How SEC liquid staking ruling splits from MiCA and MAS rules
SEC August 2025 statement clears $66bn liquid staking market; MiCA, FCA, MAS and VARA still split. Cross-jurisdictional rulebook diverges on CASP authorisation.
Rick Steves
Senior Reporter, Regulation and Fintech
Rick Steves has seen business and economics through many lenses. He joined the financial services industry in 2009, and has been a financial journalist since 2011. He holds a degree in Business Administration and has experience producing real-time news, from both buy-side and sell-side, as well as for retail traders, brokers and service providers. Steves' work has appeared in a variety of online publications including FX Street, NewsBTC, FinanceFeeds, and The Industry Spread. Rick has great interest in the dynamics of the trading industry. The never-ending clash between technology, economics, regulation, and more importantly, the people.
May 2026
Klarna Q1 hits $1bn as deposits fund 91% of book
Klarna Q1 2026: $1.012bn revenue (+44% YoY), deposits fund 91% of book, 270-day duration. KlarnaUSD stablecoin on Tempo mainnet next. Cards under pressure.
Lunar’s Klausen steps down; Saxo’s Kyhl takes CEO seat in June
Co-founder Klausen exits Lunar after 11 years; Saxo Bank deputy CEO Søren Kyhl takes over June 1, 2026 with a lending-and-profitability mandate.
How CySEC’s 10:1 CFD cap meets ESMA’s 2026 supervisory sweep
CySEC's RAA 270/2025 capped non-major commodity and index CFDs at 10:1 in September 2025; ESMA's CSA 2026 now adds inspections on conflicts of interest.
Hong Kong’s 2026 VA dealer and custodian regime takes shape
Hong Kong's FSTB/SFC publish consultation conclusions on VA dealing and custodian licensing — a four-jurisdiction read alongside MAS, VARA, and the SEC.
Fasset’s $51m Series B: stablecoin neobank at $32bn annual run-rate
Fasset closes a $51m Series B led by SBI, Investcorp and Arz Portföy; $32bn annualised across 125 countries hints at a wholesale rail, not a retail neobank.
Bunq files for Mexican banking licence in North America push
Bunq filed for a Mexican banking licence with the CNBV on May 13, 2026, trailing Revolut and Nubank as it builds a US-Mexico cross-border corridor.
CFTC’s grip on sports event contracts faces a circuit split
The Third Circuit handed the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over sports event contracts, but a pending Ninth Circuit ruling could split the circuits.
Klarna lands inside Worldline’s European merchant network
Worldline and Klarna signed a strategic framework on May 19, 2026 to embed Klarna BNPL across Europe's largest card acquirer — phased from Global Collect to POS.
Paymentology’s $175m round targets stablecoin and credit add-ons
Paymentology’s $175 million Apis-led round earmarks capital for stablecoin issuance, tokenisation, credit, and AI rails — timed to the MiCA July 1 transition.
As MiCA’s July 1 cliff nears, three crypto rulebooks pull apart
MiCA’s transitional period closes July 1, 2026, just as the FCA’s CP26/13 and the US CLARITY Act define three divergent crypto rulebooks for global firms.
Adyen’s €750m Talon.One deal ends 20-year build-only rule
Adyen's €750m Talon.One acquisition is its first ever — a margin-defence move that fuses payments data with cart-side decisioning to defend its premium multiple.
October 2023
Elevating the Game: Skilling Takes the Lead at UF Awards 2023
In the ever-evolving sphere of fintech, tales of innovation are plenty, but few resonate as profoundly as that of Skilling.
December 2021
Also filing this week: Karthik Subramanian and Abdelaziz Fathi.