A Cairo-based fintech, Flend, has been recognized as the first company to receive Egypt’s National Startup Label under the newly enacted Startup Charter, signaling a shift in how the state supports high-growth technology ventures to solve SME credit access.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission is drafting guidelines to allow listed companies to invest in major cryptocurrencies. However, dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT and USDC are excluded due to conflicts with national foreign exchange laws.

London based climate technology platform CUR8 has appointed former fintech executive Edwina Johnson as its Chief Operating Officer, signaling a shift toward structured commercial growth and standardized risk assessment in the carbon removal market.

Diligent AI, a startup developing autonomous artificial intelligence agents for financial crime compliance, has raised approximately €2.1 million in a Seed funding round led by Speedinvest and Shapers.

Czech fintech Flowpay has acquired Berlin based start up Tapline, strengthening its position in the European market ahead of a planned investment round.

Morgan Stanley has submitted an application to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a de novo national trust bank charter to establish a federally regulated trust bank that can directly custody digital assets.

BBVA’s dedicated venture banking unit BBVA Spark is exhibiting tangible growth in startup financing, committing nearly €1 billion in financing and signing over 30 financing deals with growth-oriented companies in 2025 alone.

DivTax, a German financial technology company focused on automating withholding tax refunds for cross-border dividend income, announced a €1 million pre-seed financing round to support product development and partnerships.

Decentralized finance participants Resolv Labs and Centrifuge announce a structured deployment of up to $100 million of tokenized institutional credit (JAAA) into Aave Horizon lending markets.

Indian B2B cross-border payments fintech Xflow closes a $16.6 million Series A round led by General Catalyst and secures a full Payment Aggregator-Cross Border (PA-CB) licence from the RBI.

Morocco-based retail fintech WafR has closed an oversubscribed $4 million seed round to expand its network of neighborhood merchants acting as last-mile financial access points across the region.