Plaintiff law firm Lieff Cabraser said it is investigating Kalshi over the settlement of a prediction market tied to the fate of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, raising the possibility of a class-action lawsuit against the CFTC-regulated exchange. The inquiry follows controversy around Kalshi’s “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader” market, which attracted more than $50 million in trading volume.?FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 3rd, 2026 Kalshi “Khamenei Out” InvestigationPremier Plaintiff Law Firm, Lieff Cabraser has been retained to investigate Kalshi for unfair and improper practices connected to its “Ali Khamenei out as Supreme Leader” markets where consumers…— RealBenGeller (@RealBenGeller) March 3, 2026When reports of Khamenei’s death emerged on February 28, many traders holding “Yes” positions expected a full payout. Instead, Kalshi halted the market and later settled contracts based on the last traded price before the news broke. The exchange invoked a contractual “death carve-out” clause, which prevents markets from settling to “Yes” if the outcome involves a person’s death — a restriction tied to U.S. regulatory rules. Dispute Over Settlement Rules The outcome prompted criticism from some users, who said the carve-out was not sufficiently clear. Lieff Cabraser said it is examining whether the platform’s disclosures and promotion of the market could have misled traders. Kalshi says the settlement followed its published rules. In a post on X, CEO Tarek Mansour wrote that the carve-out had been included in the contract terms from the start and disclosed both on the market page and in filings with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “Traders expect us to settle the market based on the rules,” Mansour said, adding that altering the settlement after the fact would undermine trust in the exchange.On Khamenei: We don’t list markets directly tied to death. When there are markets where potential outcomes involve death, we design the rules to prevent people from profiting from death. That is what we did here. I know some of you disagree and prefer that we list these…— Tarek Mansour (@mansourtarek_) March 1, 2026 The company also said it reimbursed all trading fees and covered net losses so that no trader ended the market net-negative. According to Mansour, those reimbursements resulted in a financial loss for the firm. Regulated Markets Under Pressure The episode highlights the challenges facing regulated prediction markets that attempt to offer contracts tied to real-world events. Unlike offshore platforms such as Polymarket, which resolved its similar market to “Yes,” Kalshi operates under U.S. commodity laws that prohibit contracts allowing direct profit from death or assassination. That regulatory constraint shapes both the types of markets the platform can list and how they must be settled. The dispute has drawn attention from lawmakers as well. Some U.S. senators have previously urged regulators to examine event contracts tied to violence or geopolitical instability. For the broader prediction market sector, the case illustrates the tension between market demand for event-based contracts and the legal limits placed on regulated exchanges. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Robinhood is expanding into wealth management by launching its “Robinhood Advisor Network.” This marks a shift toward serving higher-net-worth clients through a marketplace model. Rather than building an in-house advisory unit, the company is connecting eligible users with independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs). The structure signals a clear focus on affluent clients. The service will initially target Robinhood users with at least $250,000 in investable assets, while participating advisory firms must manage at least $500 million in assets under management and operate on the TradePMR platform.Building on the TradePMR Acquisition The launch builds on Robinhood’s acquisition of TradePMR, a custodian and technology provider for RIAs. Through that deal, Robinhood gained access to a network of more than 350 advisory firms overseeing over $40 billion in client assets.The concept of a referral marketplace was central to the TradePMR acquisition. In a recent post marking one year since joining Robinhood, TradePMR founder Robb Baldwin described the Advisor Network as a phased rollout designed to connect eligible investors with independent RIAs while preserving advisor autonomy. The structure suggests Robinhood is positioning the network not as an in-house advisory arm, but as a distribution layer that gives independent firms access to a large, mobile-first client base.A Broader Revenue Mix The Advisor Network reflects a gradual shift in Robinhood’s business model. Historically reliant on transactional revenue from trading activity, the firm is moving toward recurring, fee-based revenue streams tied to wealth management. The expansion also places Robinhood in closer competition with established wealth platforms such as Charles Schwab and Fidelity. By combining self-directed trading with advisory services, the company is broadening its role within clients’ financial lives. The rollout will begin with a pilot for Robinhood employees, followed by a wider launch for eligible customers in the second quarter. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Banco Santander and Mastercard have completed end-to-end payment executed by an artificial intelligence agent. The live trial involved an AI system completing a transaction within a regulated banking framework. It also tested the technology’s security and operational controls in real conditions.Transaction Tested Under Real Banking ConditionsAgentic AI in payments refers to autonomous software agents that can initiate and complete transactions on behalf of a user, under explicit controls such as spending limits, pre-set rules, and strong authentication, while being cryptographically identified as distinct actors in the payment flow.In frameworks such as Mastercard Agent Pay, these AI agents are registered and verified, receive dedicated “agentic” payment tokens instead of raw card data, and operate within tokenization.Santander and Mastercard Complete Europe’s First Live End-To-End Payment Executed by an AI Agenthttps://t.co/MIW6TZ6uEH#Payments— PaymentsNews.com (@paymentsnews) March 2, 2026According to the announcement by the two firms on Monday, the transaction took place in Santander’s controlled environment using Mastercard Agent Pay. It ran through the bank’s live payment infrastructure to confirm that an AI agent can initiate, authorize, and complete a transaction while meeting compliance and security requirements.You may also find interesting: The Robots Are Trading - But Who’s Watching Them?“Agentic payments represent a profound shift in how commerce is initiated and executed. With Mastercard Agent Pay, we are applying the same principles that have defined our network for decades, security, trust, interoperability and global scale, to a new era of AI-enabled commerce,” said Kelly Devine, the President, Europe at Mastercard.The pilot showed how AI could process payments for customers under predefined limits and permissions, maintaining transparency and consumer protection.Mastercard Advances Agentic Payment ModelMastercard’s Agent Pay system integrates AI agents directly into payment flows, allowing interaction between banks, merchants, and acquirers under visible governance structures. PayOS technology supported the orchestration of the transaction.Beyond payments, AI is now deeply embedded in trading, helping firms sift through massive data sets, automate order execution, and refine strategies at scale.Read more: AI Takes Center Stage in Brokers’ Layoff NarrativesAs these systems become more autonomous, however, brokers and traders are being pushed to confront a different set of questions: not whether AI will reshape markets, but how far that shift should go and where human oversight must draw the line. In practice, current AI tools are best understood as a co‑pilot rather than a replacement for human traders. Systems such as Capitalise.ai can automate repetitive tasks, enforce risk rules, and surface trading signals that might be hard for individuals to spot in real time. Yet these models still falter when markets are hit by sudden regime shifts, geopolitical shocks, or rare “black swan” events that fall outside their training data, leaving humans responsible for interpreting new narratives and making judgment calls when conditions break from the past. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has moved to bring robo-advisors and digital investment platforms into its licensing framework, responding to a surge in app-based trading among young and tech-savvy Kenyans. The proposed CMA's licensing requirements for 2025 aim to formalize how these firms operate and interact with investors, local media Daily Nation mentioned.While the new permits don’t rewrite the license conditions for FX and CFD brokers, they tighten the digital environment those firms operate in by putting intermediary apps and robo-advisers under direct CMA oversight.It raises the bar for how advice-like tools and portfolio-style features are framed, and force many online platforms that funnel young traders into trading platforms to meet licensing.Nairobi to License Robo-AdvisorsUnder the draft regulations, the CMA expands the definition of an investment advisor to cover digital platforms that provide automated, algorithm-driven investment advice with minimal human input.Robo-advisors use algorithms to construct and manage investment portfolios, usually at relatively low cost, and they appeal to youthful and passive investors who prefer simple digital tools.Read more: Capital.com Enters Kenya, Gains Local Licenses and Appoints CEOAdditionally, the Kenyan regulator has proposed a new license category for “intermediary service platform providers.” These are operators of digital applications that aggregate, market and distribute capital markets products and services, including many web- and mobile-based providers that currently rely on partnerships with existing licensees. Entities that already hold a CMA license will not need to obtain this intermediary service platform license for the same activities. Over-the-counter platforms will also have to obtain CMA licenses under the new framework. In addition, the 2025 Regulations outline licensing requirements for trustees and custodians.New FX licenses Widen CMA’s ReachCMA’s recent approval of Capital.com and XM as online forex brokers adds two global names to Kenya’s pool of licensed FX and CFD providers and highlighted the evolving regulations with cross-border trading platforms. Capital.com received authorization in January to operate as a Dealing Online Foreign Exchange Broker, with responsibility for onboarding clients, executing trades and offering local support under CMA rules. XM followed last month with a CMA license that allows it to serve Kenyan traders via its local domain under the regulator’s oversight. These approvals come as Kenya’s FX and CFD market continues to shift from largely offshore activity to a more formal, onshore model anchored on CMA-supervised firms.Earlier licenses for brands such as Exness, IC Markets, FP Markets and FXPesa have enabled global brokers to localize operations while meeting capital, conduct and disclosure requirements.For Kenya’s broader capital markets, the expansion of the CMA-regulated FX list aligns with parallel reforms to license digital advisory platforms and online intermediaries, aiming to bring more online trading channels under direct supervision. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Prediction markets are becoming part of everyday life. This week, brokers got another plug-and-play solution to launch event contracts, regulators dealt with insider trading, and a native prediction market platform hired an institutional executive from traditional finance. Less hype. More setup. The Tools Arrive The largest shift was on the B2B side. Prediction markets are now packaged, priced, and sold like other brokerage technologies. Leverate launched a white-label prediction markets platform for brokers. The turnkey solution requires no in-house development and lets firms add event contracts to their stack in days. The pitch to brokers is simple: add revenue. Leverate projects 15–25% more revenue from spreads, trading fees, and market creation, with attractive engagement metrics. They are not alone. Devexperts, creator of DXtrade, has launched its own infrastructure for CFD brokers and prop firms. Firms can deploy a standalone event-trading platform or integrate modular components into existing systems.This trend aligns with a new KPMG white paper that frames prediction markets as a strategic issue for brokers rather than just an experiment. The report says banks, brokers, and asset managers must decide to integrate event contracts into core platforms or keep them separate. That choice has structural implications. Firms could shift from structured-product margins to revenue from platform access, liquidity, and analytics tied to event-based markets. Institutions Plug In Institutional integration proceeds quietly. After partnering with Tradeweb Markets, Kalshi is expanding its reach into mainstream distribution. DriveWealth plans to add Kalshi event contracts to its API-first brokerage infrastructure, enabling retail traders to access them alongside stocks and ETFs. Kalshi hired Andy Ross, former head of prime brokerage at Standard Chartered and former CurveGlobal CEO, to lead its institutional business. Adding a derivatives veteran signals higher ambitions. As prediction markets resemble standard trading venues, they need more liquidity, infrastructure, and talent with institutional expertise. Volumes support this move. Kalshi processed about $23.8 billion in 2025 volume; the sector saw a record $702 million in daily trading this year. Growth is real.As of February 22, @Kalshi’s Monthly Notional Volume stands at approximately $8.1B, averaging around $370M per day. If this pace holds, @Kalshi is on track to close February with roughly $10.4B in Notional Volume. pic.twitter.com/vgTpFelQZz— KalshiData (@kalshidata) February 24, 2026Regulators Watch Closely The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued an advisory reminding traders and exchanges that insider trading, fraud, wash trades, and manipulation remain under federal oversight. The reminder followed two KalshiEX cases: a political candidate traded contracts tied to his campaign, and a YouTube editor traded on contracts linked to a channel with privileged content knowledge.Today, we are releasing information about two insider cases we recently closed.Thank you @robertjdenault and team for leading the investigation and working with law enforcement. https://t.co/TcdmzeZw6P— Tarek Mansour (@mansourtarek_) February 25, 2026Both cases led to fines and suspensions. Kalshi enforced internal discipline, but the CFTC clarified that federal authorities retain full prosecutorial powers over registered exchanges. Regulatory questions remain on product classification. Some event contracts resemble binary options, which are banned in Europe since 2018 due to gambling concerns. For brokers, this distinction matters. Technology providers offer tools, but cannot remove jurisdictional risk. The regulatory environment is not hostile, but it is watchful. Bottom Line This week was about building, integrating, and regulating infrastructure. White-label platforms are ready for brokers. Institutional channels are opening. Regulators are reinforcing oversight. Advisory firms are framing event contracts as a strategic choice. Prediction markets are moving from idea to implementation. For brokers and fintechs, the least predictable outcome may be that they become standard infrastructure. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

A LinkedIn post circulating online claims that Wise has begun blocking payroll payments sent by Coinbase to employees holding Wise accounts in the UK. The post states that the action has disrupted employees’ finances and describes it as “anti-competitive.” It also notes that Coinbase is an authorised electronic money institution under UK law and argues that it should not face payment restrictions.Finance Magnates has contacted both companies for comment. The claims could not be independently verified. As of publication, Wise has not issued a statement, while Coinbase confirmed that the LinkedIn post can be cited but provided no further comment.Policy Allows Crypto-Related RestrictionsWise’s publicly available Acceptable Use Policy states that the company does not allow customers to use its services to buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies directly. The policy also notes that the firm may reject or return payments involving crypto businesses, depending on internal compliance and risk assessments.Wise is authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money institution. Coinbase’s UK entity is also registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations.While Wise’s policy restricts certain crypto-related transactions, it does not explicitly state that salary payments from regulated crypto firms are automatically blocked. Individual decisions may depend on transaction details and internal controls.Wider UK Banking FrictionThe claims come amid broader tensions between crypto firms and UK banks and payment providers. Several banks in the UK have introduced limits or blocks on transfers to crypto exchanges in recent years, citing fraud risks and compliance obligations. Industry bodies have argued that such measures create operational challenges for regulated firms and undermine the UK’s ambition to become a digital asset hub.Government officials have previously called for a balanced approach that supports innovation while maintaining financial stability and consumer protection. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Finance Magnates has launched Finance Magnates Academy (FM Academy), a training platform built for individual fintech professionals, regulated firms, and HR teams. The platform offers online lessons, structured learning paths, and verified digital certificates. The core focus is to help certified professionals and regulated businesses plan, complete, and prove CySEC CPD and annual compliance training.FM Academy is designed for regulated investment firms, brokerages, payment institutions, fintech companies, and CySEC-certified professionals. Backed by Finance Magnates, the Academy is positioned as a regulatory competence solution for regulated firms and professionals, rather than a general online education platform.Finance Magnates Academy is now available at academy.financemagnates.com.Built for real compliance needs, not one-off learningFor many professionals, annual renewal can mean last-minute pressure and fragmented CPD purchases. For firms, the challenge is bigger: annual AML training for all employees, ongoing competence for certified staff, and clear proof of training completion.FM Academy addresses these needs with a structured and trackable learning model that supports CySEC CPD planning and delivery, alongside corporate compliance training that can scale across teams.Learning paths, certificates, and verificationFM Academy is built around structured lessons, complete with interactive elements such as progress checkpoints, quizzes, and graded challenges. Learners can complete lessons at their own pace with no time limit.To earn a certificate, learners must complete all courses and graded assessments. Certificates are digital and can be downloaded or printed.What FM Academy offersFM Academy provides:CySEC CPD learning aligned to professional needsAnnual AML and risk training for teamsStructured corporate compliance learning for multi-user accessDigital certification with verification and shareable certificatesSelf-paced learning built around real market practiceIn-person training options for companies and groupsOngoing industry courses are added over time to keep content current and support long-term learning“Regulated firms and certified professionals need a partner that understands their industry,” said Neophytos Papageorgiou, CEO at Finance Magnates. “At Finance Magnates, we understand what industry professionals actually deal with. FM Academy gives firms a clear and repeatable way to complete and document CySEC CPD and other compliance training, with proper verification and real tracking. We are starting with CySEC requirements and will gradually expand into other regulatory frameworks as we grow.”“We will keep updating and adding industry-focused courses so the content stays updated and relevant. The Academy will reflect the realities of the market and the regulatory environment. At the same time, we are expanding into foundational courses for professionals who are new to the sector or looking to enter it, structured induction training for firms onboarding new employees, and specialised subjects such as marketing within the financial services industry.”How to access FM AcademyFinance Magnates Academy is now live at academy.financemagnates.com, with options for individual learners and firms looking to train teams.Visit academy.financemagnates.com to explore learning paths, CySEC CPD options, verified certificates, and corporate training solutions.About Finance Magnates AcademyFinance Magnates Academy (FM Academy) is a structured fintech compliance and professional training platform for regulated firms, certified professionals, HR teams, and universities. It offers online lessons, verified digital certificates, structured learning paths, and in-person training, with a focus on CySEC CPD and ongoing competence needs.[#highlighted-links#] This article was written by Finance Magnates Staff at www.financemagnates.com.

Cyber‑enabled fraud has turned into one of the most widespread profit‑driven crimes worldwide, prompting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to sharpen its focus on how digitalization reshapes money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks. The inter‑governmental body’s latest paper warns that rapid advances in technology, new payment rails and virtual assets now enable criminals to operate across borders at scale, while straining existing anti‑money laundering and counter‑terrorist financing (AML/CFT) controls.Fraud Escalates with Digital AdoptionFATF notes that 156 jurisdictions, equal to 90% of those it assessed, now list fraud as a major money laundering threat. The paper cites national data showing both the speed and breadth of the rise: Singapore recorded a 61% increase in cyber‑enabled scam cases over two years, while fraud accounts for more than 40% of all crime in the United Kingdom.Some countries estimate that up to 15% of adults have fallen victim to successful cyber‑enabled fraud attempts, underscoring the scale of financial and social harm.Continue reading: How $107M Crypto Scheme Allegedly Hid Behind College Fees in South KoreaThe report links this surge to rapid digital adoption during and after the COVID‑19 pandemic, which pushed financial and non‑financial services online and opened new channels for abuse.FATF describes cyber‑enabled fraud as increasingly driven by sophisticated social engineering, with criminals exploiting digital platforms, instant payment systems and emerging tools such as AI and AI‑generated deepfakes to run scams remotely and at mass scale.Cross-Border Payment Channels According to the paper, virtual assets and faster cross‑border payment channels complicate enforcement if mitigation measures remain weak. Fraudsters can request payment in virtual assets or quickly convert fiat proceeds, often before authorities or obliged institutions can detect and freeze funds. FATF also highlights the role of transnational organized crime groups operating “scam centers”, which often sit within wider criminal ecosystems that include professional money launderers, human trafficking, drugs and other serious offences.Meanwhile, a recent separate report showed that Australian banks detected over $60 million worth of suspected fraud in the third quarter of 2025, according to BioCatch Trust Australia. The real-time intelligence-sharing network analyzed more than 180 million payments valued at over $330 billion during the period.Banks observed mixed trends in scam activity throughout 2025, with phone and purchase scams remaining the most widespread. Social-engineering fraud slightly declined early in the year, likely due to seasonal factors, while investment scams dropped overall but mainly among younger customers. In contrast, scams targeting people aged 56 and above increased by 18%.The use of Remote Access Tools fell by roughly 20% compared to 2024, indicating that fraudsters are shifting toward more scalable social-engineering tactics. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Russia has launched a criminal investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov for allegedly “abetting terrorist activities”, sharpening its confrontation with the popular messaging app and its billionaire creator. According to state-linked media, there are fresh restrictions on Telegram’s services in Russia and an official push to move users to a state-backed alternative.Russia Opens Terror Case Against DurovTwo newspapers with close ties to the Kremlin, Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Komsomolskaya Pravda, reported that Russia’s FSB security service is investigating Durov in connection with terrorism-related offences. The articles, citing FSB materials, allege that Telegram has become a tool for western and Ukrainian intelligence services.According to these reports, Russian authorities claim that Telegram was used in 13 alleged Ukrainian attempts to assassinate senior Russian military officers. They also link the app to tens of thousands of other incidents since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, including bombings, arson attacks on military recruitment centers and murders.The reports further accuse Telegram of cooperating with western government requests while ignoring Russian demands and say Ukraine allegedly used Telegram data for attacks on Russia.Related: Telegram’s Global Ambitions Hit a Wall as $500 Million in Bonds Freeze in RussiaThe investigation comes as Russia tightens controls on internet platforms. Authorities have restricted some Telegram functions, citing the company’s refusal to store user data on Russian territory and to remove content on demand. Regulators have also limited voice and video calls on Telegram and introduced measures that slow its traffic.At the same time, Moscow is promoting Max, a state-run messaging app presented as a domestic alternative. Officials appear to be steering users toward Max as they increase pressure on Telegram, which has more than 105 million monthly users in Russia, according to the Financial Times. Probe in France deepens pressure on DurovFrench authorities placed Pavel Durov under formal investigation in 2024 after arresting him on suspicion that Telegram failed to prevent and assist in tackling serious criminal activity on the platform, including drug trafficking, fraud and other organised crime offences. Judges indicted him on multiple counts such as complicity in managing an online platform that enables illicit transactions and refusal to cooperate with lawful interception requests, then released him under judicial supervision with conditions that included a 5 million euro bond, twice-weekly reporting to police and a ban on leaving France.The case did not close but his restrictions gradually eased: in 2025 an investigating judge allowed him to leave France temporarily, and by November 2025 authorities lifted his travel ban entirely and removed the obligation to report regularly to police.Besides that, regulated forex brokers in Russia stopped providing customer support through Telegram after a new federal law last year. The laws banned financial institutions and government bodies from using foreign messaging platforms for communication. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

Paysafe has integrated its acquiring services into Spreedly’s open payments platform, reflecting brokers’ growing use of payment orchestration models. The partnership makes Paysafe a selectable acquirer on Spreedly’s payments orchestration platform, which links merchants to over 140 payment gateways. Brokers Adopt Multi-Acquirer Payment InfrastructureThis integration lets brokers rely less on a single payment service provider. Instead they can use orchestration platforms like Spreedly for flexible payment stacks. Through a payment routing system, brokers can distribute transactions across different acquirers. If one provider records higher decline rates in a specific region, traffic can be redirected to another. Using multiple acquirers can also reduce the operational impact of outages or processing disruptions.Similar models are emerging in key brokerage hubs such as Cyprus, where Finera recently launched as a payment orchestration platform targeting financial services firms.For brokers already connected to Spreedly, adding Paysafe does not require a separate integration, which helps accelerate deployment and reduce operational friction.A New Distribution Channel for Paysafe This integration lets Paysafe reach Spreedly’s merchant network, which includes forex, trading, and iGaming businesses. Paysafe has experience in these sectors, and joining the orchestration layer gives brokers another regulated acquiring option. Paysafe’s first focus is card payments. Next, it plans to add Skrill, Neteller, and PaysafeCard, so brokers using Spreedly can access more payment methods in one place. This partnership shows that brokerage payment infrastructure is becoming modular. Brokers now use orchestration layers for redundancy, flexibility, and more geographic reach. Acquirers on these platforms access merchants who prefer aggregated integrations over direct setup. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Bridge, the stablecoin platform owned by payments firm Stripe, was awarded a conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to organize a federally chartered national trust bank. The move would place Bridge under direct federal oversight for its stablecoin and digital asset services at a time when US policymakers still debate how to regulate digital dollars.Once fully approved, the charter will allow Bridge to offer businesses custody of digital assets, issue and manage stablecoins, and oversee the reserves backing those tokens. What the OCC Charter Would Allow Bridge to DoThe company presents fully reserved and transparently managed stablecoins as infrastructure for faster global settlement, treasury operations, cross-border payments and tokenized asset markets.Bridge says its compliance framework already aligns with the federal GENIUS Act, the stablecoin law signed in July 2025. It argues that a national trust bank charter will give customers a clearer regulatory structure and support large-scale use of stablecoins within the US financial system. The single federal charter would also let Bridge operate nationwide without relying on multiple state-level licenses. Bridge is part of a broader group of digital asset firms seeking similar treatment from the OCC.Continue reading: Stripe Strikes Biggest Ever Crypto Deal: TechCrunch Founder Confirms Bridge AcquisitionIn December, the regulator conditionally approved BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos to convert their state trust companies into national trusts, and granted preliminary national trust bank charters to Circle and Ripple.A Growing List of OCC-Approved Crypto TrustsOCC records show that Bridge applied for its charter in October and received conditional approval on 12 February. Stripe acquired Bridge in 2025 in a deal worth about 1.1 billion dollars to help support stablecoin-based payments across its network. The expansion of crypto-focused national trust banks has drawn resistance from parts of the traditional banking sector. In a recent letter, the American Bankers Association urged the OCC to slow approvals for such charters, warning that companies could use them to avoid stricter oversight while rules under the GENIUS Act remain unsettled. The decision on Bridge comes as US lawmakers in the Senate advance broader digital asset market structure legislation. This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.

eToro Group (NASDAQ: ETOR) delivered what Wall Street wanted on Tuesday: a record full year, a buyback expansion, and a confident pitch about the future. The market rewarded it with a more than 20% surge in the stock, which closed at $33.07, the highest level in over a month.Look at the headline numbers and the enthusiasm makes sense. Net contribution for the full year rose 10% to $868 million, net income climbed 12% to $216 million, and the company ended 2025 with $1.3 billion in cash on the balance sheet.As FinanceMagnates.com reported when the results landed, full-year GAAP net income rose 12% to $216 million while the share buyback program was increased by $100 million. CEO Yoni Assia called it "a defining year" for the company, pointing to the May NASDAQ IPO, accelerating product launches, and expanding global reach as evidence of durable momentum.But strip away the full-year framing and the picture that emerges is considerably more complicated. And the company's own data, including the supplemental KPI disclosures, tells much of that story.eToro’s Assets Hit a Wall in the Second HalfThe single most striking data point in the entire earnings package is one eToro does not headline. Assets Under Administration (AUA) fell from $20.8 billion at the end of the third quarter to $18.5 billion at the close of Q4, a decline of $2.3 billion, or roughly 11%. The company's press release frames that as "11% year-over-year growth," which is technically accurate. It does not mention that AUA was growing 76% year-over-year just one quarter earlier, a period when, as previously reported, eToro's Q3 net income rose 48% annually even as sequential momentum stalled.The AUA trajectory through 2025 was a clean ramp: $14.8 billion, $17.5 billion, $20.8 billion, and then a reversal. Q4 broke that trend decisively, and January has not reversed it. Monthly KPI data released alongside Tuesday's results showed AUA essentially flat at $18.4 billion, up just 2% year-over-year. In October 2025, the most recent comparable data point, AUA growth was running at 73% year-over-year.That deceleration from 73% to 2% in a matter of months is the number analysts following this stock closely should be circling.The Numbers Behind the HeadlinesSource: eToro Group Ltd. SEC filings (Form 6-K), Q1-Q4 2025Crypto Contribution Collapses, Q4 Spread Turns NegativeThe AUA trend points directly at crypto. In Q4, net trading contribution from crypto fell 72% year-over-year to $26 million, and that number requires careful reading. Beneath the net figure, gross revenue from crypto assets in Q4 was $3.59 billion against a cost of $3.64 billion, meaning the base spread business generated a net loss of approximately $44 million before derivatives. A $73.8 million gain on crypto derivatives pulled the combined crypto line into positive territory for the quarter, but the underlying spot economics were underwater.For the full year, eToro processed approximately $13 billion in crypto volume and generated a net spread of just $43 million, a margin of roughly 0.33%. The company made more from crypto derivatives in 2025 ($124 million) than from buying and selling crypto itself. In 2024, those ratios were nearly reversed. This is part of a broader trend that has weighed on crypto-exposed platforms across the board: as FinanceMagnates.com reported in early February, both eToro and Robinhood shares faced extended losing streaks as the cryptocurrency downturn pressured revenue outlooks across firms that derive significant income from digital asset trading.January's numbers confirm the pressure has not eased. Crypto trades on the platform totaled 4 million for the month, down 50% year-over-year. The average amount invested per crypto trade fell 34% to $182.January 2026 KPIs: Two Very Different StoriesSource: eToro January 2026 Monthly KPI ReleaseEquities and Gold Pick Up the SlackMeanwhile, capital markets trades, equities, commodities, and currencies, surged to 74 million in January, up 55% year-over-year, with the average invested amount up 8%. The platform's non-crypto business is growing fast. Its crypto business is shrinking. That divergence is not lost on management, and it shapes much of how Assia talks about the business. "We've seen people write off crypto," he told investors on Tuesday's earnings call. "We've kept building." His broader argument is that eToro's multi-asset model is precisely what allows it to absorb these cycles, and the Q4 data gives him some evidence to work with. Net trading contribution from equities, commodities, and currencies rose 43% year-over-year to $116 million in the fourth quarter, driven partly by a surge in commodities activity. This is broadly consistent with a wider shift in retail investor behavior: a recent eToro study found that nearly 8 in 10 retail investors now invest monthly, with allocations to equities and cash declining as investors seek broader asset exposure.On the call, Assia described something he called a convergence among the platform's users: crypto-native customers rotating into commodities as volatility shifted asset classes.Marketing Ramp Signals a Growth GapDuring the earnings call, eToro also revealed its plans to boost sales and marketing spending, and CFO Meron Shani explicitly said it could go higher if ROI supports it."We plan to increase from 21%, scaling gradually to 25% of net contribution," Shani said on the call, adding the company expects this to drive "double-digit" funded account growth through the year.That announcement comes after Q4 saw the lowest marketing spend of any quarter in 2025 at $47 million, 21% below the same period a year earlier, while funded account additions in Q4 were also the slowest of the year at just 80,000 net new accounts. Simultaneously, Assia disclosed that eToro carried out a headcount reduction roughly a month ago, framing it as an AI-efficiency initiative. "AI means we can move 10 times faster," he said on the call. "We're building the eToro super app 100% with AI."It seems the company is cutting internal costs while ramping external spend to re-accelerate user growth. It is a rational response to a slowing organic environment.M&A Pipeline Opens UpResponding to a direct question from UBS analyst Alex Cra, Assia confirmed for the first time that eToro has been in active discussions with acquisition targets since the IPO. "We do expect to see several M&A deals in 2026," he said. "We have been in active discussions with several target companies over the last six months since the IPO." He pointed to two areas of focus: the crypto space, both in the US and globally, and the brokerage and wealth management space. The CFO added that eToro has access to both its cash pile and a revolving credit facility to pursue "sizable deals."Similar plans were already outlined last year in a Bloomberg interview with Ronen Assia, one of eToro's co-founders. The most recent acquisition dates back to 2024, when the company expanded into Australia by taking over the local investing app Spaceship for $55 million.The Market Priced the HeadlineNone of this makes Tuesday's 20% share rally irrational. Full-year records, a strong balance sheet, buyback expansion, a resilient equities business, and an M&A pipeline are genuinely positive signals for a company less than a year into its public life.Notably, the crypto exchange Gemini, which went public around the same time, simultaneously began pulling back and retreating to its core business, a move eToro has now capitalized on by taking over a portion of its customers.The 2024 cohort already shows a 1.88x return on marketing investment; the 2020 cohort has returned 5.6x. These are the numbers of a business with real retention and long-term user value.But the market priced the headline. The AUA trajectory, the January crypto data, the diluted EPS decline, and the marketing ramp required to sustain growth are the questions that the headline doesn't answer. For investors in ETOR at $33, those are the numbers worth watching in the quarters ahead. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

eToro reported its first full-year results since becoming a publicly listed company, posting net contribution of $868 million, up 10% year over year. GAAP net income climbed 12% to $216 million amid growth in stocks, derivatives and savings products.Adjusted EBITDA rose to $317 million, while crypto income declined from 2024 levels due to lower retail trading volumes and reduced market volatility. Following the announcement, shares jumped about 10% in early trading as investors welcomed the results and earnings growth despite the crypto slowdown.Crypto, Stocks, ISA Expansion Drive GrowthLast year, eToro expanded access to 25 stock exchanges and grew its crypto offering to over 150 assets. The company also launched stock margin trading, expanded derivatives, and grew UK ISA and Australian savings products.About the expansion, CEO Yoni Assia said, “We became a publicly traded company and significantly advanced the build-out of our global financial super-app.” He added that the company is expanding AI-powered tools and 24/7 access to select assets.In the fourth quarter, net contribution fell 10% to $227 million, while GAAP net income rose 16% to $69 million. Funded accounts grew 9% to 3.81 million, and assets under administration reached $18.5 billion.According to CFO Meron Shani, “(the) fourth quarter results reflect the strength and resilience of our multi-asset business model.”Share Buyback Program Increased $100MeToro also increased eToro Money accounts and transaction volumes as part of its neo-banking expansion. Partnerships were launched with BWT Alpine Formula 1 and Gemini Space Station Inc to expand brand reach and migrate customers onto the platform.The company increased its share repurchase program by $100 million, bringing total remaining authorization to $150 million, including a planned accelerated buyback of $50 million.Brokerage Workforce Reductions Follow Industry TrendAlongside its expansion and buyback program, eToro is reducing approximately 7% of its global workforce. Assia said the move is intended to “ensure we are correctly sized to meet our business needs and support our long-term growth strategy.” The reduction could affect over 100 employees, though details on roles or locations have not been disclosed. Workforce reductions are not uncommon in the brokerage sector. In recent years, other operators including IG Group, CMC Markets, and FXCM/Tradu have also reduced staff, sometimes citing technology or automation as factors. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

The all-in-one financial app Maya joins a growing list of Southeast Asian fintechs looking past their home markets for capital. The timing and size of the offering could still change as the company gauges market conditions, according to Bloomberg.The fintech operates a full-service digital banking platform where users can buy stocks and cryptocurrencies, earn interest on savings, send payments, and manage debit and credit cards. According to the most recent annual report, Maya's digital bank served 5.4 million customers and disbursed 68 billion pesos ($1.2 billion) in loans during 2024.Rough Waters for New ListingsMaya's IPO plans come at a difficult moment for companies trying to go public. Several firms have pulled or downsized their US listings in recent weeks after investors pushed back on valuations. Wall Street broker Clear Street postponed its IPO in mid-February after slashing its fundraising target by 65 percent, citing market conditions. Blackstone-backed Liftoff Mobile similarly delayed its New York listing following a selloff in software stocks.Brazilian fintech Agibank managed to complete its US debut this month, but only after cutting both its deal size and price range by more than half. The stock promptly fell 15 percent from its offer price.Goldman Sachs analysts expect the number of IPOs to double to 120 this year, but warned that volatility and valuation scrutiny remain significant headwinds. Companies with exposure to fintech and crypto face additional skepticism. even those that made it to market have struggled, with trading platform eToro down roughly 60 percent since its Wall Street debut nearly a year ago.Regional Rivals Taking Different RoutesMaya isn't the only Philippine fintech weighing its options. GCash, its main competitor in the digital payments space, postponed a planned Manila IPO to the second half of 2026. The country's securities regulator has proposed relaxing free-float requirements to attract larger companies to the local exchange, which has underperformed regional benchmarks.The MSCI Philippines Index gained just over 12 percent in the past year, trailing the broader MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index. That performance gap has pushed some Filipino companies to consider overseas listings. Fast food chain Jollibee Foods said it plans to list its international business in the United States, while other Southeast Asian firms are eyeing Hong Kong for share sales.From Payments to Full-Service BankingMaya started as PayMaya, a mobile wallet for QR code payments and money transfers. The company has since built out a regulated digital bank that offers savings accounts with interest rates reaching 15 percent annually, instant loans of up to 250,000 pesos for consumers and 2 million pesos for small businesses, and investment products including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum alongside mutual funds.The company is backed by Philippine telecom giant PLDT and a roster of international investors including KKR, Tencent, and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation.The platform uses transaction data and AI-driven credit scoring to approve loans without traditional collateral requirements, a model that has resonated in a country where formal banking penetration remains low. About 70 percent of Maya's customers live outside Metro Manila, where the company has seen particularly strong growth in lending and savings activity. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will regulate the buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry from 15 July 2026. The regulation follows months of consultation, during which the regulator took input from industry players.Companies Have to “Thrive”, but Customers Must Be Protected“We want the Buy Now Pay Later sector to thrive,” said Sarah Pritchard, Deputy Chief Executive at the FCA. “It provides an important source of credit to many.“But crucially, no one should be lent to if they are unable to repay, because that could worsen their financial situation. Now Parliament has given us the powers, we are putting in place proportionate protections for the 11 million people who use it.”BNPL platforms allow consumers to purchase goods and services immediately while spreading payments over a set period, often with no interest if payments are made on time. These services are increasingly popular in e-commerce, offering flexibility and convenience.According to the FCA, its goal with the regulations is to “reduce the risks of harm to consumers”.[#highlighted-links#] A Temporary Regime to Be Followed by Full LicensingUnder the incoming regulations, BNPL companies, technically known as Deferred Payment Credit (DPC) firms, will need to apply for the temporary permission regime (TPR) while the regulator evaluates their applications.However, these firms must have been carrying out BNPL activities on 15 July 2025, when the regulator began its regulatory process by launching the consultation paper. These firms need to confirm their intention to register after 15 May but no later than two weeks before the regulation day.For companies that are not willing to enter the TPR, the regulator has asked them to stop any BNPL activities that would fall under the regulations.“Firms that are not authorised or do not have a temporary permission will continue to be able to service DPC agreements that were taken out before regulation day,” the regulator noted. “Those agreements will remain exempt.”Earlier, the FCA’s counterpart in Australia also required a credit licence for such BNPL companies. This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

For brokers handling client funding, ISO 20022 has already changed the baseline. Payment messages now carry far more structured context — from purpose codes to beneficiary details — giving banks and regulators greater visibility without follow-up requests. That transparency was expected. What proved less obvious after the cutover is how many institutions remain operationally unprepared to actually use that data. On November 22, 2025, SWIFT flipped the switch. After 32 months of coexistence, the legacy MT message format was officially retired, and ISO 20022 became mandatory for all cross-border payment instructions. For the 11,500 financial institutions on SWIFT's network, this was the biggest infrastructure change in decades. SWIFT reported 97% of payment instructions using ISO 20022 on day one. No major disruptions. Jerome Piens, SWIFT's Chief Operations Officer, called it "a huge achievement for the global industry." But getting through the cutover and being ready for ISO 20022 are two different things. Many of those "compliant" institutions are relying on automatic conversion services—translating messages instead of processing them natively. As of January 1, 2026, those services became chargeable. Institutions relying on this temporary bridge now carry a recurring operational cost. The real story isn't the cutover. It's what became visible after. What Became Visible Only After the Switch ISO 20022 is a structured, data-rich standard designed to carry dramatically more information than legacy MT messages—complete beneficiary addresses, Legal Entity Identifiers, detailed remittance information, all in machine-readable format. According to Datos Insights survey, before the cutover, 23% of banks reported that 12% to 15% of their cross-border payments incurred charges due to failures, and 18% said this occurred more than 25% of the time. ISO 20022's structured data was meant to reduce these failures through better data quality and automated reconciliation. But those benefits only materialize if you're processing the messages natively. And not all institutions that appeared in SWIFT's 97% statistic are doing that.Payments architecture expert Shivas Dutt recently noted on LinkedIn that validation success does not automatically translate into operational readiness — a gap many institutions are now confronting post-cutover.Industry sentiment appears to reflect this shift. A recent LinkedIn poll by TIS (Treasury Intelligence Solutions) shows that system readiness and data quality remain the top ISO 20022 concerns, while payment disruption ranks last.The Translation Trap The pressure to move beyond translation-based compliance is now coming from multiple directions. According to Krishna Subramanyan, CEO of Bruc Bond, payments infrastructure provider, regulation may have triggered ISO 20022 adoption, but infrastructure limitations and economic pressure are now accelerating the shift. He notes that while richer data can reduce false positives by up to 30%, those gains only materialise when compliance is embedded directly into payment infrastructure — a challenge many institutions are still struggling with after the cutover. “Standardised, granular data is intended to “train” payment systems to handle transactions more accurately and with fewer manual checks”, Subramanyan says. Many firms are using SWIFT's conversion services—receiving rich ISO 20022 messages, then immediately converting them back to legacy MT format for their old systems to handle. It keeps payments flowing, but strips out exactly the data that made the migration worthwhile: no access to detailed remittance information, no automated reconciliation, no structured compliance data.During the coexistence period, these translation services were free. From January 1, 2026, SWIFT began charging for them. Moreover messages bear a flag identifying they've been converted by SWIFT, which means correspondent banks and regulators can see exactly which institutions are using workarounds instead of native processing. Regulators and correspondent banks increasingly rely on ISO 20022 data richness to assess AML and sanctions risk. Poor data quality from translated messages may lead to blocked payments or de-risked relationships. Thus as of January 2026, banks relying on translation tools face not just financial costs, but operational risk and reputational damage. The Escalating Timeline By November 2026, unstructured addresses will no longer be permitted in ISO 20022 messages. Firms still using translation services at that point will face rejected transactions. Their converted messages won't meet the new validation rules. By November 2027, MT-formatted exceptions and investigations messages will be fully retired, forcing another round of system updates for institutions that postponed migration. Every delayed migration decision means more systems to update, more validation rules to implement, and more charges accumulating while competitors who migrated natively are already leveraging data advantages that create tangible business value. Translation was sold as a bridge, but turned out to be a toll road with rising fees and a dead end ahead. Large institutions that invested in native ISO 20022 processing can now leverage straight-through reconciliation and automated compliance screening. Smaller players using translation services can't access the richer data, can't build services that depend on structured information, and face rejected messages when SWIFT introduces enhanced validation rules.What This Means for Brokers Right Now For brokers, the shift to ISO 20022 shapes how payments actually work with clients. Three things changed on November 22 that affect their daily operations. Payments Are Now More Transparent ISO 20022 messages carry structured data that banks and regulators can read automatically. The structured data improves compliance accuracy across sanctions screening and AML. Where legacy MT messages buried payment details in free-text fields, the new format exposes them in tagged, searchable fields. For forex and securities brokers handling client funding, this means regulatory authorities can now see transaction context they couldn't before—payment purpose, beneficiary relationships, source of funds—without requesting additional documentation. Systems must now accept and validate hybrid address messages, implementing AML and sanctions screening, and integrating onboarding systems. Wire Transfers Require More Data Clients can't just "send a wire to this account" anymore. Banks are rejecting payments that don't include structured beneficiary information, purpose codes, and complete address data. By November 2026, unstructured address fields will be rejected entirely. This creates operational friction. Brokers need to provide clients with detailed payment instructions—structured addresses with building numbers and postal codes, specific purpose codes, beneficiary identification details. When clients get it wrong, the payment gets rejected, and the broker's back office handles the investigation. “The move to more comprehensive and structured payment data has led to initial operational adjustments in client funding workflows,” a spokesperson at Interactive Brokers said. The transition, the broker noted, reflects the challenge of moving away from messaging formats that have been in place for decades.More Work for Back Office The structured data requirements mean more validation before payments go out. For brokers with properly configured systems, this reduces false positives and minimizes manual review. For those still using legacy processes, it's the opposite: more manual checks, more rejected payments, more client service calls. The Crypto Broker Opportunity For cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers, ISO 20022 creates an integration pathway. ISO 20022 sets the framework for how crypto platforms and exchanges will connect with the traditional financial system. Platforms that implement structured messaging for fiat on/off-ramps can integrate more cleanly with banking partners. But there's important nuance here. ISO 20022 deals with the payment infrastructure around coins or blockchains. Crypto brokers benefit when their fiat banking rails speak ISO 20022, not because the tokens themselves are "certified." Some brokers are increasingly looking beyond traditional banking rails altogether, experimenting with alternative settlement mechanisms to manage intraday liquidity and intercompany transfers more efficiently. This interest appears to be driven less by crypto ideology than by frustration with the limits of conventional payment infrastructure. Control and Transparency ISO 20022 brings enhanced control and transparency. Banks can now automatically verify payment details that previously required manual checks. Regulators can screen transactions more precisely. Correspondent banks can enforce stricter data quality standards. For brokers operating on thin margins, this means compliance costs went up while processing speed stayed roughly the same. The firms that implemented native ISO 20022 can automate much of this work. The ones still using translation services are handling it manually—and paying extra for slower results. Early Takeaways, Not Final Conclusions November 22 was a milestone, not a finish line. The institutions that treated it as the latter are discovering that reality the hard way. For years, the industry treated ISO 20022 as a technical deadline — a format change to be managed, delayed, or translated. In reality, it turned out to be an operational reform that exposed how payment systems actually function under pressure. The systemic effects of ISO 20022 will become fully visible as 2026 progresses and enforcement mechanisms activate. The firms ready for those deadlines will barely notice. The ones that aren't will face rejected messages, blocked investigations, and operational chaos precisely when they're trying to resolve customer issues. The ISO 20022 cutover closed a chapter in payments history. But the industry is only starting to read what comes next—and not everyone prepared for the next chapter while it was being written. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

LMAX Group has launched Omnia Exchange, a new platform that allows users to convert different types of assets in real time using a single API. The system covers foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets.The launch follows a multi-year partnership with Ripple to integrate traditional financial markets with digital assets. As part of the collaboration, Ripple will provide $150 million in financing to support LMAX’s cross‑asset growth strategy. No additional financial details were disclosed.Last year, LMAX Digital listed the RLUSD stablecoin on its institutional trading platform, enabling clients to access RLUSD as part of its infrastructure for regulated digital assets.Omnia Enables 24/7 Institutional Asset TransfersOmnia is built on LMAX Group’s existing technology and liquidity infrastructure. The platform is designed to give businesses access to unified wholesale liquidity and pricing. Users can trade any asset against any other at any time, transfer value across borders, and settle transactions either on traditional rails or instantly on the blockchain.David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, said, “Omnia Exchange delivers the ability for institutions to exchange any asset, anytime, anywhere.” He explained that the platform provides broader access to wholesale FX and digital asset markets. According to Mercer, this reduces barriers and friction while enabling institutions to move liquidity more efficiently. He added that institutions can exchange value quickly and efficiently, similar to “sending a message.”Today we announced Omnia Exchange, an infrastructure layer designed to support institutional exchange across FX, crypto and stablecoins through a single API. Built on LMAX Group technology and liquidity, Omnia supports settlement via traditional rails or on-chain where… pic.twitter.com/e3gahYFUMg— LMAX Group (@LMAX) February 10, 2026Platform Targets Payments, Custody, and SettlementThe platform is intended to simplify trading and payments. It targets a range of industries, including payment providers, retail finance, wealth managers, mobile networks, wallets, custodians, and social platforms. According to LMAX, integrating instant settlement and institutional-grade liquidity into these ecosystems could reduce transaction costs and enable new revenue streams.LMAX Group operates multiple institutional execution venues and provides custody and market data services for FX and digital assets. Its portfolio includes LMAX Exchange, LMAX Global, and LMAX Digital, serving clients in over 100 countries. The company runs its own high-performance exchange technology with matching engines in London, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Revolut reached 1 million retail customers in Australia, a milestone that puts the UK fintech on par with locally-backed digital banks Up and Ubank in a market where customer loyalty tends to shift quickly.The company, which launched full operations in Australia in August 2020 with three employees, now has more than 100 staff nationwide and plans to invest nearly $400 million into its Australian business over the next five years. Revolut operates under an Australian Financial Services Licence and Australian Credit Licence, both issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.Revolut said it saved Australians over $250 million in foreign exchange fees since entering the market, based on comparisons with major bank pricing. The company declined to provide details on its methodology for calculating the savings figure.Domestic Spending Overtakes Travel UseThe fintech has shifted from its original pitch as a travel card and currency exchange tool to a broader financial app covering payments, investing, budgeting and insurance. Revolut said customers now use the app more for domestic spending than overseas travel, though it did not disclose specific transaction breakdowns.Since 2022, Revolut's Australian customer base has grown at an average annual rate of nearly 100%, according to the company. Transaction volumes jumped 74% year-over-year in 2024, while adoption of its paid Premium and Metal subscription plans increased."We're incredibly proud of everything we've achieved in Australia. The fact we've saved Australians $250million in FX fees proves our commitment to delivering them the highest value and experience," said Matt Baxby, CEO of Revolut Australia. "We've come a long way since our launch in 2020, but our mission has stayed the same: to put Australians in complete control of their finances and become their everyday tool to spend, save, borrow and invest."Crowded Field Gets More CompetitiveRevolut's milestone comes as digital banks face intensifying competition in Australia. Up Bank hit 1 million customers in November 2024, while Ubank, the digital arm of National Australia Bank, reached the same mark weeks earlier. Both banks are backed by established financial groups with deeper pockets and local regulatory experience.The Australian neobanking sector is valued at roughly $25 billion and expected to grow at about 8% annually through 2034, according to market research firms. eToro dominates the country's CFD trading market, where trader retention rarely lasts beyond a year, according to recent ASIC data.Revolut has added dozens of products since entering Australia, including cryptocurrency and stock trading in 2021, business accounts in 2023, and eSIMs in 2024. This year, it launched what it calls Australia's first combined in-person, account-to-account and online merchant payment platform for businesses.Regulatory History Includes Recent FineThe company's Australian expansion hasn't been entirely smooth. Last year, AUSTRAC fined Revolut Australia $123,000 for late compliance reporting, though the financial intelligence agency noted Revolut was cooperative and promptly paid the penalty.Revolut sought a full banking license in Australia in 2023, applying to become an authorized deposit-taking institution. The application remains pending with ASIC. The fintech has pursued banking licenses in multiple markets, including Peru and the United States, where it recently dropped plans to acquire an existing lender.Charlie Short, Head of Growth at Revolut Australia, said the company plans to increase marketing spending and maintain aggressive product development this year. "1 million customers is not the end goal, it's the proof point," Short said. "Starting 2026 as one of the country's top financial apps, we've already built real momentum in the market. This year will see us double down on marketing investment and remain aggressive with product delivery, pushing us into our biggest year yet."Revolut now operates in over 40 markets globally with more than 70 million customers. The company recently reached 6 million users in Spain, becoming that country's fourth-largest bank by customer penetration. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Prediction markets are swiftly transforming from an exotic tool for crypto geeks into a fully fledged financial asset, with a clear ambition to attract institutional capital. This week’s developments — from regulatory disputes to new product launches — serve as a reminder that prediction markets are no longer just fun and games. What once felt like a quirky way to bet on election results, Oscar winners, or a collective “when moon” is starting to look distinctly less entertaining and more like Treasury bills or even subordinated perpetual callable bonds (if you’ll pardon my French). As margin trading, clearing structures, and broker integrations come into play, the industry is being forced to shed its novelty status. And with institutional capital comes regulatory scrutiny — followed by a far less forgiving operating environment. This week’s headlines capture that transition in real time. Products that once thrived on humour, memes, and cultural events are now discussed in the language of derivatives law, market surveillance, and consumer protection. For regulators, brokers, and exchanges alike, prediction markets are no longer amusing curiosities — they are financial instruments with real risk, real money, and real consequences. Institutional Twist Prediction markets are making a deliberate push toward institutional finance, signalling a shift away from fully collateralised, retail-friendly products. This week, Kalshi confirmed it is seeking regulatory approval to introduce margin trading, with discussions ongoing at the CFTC. The proposed structure would mirror traditional futures, allowing institutional investors to deploy capital more efficiently.? Kalshi reportedly met with the CFTC recently to discuss offering margin trading on prediction market platforms. The proposal would initially target institutional investors, allowing them to take positions w/o posting full collateral. Unclear if regulators will approve request. pic.twitter.com/Gk7AwI6glz— Schaeffer's Investment Research (@schaeffers) February 6, 2026In parallel, Crypto.com launched a US-focused prediction platform, explicitly positioned within its regulated derivatives framework, including plans for margin-based contracts. Margin and clearing are becoming the dividing line between prediction markets as entertainment and prediction markets as financial infrastructure. In practice, the institutional turn reflects a simple reality: retail money is too small and too unreliable to carry the market forward.The shift comes even as Shayne Coplan, CEO of Polymarket, continues to frame prediction markets as a future “global truth machine,” rather than just another financial product.Regulatory Pushback While prediction platforms try to attract institutions, regulators struggle to agree on what these markets are and how to treat them. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) effectively signalled support for “lawful innovation.” The regulator dropped the proposals that would have restricted sports- and politics-based event contracts. However, not everyone is comfortable with this approach. Ahead of the Super Bowl, New York Attorney General Letitia James warned consumers about prediction markets. She called them bets masquerading as regulated event contracts and raising concerns about consumer protection and insider trading. This contrast highlights a growing fault line: while federal regulators discuss clearer rules and market development, state authorities treat prediction markets as unregulated gambling. Regulatory stakes are high as trading volumes rise and products become increasingly financial. Brokers Move In This week underscored how event-based trading is increasingly being packaged as broker-ready infrastructure rather than a niche consumer product. The most visible signal came from Plus500, which rolled out prediction markets for US retail clients through a partnership with Kalshi. The launch framed event contracts as a regulated extension of a traditional brokerage offering — and was rewarded by investors with a record high in Plus500’s share price.Behind the scenes, technology providers are moving to make prediction markets easier to deploy. Leverate is preparing to unveil a prediction market technology stack for brokers, while Devexperts has already introduced tools allowing CFD brokers and exchanges to build event-based contracts without developing the infrastructure in-house.The message is clear: prediction markets are being productised as plug-ins for existing trading environments. Signs of crowding are also emerging. A new venture, Lumina Markets — linked to Thomas Peterffy — is preparing to enter the space, while crypto platforms are pushing from the other side.Taken together, these moves suggest prediction markets are no longer fighting for attention — they are fighting for placement inside brokerage stacks. Distribution, infrastructure, and regulatory readiness are becoming more important than novelty.Bottom Line What makes this moment uncomfortable is not how fast prediction markets are growing, but how ordinary they are starting to look. Margin, clearing, broker distribution, and regulatory turf wars — none of this is funny, novel, or particularly creative. It is simply how financial markets behave once real money shows up. The irony is hard to miss. Products that once thrived on memes, cultural trivia, and playful speculation are now being discussed in the same breath as derivatives rules and compliance frameworks. In trying to become taken seriously, prediction markets are succeeding — at the cost of the very irrelevance that made them interesting in the first place. For now, the industry is still trying to have it both ways: the accessibility and excitement of entertainment, with the balance sheets and credibility of finance. History suggests that this balancing act rarely lasts. And when it ends, prediction markets may discover that becoming “just another financial product” was the least predictable outcome of all. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Two publicly traded retail trading platforms heavily reliant on cryptocurrency trading revenue saw their stock prices continue a sharp descent today (Thursday), with Robinhood and eToro each extending multi-session losing streaks as Bitcoin crashed to its lowest level since October 2024.HOOD closed at $75.67 on Thursday, marking its eighth consecutive day of losses and representing a decline of nearly 10% for the session. The stock hit its lowest level since June 2025, with the extended selloff erasing gains accumulated during the late-2025 crypto market rally.ETOR fared similarly, dropping approximately 7% Thursday to close just below $26.54 in its seventh straight losing session. The Israeli-founded trading platform, which debuted on Nasdaq in May 2025 at $69, has now shed more than 60% of its value since its public market launch.Bitcoin Plunges in Sharpest Single-Day Drop in Over a YearThe stock declines tracked Bitcoin's dramatic collapse Thursday, with the cryptocurrency falling to $63,500 during the session, marking its lowest point since October 2024. The selloff accelerated throughout the day, with Bitcoin ultimately dropping more than 13% in one of its sharpest single-day percentage declines in at least 15 months.The broader crypto market capitalization fell 6.4% in 24 hours to $2.49 trillion, with 92 of the top 100 digital assets posting losses. Bitcoin has now dropped 44% from its October peak, erasing more than $800 billion in market value.The selloff extended to Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, which fell more than 13% Thursday to close around $152.44, testing levels not seen since April 2025. Coinbase marked its eighth consecutive session in the red, directly tracking the cryptocurrency market's steep decline.Revenue Concentration Creates VulnerabilityThe three platforms share a common weakness: substantial dependence on cryptocurrency trading for revenue generation. eToro's crypto reliance proved particularly acute in recent quarters, with digital assets contributing 91% of total revenue in Q2 2025 when crypto markets surged. For the full year 2024, cryptoassets accounted for almost 40% of eToro's $931 million in commission revenue, though the company's crypto dependency fluctuates dramatically with market conditions.“For many investors, shares of companies like eToro and Robinhood are indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies on the stock market, and the strong dependence of their financial results on the fate of cryptocurrencies means that we are witnessing situations like this,” Arkadiusz Jóźwiak, analyst and crypto educator from Comparic.pl, explained to FinanceMagnates.com. Robinhood showed somewhat more diversification but still faces significant crypto exposure. Cryptocurrency revenue reached $268 million in Q3 2025, representing approximately 20% of the company's $1.27 billion total revenue, with a 339% year-over-year increase. The platform's chief investment officer recently warned that retail net buying activity has slowed following a late October surge, raising concerns about sustained trading volumes.Bull Market Boom Now ReversingBoth platforms experienced explosive crypto revenue growth during 2024's digital asset rally. eToro's commission revenue jumped 48% year-over-year in 2024, with over 25% of that growth concentrated in Q4 alone as Bitcoin surged. Net profit skyrocketed to $192 million from just $15.3 million in 2023, driven primarily by crypto trading activity.Robinhood's Q4 2024 cryptocurrency revenue of $358 million represented a 700% year-over-year increase, surpassing options trading revenue for the first time in company history. For full-year 2024, Robinhood generated $2.95 billion in total revenue, up 58%, with crypto contributing 21%.“When Bitcoin rises, everyone is happy and company shares also rise, but when it falls, sentiment automatically changes. It is not certain that if Bitcoin continues to fall, Robinhood and eToro will not follow it further down,” Jóźwiak added. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.