Nevada gaming regulators are asking a court to fine Kalshi $120,000 per day, alleging that the prediction market operator continued to offer prohibited event contracts in the state after a court-ordered deadline. The request moves Nevada’s dispute with Kalshi from the broader question of who can regulate prediction markets to a narrower one: whether the company complied with an existing injunction while that larger case continues. In July, Kalshi agreed to use GeoComply and block trading from Nevada by Aug. 12, 2026. However, the regulator claims its investigators could still access the platform after the deadline. The court has not ruled on the request or imposed a final amount. If it accepts the state’s position and counts the alleged violation through Aug. 17, the requested penalty would amount to about $600,000. Kalshi Blames the Testers According to The Nevada Independent, the control board said in a court filing that Kalshi “has profited enormously from its continued violations of Nevada law.” State investigators said they were able to buy sports, election and entertainment contracts from Nevada through mobile phones, including through a previous version of the app that was not covered by the geoblocking. Kalshi disputes the state’s account. In a Friday letter to the board, the company’s attorneys said investigators “were able to place a trade because they had violated federal law by misrepresenting their residence to Kalshi, and, in at least one instance, actively worked to circumvent the Kalshi restrictions that blocked the investigator from trading.” That creates a practical enforcement dispute. Nevada says Kalshi made access impossible from inside the state. Kalshi says the trades regulators cited depended on testers using false information or bypassing restrictions.Another Contempt Fight This is not the first escalation over geofencing. In June, the Nevada Gaming Control Board also asked a court to hold Kalshi in contempt over alleged non-compliance with a May order requiring it to block access to sports, election and entertainment contracts from within Nevada. That request also cited a proposed penalty of $120,000 per day, but the the judge has not imposed the daily fine in either round. The parties are also waiting for the Ninth Circuit to rule on the broader question of Nevada’s authority over Kalshi’s event contracts. That leaves two tracks running at once: while the appeals court considers whether Nevada can prohibit the contracts, the state is asking a court to punish Kalshi for allegedly violating the existing order. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Limassol-based payments company payabl., has reportedly agreed to sell a 50% stake to private equity firm ECM Partners in a transaction exceeding €100 million. The deal represents one of the largest fintech deals recorded in Cyprus by value. Ugne Buračienė, payabl.’s Group CEO, will retain the remaining 50% stake and continue leading the company. Under Buračienė’s tenure, the firm has scaled significantly, delivering triple-digit revenue growth, increasing its headcount tenfold and securing two EMI licenses. The firm provides payment processing and gateway solutions, including foreign exchange and digital asset on- and off-ramps, among other solutions. It has established a strong foothold in the retail brokerage sector, serving major players such as XM and eToro. A Maturing Fintech HubFor ECM Partners, the deal marks a strategic expansion into fintech. The private equity firm, which has reportedly invested over 1 billion across Central and Southeastern Europe, holds a diverse portfolio covering manufacturing, hospitality and real estate. Its fund arm recently obtained an Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) licence from CySEC.In Cyprus, ECM is best known for consolidating the local healthcare sector to form Ygia Group, the island's largest private healthcare provider. The acquisition reflects a wider private equity push into payments. According to data from international law firm White & Case, payments remains one of the most active fintech sub-sectors for mergers and acquisitions across the UK and Europe, with more than 50 deals completed between mid-2024 and mid-2025.For Cyprus, the transaction signals an important evolution for the island’s tech and financial industry. It marks a clear shift from small, founder-run firms towards mature, institutional-backed businesses scaling across Europe. This article was written by Adonis Adoni at www.financemagnates.com.

Apex Fintech Solutions has launched a solution for brokers and fintech companies that are looking to expand their product sets with event contracts. The new API-based service allows them to offer Kalshi’s event contracts inside their own trading interfaces without building their own Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) infrastructure or direct exchange connectivity. Tastytrade is the first firm to go live on the infrastructure. The brokerage, which IG Group owns, now offers CFTC-regulated event contracts across areas including commodities, crypto, economic data and financial markets. The launch also comes shortly after IG agreed to acquire Underdog, a U.S. daily fantasy sports and prediction-markets operator, in a deal worth up to about $1.3 billion. That makes tastytrade’s early use of Apex’s Kalshi integration part of a wider push by its parent company into event-based trading. From Separate Venues to Broker Platforms Event contracts are regulated derivatives, so they cannot be dropped into a brokerage app in the same way as a new stock or ETF feed. A broker has a long operational checklist that includes tasks such as connecting customers to the exchange via the appropriate futures infrastructure, managing product eligibility and disclosures, and reflecting contract positions and settlements within their existing account experience. Apex is covering much of that infrastructure tasks. Kalshi remains the regulated marketplace where contracts are traded, while Apex provides the connection between Kalshi and the broker’s platform, along with the back-office functions needed to support customer accounts. The broker still has to decide how to present the product, which customers can access it, and how it fits into its own compliance and client-support processes. The service runs through Apex’s AscendOS APIs. In practice, that means a broker can add event contracts inside its own interface. At the same time, customers see those positions alongside other assets, including stocks and options, rather than being sent to a separate prediction market app. “Investors want to trade on direct events, not proxies,” said Travis McGhee, Global Head of Digital Markets at Apex Fintech Solutions. “Through our platform, clients can now offer Kalshi’s event contracts with ease.” A Distribution Channel for Event Contracts The timing reflects growing interest in prediction markets across the retail trading industry. Bernstein has projected that annual prediction-market volumes could approach $1 trillion by 2030, although that forecast depends on regulatory clarity. The model also gives Kalshi a route to reach broker customers without requiring each platform to build direct event-contract infrastructure from scratch. For Apex, the service adds another product category to its clearing and custody stack as brokers look to expand beyond equities, options, and crypto. The company says it provides infrastructure for close to 200 firms, including Webull, eToro US, Stash and Ally Invest. That gives the company a potential distribution channel across a large broker and fintech client base. Kalshi is the first venue available through the service and Apex plans to add others if there is enough demand. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Adyen raised its 2026 net revenue growth forecast to 21% to 23% on a constant currency basis today (Thursday). The Dutch payments processor attributed the revision to higher transaction activity from existing and new customers.The higher range, up from 20% to 22%, gives investors a firmer growth target after processed volume lagged revenue growth a year ago. Acquisitions and data center spending will put pressure on margins even as more payments pass through Adyen's systems.Adyen is broadening its services into loyalty, billing and money movement. “We are no longer just a payments company,” its management board wrote in the shareholder letter.Payment Volume Outruns Revenue GrowthFirst-half net revenue rose 19% year over year to €1.30 billion (about $1.50 billion), or 21% at constant currencies. The result was slightly above the €1.29 billion consensus estimate cited by Bloomberg.Processed volume increased 24% to €803.8 billion. Adyen said about 70% of its growth came from existing customers, while 300 merchants accounted for roughly 60% of total growth, down from more than 70% three years ago.The Platforms unit grew fastest, with net revenue up 37% to €165.5 million and processed volume up 42% to €135.0 billion. Digital remained the largest unit at €719.7 million, a 13% increase, while Unified Commerce revenue climbed 25% to €417.7 million.Costs Pull the Margin Back to 49%Costs rose faster. Adyen reported adjusted EBITDA of €641.5 million, up 18% but below the €645 million consensus cited by Bloomberg.The margin fell one percentage point to 49%. Excluding €6 million of one-time acquisition costs, it was 50%.Operating expenses rose 21% to €738.0 million. The company added 249 employees in the half, taking its workforce to 5,020, while employee benefit costs increased 15% to €431.1 million.[#highlighted-links#] Net income rose 13% to €544.1 million, supported by €143.2 million of finance income. Free cash flow increased 17% to €553.4 million, equal to 86% of EBITDA, and capital expenditure was €64.1 million, or 5% of net revenue.Management now expects capital expenditure to reach about 7% of net revenue this year as it brings forward spending on a data center planned for 2027. It retained a target for an EBITDA margin above 55% by 2028.Acquisitions Add Growth and Dilute the MarginAdyen completed its €750 million purchase of loyalty provider Talon.One and $335 million acquisition of enterprise billing provider Orb on July 1.The deals are expected to add about one percentage point to 2026 net revenue growth and reduce the full-year EBITDA margin by a similar amount, including transaction costs.Stripe completed its purchase of usage-based billing provider Metronome on January 14. Two months later, Mastercard agreed to buy stablecoin infrastructure provider BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.Adyen is adding promotions and billing directly to the merchant systems that already process payments.Adyen also said Chief Financial Officer Ethan Tandowsky will leave at the end of August. Deputy CFO Hwa Tsao will become interim CFO while Adyen searches for a permanent replacement.Adyen held €12.4 billion in cash at June 30. Excluding merchant-related balances and short-term receivables, it put operational cash at about €4.6 billion. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Kalshi has replaced the workaround that systematic trading firms used to reconstruct its order book, and now offers them a direct real-time feed built for pricing models and order execution.The platform has launched a machine-readable, real-time order book data feed for institutional market makers and systematic trading firms, developed with low-latency network provider DoubleZero Edge. The service, offered through Kalshi Research, delivers Level 1 (top-of-book) and Level 2 (full-depth) data for sports contracts and crypto perpetual futures, which together account for nearly 60% of Kalshi's weekly notional volume. From APIs to Real-Time Order Book Data Firms trading systematically on Kalshi previously relied on REST APIs to reconstruct order book depth, adding latency and technical overhead. The new multicast feed provides direct access to full order book depth, allowing firms to model slippage, monitor pricing across related markets and manage order execution using real-time data."Better connectivity makes better markets," said Andy Roth, Kalshi's head of institutional business. "Firms currently active on Kalshi are demanding institutional-grade infrastructure across all trading environments." Kalshi is waiving its share of data revenue for the first year as it seeks to expand adoption among professional trading firms. The launch adds another institutional component to Kalshi's trading infrastructure as professional firms take a larger role in its markets. The exchange has also expanded access through third-party trading systems, including an integration with Talos that allows market makers and hedge funds to trade Kalshi contracts through existing execution and risk-management workflows.Kalshi Expands Institutional Connectivity The DoubleZero partnership focuses on a different part of that infrastructure. Rather than providing another execution channel, it gives quantitative firms the market data required to build pricing models, monitor liquidity and route orders systematically. That distinguishes the launch from Kalshi's consumer-facing distribution partnerships, which make prediction-market probabilities available through external products and interfaces. The Level 2 feed is aimed directly at firms providing or trading against liquidity on the exchange. For brokers, market makers and data vendors, the development makes Kalshi's market structure more comparable with established electronic trading venues, where direct market data and full order book depth are standard requirements for systematic trading. Whether the new feed attracts additional institutional liquidity will depend on adoption. For now, it gives professional firms a more direct way to consume Kalshi's order book data as the exchange expands beyond its original retail-facing interfaces. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

A group of former Wall Street quants has raised $8.5 million to launch River Markets, which the company describes as the first institutional-grade execution and prime brokerage platform built specifically for prediction markets. Haun Ventures led the investment round, with Coinbase Ventures and Y Combinator also participating. Other backers include Qube Research & Technologies and individuals from Citadel, JPMorgan and Google. Fighting the Fragmentation Issue The prediction markets industry remains fragmented, with liquidity spread across multiple platforms and traders often switching between interfaces to manage positions on the same event. This complicates risk management and makes hedging less efficient as traders lack a consolidated view of positions across venues. River Markets aims to address that fragmentation through a single platform combining multiple data feeds, risk-management tools and execution algorithms.The company plans to operate as an execution layer across prediction-market venues, offering smart order routing, a dashboard with consolidated positions across Kalshi, Polymarket and Novig, and built-in risk controls. "This transition from mainstream retail to institutional can't really be achieved with today's consumer interfaces," said Oscar Levy, River's CEO and a former VP of Quantitative Strategy at BlackRock. "Somebody needs to make these accessible and familiar for existing institutions."River was founded by Levy and CTO Antonin Perrot. Levy previously worked in quantitative strategy at BlackRock, while Perrot worked in electronic trading at Morgan Stanley and high-frequency trading at Valkyrie Trading. The pair began building trading software for Kalshi and Polymarket in 2023 before developing the tools into an institutional product.A Cross-Venue Execution Layer Other technology providers address different parts of the fragmented prediction-market ecosystem. Tatum, FinFeedAPI and Codex focus largely on data access and API standardisation, while Devexperts, Shift and Leverate provide infrastructure that allows brokers to offer prediction-market products using data aggregated from supported sources. River is targeting a different and still relatively undeveloped segment: prime brokerage and cross-venue execution for professional trading firms. Its smart order routing would allow clients to compare available liquidity and split orders across platforms, while the consolidated interface would provide a single view of positions and P&L. The model is familiar from more established electronic markets, where institutional traders use execution systems to access liquidity across multiple venues without managing each connection separately. What the Funding Supports The $8.5 million round gives River capital to develop its execution and prime brokerage infrastructure across prediction-market venues with separate liquidity pools and trading systems. River would sit between professional clients and prediction-market exchanges, providing routing, portfolio monitoring and risk tools through a single connection. Its commercial case will depend on whether professional trading activity across multiple venues becomes large enough to support a dedicated execution and prime brokerage layer. River is targeting annualised trading volume in the hundreds of millions by year-end. Reaching that target would provide an early indication of demand for consolidated execution tools among professional firms trading across multiple prediction-market venues. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

StoneX Group has agreed to acquire Banco Travelex S.A., a Brazilian bank focused on foreign exchange and international payments, as the company expands its regulated financial services in Latin America.The Banco Travelex deal follows StoneX’s expansion of its cross-border payments infrastructure. In 2025, StoneX Payments partnered with Bank Mendes Gans to extend access to its network across more than 180 countries and 140 currencies. In 2024, it also partnered with NatWest to expand international FX payments, adding access to 10 currencies through StoneX’s payments network.StoneX Adds Banking Services in BrazilThe transaction is also expected to strengthen local banking capabilities within its existing foreign exchange, international payments and receivables, and non-deliverable forwards businesses.Following completion, StoneX plans to offer banking services including resident and non-resident currency accounts, PIX payments, internet and mobile banking, and additional settlement services. Its global payments business currently operates across more than 180 countries and 140 currencies.The deal will also allow StoneX’s international clients to hold local and foreign currency accounts in Brazil and expand its wholesale banknote trading activities.StoneX Excludes Travelex Retail OperationsBanco Travelex has operated in Brazil since 2010, providing foreign exchange and international payment services to individuals and businesses. The Central Bank of Brazil authorised the company to operate as a multiple-service bank in December 2024.The acquisition is limited to Banco Travelex S.A. Its retail foreign exchange business, physical branches and service locations associated with Confidence are excluded and will continue operating independently.The transaction is expected to close within 12 months, subject to approval from the Central Bank of Brazil and other customary closing conditions.StoneX operates FOREX.com within its Retail segment. It acquired GAIN Capital, the broker’s former parent, in 2020. The acquisition brought FOREX.com and City Index into StoneX’s retail business. FOREX.com offers forex and, in some markets, CFD trading to self-directed clients. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

eToro agreed to buy US brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million, the Nasdaq-listed trading platform said today (Tuesday). It announced the deal alongside second-quarter results showing net contribution up 9% year-over-year to $229 million and net income of $53.5 million.eToro will pay in cash and up to 2.5 million newly issued Class A shares, subject to purchase price adjustments. TradeZero generated about $80 million of revenue in the 12 months to June 30, at an 81% gross margin. That puts the price at roughly 2.9 times revenue.The purchase pushes eToro further into US equities at a point where that line alone is bigger than the whole increase in net contribution. Net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies rose $27.6 million year-over-year to $141.6 million. Net contribution rose $19.8 million.What eToro Is BuyingTradeZero was founded in 2015 and runs an equities and options brokerage for active US traders, with operations across the United States, Canada and international markets.Yoni Assia, eToro's co-founder and chief executive, said the combination "gives us a faster path to launching new products for US customers."[#highlighted-links#] The Canadian piece dates to February 2022, when TradeZero Securities Canada was accepted as a dealer member of the country's investment industry regulator, letting Canadian retail clients trade US-listed stocks and options.TradeZero also carries a regulatory record from the meme-stock episode. In May 2022 the SEC fined TradeZero America $100,000 and co-founder Daniel Pipitone $25,000 over public statements about TradeZero's trading restrictions on January 28, 2021. Neither admitted nor denied the findings.Second Quarter Trails the FirstThe 9% increase in net contribution is a year-over-year figure. Measured against the first quarter, when a commodities boom lifted net contribution to $258 million and net income to $82 million, it fell 11%.Net income of $53.5 million was 35% below the first quarter. The equities, commodities and currencies line came in 15% under its first-quarter level of $165.6 million.The 77% rise in reported net income against the second quarter of 2025 is flattered by $8.4 million of transaction costs and $8.1 million of non-cash employee expense a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, net income rose 16% to $62.8 million.July Assets Fall Below Their Year-Ago LevelJuly was weaker than the quarter it followed. Assets under administration were $18.5 billion, down 5% year-over-year, after May assets of $20.1 billion that were up 18%.Capital markets trades were flat year-over-year at 48.5 million, with the invested amount per trade down 23% to $207. Crypto trades fell 73% to 1.4 million and the invested amount per crypto trade halved to $182. Funded accounts reached 4.32 million, up 18%.Chief Financial Officer Meron Shani said more than 60% of clients who traded commodities in the two quarters to March went on to trade equities in the second, which he said shows "how users move between asset classes as market opportunities evolve."What Crypto Added to the QuarterRevenue from cryptoassets, which eToro books gross, fell 30% year-over-year to $1.35 billion from $1.91 billion. The cost of that revenue was also $1.35 billion, about $7 million more than the revenue itself.Adding $19.7 million of income from crypto derivatives leaves roughly $12.5 million from crypto in the quarter, against about $29.3 million a year earlier. That is FinanceMagnates.com's calculation from the income statement.On those figures crypto produced 5.5% of net contribution, down from 14% in the same quarter of 2025.eToro does not break out net contribution by product, and its own definition moves staking and blockchain rewards to other lines, which would make the crypto share smaller still. The release does not say why the cost of crypto revenue exceeded the revenue.eToro's own spending has gone the other way. In April it agreed to buy self-custody wallet maker Zengo, and it completed that deal and the purchase of Bit2C during the second quarter.Brokers Keep Buying Across the Asset DivideTradeZero is eToro's third signed acquisition this year and the first that is not a crypto business. Daniel Pipitone, TradeZero's co-founder and chief executive, said TradeZero "was built by active traders, for active traders."Kraken closed its $1.5 billion purchase of US futures platform NinjaTrader in May 2025. Robinhood completed a $200 million deal for crypto exchange Bitstamp the following month.Assia told FinanceMagnates.com in June that eToro was very acquisitive and had two wealth-tech targets in talks. It held $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments at June 30, and bought back $189.1 million of its own stock in the first half.The TradeZero deal needs regulatory clearance and is expected to close in the first half of 2027.TradeZero has reached for public markets before. In October 2021 it agreed to merge with Dune Acquisition Corp at an enterprise value of about $556 million and list on the NYSE under the ticker TRAD. It never listed. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Sportsbook operators are trying to defend their core business by adopting the very market structure that is challenging it.Prediction markets have grown large enough that sportsbook operators now treat them as a strategic problem rather than a regulatory nuisance. Kalshi’s valuation has reportedly climbed to $22 billion after a $1 billion financing round, while Polymarket closed a round at roughly $15 billion and is reportedly discussing a valuation above $20 billion. Sportsbooks respond by entering that same exchange-style market and use prediction markets to expand distribution and protect customer relationships. What Prediction Markets Remove from Bookmaking Traditional sportsbooks do more than provide a customer interface. They price odds, manage liabilities, balance customer flows, and earn margin on the gap between stakes and payouts. DraftKings’ own filings describe sportsbook revenue through hold — the portion of handle retained after winning customers are paid. Prediction exchanges provide a venue where counterparties trade event contracts, with liquidity supplied by other users and professional market makers. The economics are more transaction-led, and outcome risk sits mainly with trading participants rather than the venue itself. The Financial Times has argued that this distinction matters because bookmaking expertise has historically been part of the sportsbook moat. Recent earnings prove the point. DraftKings reported second-quarter revenue of about $1.44 billion, with sports outcomes and promotions weighing on profitability, and Flutter lowered its guidance after unfavourable sports results. Those numbers shed some light on why a less outcome-dependent revenue stream is getting attention. Sportsbooks Take Different Routes into Exchanges DraftKings Predictions launched in December 2025 through a CFTC-registered subsidiary, giving the company access to event contracts in 38 states, including several large markets where online sports betting remains restricted. Joel Shulman, founder and CIO of ERShares and portfolio manager of the XOVR ETF, says roughly 600,000 customers have engaged with the product. Annualised prediction-market volume, meanwhile, rose from about $2.3 billion in April to $11 billion in July. DraftKings management has argued that prediction-market customers could have lifetime value comparable to sportsbook users, though the actual results are yet to be seen. Flutter is taking a related but not identical route. FanDuel Predicts launched with CME in five states ahead of a planned wider rollout, and Flutter executives have argued prediction markets can be incremental where they reach users outside conventional sportsbook availability. Flutter also says it’s already earning from prediction markets as a market maker, applying its odds-pricing infrastructure to event contracts. Sporttrade shows the response can go further than adding another product tab. The company shut down sports wagering in five states and has applied to the CFTC to become both a Designated Contract Market and a Derivatives Clearing Organisation. Validation or Self-Cannibalisation? Shulman argues that DraftKings’ own behaviour validates the category it’s trying to defend against. He says that if prediction markets were marginal to sportsbook economics, incumbents would have little reason to build exchanges, acquire infrastructure, and spend heavily on customer acquisition.XOVR has exposure to Kalshi through a special purpose vehicle and owns DraftKings stock, and Shulman is also co-founder of Signal Markets, a CFTC-regulated introducing broker in event contracts. Distribution may get users to try a product, but liquidity and product quality decide whether they stay. DraftKings and Flutter may simply be hedging against regulatory uncertainty, widening their addressable market, or testing adjacent products without touching their core sportsbooks. Still, their actions show prediction markets are being treated as a serious competitive category rather than a side bet. DraftKings and Flutter carry advantages that prediction-market startups don’t automatically inherit - brands, existing customers, product design, promotions, pricing teams, and gaming-regulatory relationships. Those assets can help them get into event contracts. Distribution can bring users into a prediction product, but liquidity, pricing, and product depth determine whether they stay. For sportsbook operators, the strategic test is whether they can add that model while keeping the economic case for traditional bookmaking clear. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Revolut received a full French banking license on Monday, its second bank inside the European Union. The European Central Bank's Governing Council adopted the decision after a joint assessment with France's Autorite de Controle Prudentiel et de Resolution, the company said.Revolut Bank S.A. will start with customers in France, then Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain in later phases. The Lithuanian entity, Revolut Bank UAB, keeps the rest of the European Economic Area under the dual-hub structure the company set out in 2025.For retail brokers, the license lands on a competitor that already sells trading. Revolut runs CFD trading in 29 countries alongside stocks, ETFs and crypto, and says it has more than 75 million customers worldwide.Two Banks, One SupervisorBoth entities answer to the ECB and to their national regulator. Frederic Oudea, who ran Societe Generale for 15 years, chairs the French board, and Beatrice Cossa-Dumurgier is chief executive for Western Europe."Our focus now turns to execution," Cossa-Dumurgier said in the announcement. Revolut said the French base lets it tailor products to each market.The ECB Has Already Restricted Revolut's Other EU BankSupervisors have not been uniformly permissive. The ECB told Revolut's European board in July 2025 to stop launching new products across the European Economic Area, the Financial Times reported, after finding weaknesses in how the company approved them.The restrictions also covered acquisitions and onboarding customers outside Europe, according to that reporting. Regulators told the company to commission an independent review of its risk, compliance and legal functions.Bloomberg reported on July 21 that the French entity was likely to open with similar limits on new products.Monday's announcement did not say whether any of the measures have been lifted, and Finance Magnates could not establish it. Revolut has said it is in "continuous and constructive dialogue with our regulators," and the ECB declined to comment when the restrictions were first reported.Few Digital Banks Run Two EU LicensesHolding two licensed banks inside the EU is rare among digital challengers, which have generally passported out of one home regulator. Revolut itself served the EEA off the Lithuanian license from 2018 until Monday.Trade Republic works from one German license, which the ECB granted in December 2023. N26 covers its European markets from Germany as well.bunq passed 20 million users on a Dutch license, well short of Revolut's global count.A Pledge That Grew and WidenedRevolut said it has committed more than EUR 1 billion (about $1.16 billion) across Western Europe, is hiring more than 600 people in the region, and will open the Paris headquarters in 2027.Those figures have moved. Revolut said at the Choose France summit in May 2025 that it would invest EUR 1 billion in France and hire at least 200 people there within three years.Monday's numbers cover the whole region, not France alone, so the two sets do not compare directly. Revolut did not break out a French figure.The company says about 30 million customers in Western Europe use it, close to 8 million of them added over the past year. It did not publish the deposit base behind that number.Revolut filed its French application with the ACPR in July 2025. Cossa-Dumurgier told Reuters in April that talks were advanced but would not commit to a date, and the company has said it will not list publicly before 2028.The license reflects "the constructive engagement we've built with the French and European authorities," Oudea said. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Prediction market operators and the CFTC have been defending event contracts in court and publicly as federally regulated derivatives rather than sports bets. The regulator is now warning regulated firms not to present those contracts using one of the most familiar conventions of American sports betting. According to Bloomberg, the CFTC sent a letter to regulated entities reminding them that derivatives must not be listed, solicited or advertised through deceptive practices. The agency said firms should not use American-style bookmaker odds, where prices are displayed with plus or minus signs to show how much a bettor can win from a given stake. CFTC Targets Bookmaker-Style Odds The CFTC said derivatives should be displayed in nominal or percentage terms that reflect market pricing as bookmaker-style pricing is likely to mislead market participants about the nature of the transaction they are entering. The agency also cited research linking American-style odds with increased risk-taking in sports betting. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig had raised concerns about this type of marketing, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. The warning addresses a narrow operational point: if a regulated firm offers event contracts as derivatives, their pricing and marketing should reflect that regulatory character rather than borrow formats associated with sportsbook products.Warning Lands During State-Federal Dispute The presentation issue arises amid a broader jurisdictional fight. The CFTC and prediction market platforms have argued in court and publicly that event contracts are financial derivatives subject to federal commodities regulation. Several US states have taken the opposite view, alleging that sports related event contracts amount to unlicensed gambling. That dispute has become central to the expansion of regulated prediction markets in the US. Platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket allow users to trade contracts tied to sports, entertainment, politics, geopolitics and other real-world outcomes. States challenging the model argue that some of those contracts cross into gambling, while the platforms say they operate under federal derivatives law. Bloomberg reported that the letter went to all exchanges offering event contracts. Introducing brokers, futures commission merchants and designated contract markets involved in prediction markets must confirm receipt of the regulator’s message by 31 August. Publicly accessible pages reviewed by Finance Magnates did not show American-style plus-or-minus odds as the default presentation. Bloomberg did not identify which platform, interface or marketing material prompted the warning. CFTC considered the practice important enough to issue an industry-wide warning. The legal fight over event contracts now extends beyond jurisdiction and product approval to how regulated firms display pricing and market those contracts to customers.. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Tradeweb’s credit derivatives average daily volume rose 101.2% year-on-year in July, pushing derivatives activity above cash credit trading for the month. The shift inside the credit business, rather than overall platform volume, is the main change highlighted by the credit data. Credit derivatives ADV reached $21.1 billion in July, compared with $10.5 billion in the same month last year. Cash credit ADV was $18.9 billion, up 6.6% from $17.8 billion in July 2025. That made derivatives the larger part of Tradeweb’s credit segment during the period. CDS Activity Drives Credit Mix The monthly report attributes the increase to stronger hedge fund and systematic account activity. Tradeweb said those clients drove higher credit default swaps trading through swap execution facility and multilateral trading facility venues. The company did not provide a more detailed breakdown of single-name versus index CDS activity in the monthly release. Cash credit also grew, but at a slower rate. Fully electronic US credit ADV increased 15.7% year-on-year to $9.4 billion, while European credit ADV rose 4.7% to $3 billion. US credit volumes were supported by continued use of Request-for-Quote, Portfolio Trading and Tradeweb AllTrade, according to the report.Monthly Data Extends Q2 Execution Story The July figures add a credit derivatives context to the broader execution story Tradeweb discussed in its second-quarter results. Finance Magnates previously reported that management highlighted protocol adoption, AiEX, RFQ, Portfolio Trading and AllTrade as important parts of its electronic trading strategy across asset classes. The quarterly discussion was broader than credit derivatives. It included prediction market data, artificial intelligence tools and tokenised settlement initiatives as part of Tradeweb’s longer-term technology agenda. July’s report narrows the view to one area of the credit franchise where electronic CDS activity grew particularly quickly. For Tradeweb’s credit business, the comparison matters because the company operates across both cash bond and derivatives workflows. Total credit ADV reached $40 billion in July, up 41.7% year-on-year, with the strongest monthly movement coming from CDS workflows rather than cash bond trading. The July data does not change Tradeweb’s broader execution strategy, but it shows that the strongest monthly movement inside credit came from credit default swaps rather than cash bond trading. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Lithuania's cross-border retail client base grew from roughly 500 in 2022 to more than 2.5 million just two years later, making it one of Europe's largest cross-border retail investment markets by client numbers. Finance Magnates concluded that the jump could only be attributed to Revolut.According to the Bank of Lithuania, the country had just 16 locally licensed investment firms at the end of 2025. Yet ESMA's data indicate that only one of them accounted for almost the country's entire cross-border retail client base. While the regulator does not identify the firm, its description can be matched almost line-by-line to Lithuania-registered Revolut Securities Europe UAB's filings, making it the closest documented match.From 500 Clients to Europe's Second-Largest Hub ESMA's July 2026 follow-up report to its peer review states that Lithuania was the second-largest jurisdiction in terms of cross-border retail clients and complaints. Germany is at the top with over 3.5 million retail clients using outbound cross-border investment services, while Cyprus stands at the third with more than 2 million retail clients.In Lithuania, the increase in retail clients served abroad is notable, as it is attributable to a single company. Complaints tied to the country's cross-border business rose from zero to 1,562 over the same period, while the number of retail clients served from Lithuania climbed from roughly 500 to more than 2.5 million. ESMA's separate report on the 2024 cross-border provision of investment services adds further detail. Firms based in Cyprus, Lithuania, Germany and Ireland together served 86% of all EU/EEA retail clients receiving cross-border services. Lithuania alone accounted for 24%. The same report identifies the five largest cross-border providers in the EU/EEA by client numbers as firms based in Lithuania, Cyprus (two firms), Germany and Ireland, each serving between 700,000 and 2.6 million retail clients.The Company Behind the Migration Revolut Securities Europe UAB was incorporated in Vilnius in June 2021 and received a Category B investment firm licence from the Bank of Lithuania later that year. It launched investment services in March 2023 and forms part of Revolut Holdings Europe UAB, which consolidates the group's regulated European entities. Under its MiFID II licence, the Lithuanian entity provides execution, portfolio management, investment advice, custody and related investment services. It operates in Lithuania and passports its services across all other EEA jurisdictions. During 2023, the company migrated in more than 1.1 million EEA-based customers from its UK affiliate, Revolut Trading Limited. By the end of that year, it reported serving more than 2.5 million customers, administering more than €3 billion in assets, including €2.96 billion in client securities held on the platform.That figure rose to €9.1 billion by the end of 2024, according to the company's most recent annual report. The chronology also aligns closely: Revolut Securities Europe launched in March 2023 and reported more than 2.5 million customers by year-end, shortly before Lithuania appeared in ESMA's 2024 data with a comparable cross-border client total.Read more: Digital Bank Revolut Reports 95% Revenue Jump, Record £344M ProfitA Migration, Not Necessarily New Demand The migration means that part of the Lithuanian firm's reported scale reflected an internal transfer within the Revolut group, rather than being generated solely through new customer growth at the Lithuanian entity. That distinction matters when interpreting ESMA's figures. The regulator's client totals do not represent unique individuals: one person may hold accounts with several firms or receive services from multiple providers. The data measure reported cross-border client relationships, not a distinct count of European investors.Finance Magnates reached out to Revolut to obtain details of their client migration to Lithuania, but had not received a response as of press time. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Kalshi says roughly three-quarters of its users have never deposited funds, using the platform to track prices rather than trade them. This is a pattern prediction market platforms are building their products now.Kalshi's new Public Companies Hub, launched this week, is the latest sign that data and probabilities can be monetissed as much as trading volumes.A Hub Built for Users Who Do not TradeThe Public Companies Hub brings together earnings-related markets and company data in one section of Kalshi's web and mobile apps, and through its API. It is organised around three elements: KPI markets, which forecast individual corporate metrics; mention markets, which forecast topics likely to come up on earnings calls; and non-market data, including historical performance and links to earnings call livestreams."Earnings are the corporate Super Bowl," said Cat Sullivan, product lead for the hub at Kalshi. Both Kalshi's users and Wall Street, she added, had shown growing interest in markets built around KPIs and call mentions.The hub follows Kalshi's Midterms Hub, launched in July, which combined election markets with polling averages, FEC fundraising data and curated news. Kalshi called that launch one of the strongest in the company's history.Institutions See Value in the Data ItselfThe interest extends beyond Kalshi's retail base. A January 2026 survey of 53 US market-structure specialists by Crisil Coalition Greenwich found that nearly three-quarters expected prediction-market data to hold tangible value for institutional investors over the following one to two years, as a supplement to existing market-data feeds.The respondents were institutional market-structure professionals, not Kalshi's retail users. Their answers point to a narrower question: whether probability data has standalone value for institutions, regardless of who trades the underlying contracts.[#highlighted-links#] The Data is Already Being SoldPrediction market data is already being distributed commercially. In 2025, Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to invest up to $2 billion in Polymarket at a valuation of around $8 billion. The investment itself is financing, not revenue from data.ICE also became a distributor of Polymarket's output, packaging it into standardised probability feeds through ICE Consolidated Feed and ICE Consolidated History. ICE describes these products as intended for investment research, risk modelling and scenario analysis.Kalshi has built a similar arrangement with Tradeweb. The two companies partnered in February 2026 to integrate Kalshi's market signals into Tradeweb's institutional products, APIs and pricing tools, then extended that integration to trading workflows in June. Tradeweb also took a minority stake in Kalshi. This is a separate transaction from any revenue the data licensing itself generates.Neither company discloses how much revenue these agreements produce, or what share flows back to the exchanges. That disclosure is what to watch next: it will show how far prediction markets have actually moved from trading venues toward information businesses. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

eToro has announced a collaboration with Formula One driver Pierre Gasly, extending its presence in the sport through a new partnership with the BWT Alpine driver.The latest announcement builds on eToro's Formula One marketing activities. In January, the company became the exclusive trading and investment partner of the BWT Alpine Formula One Team for the 2026 season, marking its entry into Formula One sponsorship. At the same time, eToro also announced partnerships with four French Ligue 1 football clubs.Gasly Joins eToro Formula One CampaignGasly drives for the BWT Alpine Formula One Team. The new agreement builds on eToro's existing partnership with the team by extending the collaboration to the individual driver.Under the partnership, eToro and Gasly will engage with Formula One fans and the platform's global user community through live events, social media content, podcast appearances and other digital activities.Yoni Assia, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of eToro, said the company's partnership with the BWT Alpine Formula One Team was its "first step into Formula One." He added that the collaboration with Gasly would allow eToro to connect with global audiences "in an even more personal and engaging way." Assia also said Gasly's approach reflects eToro's belief that success comes from "combining a long-term mindset with the right knowledge and tools."Gasly to Share Behind-the-Scenes Formula OneAccording to the announcement, the collaboration is based on shared themes of community and innovation and is intended to engage both Formula One fans and eToro's global community.Gasly said Formula One success is about "preparation, continuous learning and staying committed to your goals." He added that he and eToro share those values and plan to create content and experiences for fans. He also said the partnership would offer "a behind-the-scenes perspective" throughout the racing season. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Fusion Markets, Trade Nation, DuraMarkets and Mitrade have each introduced or announced faster withdrawal services since early June. Their claims range from real-time bank settlement to internal processing completed in under an hour.The offers, however, do not use the same clock. Some measure how quickly the broker approves a request, while others describe when a payment settles in the client's bank account.Four Services Use Different ClocksFusion Markets made its payment operation available 24/7 in June. The broker reported 147,000 payment transactions in May and a median withdrawal-processing time of 45 minutes, 95% shorter than a year earlier.Fusion's figure measures the period from the client's request to completion of the broker's internal processing. The company acknowledged that payment method, jurisdiction and third-party provider timelines can affect final delivery.DuraMarkets followed later in June with a service advertised as processing withdrawals of up to $2,500 within one hour. The Comoros-based broker did not publish transaction volumes or explain which payment methods qualify.Trade Nation took a different route in Australia. Its service uses PayID to connect a client's bank account directly with the trading account, allowing deposits and withdrawals to settle over the country's New Payments Platform."Traders expect their money to move as fast as the markets they trade," Volt's Matt Rickard said when the Trade Nation service launched in June.[#highlighted-links#] Mitrade is preparing a similar account-to-account setup for EU clients through its CySEC-regulated entity. The proposed service will use SEPA Instant for deposits and withdrawals, although Mitrade and payments provider Volt have not given a launch date.Broker Claims Use Different Starting PointsThere is no common starting and ending point behind the claims. One broker may call a withdrawal instant when its own system approves the request, while another measures the time until money settles in the client's bank account.Cards, electronic wallets and bank transfers also operate on different timelines. A broker can remove an internal queue without controlling delays introduced by the receiving bank or another intermediary.A previous test involving 33 firms found that only four provided instant withdrawals, mostly through electronic wallets. For one or more tested methods, 31 brokers took at least one working day.The comparison is dated and should not be treated as a current ranking. It illustrates why a single withdrawal time says little without the payment method, limit and starting and ending points used for measurement.Trade Nation and Mitrade Use Bank Payment RailsTwo of the four services use account-to-account payments rather than cards. Trade Nation's PayID implementation is operating in Australia, while Mitrade's planned EU rollout will use SEPA Instant.Mitrade will also apply a closed-loop payout model. Withdrawals will return to a bank account that previously funded the trading account, connecting the request to an existing deposit record instead of a newly supplied destination.The broker has previously expanded its retail payment menu. Finance Magnates reported that Mitrade added Apple Pay and Google Pay in 2025 as part of a wider product expansion.Trade Nation said it intends to extend its instant-payment service to the UK and EU. It also plans to introduce PayTo, which allows customers to authorize bank-account payment mandates in Australia.EU Rules Make Instant Transfers More AvailableSince October 2025, euro-area payment providers that offer standard euro transfers have also had to support sending instant transfers at no higher fee under the Instant Payments Regulation.Providers must offer verification of payee, checking whether the beneficiary's name matches the supplied IBAN. The European Commission said the requirement is intended to reduce mistakes and fraud.Euro instant-payment volume settled through the ECB's TIPS system rose 119.5% in 2025 to 998.3 million transactions. Their value increased 179.7% to EUR 792.8 billion, according to the ECB's annual report.Fusion's published median stops at completion of internal processing. DuraMarkets applies a $2,500 ceiling, Trade Nation has launched in Australia and Mitrade's EU service remains pending without a disclosed start date. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Polymarket is in early talks for a new funding round that could value the company above $20 billion. The talks would extend a valuation climb that started in October 2025.Finance Magnates reported at the time that Intercontinental Exchange agreed to invest up to $2 billion in the platform at an $8 billion valuation with further round being discussed, in a range of $12 billion to $15 billion. The new round is at an early stage and could bring in about $1 billion, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter. Polymarket declined to comment. April 2026: The Unreported Round Had Closed Finance Magnates reported in April 2026 that Polymarket was seeking to add $400 million to a round already anchored by ICE's $600 million commitment, targeting a total of $1 billion and a $15 billion valuation. That round has now closed. Bloomberg reports it brought in D.E. Shaw and G Squared as new investors, with existing backers SV Angel, Dragonfly and Valor Equity Partners also adding capital. The total came to about $1 billion, confirming the figures reported in April. D.E. Shaw that manages more than $100 billion is among the earliest firms to build a business on algorithmic trading, making its stake one of the clearest signals of quant-fund interest in prediction markets as an asset class.August 2026: The New Round Now on the Table The new talks are not happening in a vacuum. Polymarket's annualised revenue has more than tripled since the April close, passing $1.2 billion, and the company has used the period to build out a team with Wall Street and Silicon Valley pedigree. Travis VanderZanden, who led international growth at Uber after running operations at Lyft, joined as chief growth officer. Hayk Mkrtchyan, an engineer who helped build the New York Stock Exchange's Pillar trading platform, is now running development of Polymarket's US exchange. The company also opened its US platform during this period, giving domestic users direct access for the first time. However, the valuation climb is not matched by regulatory certainty. Polymarket remains under investigation by the CFTC over its social media marketing practices, following reports that the company pushed promotional content later flagged as misleading. The company has said it launched an internal audit of its promotional material in response. At the same time, the firm's push into the US market depends on the outcome of ongoing court fights between the CFTC and several states over whether prediction markets fall under federal derivatives law or state gambling law. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

Kalshi has added Comply as a second major enterprise compliance integration, giving firms another way to monitor employees’ trading in prediction market contracts alongside securities and digital-asset activity. Comply, which works with more than 5,000 primarily financial firms, is adding Kalshi trade data to its regulatory software, according to the official announcement.The integration will allow compliance teams to view employees’ activity in event contracts and check it against internal policies, including restrictions linked to material non-public information.Event Contracts Enter Compliance Workflows Comply said its new prediction monitoring solution will support real-time ingestion and monitoring of contract trading activity alongside traditional securities and digital assets. It also said the system can help firms identify undisclosed trades and assess whether employees with material non-public information are violating internal policies.CNBC reported that the coverage will also extend to Kalshi’s perpetual futures contracts. For firms already using Comply to monitor other employee trading activity, the Kalshi integration places prediction-market activity inside existing workflows rather than requiring a separate process.The agreement follows Kalshi’s June partnership with StarCompliance, which also gave financial firms a way to monitor employee trading on Kalshi. The Comply deal expands that effort by adding another established compliance platform rather than replacing the earlier integration.The integration also fits a wider pattern inside compliance software. Comply already supports prediction-market monitoring for Polymarket through an integration with ZenLedger, a cryptocurrency tax and accounting provider.Firms Weigh Monitoring against Bans Many companies are still developing internal policies for employee trading in prediction markets, while legal experts cited by the network said few firms outside highly regulated financial institutions have adapted their compliance frameworks to cover the asset class. That creates a practical issue for compliance teams. Without visibility into employee accounts, some companies may choose to prohibit staff from trading event contracts altogether.Sudhir Jain, Kalshi’s Chief Compliance Officer, told CNBC that firms without data may have little choice from a policy perspective other than to ban trading, while monitoring tools give them a way to supervise activity.Max Crowley, Kalshi’s Vice President of Business Development, said firms considering participation in prediction markets have asked whether they can obtain compliance surveillance on their side. He said Kalshi has its own internal surveillance team, but firms also want visibility into employee activity through their own systems. For compliance teams, the result is another route to bring event-contract activity into the same employee-monitoring systems used for other restricted trading. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.

eToro has announced a partnership with workforce payments company Papaya Global to launch a payroll-linked investing service. The companies said the offering is designed to allow workers to move money from their salaries into investment accounts at the time they are paid.The announcement follows eToro's recent platform update, which included a redesigned mobile app, artificial intelligence-powered investing features, expanded trading tools, crypto self-custody services, and a refreshed brand identity. Earlier this year, the company said it was exploring acquisitions of wealth technology firms and considering a banking licence as part of a broader expansion into payments and financial services.eToro Links Payroll Payments with InvestingThe new service, called eToro Work, is powered by Papaya Global's Banco platform. It combines eToro's trading and investing platform with Papaya Global's workforce payments infrastructure. According to the companies, the service is intended to connect payroll payments with investment access and financial education.The companies said the initiative is based on the idea that employees should be able to begin investing as soon as they receive their salaries by creating a direct link between earnings and investing.Yoni Assia, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of eToro, said the partnership supports the company's long-term objective of expanding access to financial markets. He said many people "never get a natural moment to start" investing and added that the service is designed to reach workers "the moment they're paid" and help them "grow their wealth over time."Single Service Manages Multiple Employee EarningsPapaya Global said its Banco platform is intended to support the next stage of workforce payments by combining payroll with wealth management tools.Eynat Guez, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of Papaya Global, said, "Salary should be the beginning not the end of workers' financial experience." She said the partnership would help bring that approach to workers globally.According to the announcement, the service is planned to cover multiple forms of employee compensation, including salaries, bonuses, stock options, restricted stock units, and benefits. The companies said this would allow workers to view and manage different types of earnings through a single service. This article was written by Tareq Sikder at www.financemagnates.com.

Kalshi has extended its trade surveillance coverage beyond its exchange business, with affiliated futures commission merchant Kinetic Markets selecting Solidus Labs as its monitoring provider. Solidus has provided surveillance technology to KalshiEx since February 2026. The latest announcement brings that coverage to Kinetic Markets, the group’s CFTC-registered FCM and National Futures Association member. Surveillance Moves to the FCM Layer Kalshi’s regulated structure is broader than a standalone event-contract exchange. The company owns Kinetic Markets alongside KalshiEx, a CFTC-regulated designated contract market, and Kalshi Klear, a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organisation. Together, the entities cover exchange trading, clearing and FCM services. Kinetic Markets adds the brokerage function through which clients can access the group’s event-contract markets, including margin access and regulated clearing arrangements. Applying external surveillance to that layer increases the part of the trading workflow covered by monitoring outside the exchange order book. Kinetic Markets said the additional coverage follows the introduction of its FCM registration and the wider risk surface created by that role. James Hill, Chief Compliance Officer at Kinetic Markets, said compliance infrastructure needed to scale as the group added “institutional-grade capabilities” to prediction markets. The announcement expands an existing relationship rather than starting a new one. Kalshi selected Solidus earlier this year to support surveillance across KalshiEx’s event-contract markets, where the exchange said it would use the system alongside internal controls to monitor market abuse and insider trading risks. Volumes Provide ContextFinance Magnates recently reported that Rothera had also deployed external surveillance technology for its regulated event-contract exchange. Similar moves by Novig and Kalshi place third-party monitoring among the compliance tools being adopted by prediction-market venues. Kalshi said the expansion comes as monthly trading volume on its markets exceeded $31 billion in June 2026. The company also said institutional clients have shown greater interest in prediction markets where regulated clearing, institutional liquidity and margin access are available.The announcement leaves Kalshi with external surveillance applied to both the exchange market and the affiliated FCM. The monitoring now covers more of the regulated workflow through which clients access its event-contract markets. This article was written by Tanya Chepkova at www.financemagnates.com.