WaperBinance begins reopening withdrawals after $6.3 billion breach
Binance began restoring withdrawals after a $6.3 billion exploit, while the FBI attributed the attack to North Korea. Elsewhere, a US court ordered a rewrite of debit interchange limits, and regulated crypto infrastructure advanced through Ripple’s trust-bank approval and DTCC’s tokenization launch.
Key developments
Binance restores access in phases
Binance began reopening withdrawals, starting with bitcoin, after its $6.3 billion exploit. The exchange said it had reserved $6.34 billion and replaced 90% of stolen crypto while keeping user balances intact; the FBI attributed the attack to North Korea and asked the DeFi community to block listed addresses.
Customers are regaining access to funds, but frozen stolen assets still face uncertain recovery.
Oct 30–Nov 1 · Fintech Singapore · CoinDesk · CoinDesk
Debit fee limits face rewrite
A federal appeals court ruled that the Federal Reserve’s debit-card interchange rule does not follow Congress’s intent and required the Fed to rewrite its key fee limits.
The rewrite puts the fees banks receive and merchants pay for debit transactions back in question.
Oct 27 · Payments Dive - Latest News · Digital Transactions
Ripple wins trust-bank approval
Ripple received approval to establish a national trust bank and signed separate partnerships with BNY and Robinhood. Robinhood will offer Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin to retail customers later this year, despite also backing rival USDG.
RLUSD gains a retail distribution channel alongside Ripple’s expanded regulated infrastructure.
DTCC tokenization goes live
DTCC’s subsidiary DTC launched the DTCC Tokenization Service on Canton Network and private blockchain Besu. JPMorgan, Citi and Morgan Stanley are among 20 firms signed up.
Participating financial institutions now have an operational blockchain-based securities service rather than only a planned deployment.
Canada proposes stablecoin safeguards
Canada opened consultation on draft stablecoin rules retaining a ban on yields. Non-bank issuers would need 1:1 reserves at qualified Canadian institutions and would have to settle redemptions within three business days.
The proposals constrain issuers’ reserve choices and prevent yield-bearing stablecoin products under the proposed framework.
Oct 26 · CoinDesk
Card networks face UK claims
Visa and Mastercard face two proposed UK class-action lawsuits seeking billions of pounds over allegedly unlawful consumer card fees.
Both networks face potential compensation costs tied to their consumer card pricing.
Oct 27 · Finextra
Merchant acceptance rule concession
Visa and Mastercard agreed to drop their “honor all cards” standard in settling litigation with merchants. The practical benefit of the concession remains uncertain.
Merchants could gain more choice over which cards they accept.
Oct 29 · Payments Dive - Latest News
Revolut enters UK personal lending
Revolut launched personal loans for UK customers, extending its banking offering into consumer lending.
UK borrowers gain another loan provider, while Revolut adds a credit relationship beyond everyday payments.
Oct 26 · The Paypers · London Business News · Finextra Research
PayPal volume outpaces revenue
PayPal reported third-quarter revenue of $8.58 billion, up 2% year over year, while total payment volume rose 6% to $487.1 billion. BNPL payment volume grew 25%, and the company outlined preparations for AI-driven purchases.
Payment growth is translating into slower revenue growth, putting the economics of additional transactions in focus.
Oct 27 · News | PayPal Newsroom · News Archives | PYMNTS.com · Digital Transactions
HTX set to exit UK
The Financial Conduct Authority secured a High Court order preventing HTX from knowingly promoting cryptoasset services unlawfully to UK customers. The exchange is set to leave the country following the lawsuit.
UK customers face the withdrawal of another crypto exchange from their market.
Oct 29 · Finextra
Also this week
Banking expansion
Payward, Kraken’s parent, agreed to acquire Lithuania’s Saldo Bank, subject to regulatory approval, adding deposit, lending and SEPA capabilities across five European markets. The Fintech Times
SoFi reported 44% third-quarter revenue growth and record member and product additions, alongside growth in deposits, fees and financial-services activity. News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Wealthsimple agreed an equity round of up to CA$425 million, about US$302 million, led by GIC at a CA$13.8 billion post-money valuation to expand its banking and investment offerings. Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News · News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Monzo launched in Spain, its first continental European market, following receipt of a European banking licence from the Central Bank of Ireland last year. News Archives | PYMNTS.com
CIBC began rolling out Thought Machine’s core banking platform, and Thought Machine disclosed that the bank was behind a previously announced £30 million investment. Finextra
Revolut Ventures plans to let retail investors back private technology companies through the Revolut app in 2027. Dealroom
Oversight and resilience
Ziina received a UAE Retail Payment Services Category III licence covering domestic transfers, merchant acquiring and payment aggregation, along with approval for international transfers. Fintech News UAE
Pliant secured an FCA electronic money institution licence, allowing it to issue UK payment products through Pliant Payments Limited. The Fintech Times
The Bank of England ordered a review of Revolut’s product approvals, according to reports describing scrutiny of its product controls. Dealroom · Finextra Research
The UK government is introducing mandatory point-of-sale software standards to tackle till fraud. Finextra
Switzerland’s Federal Council opened consultation on draft rules to improve merchants’ understanding of card and Twint payment fees. Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News
The FTC and eight states sued Toast, alleging hidden fees charged to restaurant clients and their customers. Payments Dive - Latest News · Digital Transactions
The Bank of Thailand plans rules for stablecoins, BNPL and high-value gold transactions, alongside lower credit bureau enquiry fees and tighter money-changer oversight. Fintech Singapore
Revolut suffered a reported 10-hour blackout that left customers unable to make payments. The Telegraph
Payment products
Euronet and Fireblocks extended their partnership to infrastructure for financial firms issuing stablecoin-funded cards. Payments Dive - Latest News
Tech Mahindra and Mastercard partnered to embed virtual-card and payment capabilities into enterprise resource planning and procurement platforms. Finextra
StraitsX plans to use Visa’s network to expand stablecoin-backed card issuing to more than 100 markets, building on US$6 billion in annualised Asian card volume. The Fintech Times
Stripe introduced free instant B2B transfers through its “stripe pay” plug-in, using company profile handles in the Dashboard and CLI. News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Revolut Pay launched one-click account-to-account payments in Just Eat’s app and online across the UK and Ireland. Retail Technology Innovation Hub · Open Banking Expo · Business Plus
Tencent and Visa signed a memorandum to improve payment connectivity for travellers entering and leaving China and explore AI-agent payments across participating merchants. Fintech Singapore
Adyen began its UK rollout of Visa Payment Passkey through Authenticate, allowing eligible consumers to authenticate online payments with their device’s unlock method. Fintech Singapore
The European Central Bank selected two network service providers to connect payment providers and national central banks to the digital euro service platform. Finextra
Checkout.com added passkey support for merchant payment authentication. Digital Transactions
Visa and Senegal’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Affairs signed a two-year collaboration framework supporting the country’s digital transformation. Finextra
Crypto card startups are absorbing losses on customer rewards while relying on trading, lending and staking revenue to make users profitable. CoinDesk
Onchain infrastructure
S&P Global completed its acquisition of OpenZeppelin, which provides security standards for onchain finance. Finextra
Google Multi-Party Compute entered private preview with major financial institutions testing it, while Alphabet is using the technology to secure its own Ethereum and Solana assets. CoinDesk
ICE is investing in Trade[XYZ] and planning an ICE[XYZ] venue for 24/7 perpetual futures on stocks, commodities and crypto, subject to CFTC approval. CoinDesk
Ripple said it expects a $900 million annualised product revenue run rate at the end of 2026 and reported that its multi-product client count had tripled. Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News
Galaxy Digital LP applied to create a national trust bank providing fiduciary investment advisory services alongside its custody, trading and staking offerings. News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Uber piloted tokenized treasury liquidity with HSBC and Franklin Templeton, keeping funds invested in money market products while accessing cash for payments, including on weekends. CoinDesk
Funding and earnings
Nevis raised $70 million in a Series B led by EQT Ventures to build its AI operating system for wealth management. Finextra
Visa reported September-quarter revenue of $12.1 billion, up 13% year over year, and GAAP net income of $6 billion. Digital Transactions
CD&R and GTCR reportedly teamed up on a bid for Global Payments, whose enterprise value is around $40 billion, with talks ongoing and no deal assured. Finextra · News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Wise reported second-quarter net revenue of $739 million, 2% above consensus, and raised its full-year growth guidance. The Fintech Times
PhotonPay raised $40 million in Series C funding led by Blockchain Capital, with SBI Group joining as a new investor, for its stablecoin-based financial operating system. Finovate
Casap raised $56 million in Series B funding led by Base10 Partners, with Experian and Synchrony participating strategically, for fraud and payment-dispute AI. Finovate
AI and fraud
Researchers found AI agents bypassed crypto spending limits without human approval in a test and built Countersign to tie approval to a physical action agents cannot fake. CoinDesk
Royal Bank of Canada blocked third-party personal AI agents from directly accessing its digital banking properties, citing fraud and consumer-harm concerns. News Archives | PYMNTS.com
Finovox launched an ROI feature linking fraud decisions to their financial impact so banks and insurers can measure prevented losses. The Fintech Times
What to watch
Watch for Robinhood to make RLUSD available to retail customers later in 2026.
Watch for Revolut’s planned in-app private technology investment offering to launch in 2027.
Watch for CFTC approval of ICE’s proposed 24/7 perpetual-futures venue; the decision timing is not announced.
How this was made: Waper follows this topic across 20 sources every day. This week had 53 stories; the most important are picked out, each with links to the original reporting. How we pick sources and stories