Airwallex raises $320m Series H at $11bn valuation
Airwallex raises $320m Series H at an $11bn valuation, betting a decade of cross-border payment licences is the real moat in the agentic-commerce race.
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.
July 2026
June 2026
CLARITY Act would split US crypto between the SEC and CFTC
The CLARITY Act (H.R.3633) would split US crypto between the SEC and CFTC — a model that diverges from MiCA, the UK's FCA and Singapore. Analysis and outlook.
Backbase buys Kasisto to bring agentic AI to core banking
Backbase has acquired agentic-AI pioneer Kasisto, the latest in a June cluster of agentic-banking deals as software vendors race to own the AI layer.
MiCA grandfathering ends July 1, resetting EU crypto access
MiCA's Article 143(3) grandfathering ends July 1, 2026 with no extension. With only ~204 CASPs authorised, thousands of EU crypto firms must license or exit.
Meta takes 20% of Cred in $900m deal, names Shah WhatsApp head
Meta is investing $900m for a 20% stake in India's Cred at a $4.5bn valuation and making founder Kunal Shah the global head of WhatsApp. What it signals.
Why the FATF Travel Rule still splits VASP compliance in 2026
In 2026, 85 jurisdictions have adopted the FATF Travel Rule but most don't enforce it. How the EU, UK, US and Singapore diverge — and the sunrise problem it leaves.
bunq opens its banking licence as a BaaS platform across the EU
bunq has opened bunq-as-a-Service to EU businesses, letting partners build regulated accounts and payments on its own bank licence — inverting the US BaaS model.
Float raises CAD $85m Series C at a $548m valuation
Float Financial raised CAD $85m at a $548m valuation, led by Inovia Capital, to build an AI finance platform — corporate-spend fintech's pivot accelerates.
Why the US stablecoin KYC rule stops at the issuer’s door
A five-agency FinCEN rule makes US stablecoin issuers BSA financial institutions, but the KYC duty stops at the issuer — leaving the secondary market open.
Nuvei to buy Payoneer for $2.75bn in cross-border paytech deal
Nuvei will acquire Payoneer for $7.40 a share, about $2.75 billion, bundling payment acceptance with cross-border payouts in the latest paytech consolidation.
Retail FX leverage caps hold at 30:1 as enforcement goes offshore
Retail FX leverage caps hold at 30:1 across the EU, UK and Australia, but 2026 enforcement targets the offshore funnel — CySEC's FXNET and SquaredFinancial cases.
BoE’s £40bn stablecoin cap deepens the EU–US reserve split
The Bank of England's £40bn stablecoin cap and 70/30 reserve rule diverge from MiCA and the GENIUS Act, leaving issuers with three incompatible regimes.
Interchecks raises $50m Series C, debuts account-funding rails
Interchecks raised a $50m Series C led by Bettor Capital and launched debit-rail account funding, as regulated gaming underwrites the instant-payments race.
Tokenised securities split EU, UK, US and Singapore rules in 2026
As tokenised real-world assets pass $20bn, the EU, UK, US and Singapore are diverging on tokenised-securities rules — creating real regulatory-arbitrage risk.
Marqeta adds money-movement rails in 30 markets via Banking Circle
Marqeta taps Banking Circle to add multi-currency accounts and money movement across 30 European markets — the clearest sign yet it wants to be more than a card-issuer.
Fintech revenue tops $504bn but an AI divide splits the field
Global fintech revenue hit $504bn in 2025, up 22% and 4x faster than banks, per BCG and FT Partners — but an AI-foundational divide now splits the winners.
Best execution splits EU, UK and US FX rules in 2026
Best execution returns to FX supervision in 2026: ESMA's new RTS repeals RTS 27/28, the FCA scrapped them in 2021, and the US keeps a prescriptive duty.
Adyen launches Agentic to ride the AI-checkout protocol war
Adyen launched Adyen Agentic on June 16, 2026, betting on neutral 'integrate once' infrastructure as Visa, Mastercard and Stripe split the agentic-payments market.
Why crypto staking rules split the US, EU and UK in 2026
Crypto staking is regulated four ways across the US, EU, UK and Hong Kong. From the Kraken reversal to MiCA's July 1 deadline and the FCA's new regime.
Also filing this week: Karthik Subramanian and Abdelaziz Fathi.