Nigerian Fintech Okra Launches Cloud Unit to Boost Revenue

Nigerian fintech startup Okra has entered the cloud infrastructure market in West Africa with its new subsidiary, Nebula. The move aims to diversify revenue and mitigate economic risks. Nebula offers a more affordable alternative to global cloud providers and aligns with the government’s push for local cloud adoption. Despite facing challenges, Okra hopes Nebula will … Read more

National Bank of Bahrain Launches Bitcoin Investment Product

The National Bank of Bahrain has made a groundbreaking move by launching the first bitcoin-linked structured investment product in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This innovation, developed with ARP Digital, highlights Bahrain’s leadership in fintech while offering accredited investors a secure way to tap into bitcoin’s long-term growth potential. NBB Launches First Bitcoin-Linked Investment Product … Read more

Ripple Wins Platinum for Best Cross-Border Payments Platform at Future Digital Awards 2024

Ripple has been named a Platinum Winner for Best Cross-Border Payments Platform in Juniper Research’s 2024 Future Digital Awards for Fintech & Payments. Other winners included Huawei for mobile money, SAP Fioneer for banking-as-a-service, and Paymentology for embedded finance, highlighting a year of varied fintech advancements. Ripple Wins at 2024 Future Digital Awards Juniper Research … Read more

Vaneck Launches $30M Fund to Boost Fintech, Crypto, and AI Startups

Vaneck, a global investment management firm, has announced the launch of a $30 million early-stage venture fund targeting fintech, digital assets, and artificial intelligence (AI) startups. Vaneck’s $30M Fund to Invest in Fintech, Digital Assets, and AI Named Vaneck Ventures, the fund will support companies in the pre-seed and seed stages, continuing the firm’s strategy … Read more

Brazilian Crypto Giants Team up to Launch Real-Pegged Stablecoin

Bitso, Mercado Bitcoin, and Foxbit have joined forces to issue brl1, a stablecoin pegged to the value of the Brazilian real. The stablecoin will be issued on Ethereum and Polygon, with Cainvest providing liquidity for the BTC and ETH pairs listed on these exchanges and other markets to be developed in the future. Crypto Consortium … Read more

Brazilian CBDC Drex Envisioned to Replace Current Transaction System

Fabio Araujo, the coordinator of Drex, the Brazilian CBDC, envisions this network substituting the current national transaction system and moving all the funds currently settled by the Reserve Transfer System. However, he stated that this would take some time, as the cost of this migration would be significant. Drex Coordinator Envisions Total Substitution Of Traditional … Read more

UK Finance Publishes Report on Successful Regulated Liability Network

The various use case tests conducted by UK Finance in partnership with Quant, R3, DXC Technology, and Coadjute found that the Regulated Liability Network could unlock new functionalities for the UK’s financial system. The report also states that UK regulation is versatile enough to support the network’s operations. UK Finance Concludes Experimentation Phase of Regulated … Read more

Mastercard Partners With Amazon to Digitize Payment Acceptance

Mastercard and Amazon Payment Services have partnered to digitize payment acceptance in the Middle East and Africa. Under the partnership, Amazon will adopt Mastercard’s single touchpoint for payment processing across 40 markets, enabling faster, more secure transactions for merchants. Expanding Payment Acceptance Mastercard, a U.S. multinational payment card services firm, has partnered with Amazon Payment … Read more

Binance Secures Regulatory License in Kazakhstan for Crypto Trading

Binance Kazakhstan has secured a full Digital Asset Trading Facility (DATF) license from the Astana Financial Services Authority. This approval allows the crypto exchange to operate as a trading platform, broker-dealer, and digital asset custodian. Kazakhstan becomes the first Central Asian country where Binance has regulatory approval, positioning it as a key fintech hub. Binance … Read more