 million in exchange for over 20% of the company, MNT-Halan said.

The British government has unveiled “robust” cryptocurrency sector regulations following a string of industry failures. A proposal announced Wednesday (Feb. 1) by the U.K. Treasury would subject crypto companies to the same oversight as traditional finance firms. “Our robust approach to regulation mitigates the most significant risks, while...

Intelligence platform Craft has raised $32 million to help companies track supplier networks. The company announced the Series B equity financing Wednesday (Feb. 1), saying it would use the funds to accelerate research and development and deepen its go-to-market execution. Based in San Francisco, Craft offers a data platform that...

Two years ago, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider Treasury Prime, then a startup, raised $20 million. And Wednesday (Feb. 1), the company’s embedded banking marketplace model — which brings banks, FinTechs and enterprises together to boost revenues, deposits and reach new end users — got another $40 million vote of confidence.

JPMorgan Chase is banking on digital to help grow its business in Europe. Less than 18 months after it launched its digital proposition Chase in the U.K., the global banking group is reportedly preparing to launch a digital bank in Germany, using its Berlin base, as part of a push into consumer banking in Europe.

Embedded lending firm iwoca has raised new finance to meet a rising level of demand. The firm has increased its funding line from £125 million ($153 million) to £170 million ($208 million) with Pollen Street Capital. It’s also increasing funding lines with other existing lenders, iwoca said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

A he-said-they-said war of words has been swirling around FTX’s solvency since its bankruptcy. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimated that the crypto exchange’s customers have lost more than $8 billion as a result of alleged fraud. FTX lawyer Andrew Dietderich said the amount of the shortfall...

GoLogiq is to continue growing its wealth management capabilities by acquiring Nest Egg. The proposed transaction, which is subject to customary closing terms, aims to add Nest Egg’s wealth-building platform for Gen Z and millennial consumers to GoLogiq’s range of FinTech and mobile solutions, the firms said in a Tuesday (Jan. 31) press release.

Monzo is one step closer to achieving annual profitability by the end of this year. The firm’s latest earnings show that the U.K.-based neobank’s annualized revenues increased by 250% to 440 million pounds (about $542 million) in the year to December 2022. The figures, first reported by Sifted...

If Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim had to write a book about the FinTech bubble that burst in 2022, he’d call it “Crazy Money.”. That nugget came up in a conversation between Youakim and PYMNTS’ Karen Webster during the first discussion in the new series “FinTech Reset: The Pivot to Profitability.”

Xolvis has teamed with Volt to integrate open banking payments into its platform. The Munich-based software developer announced in a Thursday (Feb. 2) blog post that it will enable open banking payments for its customers in Europe thanks to the partnership with Volt, a London-based FinTech that specializes in real-time, account-to-account payments.

Tech stocks roared back to life coming into a new month — and suddenly February looks a lot brighter than the beginning of this year ever did. The FinTech IPO Index was up 10.5%, marking a five-day rally that has brought the group up more than 35% year to date.

Mastercard is working with open finance platform Ayoconnect to bolster financial inclusion in Indonesia. “With open banking, the unbanked population in Indonesia will have access to various financial products, moreover, consumers can be responsible and aware of their digital financial footprint to fully understand their financial position and spending habits to monthly payments,” Ayoconnect announced on its LinkedIn page Tuesday (Jan. 31).