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Court Lets Arbitrum DAO Transfer $71M in ETH Tied to North Korea Hack to Aave

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Court Lets Arbitrum DAO Transfer $71M in ETH Tied to North Korea Hack to Aave

A Manhattan federal judge has allowed Arbitrum DAO to move $71 million in frozen Ether to Aave, clearing the path for the DeFi protocol’s recovery effort following a North Korea-linked exploit.

Judge Margaret Garnett of the Southern District of New York issued the order on Friday, modifying a restraining notice that had locked the assets inside Arbitrum DAO. The modification permits an onchain governance vote to send the funds to a wallet controlled by Aave LLC, and explicitly protects anyone who participates in the transfer from being held in violation of the freeze.

The order still keeps the terrorism victims’ legal claim on the funds, meaning Aave can’t use the funds freely and could be forced to hand them over if the court ultimately rules in the terrorism victims’ favor.

Judge allows Arbitrum to move funds to Aave. Source: Courtlistener

The decision came after Arbitrum delegates showed strong support for the move through an off-chain Snapshot vote as part of Aave’s broader recovery plan following last month’s North Korea-linked rsETH exploit. Any actual transfer still requires a separate binding onchain governance vote.

Related: Arbitrum vote to release $71M in frozen Kelp exploit ETH set to pass

Aave asks court to lift freeze on funds

Last week, Aave filed an emergency motion in a New York court seeking to vacate a restraining notice that had blocked Arbitrum DAO from transferring the funds to victims of the Kelp DAO exploit. The notice was served by Gerstein Harrow LLP, which represents families holding $877 million in unpaid terrorism judgments against North Korea and claims the funds belong to its clients because North Korean hackers stole them during the April 18 hack.

Aave pushed back hard, arguing that a thief doesn’t gain lawful ownership of stolen property and that attributing the hack to North Korea relies on little more than internet speculation. It also warned that if the court upholds the restraining notice, it could deter future DeFi recovery efforts and give bad actors a roadmap to exploit legal uncertainty following hacks.

Gerstein Harrow has previously pursued similar claims. In January, they sued Railgun DAO, alleging the privacy protocol was used to launder proceeds from prior North Korean hacks, including the $1.5 billion Bybit exploit.

Related: Aave deposits fall by $15B as Kelp exploit sparks flight from DeFi lender

Kelp exploit leaves $174 million hole in rsETH backing

The Kelp DAO exploit left rsETH’s backing with a significant shortfall. The hack caused 116,500 rsETH to be released on Ethereum without a corresponding burn on the source side, leaving only 40,373 rsETH in the adapter contract against confirmed backing for 152,577, a gap of roughly 76,127 rsETH, worth around $174.5 million at current prices.

The 30,765 ETH frozen by Arbitrum has been flagged as a meaningful step toward closing that gap, with proponents arguing that even partial restoration of rsETH’s backing would help stabilize conditions for users across Arbitrum and the wider DeFi ecosystem.

Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia Express

Allvue and RSM Launch Industry-first Agentic AI Operating Model for Capital Calls

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Allvue and RSM Launch Industry-first Agentic AI Operating Model for Capital Calls

WHY THIS MATTERS

The strategic alliance between Allvue Systems and RSM US LLP, announced on May 7, 2026, represents the private capital industry’s first concrete step toward autonomous fund operations. Historically, capital calls—the process of requesting committed funds from investors—have been an “operational bottleneck,” relying on a manual patchwork of Excel spreadsheets and email chains. This creates significant “settlement risk” and administrative strain, with Allvue’s 2026 GP Outlook Survey finding that 70% of firms still struggle with these manual dependencies.

By launching the Agentic AI Capital Operating Model, the partnership aims to compress these multi-week timelines into just a few days. Unlike basic automation, “Agentic AI” uses a conversational interface to orchestrate the entire lifecycle: from validating investor data and scenario modeling to drafting notices and posting journal entries. Critically, the model maintains a “human-in-the-loop” governance structure, with RSM professionals providing the institutional oversight and validation required for multi-billion dollar capital movements.

Allvue Systems, LLC (“Allvue”), a leading technology provider for the private capital markets, and RSM US LLP (“RSM”), a leading provider of assurance, tax and consulting services for the middle market, today announced a strategic alliance to launch the industry’s first-of-its-kind Agentic AI Capital Operating Model. The model will redefine how quickly and efficiently capital calls are executed and governed across private capital firms using agentic AI orchestration.

Despite significant investments in fund technology, capital activity remains one of the last operational bottlenecks for many private capital firms, introducing unnecessary risk, limiting scale and creating friction for general partners (GP), fund administrators and limited partners (LP).

Allvue’s 2026 GP Outlook Survey found that 70% of firms cite dependence on manual workflows and spreadsheets as their top operational challenge. Built for GPs and fund administrators, this collaboration addresses that constraint by applying RSM’s deep domain expertise in fund administration and institutional governance — delivered through RSM Fund Services+ — with the Allvue Agentic AI Platform. Now, capital call timelines are compressed from weeks to days while preserving institutional-grade controls, real-time visibility and audit-ready workflows that improve the LP’s experience. 

“For years, capital calls have demanded disproportionate effort for a process that should be predictable and controlled,” said Marc Scheipe, CEO of Allvue Systems. “We are introducing a fundamentally different operating model. By combining RSM’s extensive experience in fund administration and oversight with Allvue’s agentic architecture, we can deliver accuracy, speed and transparency in a way the industry has not seen before.”

A transformative new operating model for capital activity

By introducing real-time interaction with live fund and investor data, capital calls can be reviewed and approved through a conversational interface while providing full visibility into each investor’s status from notice through funding. For LPs, it delivers faster, clearer and more consistent communications with reduced error risk.

Human-in-the-loop governance is embedded by design. RSM professionals serve as the institutional backbone of the operating model—accountable for review, validation and GP approval, ensuring every capital event meets institutional standards for accuracy, control and auditability. By applying AI to allocation drafting, scenario modeling, GP account selection and LP notice delivery, the Agentic AI Capital Activity operating model coordinates every phase of capital activity from data validation, scenario modeling, approvals, and posting to investor communication, through a single, auditable, AI-orchestrated process.

The operating model brings together a set of coordinated capabilities and features, including:

  • Aggregating and validating LP commitments and fund detail data
  • Scenario modeling for amounts and LP allocations 
  • Drafting allocations and notices using natural-language prompts
  • Routing items for structured GP review and approval
  • Managing reversals, adjustments and re-bookings through a single AI interaction
  • Posting journal entries and issuing LP notices with delivery tracking

“Agentic AI represents a structural shift in how fund administrators operate,” said William Andreoni, Partner, Asset Management Consulting Leader. “By bringing institutional governance and accountability directly into the operating flow, we’re turning a fragmented, manual process into a coordinated, intelligent system that delivers speed, control and transparency simultaneously—not as trade-offs.“

RSM’s role extends beyond implementation. The firm plays a central role in defining the governance and operating standards that shape the operating model, developed and informed through the live fund environments, with results shaping roadmap expansion into distributions, investor servicing and adjacent fund operations. Built natively on Allvue’s Nexius data platform, the capability provides a scalable foundation for next-generation agentic, collaborative AI, integrating with downstream systems to enable future agentic operating models across fund operations, investor servicing, portfolio management and document intelligence.

This initiative builds on a long-term collaboration between RSM and Allvue, grounded in a shared commitment on delivering measurable value for private capital clients. By pairing RSM’s institutional operating model and governance expertise with Allvue’s continued advancement in data and workflow automation, the initiative enables private capital professionals to operate more efficiently, scale with confidence, and stay ahead of evolving market expectations.

Lighthouse Partner Invitation

Allvue is expanding its agentic AI roadmap across fund operations, investor servicing, portfolio management, and document intelligence, and is inviting additional firms to participate as lighthouse partners. Lighthouse partners gain early access to Allvue’s new agentic capabilities, partner directly with Allvue’s product and AI teams to shape the workflow, and will be supported by Allvue’s dedicated implementation and customer success teams. 

Firms interested in a lighthouse partnership can contact Allvue’s Customer Success team or visit allvuesystems.com. Allvue, RSM, ACA and Blueflame AI are also co-hosting the West Coast Roadshow Connect on May 19 and 21, a roundtable series focused on middle-market PE CFOs operationalizing AI across the fund-management ecosystem. Click here to register. 

FF NEWS TAKE

The Allvue-RSM partnership is a definitive signal that the “AI hype cycle” in private equity is maturing into functional infrastructure. By embedding RSM’s Fund Services+ governance directly into the Allvue Nexius data platform, they are solving the “trust gap” that has prevented firms from automating high-stakes financial transactions. This isn’t just about speed; it’s about accountability at scale. For General Partners (GPs), this reduces the “drag” on new investments, while Limited Partners (LPs) receive the faster, clearer communication typically reserved for retail banking experiences.

However, the real differentiator is the Nexius Data Platform foundation. Because the AI is working on a unified, “rights-cleared” data set rather than fragmented siloes, it eliminates the risk of “hallucinations” that plague generic AI tools. As Allvue opens its Lighthouse Partner program, we expect to see this model quickly expand into distributions and investor servicing. For middle-market PE firms, this partnership moves AI from a “front-office experiment” to a “back-office necessity,” allowing them to scale their AUM (Assets Under Management) without a linear increase in administrative headcount.

BTC Holders May Sell To Realize Profits Following April Rally

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BTC Holders May Sell To Realize Profits Following April Rally

Bitcoin profit-taking could accelerate as BTC prices climb to three-month highs and investors begin locking in gains, according to Julio Moreno, head of research at onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant.

Holders realized 14,600 BTC in profits on Monday, or $1.1 billion, following Bitcoin’s April rally, Moreno said, adding that this is the “highest” single day of profit-taking since Dec. 10, when BTC was trading above $90,000.

Bitcoin holders’ realized profits spike after the April rally. Source: CryptoQuant

The Short-Term Holder Spent Output Profit Ratio (STH-SOPR), an onchain metric that gauges profit-taking by wallets that have held BTC for less than 155 days, also rose above 1, a level that indicates “clear profit-taking territory,” he added. He said:

“Bitcoin holders are realizing more than 20,000 BTC in net profits on a 30-day rolling basis, the first positive reading since December 22, 2025, following a period of heavy net losses in February and March that reached as deep as 398,000 BTC.”

Spikes in realized profit levels during crypto bear markets typically signal local price tops or sideways price action, Moreno said, adding that despite the rise in realized profits, demand has not caught up, and BTC remains in a bear market.

The Bitcoin Short-Term Holder Spent Output Profit Ratio signals that short-term holders are realizing profits. Source: CryptoQuant

Related: Bitcoin ‘supercycle’ or bear-market rally? BTC breaking $81K has traders at odds

Bitcoin ETF inflows remain strong, while analysts are divided on market health

Inflows into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remain strong, with four days of positive inflows this week, according to Farside data.

ETF inflows for the week surged past $1 billion, before an outflow of $268.5 million on Friday, Farside’s data shows.

Analysts remain divided about whether BTC has bottomed out or whether the ongoing bear market will deepen. 

Michael Terpin, an early Bitcoin investor, told Cointelegraph that BTC could bottom out at $57,000 in October 2026. The forecast is based on “historic” price patterns in which BTC hits its cycle low about one year after the cycle top, Terpin said.

There is a “chance” that Bitcoin might reclaim the $100,000 price level in 2026, but the odds are “unlikely,” Terpin told Cointelegraph.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

Zondacrypto Hit With Investor Warning by Estonia Financial Regulator

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Zondacrypto Hit With Investor Warning by Estonia Financial Regulator

Estonia’s Financial Supervision and Resolution Authority (FSA), the country’s financial regulator, issued an investor warning for BB Trade Estonia OÜ, the company that operates the Zondacrypto digital asset exchange.

The FSA said the company did not have a white paper listed on its website for the “TeamPL” crypto token listed on the crypto exchange, a violation of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. According to the FSA: 

“This action violates Article 9, Section 1 of [MiCA], according to which crypto-asset white papers shall remain available on the website of the offerors or persons seeking admission trading for as long as the crypto-assets are held by the public.”

The investor warning for Zondacrypto and its parent company. Source: Estonia FSA

Cointelegraph reached out to Zondacrypto but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

The investor warning follows news of withdrawal issues at the Zondacrypto exchange and an investigation into the company by Polish law enforcement officials.

Related: Europe’s MiCA regime puts smaller crypto firms under pressure

Zondacrypto faces investigation following withdrawal and access issues

In April, Zonda CEO Przemysław Kral said the exchange did not have access to a cold wallet containing about 4,500 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at about $360 million at the time of writing.

Kral claimed that the wallet’s private keys were never handed over by Sylwester Suszek, the founder and former CEO of Zondacrypto, who has been missing since 2022. He also denied rumors that the exchange is insolvent, adding that it would meet all customer obligations. 

Kral’s last post on the X social media platform was published on April 16, 2026. Source: Przemysław Kral

Polish investigators initiated a probe into the company in April, following reports from users of withdrawal issues and the inability to access funds.

Since that time, Kral has gone silent on social media, with no new posts since April 16. Local media outlets reported that he flew to Israel, where he is a citizen, amid the probe by Polish law enforcement.

In February, he told Cointelegraph that the company is based outside of Poland because the country has not brought its crypto regulations in line with the EU’s MiCA framework.

“Although we are a company with Polish roots and the largest player in the crypto industry on the Polish market, we have been operating outside Poland for years,” he said.

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

Jack Mallers Shuts Down The Idea That Wall Street Is A Threat To Bitcoin

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Jack Mallers Shuts Down The Idea That Wall Street Is A Threat To Bitcoin

Bitcoin payments application Strike CEO Jack Mallers said that Wall Street’s growing involvement in Bitcoin poses no threat or conflict to the asset itself.

“My one-word answer to that is no,” Mallers told Danny Knowles on the What Bitcoin Did podcast published to YouTube on Thursday, in response to whether institutional involvement threatens Bitcoin’s core principles.
“If Wall Street getting into Bitcoin kills it, it was never going to be successful in the first place,” Mallers said.

Jack Mallers spoke to Danny Knowles on the What Bitcoin Did podcast. Source: What Bitcoin Did

“Bitcoin is predicated on this idea that it is money for all. And the all part should be explored. That means your enemies, too,” he said. “That means the ex-wife that cheated on you, that means your neighbor that’s a fan of the opposing football club, that’s everybody,” he added.

Bitcoin is competing for global capital, says Mallers

Some Bitcoiners argue that Wall Street’s presence threatens Bitcoin’s original ethos by concentrating ownership, influence and custody of the asset in the hands of large financial institutions. Since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US in January 2024, the 11 funds have collectively recorded $59.38 billion in net inflows as of Friday, according to Farside data.

However, Mallers said the “obvious implication” is that Wall Street and other major traditional investors would get involved in Bitcoin as the asset competes for global capital.

“Where wealth exists today, those things will be demonetized like real estate will be demonetized, fine art will be demonetized, government debt will be demonetized, and Bitcoin will be monetized,” he said.

Some Bitcoiners have argued that growing institutional involvement could eventually give large firms too much influence over Bitcoin itself. Bitcoiner and venture capitalist Nic Carter said that major Bitcoin-holding institutions may eventually lose patience with Bitcoin developers for not addressing quantum computing concerns quickly enough. “I think the big institutions that now exist in Bitcoin, they will get fed up, and they will fire the devs and put in new devs,” Carter said in February.

Wall Street moves in on crypto platforms’ customers

There have been several developments in Wall Street’s adoption of Bitcoin and, more broadly, crypto over the past couple of years.

Related: CLARITY Act support carries electoral boost, HarrisX poll finds

Most recently, on Tuesday, it was reported that Morgan Stanley rolled out a cryptocurrency trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, charging lower basic retail fees than some of the largest US crypto and brokerage platforms. 

The Wall Street bank is charging clients 50 basis points on the dollar value of each crypto transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood and Charles Schwab on standard retail pricing. 

Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026

Bitcoin Slips Under $80,000 As ETFs Snap Five-Day Inflow Streak

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Bitcoin Slips Under $80,000 As ETFs Snap Five-Day Inflow Streak

Tron, Cardano and Solana led weekly gains among the Top 10, while Bitcoin and Ether lagged as US spot ETF demand cooled on Thursday.

Crypto markets were mostly unchanged on Friday as Bitcoin hovered around the $80,000 level and spot ETF flows turned negative for the first time this month.

BTC is trading at $79,938, down 0.3% on the day but still up 2.1% over the past week, according to CoinGecko. Ether slipped 0.8% to $2,281, extending a weekly decline of 1.1% and continuing to lag behind Bitcoin.

BTC Chart

Tron led the Top 10 over the past week with a 7.2% gain. Cardano added 6.6%, while Solana climbed 5.7% to $89. Hyperliquid’s HYPE rose 4% to $42.61, and BNB added 3%.

ETF Flows

US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $277.5 million in net outflows on Thursday, ending a five-day run that pulled in roughly $1.69 billion in fresh capital, according to SoSoValue.

Spot Ethereum ETFs followed the same script, registering $103.52 million in outflows after a four-day inflow streak that brought in $271.6 million. The funds now hold $13.6 billion in total net assets.

Crypto Languishes as Stocks Post Records

The crypto pullback is unfolding against another bullish session in US equities. The S&P 500 climbed 0.8% to 7,395, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4% and traded above 26,000 for the first time, putting both indexes on track for a sixth straight weekly gain, the longest winning streak since October 2024.

The rally has been powered by a combination of strong corporate earnings and resilient labour data. The US added 115,000 jobs in April, well above the 65,000 expected, while unemployment held steady at 4.3%. Of the 440 S&P 500 companies that have reported first-quarter results, 83% have topped analyst estimates, with Nvidia and Apple each climbing more than 2% on the day.

The geopolitical backdrop remains volatile. The United States and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, raising fears that the fragile April 8 ceasefire could collapse, with US Central Command reporting strikes on Iranian military facilities at Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island.

Inflation and Iran Response in Focus

Traders are now turning their attention to April’s Consumer Price Index, scheduled for release on Tuesday, May 12, after March’s print of +3.3% year-on-year marked the highest annual reading since May 2024, driven by rising energy prices tied to the Middle East conflict.

Iran’s response to the latest US peace proposal could land at any moment, with Washington signalling it expects an answer today. A constructive outcome would likely cement the recent oil pullback and extend the rally, while a breakdown risks reversing the macro tailwind that has supported risk assets this week.

Batsheva Moshe Has Been Appointed GM Israel Market & EMEA Tech at Kaltura

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Batsheva Moshe Has Been Appointed GM Israel Market & EMEA Tech at Kaltura

WHY THIS MATTERS

The appointment of Batsheva Moshe as General Manager of Israel and EMEA Tech signals a pivotal moment for Kaltura as it transitions from a “video platform” to an “Agentic Digital Experience” powerhouse. This shift, announced on May 7, 2026, marks Kaltura’s aggressive pivot toward AI-driven, autonomous interactions. By recruiting Moshe—a heavy hitter from Wix Enterprise and Poalim Tech—Kaltura is signaling its intent to dominate the “human-to-machine” interaction layer across the EMEA region. This is not just a leadership change; it is the operationalization of a strategy built on recent multi-million dollar acquisitions.

Kaltura’s recent $27 million purchase of eSelf.ai and the $22 million acquisition of PathFactory provide the technical bedrock for this new era. These deals integrated multimodal conversational AI and digital journey orchestration directly into Kaltura’s infrastructure. In a 2026 market where “one-size-fits-all” digital experiences are being replaced by personalized, agentic ones, Moshe’s mandate is to take these high-fidelity AI avatars and “Genie” agents to market. Her deep connections in the Israeli tech ecosystem and her track record of scaling enterprise sales are critical for converting these advanced AI capabilities into sustainable revenue growth across marketing, sales, and employee training sectors.

Batsheva Moshe has been appointed to GM Israel market and EMEA Tech at Kaltura, the Agentic Digital Experience company. In her new role, Batsheva will lead Kaltura’s Go-To-Market operations in Israel, overseeing sales strategy, field sales, and strategic partnerships. Additionally, she will spearhead the company’s growth and expansion within the technology sector across the EMEA region.    

This appointment comes at a unique time at Kaltura which is expanding from powering video experiences for large enterprises, to powering end-to-end agentic digital experiences across organizational journeys, for customers, employees, learners, and audiences. This transformation is fueled in part by Kaltura’s recent acquisitions of eSelf.ai, which provides multimodal conversational technology for agentic interactions with live avatars, and PathFactory, a leader in AI-driven content intelligence, digital journey orchestration, and conversation automation for enterprises. Kaltura’s expanded product portfolio increases its applicability to ISVs across Israel and EMEA.  

Batsheva is an Israeli influential and respected leader across the business and social sectors. Over the past four years, she served as the General Manager for Israel, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Nordics, at Wix Enterprise. In this role, she led the enterprise regional growth strategy while managing business development, strategic partnerships, enterprise sales, and delivery teams. Alongside her executive leadership roles, Batsheva serves as a Board Member at Alony Hetz, a major publicly traded real estate investment group.  

Prior to joining Wix, Batsheva headed Poalim Tech, the dedicated tech-banking arm of Hapoalim Bank, and before that as the Chief of Staff to the Bank’s Chairman. She began her professional leadership journey as the CEO of Unistream, an award-winning NGO dedicated to bridging Israel’s geographical and social periphery by empowering youth and young adults through entrepreneurship and tech literacy.  

Complementing her extensive business career, Batsheva is deeply committed to driving socio-economic impact. She serves as the Chairperson of “Yozmot Atid”, an organization that has empowered thousands of women to achieve financial independence by establishing and scaling small businesses. Furthermore, she serves on the boards of leading educational, employment, and technology institutions, including Ofanim (promoting STEM education), Madatech (Israel’s National Museum of Science), Sapir College, Or Movement, and the ICA Philanthropic Fund, which invests in employment, agriculture and education in the periphery.  

“Batsheva brings a rare combination of strategic vision, operational excellence, and multi disciplinary experience across diverse markets, alongside a profound commitment to impact. Her leadership and proven ability to drive organizational growth, coupled with her track record in building high-performing teams, make her uniquely suited to establish and lead Kaltura’s new Go-To-Market operations in Israel and expand our footprint within the EMEA tech sector,” said Ron Yekutiel, Co-founder, President, Chairman and CEO of Kaltura. “As we continue to scale our agentic digital experience platform, her expertise at the intersection of technology, business, and impact will be instrumental in driving our next phase of growth.”  

Kaltura’s mission is to power rich, agentic digital experiences across organizational journeys for customers, employees, learners, and audiences. Its platform combines intelligent content creation, enterprise-grade content management and intelligence, and multimodal conversational engagement capabilities. Kaltura serves leading enterprises, financial institutions, educational institutions, media and telecom providers, and other organizations worldwide. 

FF NEWS TAKE

Kaltura is effectively rebranding itself as the “Operating System for AI Agents.” While competitors are still focused on basic generative text, Kaltura is betting on multimodal avatars that can “see” screens, understand context, and drive outcomes. The hire of Batsheva Moshe is a “credibility play” designed to reassure large enterprises that this high-tech transition is backed by a leader who understands the conservative requirements of the banking and real estate sectors. Moshe’s background as CEO of Unistream and Chairperson of Yozmot Atid also aligns with a broader corporate trend: the merging of high-scale tech growth with measurable socio-economic impact.

However, the challenge for Kaltura lies in the complexity of its new “Agentic” portfolio. Moving from selling video hosting to selling autonomous digital journeys requires a massive shift in sales DNA. To succeed, Moshe must build teams that can sell “outcomes” rather than “features,” proving that Kaltura’s avatars can genuinely reduce ticket resolution times and boost lead conversion as promised. With Kaltura’s shares recently soaring 30% following the eSelf.ai acquisition, the pressure is on Moshe to turn this market momentum into a dominant, long-term foothold in the EMEA technology landscape.

Lebanon and its Fintech Ecosystem Developments in 2026

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Lebanon and its Fintech Ecosystem Developments in 2026

Despite current challenges in the region, what has been the ecosystem of fintech been like in 2026 for the Middle East nation of Lebanon?

Lebanon has occupied a complicated place in the Middle East’s economic imagination. It has long combined entrepreneurial energy, banking sophistication and diaspora capital with political fragility, periodic conflict and, in recent years, one of the world’s most severe financial collapses. Through previous analysis and coverage, the country’s fintech ecosystem was developing not in spite of crisis, but partly because of it.

In 2026 that remains true. Lebanon’s fintech and wider digital ecosystem is still constrained, uneven and trust-deficient, yet it is also more active, more payments-focused and more institutionally relevant than it was a few years ago.

The macroeconomic backdrop remains difficult. The World Bank’s Lebanon data page shows gross domestic product (GDP) at over $20billion and GDP per capita at roughly $3,478. Saying that, the World Bank’s 2026 macro note points to nominal GDP of over $30billion and GDP per capita over $5,200 for last year. This is a reflection of inflation, exchange-rate effects and the unusual structure of Lebanon’s crisis-era economy rather than a straightforward return to prosperity.

Services still dominate the economy, with trade, tourism, real estate, finance, and remittance-linked consumption playing central roles. Beirut remains the country’s financial hub, and despite the banking sector’s collapse in public trust, institutions such as BLOM Bank and Bank Audi remain among the best-known names in the market.

Fintech ecosystem during times of crisis

Beirut – the capital and largest city of Lebanon IMAGE SOURCE GETTY

That wider backdrop helps explain why Lebanon’s fintech ecosystem this year is best understood as a pragmatic, crisis-shaped market rather than a conventional startup success story. The World Bank noted in its 2024 Lebanon Systematic Country Diagnostic that electronic wallet services were authorised in 2021 and that several licensed non-bank payment providers now operate in the market.

Since then, digital wallets, payment processors and merchant-enablement platforms have become more visible, even as deeper fintech verticals such as wealthtech or open banking remain underdeveloped. In practical terms, Lebanon now has a small but meaningful fintech layer built around wallets, merchant payments, processing, remittances and financial access tools. It has seen even digital currencies such as cryptocurrencies play a large role in daily life, driving mainly in the instability of the financial system in recent memory.

If there is a defining story here, it is payments. Banque du Liban (the country’s central bank) has continued to regulate and formalise the sector, including through its January 2026 Basic Circular No. 1 on electronic payment service providers, which set out licensing categories, annual fees and operational requirements for payment institutions. This matters because, in Lebanon, digital finance is not yet primarily about full-spectrum neobanking. It is about rebuilding transactional capability in a country where the traditional banking system lost credibility after 2019. The Banque du Liban is therefore trying to create a more structured payment-services environment, even while wider banking-sector restructuring remains unresolved.

The market is also producing some identifiable fintech and fintech-adjacent players. For example, MyMonty has positioned itself as a multi-currency digital wallet in Lebanon offering transfers, payments and access to credit products. In July last year, Mastercard and MyMonty announced a collaboration to accelerate digital payment adoption and financial inclusion in Lebanon.

Besides MyMonty, there is also PinPay, which is listed by Lebanon’s Ministry of Economy as a licensed mobile payment service owned and operated by Bank Audi and BankMed. There is also, Areeba, which continues to play an important infrastructure role by enabling banks, fintechs, governments and businesses to enter the digital payments space.

Financial and digital inclusion

Financial inclusion, however, remains one of Lebanon’s weakest metrics. Based on the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025, in 2024 only 23 per cent of adults in Lebanon had an account with a bank, financial institution or mobile money. This was up only 2 percentage points (21 per cent) in 2021. That is extraordinarily low for a country once known for banking sophistication. The problem is not simply infrastructure; it is trust. Years of frozen deposits, currency collapse and institutional failure have deeply damaged confidence in formal finance. Fintech in Lebanon is therefore operating in a paradox: it is needed precisely because the traditional system failed, but it must also grow in a market where faith in formal financial intermediation has been badly eroded.

Beyond private-sector fintech, Lebanon’s wider digital transformation agenda has moved forward this year. This past January, the World Bank approved a $150million Lebanon Digital Acceleration Project as part of a broader $350million financing package, with the project designed to improve access to government services, expand economic opportunities, and strengthen digital platforms and data capabilities. That matters because fintech growth in Lebanon will depend not just on wallets and merchants, but on broader digital infrastructure, public-sector platforms and a more secure enabling environment. The project also aligns with the country’s longer-term digital transformation agenda, which has increasingly framed digital public services as part of economic recovery rather than a separate reform track.

Still, Lebanon’s 2026 story cannot be separated from politics and security. The renewed war between Israel and Hezbollah was pushing Lebanon’s fragile state and society towards breaking point, deepening sectarian and political fractures. Much of the Middle East, and the global economy for that matter, has felt the effects of the wider conflict with Iran. However, Lebanon has also faced much of the brunt.

That is what makes Lebanon’s fintech story so unusual. It is not a tale of clean growth curves or orderly reform. It is a story of adaptation under pressure. This sees the likes of digital wallets, payment processors and digital public infrastructure trying to fill some of the gaps left by a broken financial system and a fragile state.

Lebanon’s relevance lies not in market scale, but in the intensity of the problems its innovators are trying to solve. The country’s fintech ecosystem remains constrained, but it is no longer peripheral. It has become part of the country’s survival logic. In summary, Lebanon’s next phase will depend less on hype and more on whether digital finance can help rebuild everyday trust, access and institutional credibility.

ECB’s Lagarde: Euro Stablecoins Aren’t the Answer, Build Public Infrastructure Instead

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ECB’s Lagarde: Euro Stablecoins Aren’t the Answer, Build Public Infrastructure Instead

The President of the European Central Bank spoke against EUR-pegged stablecoins at the inaugural Banco de España LatAm Economic Forum today.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde spoke out against the development of EUR-pegged stablecoins in a speech earlier today, May 8, at the inaugural Banco de España LatAm Forum in Spain.

Lagarde argues that stablecoins perform two distinct functions: a monetary one, extending a currency’s global reach, and a technological one, enabling settlement in tokenized financial markets. In her speech, the ECB President said that conflating functions would lead Europe toward the wrong solution.

On the monetary side, Lagarde argued that EUR stablecoins aren’t an efficient way to increase euro dominance:

“If we want to strengthen the international appeal of the euro, stablecoins are not an efficient way of doing so.”

She argued that the risks to financial stability and monetary policy transmission outweigh any short-term gains, pointing to USDC’s brief depeg during the 2023 Silicon Valley Bank collapse as an example of risk to financial stability.

On the technology side, Lagarde expressed skepticism toward making stablecoins, which she also referred to as “private liabilities,” the foundation for transaction settlement. What’s needed, she argued, is public infrastructure:

“Instead, we must build the public infrastructure that will enable alternative instruments, such as stablecoins and other forms of tokenised money, to operate within a framework anchored by central bank money.”

Lagarde acknowledged the efficiencies of using blockchain, referred to in the speech as DLT (distributed ledger technology), especially for tokenization, arguing that the technology is “reshaping monetary demand and transforming settlement infrastructure.”

Instead of stablecoins, the ECB President refers to a future in which “central bank money is available natively on-chain,.” While the speech doesn’t explicity refer to a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the wording appears to be referring to something similar, a wholesale central bank settlement layer available natively on distributed ledgers, via the ECB’s Pontes and Appia projects. In that setup, private instruments like stablecoins and tokenized deposits operate on top of a central bank anchor rather than replacing it.

The speech lands as dollar-denominated stablecoins continue to overwhelm their euro rivals. As The Defiant reported, euro-pegged stablecoins ended 2025 at just 0.18% of total stablecoin supply, even as the broader market crossed $310 billion.

MiCA, which brought a broad crypto regulatory framework to the EU, including for stablecoins, reshaped the European market but didn’t close the gap with dollar tokens.

Friday’s remarks from the ECB President extend a running ECB concern: the bank has previously warned about stablecoins threatening financial stability, arguing that a loss of confidence in stablecoin redemptions could trigger a fire sale of reserve assets and destabilize the U.S. Treasury market.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

CFI Advances Latin America Expansion with new Brazil Central Bank License

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CFI Advances Latin America Expansion with new Brazil Central Bank License

CFI Financial Group, a global provider of online trading services, has officially received regulatory authorization from the Banco Central do Brasil. The approval allows the firm to operate as a fully licensed securities brokerage firm, known locally as a Corretora de Títulos e Valores Mobiliários.

The newly acquired license enables CFI to provide Brazilian investors with access to a diverse suite of financial instruments, which includes equities and fixed-income securities.

According to the company, this milestone marks its strategic entry into one of Latin America’s most prominent financial markets. It also reinforces CFI’s broader strategy of scaling its global footprint through regulated, locally established operations.

Capitalising on a maturing market
Ziad Melhem, CEO of CFI Financial Group

Brazil currently stands as the largest economy in Latin America and hosts one of the region’s most sophisticated capital markets. The country’s main stock exchange, B3, boasts over 5 million active traders and investors. Over the past five years, retail participation in the country has grown steadily, representing structural, long-term engagement with daily trading volumes reaching billions of reais.

To cater to this evolving market demand, CFI’s local integration strategy includes:

  • Delivering institutional-grade execution and access for traders and investors.

  • Building a dedicated local operating structure featuring Brazilian leadership and specialized client service.

  • Establishing strategic partnerships with local fintechs and content platforms.

  • Providing highly localized educational content, including Portuguese-language research, market insights, and financial literacy initiatives.

Ziad Melhem, CEO of CFI Financial Group, highlighted the strategic importance of the region.

“Brazil represents an important pillar in our global expansion, and this step reflects our focus on building a strong, licensed, and locally grounded presence,” Melhem said. “The market has reached a level of maturity where clients are looking for more than access; they are looking for depth, transparency and a platform that can support more sophisticated trading needs.”

Melhem added that the firm is grateful to the Banco Central do Brasil for its support and its dedication to fostering a robust financial ecosystem.

A growing global footprint

With this latest authorization, CFI Financial Group now holds 15 regulatory licenses worldwide. Its operations span multiple stringent regulatory frameworks globally, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, the Capital Market Authority (CMA) in the UAE, and CySEC in Cyprus.

Established in 1998, the online trading broker currently operates from key international locations including London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Bogotá.

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