Published:
May 02, 2026
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
Share:
The thing brokerages have always wanted from retail is more trades, faster, with less friction. Zero commissions, gamified apps, one-click options, push notifications when stocks twitch a percent, and now AI agents. Users can already trade through open-source platforms like OpenClaw, which reportedly has 38 million monthly users, on places like Public.com, meaning anyone with a phone and a vaguely worded prompt can hand their portfolio to a Claude-powered bot.
Jake Nesler, a software engineer in Scranton, turned an agent loose with $100,000 of fake money. Its best decision of the first week was passing on Nvidia's earnings rally, sparing him an estimated $10,000. The rest of the week, it lost money on its own ideas. Asked to invest, an LLM behaves like the median of every financial blog ever written: partial to safety, allergic to drawdowns, faintly embarrassed by conviction.
Even when it works, it doesn't really. An edge stops being an edge the moment it's shared, and the whole appeal of these bots is their shareability. Crypto exchanges already get it. Polymarket, Kraken, OKX, and Bybit have all rolled out bot-friendly interfaces this year, on the simple logic that bots trade constantly and exchanges live on volume. The brokerages building their own agents understand the same thing. Whatever else AI agents are, they are excellent customers.
Portfolio News
Performativ raises $14m Series A to power the next era of wealth management - The round is led by Deutsche Börse Group, with participation from Rabo Investments, the investment arm of Rabobank, Jacob Dahl, former Senior Partner & Co-Leader of Global Banking Sector, McKinsey & Company, and existing investors including FinTech Collective and EIFO, the Danish sovereign wealth fund. The investment marks a strategic step in strengthening Performativ’s position in the enterprise segment. Read more
Husqvarna engages Octane and Huntington Bank to deliver innovative financing experience to dealers and customers - The Huntington Bank Powered by Octane program allows Husqvarna dealerships to use a single platform to manage the entire sales and financing process. This simplifies the buying process for both dealers and customers from prequalification through closing. Read more
CapIntel integrates tax impact into investment proposal process - The launch comes as advisors face growing pressure to address tax implications earlier and more transparently in the investment decision-making process, particularly for high-net-worth clients with complex portfolios. Now live in the United States and Canada, CapIntel's latest release addresses this challenge by bringing tax insight into the same workflow where investment decisions are evaluated and presented. Read more
ABHI Saudi unites with Qlub to offer instant salary access - This collaboration allows Qlub employees to access a portion of their salaries anytime throughout the month, offering greater financial flexibility, reducing stress, and boosting overall well-being. Read more
Strategic partnership between Sharjah Media City and Ziina to enhance digital financial solutions for businesses - This partnership reflects Shams’ continued commitment to building an integrated business ecosystem that supports entrepreneurs and SMEs by providing advanced services that accelerate digital transformation and strengthen market competitiveness. It also aligns with the UAE’s broader vision of advancing a cashless, digital economy. Read more
Lobster Trap Economics
AI agents are becoming day traders, but gains are elusive - Across equities, crypto and prediction markets, a growing legion of retail traders are training AI agents to buy and sell assets on their behalf. It’s a sign of a new era in retail investing, where traders believe that AI-powered tools can produce better investment outcomes, and that anything still done manually is a process waiting for improvement. Read more
OpenClaw - AI marvel or cybersecurity nightmare? - People have flocked to the OpenClaw artificial intelligence agent since it was launched in November by Austrian programmer Peter Steinberger. The digital assistant can use your computer to handle complex tasks that previously only a human could undertake, but this leap in productivity comes with a catch: OpenClaw has proved to be a gift to hackers. Read more
Industry News
The Bloomberg terminal is getting an AI makeover, like it or not - Bloomberg’s famously complex Terminal has long rewarded those who can navigate its dense data, but as inputs have expanded, surfacing insights has become increasingly difficult. To address this, Bloomberg is testing ASKB, a chatbot-style interface that uses language models to streamline workflows and enable users to query data and test investment ideas through natural language. Read more
Meta quietly rolls out stablecoin payments four years after demise of controversial Libra project - Four years after pulling the plug on an earlier attempt, the tech giant has quietly rolled out digital currency payouts for select creators in Colombia and the Philippines, according to an update to the tech giant’s website. The payouts are available on the Solana and Polygon blockchain networks and use the stablecoin USDC. Read more
Securitize and Computershare announce an agreement to enable tokenized shares for U.S. issuers - This milestone highlights tokenization's role as an enhanced option to public markets, enabling issuers to bring equities onchain, seamless servicing, and full alignment with existing regulatory frameworks. The change gives participating issuers greater flexibility in how shares are issued, while allowing shareholders to choose how they prefer to hold their securities. Read more
Goldman Sachs stops bankers using Anthropic’s Claude in Hong Kong - Hong Kong has long operated mostly outside of Chinese censors and restrictions on usage are imposed by the US AI companies themselves. One person familiar with Goldman’s move said it came as a result of the US bank taking a strict interpretation of its contract with Anthropic following a consultation with the Silicon Valley start-up. Read more
Polymarket seeks CFTC blessing to bring main exchange back to US - Since running afoul of regulators in 2022, Polymarket has technically banned Americans from trading on its international platform while a US-based alternative started by the company has failed to fully launch. In recent weeks though, the company has discussed lifting the prohibition on US-based customers with officials at the CFTC. Read more
Mercury receives OCC conditional approval to establish Mercury Bank - With the OCC’s conditional approval, Mercury enters the bank organization phase, during which it will work to satisfy remaining requirements and obtain final authorization from the OCC, as well as pending approvals from the FDIC and the Federal Reserve. Read more
Kalshi completes first block trade, backed by Jump Trading - Kalshi completed its first bespoke block trade, with Jump Trading providing liquidity. The six figure deal, tied to a California carbon allowance auction, signals institutional functionality and demand, positioning prediction markets to attract larger investors beyond its retail user base. Read more
Lazard buys $575m firm to boost private markets push - Lazard is purchasing Campbell Lutyens, the largest independent private capital adviser to create a new division called Lazard CL. The unit aims to turn Lazard into a global powerhouse for advising on private market transactions. Lazard CL will include more than 280 professionals in 18 offices and is expected to generate about $500m of revenue in 2027. Read more
Senate bans prediction markets for its members and staff - Senators voted unanimously to prohibit betting practices in the chamber after some users made hundreds of thousands of dollars online by accurately predicting U.S. military actions. Read more
From local to global: Navigating AI-driven expansion and compliance - Companies are using AI to enter new markets faster than ever, but while the tech speeds up, regulation is becoming the real bottleneck. Frameworks such as the EU AI Act and rules around prohibited AI and transparency in general-purpose LLMs are already in place, with new rules for companies deploying high-risk AI systems to be delayed up until December 2027. Read more
A quick taxonomy of fund finance - In the beginning, private credit funds made loans to companies to finance a leveraged buyout or something. Nowadays, they make loans to all sorts of structures. According to a new report from Moody’s, fund finance has got big enough to call a distinct asset class, with a total market size north of the trillion-dollar mark. Read more
Airtel eyes $2b London IPO of Mobile Money unit - The listing could value Airtel Money at as much as $10b. The business’s nine month revenues grew by 29.4% to $986m last year. Read more
How Revolut became a verb - if not yet a lender - Revolut’s scale and fee-driven growth mask underdeveloped lending; the FT argues that securing banking licenses and executing an IPO will be essential to sustain its valuation and transition into a fully fledged bank. Read more
Select Financings
Astor - San Francisco based AI-native investment advisory platform raised $5m in Seed funding led by Monashees. Read more
Belo - Buenos Aires based developer of financial products designed for travelers raised $14m in Series A funding led by Tether. Read more
Clarasight - New York based AI operating system for enterprise travel and expenses raised $11.5m in Series A funding led by AlleyCorp. Read more
Counterpart - Los Angeles based agentic insurance system specializing in management and professional liability insurance raised $50m in Series C funding led by Valor Equity Partners. Read more
Fence - Madrid based asset-backed finance infrastructure platform raised $20m in new funding led by Galaxy Ventures. Read more
Firenze - Manchester based provider of investment-backed loans to wealth managers, advisers and investment platforms raised £6.8m in Series A funding led by AlbionVC. Read more
Iridius - Seattle based compliance AI platform raised $8.6m in Seed funding led by Chalfen Ventures. Read more
Kashable - New York based employer-sponsored lending and financial wellness solution platform for employees raised $60m in Series C funding led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Read more
Marloo - London based AI platform for financial advisers raised $10m in Seed funding led by Blackbird Ventures. Read more
Nava - Washington based developer of guardrails for the agentic economy raised $8.3m in Seed funding led by Polychain and Archetype. Read more
PxX Partners - Singapore based user acquisition financing platform for gaming and consumer apps raised $10.5m in Series A funding led by T-Accelerate. Read more
Quillon - Sofia, Bulgaria based AI accounting platform raised $1.5m in pre-Seed funding led by 42CAP. Read more
Rogo - New York based AI partner for financial institutions raised $160m in Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins. Read more
Sahi - Bangalore based trading platform for Indian traders raised $33m in Series B funding led by Accel. Read more
Segura - São Paulo based developer of AI infrastructure for insurance distribution raised $8m in Seed funding led by a16z and Kaszek. Read more
Tapaya - Prague based payments infrastructure startup raised €1m in pre-Seed funding led by Passion Capital. Read more
Unblock Pay - Rio de Janeiro based stablecoin payment infrastructure for cross-border transactions raised $4.5m in Seed funding led by Prelude. Read more
vitaSicure - Milan based digital insurance broker for online life insurance raised €2.5m in Series A funding led by Ad4Ventures, Gruppo MFE, and Net Insurance. Read more
Zamp - New York based sales tax OS platform raised $17m in new funding led by Acrew Capital. Read more
FinTech Collective Newsletter
Curated News with Context
Delivered every Monday, the weekly newsletter, produced by our team, provides a tightly edited rundown of global fintech news, along with a bit of our original analysis.