News Digest from Monoup: Main Fintech and Gaming Events of the Week
As always, we present a selection of fintech news from Monoup. AstroPay wallet is opening a new division for B2B services. What exactly will appear and for whom — read on in the article.
Meanwhile, open banking is being actively implemented in Ukraine. On the pages of MonoTalks, we pay a lot of attention to this technology, and for good reason. Open banking has literally revolutionized payments in Europe and the UK, and other countries expect to achieve no less. We talk about what achievements Ukraine expects and how the movement towards them is progressing in this issue.
We review what happened this week in fintech and iGaming that you wouldn't want to miss.
AstroPay Starts Selling Its Technology
AstroPay wallet will provide access to its technical system to other fintech companies that want to create solutions based on its accumulated knowledge. This direction will be completely new for AstroPay business line and will become a separate service structure.
Although company representatives cautiously clarified that this is “not a white-label wallet,” after reviewing the functionality, we may say that it is extremely similar to a white-label. Access will be provided to virtual and physical Visa or Mastercard issuance, opening of local bank accounts in Brazil, Argentina, and the UK, as well as currency exchange and initial wallet infrastructure.
The service is already live, and those interested can connect in the near future.
Ukrainian Open Banking to Launch by the End of the Year
The National Bank of Ukraine is moving towards the implementation of open banking payment technology, which will be another step towards the country's European integration. By August 1, all potential participants will test the solution and update their systems if necessary. After that, they will have 5 months to comply with all EU regulations.
The principle of operation and the technology underlying the solution exactly match the European ones, which in the future will allow cooperation with companies and financial institutions throughout Europe. An interesting fact is that, unlike the EU, traditional bank transfers are not popular in Ukraine; instant card-to-card payments are preferred by most users. Given this, it is not entirely clear how demanded this method will become specifically as a tool for daily expenses, as is currently the case in the EU.
Europeans felt the effect of open banking immediately, as it replaced their outdated, lengthy bank transfers and showed a “technological breakthrough” in financial services. In Ukraine, banking services are already at a fairly high level, and open APIs will allow the creation of even more services and applications for consumers.
Criminal Liability for Money Mules Introduced in Kazakhstan
Following the example of Russian Federation, Kazakhstan plans to combat illegal Peer to Peer transfers, specifically money mulling. Mules are people who sell their card details or give them away for free to third parties, who in turn use them to launder criminal proceeds. Due to the large number of such people, various illegal schemes thrive, which concerns the government of Kazakhstan.
According to the amendments to the criminal law, it is prohibited to transfer cards and bank details to third parties, as well as to accept or make transfers for other people for a fee.
Depending on the extent of involvement in such schemes, the following punishments may be applied:
- Up to 3 years of imprisonment for providing access to bank account.
- Up to 5 years for making transfers on behalf of third parties.
- Up to 7 years for money mules’ handlers — persons who look for mules and gain access to bank accounts for the purpose money laundering.
Thus, more serious control over money transfers and data security will be achieved, which will help reduce the number of illegal transactions.
PayPal Adds Crypto Payments
A new feature, Pay with Crypto, will appear on the PayPal payment page, allowing users to pay in crypto for services and goods to merchants who accept the wallet. This can be considered a full-fledged entry into the crypto processing market, where PayPal also does not refuse its fiat services.
The source of funds for crypto payments will only be linked crypto wallets, not any. Additionally, PayPal will automatically convert crypto to fiat through its own stablecoin PYUSD, crediting the payment in dollars.
Until July 2026, the transfer fee will be 0.99%. Later, it will be increased to 1.5%.
Here are the news highlights for this week from Monoup. More publications you can find in our Telegram channel, and articles are available in MonoTalks section.
