ZUAS Network: fintech, crypto, Web3, direct-selling and startup news
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Lead story
Ramp Hits $60 Billion Valuation After Raising About $1.85 Billion
Ramp’s valuation has jumped from $44 billion to about $60 billion in four months, making it the most valuable startup in corporate spend management.
Latest
Latest news and briefs
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India Starts Charging a UPI Merchant Fee on October 15: What Changes
After years of free merchant payments, India will charge a fee on larger UPI transactions from October 15, 2026. Here is who pays, what stays free and why it matters.
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Meet Jared Esguerra, the Fintech Entrepreneur Helping Founders Turn AI Plans Into Action
From affiliate marketing at 19 to the trading floor to advising fintech founders, Jared Esguerra is helping companies turn AI ambition into real-world results.
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Catalyst’s young founders raise $30 million to build supervised AI trading agents
Catalyst, founded in 2025 by Justin Zheng and Dylan Iskandar, has raised a $30 million seed round led by Sequoia, Fortune reports.
Funding
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Securitize brings share-backed tokenized US stocks to Solana
Securitize has begun offering tokenized US equities on Solana, each backed one-for-one by shares held at its regulated broker-dealer and settled in USDC, The Block reports.
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Credit unions may have to report stablecoin activity from 2027
The National Credit Union Administration proposes a new call report schedule covering credit unions’ stablecoin reserve custody, key management and exposures, starting with the 31 March 2027 report.
Proposal
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Explainer: what Solana’s switch to 200-millisecond slots changes
CoinDesk reports that a network change, SIMD-0525, was scheduled to cut Solana’s target slot time from 250 to 200 milliseconds on 9 October, the last of several cuts that began at 400 ms.
Explainer
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Ledger investigates reported losses linked to devices bought from a Southeast Asian reseller
Ledger has asked reseller CryptoBilis to pause sales and told people who bought through that channel in the last 90 days not to set up their devices, The Block reports.
Developing
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Samsung Wallet to add USDC transfers on Solana for US Galaxy users
Samsung plans to let US Galaxy owners send USDC over Solana for cross-border transfers from the last week of October, with cash-out to bank accounts in more than 60 countries, The Block reports.
Launch pending
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Stripe agrees to buy small-business lender Parafin
Stripe says it will acquire Parafin, whose financing products are built into software platforms used by small businesses.
Deal pending
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Payments revenue growth slows sharply, new industry reports show
McKinsey estimates that global payments revenue reached $2.6 trillion in 2025 but grew only 3%, far below its earlier average, Payments Dive reports.
Forecasts
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SAP builds payments directly into its cloud ERP software
SAP has launched SAP Pay, which pays invoices when they fall due and reconciles them inside SAP Cloud ERP, Payments Dive reports.
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Coinbase merges Deribit into a single global exchange and plans to revive Coinbase Pro
Coinbase says it has finished integrating the options venue Deribit, which will trade as Coinbase Global Exchange, The Block reports.
Company plans
Topics
By topic
Companies & entrepreneurs
Companies and the people building them
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Meet Jared Esguerra, the Fintech Entrepreneur Helping Founders Turn AI Plans Into Action
From affiliate marketing at 19 to the trading floor to advising fintech founders, Jared Esguerra is helping companies turn AI ambition into real-world results.
Company tracker
- RampRamp Hits $60 Billion Valuation After Raising About $1.85 Billion
- Galaxy DigitalOne Year After the $19 Billion Crash, the Crypto Market Has Changed
- MonzoNubank Weighs Up to £10 Billion Bid for UK Digital Bank Monzo
- FICOFICO Shares Fall 27% as Mortgage Market Opens Up to VantageScore
- NPCIIndia Starts Charging a UPI Merchant Fee on October 15: What Changes
- CatalystCatalyst’s young founders raise $30 million to build supervised AI trading agents
- SecuritizeSecuritize brings share-backed tokenized US stocks to Solana
- LedgerLedger investigates reported losses linked to devices bought from a Southeast Asian reseller
- AnzaExplainer: what Solana’s switch to 200-millisecond slots changes
- ParafinStripe agrees to buy small-business lender Parafin
Regulatory watch
Regulatory watch
Rules, proposals and enforcement, with each item’s legal status. Enforcement complaints are allegations until a court rules or a settlement is approved.
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India Starts Charging a UPI Merchant Fee on October 15: What Changes
After years of free merchant payments, India will charge a fee on larger UPI transactions from October 15, 2026. Here is who pays, what stays free and why it matters.
-
Credit unions may have to report stablecoin activity from 2027
The National Credit Union Administration proposes a new call report schedule covering credit unions’ stablecoin reserve custody, key management and exposures, starting with the 31 March 2027 report.
Proposal
Comments due 8 Dec 2026
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SEC sues two operators over alleged fake AI crypto trading schemes
The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed complaints alleging that Cryptoaiml and TSAI Pro used fake AI trading signals and non-existent trading bots to take more than $12.5 million and $2.8 million from investors, and falsely claimed SEC registration.
Allegations
Complaints filed; no ruling
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ESMA asks for tougher crypto marketing rules and clearer DeFi tests in the MiCA review
In its response to the European Commission’s review of MiCA, ESMA recommends tighter rules on crypto promotions, including by influencers, powers to block fraudulent websites and freeze assets, and clearer criteria for when a DeFi service counts as genuinely decentralised.
Recommendation
Recommendations to the Commission
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CFTC opens early consultation on a national framework for retail crypto trading
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking that asks how retail crypto commodity transactions should be overseen, including a possible new category of “crypto asset market” exchange.
Early consultation
Comments due 60 days after Federal Register publication