Beast Financial (TWIF 10/17)

Hello Fintech Friends,

Welcome to the 3,416 new readers who’ve joined us since last week. You’re joining 219,000+ other subscribers. Today's newsletter is brought to you by our friends at Newline.

Well folks, it doesn't get better than this.

🏦 MrBeast – one of the most influential (and controversial) influencers of all time – has reportedly filed a trademark for his own bank, Beast Financial.

There is probably a missed opportunity here not rebranding to MrBank. But the marketing opportunities are too plentiful to resist. It remains to be seen how this affects the company's partnership with neobank Current, or what features the bank will provide (credit cards? mobile app? giveaways? lottery-based savings?) Presumably every BaaS business development team is scrambling right now to reach out. Trademark attorney Josh Gerben dives in a bit more here.

🏠 On the other side of the fintech world, Bilt – the $10 billion company that famously lets users pay their rent on credit cards to earn rewards via a sweetheart deal with Wells Fargo – announced in 2026 it will let users earn rewards on mortgage payments through a new partnership with mortgage lender UWM. (The details of the program and rewards remain to be seen.)

🤝 Money2020 USA, the fintech world's Coachella, is only two weeks away! If you haven't bought your ticket yet, what's holding you back? The TWIF team will be all over the conference, conducting a few podcast intervierws and hosting a series of side events, starting with our Kickoff Party with Adyen. See the full list here:

Please enjoy another week of fintech and banking news below.

Have feedback for us? Let us know. Find me at @nikmilanovic, @twifintech, and @ndm

SPONSORED

 Are you ready to grow your fintech with scalable, API-enabled payments? Backed by a leading financial institution, NewlineTM by Fifth Third empowers enterprise fintechs to effortlessly launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank. 

Learn more at newline53.com.

Learn more

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

Visa launched a Trusted Agent Protocol to enable secure AI-agent commerce between buyers and merchants.

French banking giant ODDO BHF entered crypto by launching a euro-backed stablecoin called EUROD.

Mastercard unveiled a Payment Optimization Platform (POP) designed to boost merchants’ payment approval rates.

Morgan Stanley dropped restrictions on which wealth clients could hold crypto funds. Advisors will be now able to pitch crypto funds to any client. Previously, the option was limited to those with an aggressive risk tolerance and at least $1.5 million in assets.

Banco Santander, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank Ltd, TD Bank Group and UBS are exploring issuing blockchain-based digital money backed 1:1 by fiat reserves.

Citi's Strata Elite cardholders say they were shut out of their accounts without explanation for weeks due to tech issues.

US bank deregulation has reportedly unlocked an estimated $2.6 trillion of Wall Street lending capacity.

“Money is infrastructure, not a product." - Luca Prosperi, M0

Stripe launched stablecoins as a payment method for subscription payments.

Plaid launched LendScore, a novel credit risk score that uses real-time cash flow and network connection data to supplement traditional credit metrics.

BMONI* launched in Nigeria an AI-forward financial platform seeking to transform how Africans save, spend, and grow wealth using stablecoins.

Wayflyer launched Hosted Capital, a new embed-lending solution that enabled platforms to embed financing into their apps and unlock new revenue and retention levers.

EBC Financial launched Bitcoin CFDs (Contracts for Difference) to give eligible traders access to crypto exposure without owning the underlying asset.

Monzo rolled out a built-in tax filing tool (powered by Sage) that allowed sole traders and landlords to file directly to HMRC from their business account.

SPONSORED

 Are you ready to grow your fintech with scalable, API-enabled payments? Backed by a leading financial institution, NewlineTM by Fifth Third empowers enterprise fintechs to effortlessly launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank. 

Learn more at newline53.com.

Learn more

Want to sponsor a newsletter? See our sponsorship information here.

Erebor secured conditional U.S. regulatory approval to open a tech- and crypto-oriented national bank backed by Silicon Valley founders.

Bilt announced plans to let homeowners earn Bilt Points by making mortgage payments starting in 2025, expanding its rewards beyond rent.

SoftBank negotiated a potential $5 billion margin loan secured by shares of its chip unit Arm to fund further AI and tech investments.

Wise obtained a retail payments and stored value licence from the UAE Central Bank, enabling it to operate money transfer and payments services in the UAE.

BondIT filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan for allegedly misappropriating its AI-powered fixed-income technology, breaching contract terms, and engaging in bad faith dealings after nearly two years of collaboration.