In the search for high-growth digital assets, investors are increasingly drawn to projects that show undeniable presale strength and market validation. GeeFi has captured this attention, launching with a formidable Phase 1 that distributed 10 million tokens and raised $500,000 from a dedicated community of over 2,400 investors.  This initial success has accelerated, with total […] The post Investors Keep Accumulating on GeeFi (GEE) as Solana’s (SOL) New Institutional Attention Fails to Deliver Returns  appeared first on TechBullion.

Court ruling marks a significant moment for cryptocurrency accountability. Highlights: Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud. The ruling addresses the fallout from Terraform Labs’ collapse. A landmark decision in crypto regulation and accountability. The case highlights the need for regulatory oversight in fintech. Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a court found him guilty of perpetrating a significant fraud scheme. This ruling comes in response to the collapse of Terraform’s projects, impacting thousands of investors and showcasing the vulnerabilities within the cryptocurrency market. The case sets a crucial precedent for the accountability of founders in the fintech industry, emphasizing the growing need for regulatory intervention. As the crypto landscape evolves, this outcome may influence future regulations aimed at ensuring consumer protection and market integrity.

Oracle pushed back against a report that said the company will complete data centers for OpenAI, one of its major customers, in 2028, rather than 2027.

Mollie plans to acquire GoCardless in a move that creates a unified European payments platform that combines card payments, bank-to-bank transfers, and local payment methods for more than 350,000 businesses. GoCardless strengthens Mollie’s recurring payments and open banking capabilities, helping merchants reduce failed payments, customer churn, and cross-border complexity. The deal reflects a broader shift in payments, as merchants increasingly favor full-stack platforms that integrate payments, fraud, financing, and analytics while making bank payments and open banking rails core infrastructure rather than optional add-ons. Payments platform Mollie unveiled this week that it plans to acquire business payments platform GoCardless. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Combined, the two providers will serve over 350,000 businesses with a holistic solution that offers card payments, local payment methods, and bank payments into a single solution.   “We’re incredibly excited to join forces with Mollie,” said GoCardless Co-Founder and CEO Hiroki Takeuchi. “This deal brings together two highly complementary businesses that have built best-in-class products across Europe and beyond.  By combining our expertise in card, bank and hyperlocal payments into one provider, we can better serve our customers, accelerate growth and raise the bar for the industry. It’s a win for European fintech and we’re confident that the new company will be greater than the sum of its parts.” GoCardless, which won Best Enterprise Payments Solution at the 2021 Finovate Awards, was founded in 2011. The UK-based company’s technology helps merchants collect recurring and one-off payments from customers via ACH transfers. GoCardless’ APIs help businesses automate payment collection and reconciliation billing for subscription and invoice payments. Last year, the company acquired NuPay, which helped expand GoCardless’ services through partners and intermediaries, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs).  Mollie’s platform powers online and in-person payments, reconciliation, fraud prevention, and working capital loans with flexible repayment options across 30+ European markets and the UK. Founded in 2004, Mollie has raised $928 million. “Mollie’s mission has always been to make money management effortless,” said Mollie CEO Koen Köppen. “We were founded on the vision to eliminate financial bureaucracy for every business. We see that bureaucracy creates challenges, especially for businesses with recurring revenue. A card-only approach has its limits, leading to high costs due to failed payments and customer churn. GoCardless built the definitive solution to optimize this process with its global bank payment network. By bringing them into Mollie, we take a huge step towards fulfilling our vision and creating one complete platform for sustainable growth.” Mollie anticipates that the deal will give businesses access to a broad suite of tools that will offer financing, fraud monitoring, and analytics from a single place. The integration will also allow Mollie to offer recurring revenue management, more options for SaaS and vertical software vendors, local onboarding and reporting, and an easier on-ramp to international expansion. Mollie’s acquisition of GoCardless marks a major consolidation in Europe’s payments landscape as unified platforms that combine cards, bank payments, and hyper-local payment options become more popular. As card failure rates, churn, and cross-border complexity continue to challenge merchants, Mollie is positioning itself as a full-stack alternative to fragmented payment tooling. The added capabilities offer merchants fewer integrations, stronger recurring revenue management, and a single provider for payments, fraud, financing, and analytics across Europe and the UK. The move also shows that bank-to-bank payments and open banking rails are becoming a core necessity for high-growth digital businesses. The deal is expected to close by mid-2026. Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko The post Business Payments Unite: Mollie to Acquire GoCardless appeared first on Finovate.       

This week, we tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €1.6 billion and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe. In addition to this week's top financials, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and receive a more robust version of this round-up delivered to your inbox. Either way, let's get you up to speed. ? Notable and big funding rounds ?? Elvy raises €500M to power its next-generation energy solution ?? Iceye raised €150M in Series E funding ?? Fal raises $140M Series D to power the next era of real-time generative media ??‍?? Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers ??  Mollie buys GoCardless in €1.05bn deal ?? Tekpon’s bold bet: Why a SaaS marketplace bought TNW without seeing the numbers ??  Sortlist acquires Overloop AI and becomes a complete commerce platform by focusing on AI ?? The Canadian company Senstar is acquiring the Munich-based 3D LiDAR technology company Blickfel ? Cofounder VC launches new early growth Fund to back CEE startups beyond Seed stage

BBVA and OpenAI have formed a strategic alliance to explore the use of AI in financial services. The agreement, announced by BBVA Chair Carlos Torres Vila and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, follows nearly two years of joint work and reflects a formal collaboration between the two organisations. Teams from both companies will work together on shared objectives and joint investments, with OpenAI supporting BBVA’s AI strategy to transform customer experience and optimise internal operations. Carlos Torres Vila “Our alliance with OpenAI accelerates the native integration of artificial intelligence across the bank to create a smarter, more proactive, and completely personalised banking experience, anticipating the needs of every client,” said Carlos Torres Vila during the signing at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters. Under the agreement, OpenAI will have a role in co-creating solutions to advance BBVA’s AI-driven transformation. The bank will have preferential access to OpenAI’s advanced models, engineering, research, and development teams. Key initiatives include developing an intelligent conversational assistant to support customers in daily banking and setting a benchmark for engagement and service. The companies will also work on tools to help relationship managers provide personalised services. The collaboration extends to operational improvements, such as streamlining risk analysis and optimising software development and routine tasks. One project under consideration is a digital “alter ego” for employees, which would learn work patterns, track projects, and perform tasks under supervision. Sam Altman “With the expansion of our work together, BBVA will embed our AI at the core of its products and operations to enhance the overall banking experience for their customers,” said Sam Altman.     Featured image credit: BBVA The post BBVA and OpenAI Establish AI Collaboration in Banking appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News - FintechNewsCH.

Ant International, HSBC, and Swift have completed a Proof of Concept (POC) demonstrating the cross-border transfer of tokenised deposits using ISO 20022 standards. The initiative connects Swift’s global messaging network with HSBC’s Tokenised Deposit Service and Ant International’s blockchain infrastructure. The POC represents a step forward in testing how tokenisation can support liquidity management, programmable finance, and round-the-clock settlement. As part of the trial, Ant International and HSBC linked Ant International’s proprietary blockchain system with Swift’s network. This enabled real-time treasury movements between HSBC Singapore and HSBC Hong Kong via the Tokenised Deposit Service. A common protocol was developed jointly with Swift and HSBC. It streamlines connectivity by reducing the need for separate bilateral arrangements between Ant International and individual banks. The integration combines the transparency and programmability of tokenised money with established payments infrastructure. Using Swift’s network adds an additional layer of security and compliance to Ant International’s blockchain-based approach. Supported by ISO 20022, the system extends HSBC’s anti-money laundering processes, fraud controls, and existing infrastructure into its tokenised deposit offering. According to the parties, this may help digital money providers adopt ISO 20022 and the Swift framework more easily, facilitating interoperability between tokenised and traditional fiat money. Shirish Wadivkar, Global Head of Payments and Cash Management at Swift, said: Shirish Wadivkar “We are excited to demonstrate how ISO 20022 data formats, when combined with new technologies like blockchain, bring significant value to the entire community. This integration not only speeds up payment processing but also enhances AML and sanctions screening.” Lewis Sun, Global Head of Domestic Payments and Emerging Payments, HSBC said, Lewis Sun “By enabling tokenised deposits to move securely and efficiently across borders, we are giving our corporate clients more choice in how they manage liquidity globally; with the familiarity of traditional banking and the benefits of next-generation digital infrastructure.” The organisations plan to continue exploring pilots and commercial use cases.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik and fullvector via Freepik The post Ant International, HSBC and Swift Complete POC for Cross-Border Tokenised Deposits appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Roughly one-third of stock trading on eToro (NASDAQ: ETOR) now occurs outside traditional market hours, the fintech told FinanceMagnates.com, underscoring how quickly retail investors have embraced extended trading windows.eToro 24/5 Trading Drives 33% Volume Share in Extended HoursThe figure comes less than a month after eToro expanded 24/5 access to all S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 stocks, building on an initial rollout in July that covered 100 top US equities. Trading on the platform runs from Sunday 8:05 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. ET, letting users in Europe and Asia buy Apple, Tesla or Nvidia during their own daytime hours.eToro's data shows the number of traders using after-hours sessions climbed since the July launch and continues to grow as more people discover the feature. The platform expects that trend to accelerate now that every constituent of the two major indices can be traded around the clock.“Our mission has always been to open the global markets and make trading accessible to everyone, everywhere,” Yossi Brandes, VP of Execution Services at eToro, commented during the November’s launch. “We will continue to add more assets and to expand our 24/5 offering to meet the evolving needs of our global community.”A study conducted nearly a year ago by Pepperstone showed how important after-hours trading is for retail investors. Tesla, Alphabet, and Nvidia generated 80 to 90 percent of their gains outside regular market hours. And investors want to capitalize on those moves.Top Stocks Dominate Night SessionsStocks with the highest volumes during standard hours also lead activity in extended sessions, according to eToro. The company pointed out that the overnight market largely mirrors regular trading patterns, with no major divergence in which names get the most attention.“The top stocks trading after hours mirror the top stocks traded in the main session,” eToro representatives told FinanceMagnates.com. “We do not see any strong divergence here.”One exception shows up around earnings announcements. eToro noted elevated activity in stocks reporting quarterly results, as traders react to numbers released after the closing bell or before the opening.The company uses the same metrics to measure liquidity and execution quality in both regular and extended hours, but adds extra safeguards outside the main session to limit price swings that could harm users. Wider spreads and thinner order books remain a reality during off-hours trading, factors eToro has flagged since launching the service.Extended Hours Gain Traction Across Retail BrokerseToro's move puts it alongside Charles Schwab, Robinhood and Interactive Brokers, all of which rolled out 24-hour or near-24-hour trading in recent quarters. Schwab now offers trading on about 40 stocks from 8 p.m. Sunday to 8 p.m. Friday, while Robinhood provides overnight access on select equities and ETFs.Retail interest in after-hours sessions has climbed alongside market volatility and the popularity of pre-market earnings calls. For international users on platforms like eToro, extended trading solves a time-zone problem, letting them respond to US market developments without staying awake until 2 a.m. local time.eToro CEO Yoni Assia recently said the platform aims to give retail investors tools that approach institutional-level insights, including AI-driven portfolio analysis. He suggested future features could let users get feedback on their holdings from models trained on famous investors' strategies.Recent Moves and Executive ActivityIn early December, eToro launched a stock lending program for UK retail investors, partnering with BNY and EquiLend to let users earn passive income by loaning out shares. The offering brings an institutional practice to retail accounts, adding another revenue stream for active traders.Around the same time, eToro's Global COO and Deputy CEO Hedva Ber filed notice to sell 94,000 shares, worth about $4 million at the time of filing. The shares came from stock option plans, and the sale follows eToro's announcement of a $150 million buyback program.The company reported net income of $57 million in the third quarter, up 48% year-over-year, with revenue climbing 28%. Funded accounts reached 3.73 million, a modest gain of 2.8% from the previous quarter. Assets under administration stood at $20.8 billion at the end of September but slipped to $20.5 billion by October, suggesting some outflows or market declines.Liquidity Concerns PersistThe World Federation of Exchanges has warned that 24/7 trading is "not inevitable nor universally desirable," pointing to risks around thinner liquidity and execution quality outside standard hours. eToro acknowledged those challenges, advising users to review stop-loss and take-profit orders before relying on overnight sessions.Despite the caution, the platform's one-third figure suggests retail investors are willing to accept wider spreads and greater volatility in exchange for trading flexibility. At the same time, eToro is confident that the product will boost – and is already boosting – the number of active traders.„The number of traders has increased since launch and we expect this to increase as more users become aware of 24/5 trading and more stocks are available 24/5,” eToro concluded.That appetite has pushed brokerages to compete on extended hours, turning what was once an institutional perk into a standard retail offering. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.

Marquis said ransomware hackers stole reams of banking customer data, containing personal information and financial records, as well as Social Security numbers, belonging to hundreds of thousands of people. The number of affected people is expected to rise.