Is this the start of the bank-crypto love story? (TWIF 3/14)
Hello Fintech Friends,
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The headline today refers to new guidance issued this week by the OCC, which could pave the way for bank-issued stablecoins in the US, as well as for banks to custody crypto assets and participate in network node verification. So your bitcoin and solana holdings could soon be with Citi or JP Morgan.
If you're interested in diving further into the world of stablecoin banking, tickets are going fast for Stablecon on May 29th:
We are marking our entry into Argentina with an exclusive fintech & web3 reception side-event in collaboration with Sphere, Utila, and Cámara Argentina Fintech. It will take place during the amazing Merge Buenos Aires conference March 24-26th, bridging Europe and Latam through Web3.
Lastly, Ryan had two great interviews from last week's Toronto Fintech Meetup – check them out below!
Ryan Zauk
Ryan Zauk
Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.
(👍👎 Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm)
Fintech Predictions 2025 is here! Fraud, AI, and beyond. Get Plaid Co-founder and CEO Zach Perret’s predictions on what 2025 has in store for these trends and more.
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🏦 Financial Services & Banking
🚀 Product Launches
Visa established a new scam disruption unit that prevented over $350 million in attempted fraud in 2024. This unit utilized new tech to identify and dismantle scam operations, including shutting down nearly 12,000 fraudulent sites linked to identity verification scams.
📰 Other News
The OCC this week provided guidance that crypto-asset custody, certain stablecoin activities, and participation in independent node verification networks such as distributed ledger are permissible for national banks and federal savings associations.
Financial markets are signaling that the risk of a recession is growing as tariff-related uncertainty and indicators of economic weakness spread fear across Wall Street.
Nasdaq temporarily halted its high-speed trading service.
The FDIC withdrew proposed rules related to brokered deposits, corporate governance, the Change in Bank Control Act, and incentive-based compensation arrangements.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent came out strongly in-favor of stablecoins to preserve dollar dominance.
The European Central Bank decided to apply the "Danish compromise" on banks' holdings in insurers on a case-by-case basis to reduce capital costs for banks owning insurers. The ECB also experienced internal divisions over releasing a report indicating that large EU banks would require significantly higher capital levels if subjected to US regulatory standards. The European Stability Mechanism expressed concerns that US President Donald Trump's favorable stance on -denominated stablecoins could impact Europe's monetary sovereignty and financial stability.
💬 Quote of the Week
💻 Fintech
🚀 Product Launches
Persona enhanced its unified KYC-KYB platform to combat sophisticated fraud during business onboarding and throughout the business lifecycle.
Skyfire, a startup founded by former Google and Ripple executives, exited beta and launched its payments network designed to enable AI agents to make autonomous transactions.
Orchestration platform Alloy* launched a tool using AI to identify fraud attacks, proactively alert clients, and stop fraudsters.
Raise Financial unveiled an "Investment Membership" platform aimed at helping Gen Z and Millennials grow their wealth.
Newline by Fifth Third released their new VRN and Authorization Stream products to enable clients to create unlimited account numbers, or aliases, for deposit accounts and authorize A2A payments in real-time.
AwardWallet launched a platform to help users maximize credit card rewards by tracking points and miles across various loyalty programs.
Google enabled eftpos functionality and least-cost routing (LCR) for Google Wallet transactions in Australia, to allow merchants to route payments through the lower-cost eftpos network instead of defaulting to international card networks, potentially reducing transaction costs by nearly 20%. ANZ and Suncorp Bank are the first issuers to implement this feature.
Brex released their spring launch:
Here’s what just launched in their spring release:
— Nik (@NikMilanovic) March 12, 2025
→ Custom fields — HRIS & ERP data now syncs natively, letting companies automate everything from card limits to accounting.
→ Custom roles — No more rigid permission sets. Teams can define granular access controls for…
Fintech Predictions 2025 is here! Fraud, AI, and beyond. Get Plaid Co-founder and CEO Zach Perret’s predictions on what 2025 has in store for these trends and more.
Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.
🍻 Upcoming Events
💼 Job of the Week
📰 Other News
Bolt's returned CEO Ryan Breslow hinted that Bolt will launch an “everything app” that will integrate one-click checkouts for everything from crypto to financial services “very soon.” He previously defaulted on a $30 million loan he secured using the company's equity, before being sued by investor Activant and departing the company in 2022.
Stablecoins hold promise as a potential cornerstone of a modern payment system.
— Financial Services GOP (@FinancialCmte) March 11, 2025
Some facts: pic.twitter.com/MeeR7pNWTv
🤝 Partnership Corner
Best Buy Canada selected PingPong as its first cross-border payment service provider to facilitate international growth on its Marketplace.
Splitit partnered with Highnote to offer installment payment options through digital wallets at the point of sale.
Rho and Clerky launched a partnership providing U.S.-based startups with a $1,600 bonus when they incorporate through Clerky and choose Rho as their primary banking platform.
👎 The Bad News
Mercury terminated its partnership with Evolve Bank following operational issues at the bank. The startup initiated the migration of its customers to other banking partners, including Column National Association and Choice Financial Group.
Green Dot announced the departure of CEO and president George Gresham as the company embarked on a strategic review, engaging Citi to explore potential alternatives.
European Union regulators are looking into a service offered by crypto exchange OKX that may have played a role in the laundering of $100 million in funds from the Bybit hack.
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