Monoup news digest: main updates from fintech industry
It’s the last Friday of January, and it’s time to summarize the first month of 2026. The year started off strong, and we’ve selected the most important events to break down in detail today. While neobanks are adding crypto, crypto exchanges aren’t staying on the sidelines either: why did Bybit decide to venture into bank services? Who will succeed — the bank that offers crypto as a feature, or the crypto exchange that adds accounts in traditional currencies? Let’s figure it out.
Meanwhile, investment battles are heating up: Mastercard is trying to shut down a company it once lent money to through the courts and recover its debts through liquidation. Guavapay, restricted by the FCA, failed to make the necessary payments and lost a significant portion of its revenue. We’ll cover the details of the story in this article.
Bybit Looks to a Banking Future
The second largest crypto exchange in the world has announced the launch of IBAN accounts in US dollars as early as this February. Users will be able to keep balances, convert between 18 currencies, and use the service like a regular neobank for quick exchanges between crypto and fiat. These accounts will be provided by partner banks like Pave Bank, although it’s possible that Bybit may eventually decide to obtain its own banking license.
This move signals a new trend where the boundaries between crypto exchanges and traditional financial services are becoming increasingly blurred. If Revolut is moving toward crypto, crypto exchanges are moving toward fiat. Why would a client need two apps when they can get everything in one? For Bybit, this is a way to retain users and their funds within its ecosystem. For traditional banks, it’s another competitor that doesn’t carry the burden of legacy systems and can launch new products in months, not years.
Market fragmentation into different services is fading, as users increasingly seek super-apps and all services in one package. But whether companies can maintain high quality across all their diverse services remains to be seen.
SEPA Instant to Cover Nearly a Fifth of European Payments
Analysts at ClearBank predicted that by 2035, instant transfers will account for 18% of all payments in Europe, becoming the second most popular payment method after cards. The driver of this growth is mandatory SEPA Instant, which will force banks to support instant transfers. Currently, instant payments make up only 15-20% of all SEPA transfers, but this share is expected to grow to nearly 100% in the coming years.
This sounds very promising, but in practice, banks are facing real challenges: adapting to new requirements will cost each an average of €20+ million. Many are not yet ready, either technically or financially. For merchants, this means that A2A payments will finally become a real alternative to cards, but for the organizers of this process, the transition will be more difficult.
Europe Unites Against Illegal Gambling — Payment Providers Under Fire
Poland has formed a coalition of seven countries (Germany, Austria, France, the UK, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) to combat illegal gambling operators. Starting in January, these countries began exchanging data on payment systems that process transactions for "gray" operators. The main goal of this cooperation is not just to block websites (which can easily be relaunched), but to identify and potentially exclude PSPs that help operators bypass restrictions by changing MCC codes from the financial system.
Blacklists are being created not only for domains but also for merchants, acquiring chains, and specific payment companies. The idea is to remove the financial infrastructure, and without payment solutions, operators will lose the ability to operate in the EU.
Although the initiative comes from gambling regulators, the main blow will fall on payment providers — and this is not surprising. Regulators have understood long ago that the only thing that matters in any market is quality payment acceptance. Without it, even the most successful project cannot operate. For PSPs working with iGaming, this is a signal to review their client base and implement monitoring systems to avoid being left out. For merchants, it means changing market preferences or optimizing strategies to diversify risks, which are increasing.
Mastercard Sues Guavapay for Debt
The British payment company Guavapay has hit rough waters. In September of last year, the UK regulator FCA banned it from accepting new clients and deposits due to gaps in KYC and a surge in fraud. The company publicly admitted that it had failed to keep up with fraud during its rapid growth phase and intended to rectify the situation. However, the admission didn’t help — the actual work limitation significantly reduced revenue, and Guavapay stopped servicing its debts.
Mastercard, one of the largest creditors, didn’t wait and filed a petition in court for forced liquidation, demanding bankruptcy and the sale of assets to repay debts. Ultimately, if the companies don’t agree on another option, 500 Guavapay employees will be left without jobs. The fact that founder Orhan Nasibov hastily stepped down as CEO, citing stress and health issues, also adding some fuel to this case.
This situation is not new to the industry and once again underscores that rapid growth without quality compliance in payments ends in regulatory disaster. You can’t assume it will resolve itself and go unnoticed, as AML fines can come years after transactions. Fintech is often caught up in old debts on verification procedures or AML after everyone has forgotten about them.
These are the news highlights we’ve gathered for you this week. To stay updated, subscribe to our Telegram channel, where we promptly publish industry updates, analyze news, and share expertise in payments. Our subscribers include major payment systems, businesses in gaming and other online sectors, and representatives of other significant players in the payment niche.
