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fintech company Mercury has announced the completion of a new $200 million funding round, led by TCV with participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coatue Management, and other institutions.Mercury primarily provides banking services to startups. It currently serves over 300,000 clients and has achieved approximately $650 million in annualized revenue. The company stated that the recent surge in AI entrepreneurship has significantly driven demand for new company registrations and account openings, serving as a key growth driver.Meanwhile, Mercury also announced that it has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to apply for a federal banking charter. This would enable it to expand lending capabilities, gain access to payment networks like Zelle, and reduce its reliance on partner banks. The company's founder stated that the long-term goal remains an independent IPO rather than an acquisition. (CNBC)
According to Fortune, Catena Labs—founded by Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle—has raised $30 million in its Series A funding round, led by Acrew Capital and a16z crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, and QED. Catena Labs focuses on developing tools that enable AI agents to conduct financial transactions securely. The company has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in New York for a national trust bank charter, seeking regulatory authorization to process payments and hold customer funds. Previously, in 2025, Catena Labs secured an initial $18 million financing round led by a16z crypto.
According to The Block, crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash Europe has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), becoming the first company to hold both a European MiCAR license and EMI authorization. Zerohash previously secured its MiCAR license in October 2025; this dual licensing enables it to legally provide crypto-asset services and process traditional electronic money flows across the European Economic Area (EEA), and to directly serve institutional clients such as banks, brokers, fintech firms, and payment platforms. The company is already collaborating with partners including Interactive Brokers Europe and has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter. Additionally, Zerohash is reportedly seeking $250 million in funding at a $1.5 billion valuation.
Odaily Odaily News According to the latest weekly report from Gate Ventures, global markets continued to strengthen last week, driven by the technology sector. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq index hit new record highs, with the S&P 500 gaining 2.36% for the week and the Nasdaq rising 4.52%. In the crypto market, BTC rose 4.6% last week, ETH rose 2.1%, spot BTC ETFs recorded net inflows for the fifth consecutive week, and market sentiment recovered to the neutral range. Additionally, the total market cap of cryptocurrencies excluding the top ten assets increased by 12.6% for the week.On the macroeconomic front, the ISM Services Price Index rose to 70.7, a two-year high, coupled with energy price fluctuations and the Federal Reserve's policy expectation of "keeping interest rates higher for longer," leading to increased market focus on a "stagflation" environment. On the industry level, Payward, the parent company of Kraken, has applied to the OCC for a national trust charter, highlighting the increasingly evident trend of industry compliance. In terms of investment and financing, 10 deals were completed last week totaling $34.2 million, primarily concentrated in the DeFi and infrastructure sectors. Among them, OpenTrade completed a $17 million funding round to accelerate the development of institutional-grade stablecoin yield infrastructure; OnRe secured a $5 million Series A round to advance its Solana-based tokenized reinsurance product offerings.
According to Fortune, stablecoin-focused bank Augustus has received a federal banking charter from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), becoming the eighth institution to obtain such a license since 2010. Simultaneously, Augustus closed a $40 million funding round, with investors including Valar Ventures (founded by Peter Thiel), Creandum, and founders of Ramp, Deel, and Circle.
According to CoinDesk, citing the Financial Times, Revolut—the largest fintech company in Europe and a crypto-friendly platform—has informed investors that its target valuation range for its IPO is $150 billion to $200 billion, with the earliest possible listing date no earlier than 2028. Previously, in November 2025, the company completed a share sale at a valuation of $75 billion—representing over a 125% increase from that figure. Meanwhile, Revolut is reportedly preparing for a secondary share sale in the second half of 2026, with an expected valuation of approximately $100 billion. Financially, the company’s pre-tax profit for 2025 rose 57% year-on-year to £1.7 billion (approximately $2.3 billion). On the operational front, Revolut obtained a full UK banking license in March this year and has applied to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a U.S. banking license, accelerating its global market expansion. However, insiders indicate that a formal valuation target has not yet been finalized.