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Stablecoin-powered banks

The week that was

🚨 Deals deals deals

Credit score

Quote of the week

Stablecoins were supposed to disintermediate banks, but startups are increasingly raising capital and seeking charters to become the regulated clearing layer beneath them.

Why it matters: The real prize is in handling the deposits, compliance and cross-border clearing behind digital dollars.

Driving the news: Augustus, formerly Ivy, raised $180 million at a $1 billion valuation earlier this week.

It has conditional OCC approval to form a full-service national bank for correspondent banking and programmable settlement, with plans to offer deposits, lending, payments, tokenized deposits and stablecoin services.

State of play: Erebor received FDIC approval for its deposit-insurance application for a broader crypto-focused commercial bank. 

Meanwhile, Stripe-owned Bridge has conditional approval from the OCC to operate as a national trust bank focused on stablecoin services.

The bottom line: Stablecoins may be new rails, but clearing, compliance and dollar access remain banking businesses.

1 big thing: Stablecoin-powered banks

Illustration of a digitized bank building with arms shrugging.

AI is moving deeper into finance teams' workflows, with new funding for startups organizing finance data and a 10-figure bid for an AI model marketplace:

💳 Stripe is in talks to acquire AI model marketplace OpenRouter for around $10 billion. Go deeper

🐜 Ant International raised $1.2 billion to fund global expansion and sharpen its eventual IPO prospects. Go deeper

🏢 Uniti raised $12 million in Series A funding to build AI agents for real estate operators. Go deeper

🤖 Cashboard raised $5 million in new funding to build a data layer for finance teams' AI tools. Go deeper

2. The week that was

Illustration of a pattern of rolled up twenty dollar bills. 

👉 GO HERE TO CATCH UP on all the fintech deals this week.

Revolut, the U.K.-based digital bank, is boosting its valuation to $115b in a recently launched secondary sale. It was valued at $75b in 2025. Go deeper

Augustus, a NYC-based banking startup, raised $180m in Series B funding at a $1b valuation. Tiger Global led, joined by Hummingbird and QED, and Brevan Howard. Go deeper

Hg invested in Street Group, a Manchester, U.K.-based provider of vertical software for the residential property market. It values the company at over €233.8m. (£200m). PXN Group backed Street Group. Go deeper

Francisco Partners closed its eighth flagship fund and fourth middle market fund with $21b. Go deeper

3. 🚨 Deals deals deals

An illustration of a shopping bag with a hand icon, representing the intersection of digital and real-world commerce.

📈 General Catalyst led fintech investors by deal count in the second quarter. (Crunchbase)

🤔 PayPal's new CEO is weighing Stripe and Advent's $53 billion takeover offer as he works to revive the payments giant. (WSJ)

🏦 Nubank is plotting its U.S. expansion after winning conditional approval for a national bank charter. (Forbes)

🤖 Bank of America equipped customer service representatives with generative AI tools to assist during calls. (PYMNTS)

💳 Robinhood revamped its $695 Platinum Card, adding perks ahead of a wider rollout. (WSJ)

💼 Intuit launched a business credit card that syncs directly with QuickBooks. (Finextra)

⚖️ A Washington judge blocked Kalshi from offering sports prediction contracts in the state. (The Block)

₿ BitMEX will shut down its crypto derivatives exchange after 11 years. (Reuters)

⛏️ Bitcoin miner Poolin filed for Chapter 11, with a $52 million floor bid for its Texas operations. (The Block)

❌ Wise's application for a U.S. national trust bank charter was denied by regulators. (Reuters)

🇦🇺 Revolut received a full Australian banking license, opening a new front in its global expansion. (PYMNTS)

4. Credit score

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 "We think in 10 years from now all clearing banks will offer stablecoin rails like they offer Fedwire."

— Ferdinand Dabitz, CEO of Augustus, to CoinDesk

5. Quote of the week

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July 25, 2026

1 big thing: Stablecoin-powered banks