Author: Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz)

Circle Reports 17% Revenue Growth as Stablecoin Payments Network Expands

Circle Reports 17% Revenue Growth as Stablecoin Payments Network Expands
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Stablecoin issuer Circle reported $865 million in third-quarter revenue and reserve income, up 17% year over year.
  • The revenue was driven in part by $182 million from a private presale of Circle’s ARC token.
  • Circle is expanding its payments infrastructure through its planned Tazapay acquisition, Arc blockchain launch, and institutional partnerships as it seeks to diversify revenue beyond stablecoin reserves.

Digital currency platform and stablecoin issuer Circle released its third-quarter earnings this week. The New York-based company reported that its total revenue and reserve income reached $865 million in the third quarter of this year, representing a 17% increase over last year. Additionally, the fintech reported an increase in USDC transaction activity. Here’s a breakdown of what is behind these two headline figures.

Circle reported that $658 million of the $865 million in revenue and reserve income was generated via reserves. The company reported that this figure was down 8% year over year, citing lower interest rates as the cause of the drop. Of the remaining $207 million in other revenue, $182 million was the result of a private presale of Circle’s ARC token. Interestingly, without the contribution of funds from that sale, Circle’s total revenue and reserve income would have been approximately $683 million, below the 2025 reported total. While Circle is generating revenue in ways beyond interest earned on USDC reserves, the quarter’s revenue growth was not the result of an established or recurring revenue stream.

From a banking perspective, what is particularly notable about these results is that Circle’s USDC on-chain transaction volume reached $13.9 trillion in the third quarter, marking an increase of 49% from last year, while overall average USDC in circulation totaled $73.3 billion, which is up only 8% year on year. This difference in growth suggests that USDC is seeing considerably more transaction activity without a comparable increase in the amount circulating.

All of this growth comes as Circle has been expanding its payments network through acquisitions. The company announced plans to acquire global payments infrastructure company Tazapay earlier this fall. Tazapay reaches 100+ markets and brings more than $25 billion in annualized payment volume. The deal, which is set to close in 2027, will allow Circle to move beyond stablecoin issuance and into international payment and payout infrastructure.

Circle demonstrated its interest in infrastructure last quarter, launching the public mainnet of its Arc blockchain on September 16. At launch, the fintech minted the initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens and revealed that more than 100 institutional and ecosystem builders were already participating. This infrastructure could eventually generate revenue through network participation and token-related activity.

“In Q3, we saw continued proof that institutions are building and expanding on USDC,” said Circle Co-Founder, CEO, and Chairman Jeremy Allaire. Circle highlighted several partnerships as evidence of this growing institutional adoption:

  • Visa expanded Visa Direct stablecoin pre-funding into commercial deployment, supporting eligible cross-border payouts.
  • Samsung’s Wallet enables eligible US users to send USDC-funded transfers to bank accounts in more than 60 countries.
  • Volante Technologies is collaborating with Circle to integrate stablecoin payments and settlement into banks’ existing operations.
  • Binance announced a $100 million equity investment in Circle and expanded its USDC partnership.
  • Tereina partnered with Circle to integrate USDC and EURC into enterprise payment workflows.

Taken together, these collaborations highlight that stablecoins are increasingly being integrated into existing payment systems, enterprise software, and banking infrastructure instead of being seen as separate crypto experiences.

Circle’s third-quarter results are evidence of the growing role of stablecoins in financial services. It is clear that USDC transaction activity is increasing, and given Circle’s reliance on reserve income and one-time token sales, it may need to develop more diversified, recurring revenue streams. The recent investments in payments infrastructure, acquisitions, and institutional partnerships may help Circle capture more value from transactions, rather than primarily from interest earned on the reserves backing USDC.

Photo by Landiva Weber

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OnePay Taps Stripe to Power Stablecoin Deposits

OnePay Taps Stripe to Power Stablecoin Deposits
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news
  • Digital bank OnePay is allowing select US customers to fund their checking accounts using USDC stablecoins across 12 blockchains, automatically converting deposits into US dollars.
  • Stripe-owned Bridge powers the stablecoin deposit functionality, offering an alternative to traditional account funding methods such as ACH transfers.
  • The launch follows OnePay’s recent agentic banking and MCP integration announcements as the Walmart-backed fintech continues to expand its digital financial services offerings.

Digital bank OnePay announced this month that it is allowing select US customers to fund their OnePay checking accounts using stablecoins and receive the value as US dollars, all without requiring a separate crypto account or wallet.

Users can fund their accounts by sending stablecoins from an external wallet to a deposit address, and OnePay converts the funds to US dollars and credits the funds to their checking account within moments, depending on the network used and required checks. The feature is launching with support for USDC across 12 blockchains, including Tempo, Base, Solana, and Ethereum. OnePay notes that it will not charge conversion fees at launch, and while it does not charge a service fee, blockchain networks may impose network fees on consumers.

Supporting the behind-the-scenes fund transfer is Stripe-owned Bridge, a stablecoin orchestration platform that creates and secures deposit addresses, monitors incoming blockchain transactions, and facilitates the conversion of stablecoins into US dollars. The integration allows OnePay to offer stablecoin deposits without requiring customers to manage a separate crypto account within the app. In this sense, Bridge provides an alternative to traditional bank account funding methods such as ACH transfers, enabling customers to move funds over blockchain networks while receiving the value in dollars in their checking accounts.

OnePay anticipates that the new stablecoin capability will support the growing number of freelancers, gig workers, and overseas employees who receive payment in stablecoins. OnePay’s new launch removes complexity for these users by enabling them to deposit crypto and receive dollars out that they can use to pay bills, send money, and save.

For OnePay, the move integrates blockchain-based payment rails into everyday banking. While stablecoins are not replacing traditional payment systems such as ACH, they are emerging as an alternative for moving money, particularly across borders. By converting stablecoins directly into spendable dollars, OnePay is leveraging blockchain infrastructure without requiring consumers to interact with cryptocurrency within OnePay. The launch is also an example of a new approach to account funding in which stablecoins serve as an underlying payment mechanism rather than a standalone financial product.

The release of this feature follows OnePay’s agentic banking announcement last month. The New York-based company will offer eligible customers the option to give their AI agent access to spend and manage funds, as well as buy and sell crypto. Also last month, OnePay added an MCP connection to allow users to connect their OnePay accounts to their AI tool.

Founded in 2019, Walmart-backed OnePay offers a range of financial services, including checking and savings accounts, debit and credit cards, buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing, and credit-building tools. The company has also expanded into investing and cryptocurrency trading, allowing customers to buy and sell stocks and digital assets through its app. OnePay partners with financial institutions and technology providers to deliver its services, including Coastal Community Bank, Lead Bank, Synchrony Bank, Klarna, and DriveWealth.

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Revolut Secures New Zealand Banking License, Expanding Its Global Footprint

Revolut Secures New Zealand Banking License, Expanding Its Global Footprint
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Alumni profile, Revolut

Digital banking platform Revolut announced today that it has officially launched in New Zealand as a bank after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand registered Revolut Bank New Zealand Limited. This registration makes Revolut the country’s 27th registered bank and its first digital bank.

The new registration, which comes three years after Revolut first began operating in New Zealand as a financial services provider, allows Revolut to launch Instant Access Savings accounts, with eligible deposits up to NZ$100,000 now protected by the New Zealand Depositor Compensation Scheme (DCS). The new Instant Access Savings accounts feature a 3.50% variable introductory savings rate for four months.

“Launching our New Zealand bank marks another significant step in our mission to build the world’s first truly global bank,” said Revolut Founder and CEO Nik Storonsky. “Securing our seventh bank license and our fifth this year alone is a testament to our business model and our team. We are confident our offering will bring true competition to the New Zealand banking sector.”

Along with Revolut’s official move into New Zealand, the fintech committed to investing NZ$120 million into the local market over the next five years. Revolut aims to offer solutions that enhance the financial wellbeing of New Zealand residents and hopes to bring competition to the region’s market, which has long been dominated by traditional players.

“Becoming a bank in New Zealand marks a defining moment in our journey, achieved through a relentless focus on delivering a better financial experience for Kiwis,” said Revolut Bank New Zealand CEO Ryan Brosnahan. “Since launching here in 2023, we have experienced massive growth. It’s clear the market is primed for disruption, and this licence is the launchpad for our next chapter to build the most seamless, secure, and customer-first banking experience in New Zealand.”

With more than 80 million customers worldwide, UK-based Revolut now holds seven banking licenses and operates as a licensed bank in 34 geographies, including the UK, Europe, Australia, and now New Zealand. The company recently secured new licenses and authorizations in the UAE, Mexico, Colombia, and Peru; has advanced its US bank charter application with the OCC; and received approval to acquire Banco Cetelem in Argentina. In 2015, Revolut CEO Storonsky demoed the company’s banking platform at FinovateEurope in London.

Revolut’s entry into the New Zealand market broadens its reach as a global banking competitor. While other international digital banks, such as Brazil-based Nubank, have largely focused their expansion efforts on specific regions, Revolut is pursuing a more geographically diverse strategy. Securing banking licenses across multiple continents positions Revolut to compete directly with traditional financial institutions, rather than simply offering an alternative digital financial services platform.

Photo by Partha Narasimhan on Unsplash

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Settle Secures Up To $100 Million as Stablecoin Liquidity Enters SMB Lending

Settle Secures Up To $100 Million as Stablecoin Liquidity Enters SMB Lending
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Inventory financing fintech Settle has secured up to $100 million in a forward-flow financing agreement with crypto-native structured credit platform 3Jane, beginning with $50 million in financing capacity.
  • The agreement will allow Settle to sell eligible loans to 3Jane on an ongoing basis, freeing up capital to originate additional loans and expand its lending operations.
  • The deal leverages stablecoin liquidity to finance real-world lending and follows Settle’s recent $240 million credit facility aimed at expanding its financing offerings.

Inventory financing fintech Settle has secured up to $100 million in a forward-flow agreement today. In a deal with 3Jane, the agreement provides $50 million initially with the option to expand to $100 million.

Today’s agreement follows Settle’s announcement last month that it secured a $240 million credit facility from an international financial institution and a New York-based asset manager. That facility aimed to help Settle serve larger businesses and expand its financing offerings. The company also previously secured a $280 million revolving credit facility in 2022 and a $145 million credit facility in 2023.

3Jane is a crypto-native structured credit platform that provides capital to fintech lenders through a revolving conduit powered by blockchain technology. As part of the agreement, 3Jane has already purchased $18 million of Settle’s existing loans and has committed to purchasing eligible new loans on an ongoing basis.

The forward-flow arrangement will allow Settle to recycle capital into new loan originations rather than holding existing loans on its balance sheet until maturity, enabling the company to scale its lending operations.

The deal highlights a growing connection between traditional lending and blockchain-based finance. Tapping stablecoin liquidity to fund loans to consumer brands allows 3Jane to connect digital asset capital with real-world credit demand. Additionally, the deal gives Settle an alternative source of financing as it expands its lending operations.

Founded in 2019, Settle has provided more than $4 billion in funding to thousands of consumer brands and ecommerce businesses. Its financing solutions help businesses pay for inventory purchases and supplier invoices upfront, with repayment through extended payment terms or scheduled installments. In addition to lending, Settle offers a suite of cash flow management tools, including bill pay, accounts payable automation, and invoice tracking.

Settle CEO and Founder Alek Koenig emphasized the importance of helping consumer brands finance inventory purchases before generating revenue from sales. “The forward flow with 3Jane gives us a more capital-efficient way to finance that gap at scale,” Koenig said. 3Jane CEO Jacob Chudnovsky highlighted the role of stablecoin liquidity in supporting Settle’s lending operations, noting that the financing structure is designed to lower Settle’s borrowing costs. “Settle has built a lending business serving thousands of consumer brands,” Chudnovsky said.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk


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Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News

Fintech Rundown: A Rapid Review of Weekly News
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Fintech Rundown

It’s a new month and time for some fresh banking news and fintech developments. The biggest headline to start the week is OPay’s withdrawal from its IPO. Here’s a look at what else fintechs are up to in this week’s list of the top news. We’ll continue to update this post with news throughout the week.

Payments

Paysafe appoints gaming industry veteran Rob Schonfeld as Chief Revenue Officer.

OPay withdraws from IPO.

Pathfinder raises $12 million Series A to simplify how families use education savings account funds.

Thunes and UnionPay International transform payments to China’s mainland, launching high-capacity instant payouts.

Stablecoins and tokenized deposits

Mastercard-powered OKX Card goes live in the US.

Uber uses HSBC tokenized deposits to complete pilot of a first-ever on-chain liquidity and settlement solution on a public network.

Hong Kong enables around-the-clock settlement for tokenized deposits.

Digital banking

Galaxy Digital applies for OCC charter.

Investing

Premialab partners with BlackRock’s investment management platform Aladdin.

Commerce

Bilt acquires sports loyalty technology leader LAVA in $300 million deal.

Sunrate launches agentic card to enable AI-driven business payments.

Spend management

Expensify inks referral agreement with Visa.

Photo by Nelly Antoniadou on Unsplash

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LTVCo Agrees to Acquire Issuer-Merchant Network Kipp

LTVCo Agrees to Acquire Issuer-Merchant Network Kipp
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Mergers & Acquisitions
  • Issuer-merchant network Kipp has been acquired by an investor group led by The Lifetime Value Company (LTVCo) and its founders. Terms were not disclosed.
  • The acquisition will support Kipp’s US expansion, technology investments, and efforts to grow its network of issuer and merchant partners.
  • Kipp will continue to operate independently under its existing leadership, helping merchants recover declined transactions while giving issuers control over risk and pricing.

Issuer-merchant network Kipp has been acquired by an investor group led by The Lifetime Value Company (LTVCo) and its founders. Terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Kipp anticipates that the acquisition will offer it long-term financial backing and has made it clear that the new owners will help it pursue continued growth by providing the resources to expand its US presence, invest in its technology, and further build its partnerships with issuers and merchants.

Founded in 2021, Kipp creates a bridge between merchants and issuers by allowing merchants to pay for transactions that would otherwise be declined due to insufficient funds. It also gives issuers full control over which transactions they approve and the premium price they require to take on the additional risk. Using Kipp, up to half of transactions that otherwise would have been declined can be approved without imposing additional friction or cost to the end consumer.

“Our focus now is expanding our US issuer and merchant network and bringing more transactions onto the platform,” said Kipp CEO and Co-founder Chanan Lavi. “This acquisition gives us the long-term backing and operational resources to accelerate that work while preserving what makes Kipp valuable: issuers control their risk, merchants recover sales, and consumers pay no additional fee.”

LTVCo is a technology and information services platform that holds a portfolio of consumer brands, including BeenVerified, Bumper, and Ownerly. Adding Kipp to its lineup will expand LTVCo’s reach into the payments industry, giving the company a foothold in the issuer-merchant ecosystem while supporting Kipp’s efforts to scale its technology and partnerships in the US.

“Every unnecessary decline costs a merchant a sale and an issuer a chance to remain the customer’s preferred card,” said LTVCo CEO and Co-founder Josh Levy. “We’ve seen that firsthand. Kipp aligns both sides to recover that revenue and deliver a better customer experience. We’re committed to building Kipp for the long term, with the financial strength and resources to invest in its technology, expand its network, and support its partners at scale.”

Kipp will continue to operate independently under the leadership of its co-founders, CEO Chanan Lavi and CTO Nir Levy.

Photo by Ann H

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Casap Raises $56 Million as AI Agents Take on Fraud and Payment Disputes

Casap Raises $56 Million as AI Agents Take on Fraud and Payment Disputes
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Alumni News, Casap, Daily news, Funding
  • Casap raised $56 million in Series B funding, bringing its total funding to $90 million, to expand its agentic AI platform for financial services operations.
  • Casap’s AI agents are delivering measurable results, helping more than 100 financial institutions reduce fraud losses, accelerate dispute resolution, and automate complex workflows while maintaining human oversight.
  • The funding reflects growing investor confidence in agentic AI as financial institutions move beyond basic task automation toward AI systems capable of executing complex, highly regulated workflows.

AI agent platform for financial services Casap raised $56 million this week to help combat fraud and payment disputes. The Series B funding round was led by Base10 Partners, with strategic participation from Experian and Synchrony and additional support from existing investors including Emergence Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Today’s round, which comes just over a year after Casap raised $25 million in its Series A round, brings the California-based company’s total funding to $90 million. Casap will use the funding to advance its AI platform that combines AI agents, industry expertise, and forward-deployed teams to transform operations such as disputes and fraud to collections, claims, and more.

Casap was founded in 2023 by former Robinhood executive Shanthi Shanmugam and former Chime executive Saisi Peters to streamline complex financial services operations. The company’s platform uses specialized AI agents to investigate cases, make decisions, and take action across financial institutions’ existing systems. The agents follow institution-specific policies and procedures, maintain auditable records of their decisions, and escalate cases requiring human judgment. Since launching with a focus on fraud and payment disputes, Casap has expanded into other operational areas, including collections, claims, and complex exceptions. The company has also grown its revenue tenfold over the past year, more than double its original target. Casap took home Best of Show honors for its demo at FinovateFall 2025.

“We started with disputes because it was one of the hardest problems in financial services,” said Casap CEO and Co-founder Shanthi Shanmugam. “But our ambition was always bigger than disputes. We wanted to prove that AI could do more than make work more efficient. It could fundamentally change the outcomes for financial institutions. Today we’re cutting fraud losses in half while resolving disputes in days instead of months. Now our customers are asking us to bring that same transformation to the rest of their operations.”

Casap works with more than 100 financial institutions and has helped them:

  • Reduce first-party fraud losses up to 51%
  • Achieve a 96% chargeback win rate (compared with a 60% industry average)
  • Reduce resolution time from as long as 90 days down to 8 days
  • Resolve 73% of dispute cases through agentic automation while retaining human oversight
  • Reduce human processing time from 45 minutes to 1 to 2 minutes

“We’ve been told for years that financial institutions will have to make a tradeoff between operational economics and experience quality,” said Base10 Partners Managing Partner Adeyemi Ajao. “Casap has shown that agentic AI technology can change that tradeoff. The same technology lowers the cost of complex work, while improving speed, quality, and consistency. Disputes proved that model in one of the hardest environments in financial services, and we believe the opportunity now is much larger.”

Casap’s latest funding round reflects growing investor confidence in agentic AI’s ability to move beyond simple task automation and deliver measurable operational outcomes in financial services. Fraud and disputes are particularly compelling use cases because they involve complex workflows, regulatory requirements, and significant manual intervention. Casap’s broader adoption across banking operations is promising because its AI agents can handle routine processes while maintaining human oversight. The company’s expansion into collections, claims, and other functions also signals a larger shift in how financial institutions may approach automation, moving from tools that assist employees to systems that can execute entire workflows.

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LendAPI’s Timothy Li on Accelerating Lending Innovation with No-Code Technology

LendAPI’s Timothy Li on Accelerating Lending Innovation with No-Code Technology
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Awards, LendAPI

For banks, credit unions, and fintechs, launching a new lending product has traditionally required significant investments in technology, engineering resources, and time. Connecting credit bureaus, fraud detection tools, decisioning engines, and customer-facing applications often involves complex integrations that can take months or even years to complete. As competition intensifies and customer expectations evolve, these lengthy development cycles can put financial institutions at a disadvantage.

The emergence of no-code technology and orchestration platforms is changing that equation. Bringing disparate systems together and allowing business teams to configure workflows without extensive engineering support enables these tools to help lenders launch products faster, adapt underwriting strategies, and respond to changing market conditions. The shift is particularly important as financial institutions seek to balance operational efficiency with increasingly complex risk management requirements.

To learn more about this approach, we spoke with Timothy Li, CEO and co-founder of LendAPI. Founded in 2024, the company offers a no-code lending and banking orchestration platform that combines digital onboarding, automated credit decisioning, and third-party data integrations. LendAPI, which serves banks, credit unions, and fintechs, won the Top Emerging Fintech Company category at the 2026 Finovate Awards. The company also won Best of Show for its demo at FinovateFall 2025.

Congratulations on winning the Top Emerging Fintech Company category at the 2026 Finovate Awards! What does this recognition mean for LendAPI, and what do you think ultimately set your application apart?

Timothy Li: Thank you so much to Julie and the entire Finovate team. This award is an incredible milestone for our team, especially given the caliber of innovation represented across the Finovate community.

When my co-founder Sam Xia and I started building LendAPI, we deliberately set out to solve a real, stubborn, enterprise-grade engineering and risk headache rather than chasing buzzwords. What really set our application apart is tangible traction and speed to value. We did not present an abstract concept; we showcased an orchestration platform running at massive scale, powering Tier 1 banks and high-growth fintechs, processing hundreds of thousands of daily applications, and allowing institutions to spin up new financial products in days without writing code. The judges saw that we are not just building middleware; we are fundamentally resetting how fast financial institutions can get products to market.

Tell us about the problem you set out to solve with the solution. What was missing from the market, and how did that shape your approach?

Li: Having spent over two decades in banking technology and risk management, I kept watching institutions make the exact same costly mistake: spending $5 million to $10 million and waiting 18 to 24 months just to launch or iterate on a lending or onboarding flow. By the time a product finally hit production, the market opportunity had passed, credit models had shifted, or the tech was already legacy.

The core problem was fragmentation. Financial institutions were cobbling together disparate vendors for identity verification, credit bureaus, fraud checks, decision rules, and UI onboarding. It required an army of engineers to build and maintain the “glue.”

We founded LendAPI to give banks, credit unions, and fintechs a unified, no-code orchestration layer. By combining an intuitive digital application builder, a high-speed, real-time decision engine, and pre-integrated data providers into one platform, business and risk leaders can configure, test, and deploy end-to-end financial workflows in minutes instead of years.

What have you learned from bringing LendAPI to market? Are there particular results, customer outcomes, or milestones that demonstrate its impact?

Li: One of our earliest and biggest validations happened shortly after our launch in 2024. One of the largest banks in the United States approached us needing a platform with high-speed caching and sub-second execution to generate millions of pre-approved offers and handle high-volume applications daily. We were able to configure, test, and go live in production within about a week. Today, that system reliably handles hundreds of thousands of transactions every single day without breaking a sweat.

What this taught us is that enterprise institutions do not want another rigid, locked-in SaaS silo. They want high-performance infrastructure that plays nicely with legacy core systems while giving risk officers direct operational agility. Watching our clients cut their product rollout cycles from 18 months down to days, while maintaining institutional-grade compliance and risk guardrails, has been the most gratifying milestone for our entire team.

Looking at the broader lending landscape, what is changing most significantly right now, and how is that influencing your strategy?

Li: Two major forces are redefining the landscape right now: compressed unit economics and the demand for real-time adaptability.

In this rate environment, lenders can no longer afford high customer acquisition costs coupled with clumsy, high-friction onboarding funnels. Every millisecond of latency and every redundant field in an application directly damages conversion. At the same time, macro volatility means risk models and fraud vectors are changing weekly, not annually.

Because of this, static rule writing is obsolete. Lenders need dynamic orchestration where they can test alternative data sources, swap out fraud detection tools, and recalibrate cutoffs on the fly without waiting for a quarterly engineering sprint. Our strategy is centered around doubling down on flexibility: ensuring LendAPI serves as the fastest, most resilient connective tissue between any data provider, decision model, and front-end interface in the industry.

What’s next for LendAPI? What should we expect to see from you over the next 12 to 18 months?

Li: We are keeping our foot firmly on the accelerator. Over the next 12 to 18 months, you will see us expand along three core pillars:

  1. Deeper Marketplace Integrations: Expanding our pre-built data integrations so risk teams can plug into dozens of new identity, verification, and alternative data providers with zero engineering lift.
  2. AI-Driven Decision Optimization: Giving risk officers automated tools to simulate policy changes against historical portfolios before deploying them live, closing the loop between data science and real-world execution.
  3. Vertical Expansion: While we have strong roots in personal loans and auto financing, we are seeing massive demand across commercial SMB lending, specialized deposit onboarding, and embedded retailer financing programs.

We built LendAPI to democratize speed and agility in financial services, and we are just getting started.

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4 Things Banks Need to Consider Before Launching Tokenized Deposits

4 Things Banks Need to Consider Before Launching Tokenized Deposits
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: List series, Thought Leadership

After SoFi’s launch of its tokenized deposit last week, traditional banks may be wondering if they, too, should be pursuing tokenized deposits. If so, what do they need to think through before moving forward?

SoFi describes SoFi Earn (SOFIE) as the first consumer tokenized deposit issued by a nationally chartered US bank. The new account features a variable annual percentage yield (APY) of 4.40%, offers FDIC insurance on the deposits, and converts deposits one-for-one into SoFi’s stablecoin, SoFiUSD, which can then be transferred using blockchain rails 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Bringing assets on chain is easier said than done. Tokenized deposits require banks to rethink how deposits move, how they integrate with existing infrastructure, and what customers actually gain from them. However, given the recent regulatory clarity around stablecoins and tokenized deposits, the tokenized deposit opportunity is much clearer.

As more financial institutions consider bringing deposits onto blockchain-based infrastructure, there are four questions they should answer before making the investment.

What problem will tokenized deposits actually solve?

Tokenization has many known benefits, including the ability to move funds on weekends and after hours. It also allows for programmable payments that automate transactions using logic and APIs, faster settlement, and more efficient treasury operations. While existing payment infrastructure cannot effectively deliver many of these benefits, banks do have access to instant payments using RTP and FedNow.

Before jumping into tokenized deposits, banks should identify the specific customer need or problem they are looking to solve, and the measurable business benefit. For example, a bank serving corporate clients with complex treasury needs may find value in using tokenized deposits to automate payments to suppliers when certain conditions are met. Conversely, a community bank primarily looking to offer customers faster person-to-person payments may find that existing instant payment rails already meet that need. Overall, the goal should be to identify where tokenization offers meaningful advantages over existing infrastructure rather than adopting the technology just because it is new.

Can tokenized deposits work with existing banking infrastructure?

In SoFi’s case, the bank created a tokenized deposit to enhance interoperability between tokenized deposits and stablecoins. SoFi Earn is a deposit liability of SoFi Bank, while SoFiUSD is a separate stablecoin. The tokenized deposit is eligible for FDIC insurance under applicable rules, but the stablecoin is not.

However, connecting tokenized deposits with other digital assets and payment systems is more than just a technical decision. Even if a bank determines its infrastructure can support a tokenized deposit, it needs to consider how deposit insurance, AML/KYC requirements, consumer protections, and the regulatory treatment of transfers will work across these systems. In the end, tokenization must preserve the legal protections and obligations associated with bank deposits, since a digital representation does not automatically carry the same regulatory treatment.

What happens to liquidity when deposits can move around the clock?

In August, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas warned that tokenized deposits could change how banks manage liquidity and fund lending. That’s because the instant movement of funds could make certain deposits less sticky, especially as customers move balances between institutions in pursuit of higher yields.

Because tokenization reduces the friction involved in moving funds, it could make deposit balances more volatile and potentially increase the speed of withdrawals during periods of financial stress. Banks will need to consider how to manage liquidity outside normal business hours, prepare for faster deposit outflows, and adapt their funding strategies to changing customer behavior.

Will tokenization strengthen the customer relationship or simply add complexity?

As with many decisions in banking, whether to offer tokenized deposits ultimately comes down to one question: will they improve the customer experience? While customers don’t necessarily need to understand the technology behind tokenization, they do need to understand how to access their money, whether their funds are insured, and what happens when they move funds between different types of accounts or digital assets.

For banks, the challenge will be making these processes as seamless as possible. That means clearly communicating the benefits, simplifying transfers, and ensuring that customers can easily distinguish between fiat deposits and digital assets, especially if digital assets are not insured. To launch a successful tokenized deposit product, banks must deliver the benefits of blockchain technology without requiring customers to understand or interact with the underlying infrastructure.

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Hyphenate Raises $45 Million for Autonomous Finance

Hyphenate Raises $45 Million for Autonomous Finance
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Daily news, Funding
  • Autonomous finance platform Hyphenate raised $45 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $54 million.
  • Hyphenate uses AI agents to automate financial operations, including cash reconciliation, invoicing, and subledger management, helping businesses reduce repetitive work and audit exceptions.
  • The funding reflects growing investor interest in agentic AI that executes financial workflows, potentially shifting finance teams toward strategic oversight and creating new opportunities for banks and fintechs.

Autonomous finance platform Hyphenate (formerly known as Maximor) announced a $45 million Series A round. The investment was led by Nexus Venture Partners, with participation from B Capital and existing investors including Foundation Capital, BoldCap, and Gaia Ventures. 

Today’s funding brings Hyphenate’s total funding to $54 million since it was founded in January of last year. The company will use the capital to scale faster and take its agents deeper across the finance function and into strategic finance.

“What makes Hyphenate compelling is that autonomy is already showing up in customer operations,” said Abhishek Sharma, Managing Director at Nexus Venture Partners. “Finance has an unusually high bar for accuracy, controls, and auditability. Hyphenate has built around that bar from the beginning, and the expansion we are seeing inside customers shows what becomes possible once the system earns the right to take on more work.”

Hyphenate’s platform leverages AI agents to automate finance workflows in which agents reconcile cash, process sales orders, run invoicing, and maintain subledgers. While the agent moves the close forward, human finance teams intervene in cases in which judgment changes the outcome. Hyphenate aims to help its clients’ finance operations run independently and continuously to enable teams to spend their time on the decisions that actually move the business.

The company’s agents process financial workflows spanning hundreds of entities, thousands of bank accounts, and millions of transactions every day. Its customers report 90% less repetitive finance work and 75% fewer audit exceptions.

“Every finance team carries a long list of work it does because somebody has to,” said Ramnandan Krishnamurthy, co-founder and CEO of Hyphenate. “Our customers are watching that list shrink in production. Once a team sees the system handle one workflow to an auditor’s standard, they hand it the next one. That is the pattern this company is built around, and this round lets us run it across the whole function.”

Hyphenate’s autonomous finance platform is well-positioned to attract investor interest. AI platforms that move beyond generating insights to actually take action are particularly valuable, especially when used for repetitive, rules-based tasks like reconciliation, reporting, and accounting.

As platforms like Hyphenate take on more operational responsibilities, we may start to see the role of corporate finance teams shift from executing routine processes to overseeing exceptions, managing controls, and making strategic decisions. If this evolution takes place, banks could integrate banking activities, payments, and financial data directly into AI-driven workflows to position themselves and their infrastructure as an essential component of autonomous finance.

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Banks Structure $63 Billion Anthropic AI Financing, Deepening Exposure to AI Infrastructure

Banks Structure $63 Billion Anthropic AI Financing, Deepening Exposure to AI Infrastructure
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, Citigroup, Daily news, Funding
  • Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone have committed $63 billion to finance Broadcom AI computing equipment that will be leased to Anthropic.
  • The arrangement highlights the growing role of banks and private credit investors in financing AI infrastructure, as demand for computing capacity continues to accelerate.
  • The deal presents new opportunities for financial institutions while raising concerns about equipment depreciation, uncertain future demand, and broader financial stability risks.

Four major financial institutions have agreed to a $63 billion financing arrangement that will fund the purchase of AI computing infrastructure for Anthropic. Under the agreement Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone will contribute to a newly formed a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) that will purchase Broadcom AI accelerators and networking equipment and lease them to Anthropic. The transaction is part of an existing Broadcom–Anthropic compute agreement.

The three banks will arrange the primary financing, while Blackstone will provide additional financing and Broadcom will help protect lenders against potential losses in the value of the underlying assets. The $63 billion represents committed financing and does not represent the value of equipment deliveries, which are expected to be completed in 2027.

The scale of the SPV is impressive. At $63 billion, the financing commitment is larger than many major corporate acquisitions. While equipment leasing and asset-backed financing are nothing new, the size of this arrangement demonstrates how AI infrastructure investment is creating demand for financing on a scale that few individual lenders could accommodate. The deal also illustrates how banks and private credit investors are eager to participate in building out AI infrastructure.

Historically, Anthropic has mostly relied on equity funding and strategic investments from technology companies to finance its AI development and infrastructure expansion. Amazon has invested billions in the company, while Anthropic raised $30 billion in a Series G round in February 2026 and another $65 billion in Series H funding in May.

Just as with today’s financing arrangement, both of the previous venture capital rounds were intended to support the company’s growing computing infrastructure needs. Today’s arrangement represents a different financing approach, bringing banks and private credit investors into the picture to finance the physical equipment supporting Anthropic’s AI operations.

For financial institutions, the deal highlights the growing opportunity to finance AI infrastructure. “The rapidly growing demand for AI is creating an enormous opportunity to finance compute capacity at scale,” said Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray.

Broadcom President and CEO Hock Tan echoed that optimism, pointing to the growing demand for AI computing power. “Fundamentally, the need for AI compute continues to grow at an extraordinary pace. This validates that there is capital available to finance such growth and that Broadcom is uniquely positioned to enable it.”

The financing arrangement follows Bank of Japan’s October financial stability report, which examined how AI infrastructure investment and nonbank financing could transmit risks through the financial system. While the growing demand for computing power presents new lending opportunities for banks, it also introduces risks tied to rapidly depreciating technology, uncertain future demand, and the potential for a slowdown in AI investment. Financial institutions are right to be wary of committing more capital to AI infrastructure, as they will need to balance the opportunity for growth against the possibility that the underlying assets may lose value faster than anticipated.

Photo by Jan van der Wolf

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Happen Bank’s Mark Elliot on How Better Financial Habits Improve Banking Experiences

Happen Bank’s Mark Elliot on How Better Financial Habits Improve Banking Experiences
By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Finovate Awards, Happen Bank, Lending Club

For years, banks have competed for customers by offering attractive interest rates, cash back rewards, and convenient digital experiences. But as consumers gain access to an expanding range of financial services providers, attracting new customers is only part of the challenge. Increasingly, banks must find ways to encourage lasting engagement, build loyalty, and help customers make meaningful progress toward their financial goals.

One approach is to connect everyday banking products with incentives that reward positive financial behaviors. Rather than treating lending, checking, and savings as separate relationships, financial institutions have an opportunity to bring these services together to help customers manage debt, build savings, and strengthen their financial health. The result can be a more valuable banking relationship for both the institution and the customer.

To learn more about this approach, we spoke with Mark Elliot, Chief Customer Officer at Happen Bank, formerly LendingClub Bank. The company, which serves more than five million members, offers a suite of interconnected lending, checking, savings, and financial wellness products designed to help consumers make progress toward their financial goals. Happen Bank won the Best Customer Experience Solution category at the 2026 Finovate Awards.

Congratulations on winning the Best Customer Experience Solution category at the 2026 Finovate Awards. What does this recognition mean for Happen Bank, and what do you think ultimately set your application apart?

Mark Elliot: Thank you! We’re proud of this recognition because it reflects how we build our customer experiences—clearing the way for people going places. That only works when the experience holds up in the moments that matter, like taking steps to manage debt, taking out a personal loan for a purchase that can’t wait, or building savings.

What I think set our application apart was the connection between our products and the needs they address for our members. Someone may come to us for a personal loan to consolidate credit card debt. LevelUp Checking rewards their eligible on-time Happen Bank personal loan payments with an opportunity to earn 2% cash back and offers 1% cash back on everyday essentials. DebtIQ, our free financial wellness tool, gives them a way to understand, monitor, and manage their debt in one place. And LevelUp Savings offers a competitive LevelUp Rate (10 times the national average) for members who deposit $250 or more each month, encouraging them to build a consistent savings habit and a cushion for future large expenses.

Taken together, our products give members reasons to develop strong positive financial habits and stay with us as their financial needs evolve.

Tell us about the problem you set out to solve. What was missing from the market, and how did that shape your approach?

Elliot: We focus on consumers we call the Motivated Middle: high-FICO, high-income, digitally savvy consumers actively managing their financial lives. They’re looking for smart, simple, easy-to-use, and easy-to-understand products that deliver real value—and they’re not finding those products in traditional banking.

We designed our product set from the ground up specifically for them. We brought lending, checking, savings, and a powerful debt management tool into a unified, engaging mobile experience. We designed a set of products that are great in their own right but work even better when used together—for instance, offering cash back for on-time Happen Bank loan payments made through a LevelUp Checking account.

And throughout, we built in rewards tied to smart financial behaviors—for example, offering a higher APY to those contributing at least $250 to their LevelUp Savings account each month. The goal was to make it easier for members to manage today’s obligations while building toward what comes next.

What have you learned from bringing Happen Bank to market? Are there particular results, customer outcomes, or milestones that demonstrate its impact?

Elliot: The biggest lesson is that clear, achievable rewards can give members a reason to build a habit and keep using a product.

LevelUp Savings has more than 80,000 accounts and more than $4 billion in deposits. About 70% of account holders meet the $250 monthly deposit requirement to earn the LevelUp Rate, and those members visit our platform about 30% more often than customers using our previous savings product.

LevelUp Checking has generated six times the account openings of the product it replaced, with 60% of new accounts coming from existing members. Of the members we surveyed, 84% said the cash back incentive makes them more likely to consider us for their next personal loan.

One of the results highlighted in our award entry is particularly meaningful. Borrowers with a LevelUp Savings account build an average savings balance of approximately $19,000 after they have paid off their loan—an amount roughly equal to the amount of credit card debt they came to us to consolidate.

That’s the kind of progress we want to support: helping members gain control over their high-cost credit card debt and then building a financial cushion to meet future goals.

Looking at the broader banking landscape, what is changing most significantly right now, and how is that influencing your strategy?

Elliot: Customers have more banking options than ever, and they expect a clear reason to choose one over another. A competitive rate or cash back offer can attract attention, but the ongoing experience has to make the relationship worth keeping.

Can members understand what they’re earning and paying? Can they manage debt and savings without piecing everything together themselves? Those are practical questions that shape loyalty.

For us, that means designing products around connected needs and making the value easy to understand. It also means using technology to improve the service behind those products.

What’s next for Happen Bank? What should we expect to see from you over the next 12 to 18 months?

Elliot: We’ll continue building on our LevelUp ecosystem, and we’ll release more features through DebtIQ, using member feedback to improve how those products work together.

Home improvement lending is another area of focus, where we’re working with partners to make financing projects simpler for homeowners. We’re also exploring home equity lending, which is a natural fit because top use cases for home equity loans are home improvement and debt consolidation, two businesses we’re already in today.

Across those efforts, the question is the same: where can we make a financial decision easier or help a member take the next step?

As we mark our 20th year, the Happen Bank name reflects how much our relationship with our more than five million members has evolved. Many people first know us through a personal loan. We’re earning a broader role in their financial lives by continuing to deliver value as they pay down debt, build savings, and plan for what comes next.

Photo by Polina

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