Monoup news digest: main updates from fintech industry
Traditionally, Monoup steps into your news feed with a review of the most important updates from fintech of this week. We’ve gathered — and, most importantly, explained — all the news, and why you shouldn’t miss them.
EPI, the company behind WERO, is creating a payment alliance with existing wallets and alternative payment methods across Europe. Who has joined the alliance and why? Let’s break it down.
Meanwhile, a scandal is brewing in the Solana network: one of the largest market players fell victim to fraudsters who stole nearly $40 million from the company’s treasury wallets overnight. Rumors suggest that some employees or even management could be involved as theft scheme was so well-planned that it looked not possible to do without internal knowledge. We’ll cover the details in the article.
New Payment alliance in Europe
Bancomat, Bizum, SIBS-MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay signed a cooperation agreement with EPI, who is behind the new payment method WERO, on February 2. Apparently, these payment methods will not be absorbed by WERO (as was the case with iDEAL) but will become part of a distinct technological coalition.
Under this agreement, all payment methods will be integrated into a pan-European hub, allowing payments to be sent and received between them while preserving their brands and separate systems. The collaboration will be technical but will achieve full interoperability between these payment networks. This will enable users to send funds between different wallets, regardless of their brand or the country they are in. The logos of these methods will change to reflect the countries where users can now send payments.
According to EPI, Bancomat, Bizum, MB WAY, and Vipps MobilePay cover approximately 72% of the population in countries that use euro and Norway. With this integration, the EU aims to reduce its dependence on PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard, which currently dominate the European market. These companies have been unofficially recognized as obstacles of Europe’s payment sovereignty, and active efforts to create and develop local alternatives are being made specifically to counter the popularity of American infrastructures. Europe has long relied on the U.S. for payment issues and has integrated so deeply that its local developments became not as popular among the population. Now, however, work is underway non-stop, and several payment providers have already connected to WERO itself.
Other payment methods that do not use euro as their main currency can also join the coalition, also, those without national payment systems can connect to existing options in the EU market. P2P payments should be available as early as this year, with business transfers coming in 2027.
Kazakhstan to Allow Crypto Exchange Deposits via Bank Terminals
Crypto industry in Kazakhstan is progressing even faster than expected. Soon, users in the country will be able to deposit cash into licensed crypto exchanges through official bank terminals. A special menu will be integrated into their functionality in the coming months, allowing users to enter their unique identifier and instantly transfer funds to the exchange.
The technology will be based on QR codes, enabling account deposits without bank transfers or P2P transactions. QR code, linked to the user’s account on a licensed exchange in the country, will instantly connect the transaction to the required account.
This initiative is tied to the launch of a unified interbank QR code, which will soon be fully operational. Crypto exchanges will become participants in this ecosystem.
Checkout.com Enters Lithuania by Acquiring an EMI
The Central Bank of Lithuania approved Checkout’s acquisition of BLUE EMI LT at the end of January, allowing the payment system to enter country’s market with a ready-made infrastructure. In its press release, Central Bank emphasized that the Checkout did not choose Lithuania by accident and plans to seriously expand its operations in Europe.
The Lithuanian regulator is one of the most active in the EU: over the past two years, five major international players — Robinhood, Nuvei, DriveWealth, Commerzbank, and Poland’s PKO Bank — have obtained licenses in Lithuania. Over the past five years, Lithuania has issued more than 100 financial licenses and over 150 authorizations for near-financial services.
It’s a well-known fact that Lithuania is a fintech hub due to its transparent and clear legislation, as well as achievable licensing conditions. However, even here, you can’t avoid strictly complying with AML legislation, as we see on real cases. We previously wrote about high-profile fines, including one involving the major fintech ZEN.COM, which led some analysts to think that Lithuania might be tightening its policies. While it’s too early to say for sure, the Central Bank does seem to be taking a more serious approach to monitoring its licensees.
$40 Million Stolen in the Solana Network
One of the largest projects in the Solana network, Step Finance, fell victim to a hack of its treasury wallets, losing approximately $40 million. According to the available data access to the wallets was obtained through the devices of company management.
Step Finance provides services of an aggregator of tokens, NFTs, and other Solana projects, and also issues its own STEP token. The fraudsters unstaked and withdrew about 261,854 SOL (worth around $29–30 million at the time), as well as other assets. Importantly, customer funds were not affected — only Step Finance’s own assets were lost, as the company states.
In response, rumors began circulating that the theft was carried out by employees themselves, as the fraudsters or their accomplices managed to bypass basic security levels. This led to speculation that they were either aware of these levels from the start or had insider help. While Step Finance denies this, it’s worth noting that social engineering remains one of the most popular methods of asset theft today. Fraudsters often gain the trust of employees or even management at targeted companies and deceive them into opening access or conducting transactions in their favor. It’s possible that the company fell for such a trick, or its processes truly couldn’t withstand the pressure from real fraudsters.
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 payment expertise. Our subscribers include major payment systems, businesses in gaming and other online sectors, and representatives of other significant players in the payment niche.
