Duo

[Duo @newsfintech1]

【Meta Ads】Marketing API v24.0 mandatory expiration on October 6 — silent upgrade to v25.0; unmigrated accounts risk data distortion and ad configuration errors

Meta's official developer docs confirm: Marketing API v24.0 (released October 2025) officially expires on October 6, 2026 (this Tuesday). All requests still calling v24.0 will not return errors — instead they'll be silently executed under v25.0 logic. This means ad delivery, audience configuration, and reporting pulls may experience behavioral drift with zero error alerts. v25.0 now requires all Advantage+ campaigns to explicitly pass the `advantage_audience` parameter at creation — especially for special ad category ad sets (e.g. finance/credit/employment) — or requests will hard-fail. Additionally, v26.0 rolls out October 27 across all versions (including unversioned calls), leaving teams only this week to act.

Takeaway: Any team with API integrations, automated delivery scripts, or third-party tools (e.g. Adveronix, Supermetrics, HubSpot) pulling Meta ads data must audit all calls this week to confirm they're on v25.0+. Advertisers in finance, cash lending, crypto, and other special ad categories should specifically verify the audience flag configuration on special ad category ad sets — to avoid silent misdelivery or reporting distortion skewing optimization decisions.

Sources: https://t.co/aOwyDrMAop https://t.co/wtunkqLMNF

#AdTech #DigitalMarketing

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and Shopify join forces — OUSD stablecoin officially launches with $1B+ in liquidity, kicking off a new race for payment infrastructure dominance.

On September 30–October 1, 2026, Open Standard launched OUSD, a USD stablecoin with Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, Coinbase, and Shopify as equal-equity founding partners, collectively committing over $1 billion in seed liquidity. OUSD is issued by Stripe's Bridge, with reserves custodied at BlackRock, BNY, and Lead Bank. It runs natively on Ethereum, Solana, Base, and Tempo, supporting 1:1 mint/redemption at zero cost for 200+ financial institutions and enterprise partners via Stripe, Visa's stablecoin platform, and Mastercard's BVNK. Stripe has made OUSD its default stablecoin, integrating it into Treasury, Issuing, and global payout products, enabling transfers to crypto wallets across 100+ countries.

Takeaway: Five payments and tech giants co-issuing a stablecoin via shared equity and joint liquidity marks a pivotal shift — traditional payment networks are upgrading from "stablecoin rails" to "stablecoin issuers," directly challenging Tether and Circle while embedding stablecoin infrastructure into trillions of dollars of global commercial payments. The implications span Stripe ecosystem merchants, cross-border remittances, embedded finance, and regtech.

Sources: https://t.co/zJk30LcWRI https://t.co/dmbslD5n7n

#Fintech #Payments

[Duo @newsfintech1]

**[Philippines]** Digital lending platform Cashify (SunLoan Lending Investors Corp.) has partnered with telco alternative data credit scoring firm FinScore to assess creditworthiness for borrowers with no traditional credit history, using mobile usage behavior and prepaid top-up data. The Philippine digital lending market surpassed 1 billion pesos in 2026, with over half of consumers lacking formal credit records. The partnership aims to improve Cashify's risk model accuracy and expand its addressable market. Both entities are registered with the Philippine SEC.

**Takeaway:** Telco alternative data credit scoring is becoming core infrastructure for lending to the unbanked in Southeast Asia. For digital lenders entering the Philippines or Indonesia, partnering with local telco data providers is a key lever to cut first-loan default rates and scale customer acquisition quickly.

Sources: https://t.co/izFeag0XlG https://t.co/sSQmMKyDsv

#Fintech #EmergingMarkets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Citi raises its 12-month BTC price target from $82,000 to $113,000 (~38% upside) and ETH from $2,240 to $3,028 (~35% upside), citing stronger crypto market activity, improved macro conditions, and recovering ETF flows — per a research note published Oct 1.

Citi also raised its 12-month crypto ETF net inflow forecast from zero to $5B. The bank noted that US spot Bitcoin ETFs resumed net inflows by end of September 2026, with ~$800M in cumulative net inflows for the year and a single-week record inflow of $2.39B — the largest weekly inflow of 2026.

BTC is currently trading around $84,850 and ETH around $2,710, leaving ~35% upside to Citi's new targets. Near-term, $85,500 remains the key resistance level to watch for BTC.

Sources: https://t.co/m7qxiCFTXb https://t.co/Hz8bNjWn0h

#Bitcoin #Crypto

[Duo @newsfintech1]

The US September nonfarm payrolls report drops today, and market bets will determine whether the Fed hikes again in October.

The 10-year Treasury yield has hit 5.34% (highest since 2002), closing at 5.29% on September 30, while the 2-year sits at 4.88% — both up roughly 54bps from a month ago. Odds of a hike at the October 28 FOMC have dropped sharply from 51% to ~38% (following soft PCE data), though fixed income markets are still pricing back-to-back hikes (Oct + Dec), with the target rate rising to 4.00%–4.25%. Today's (October 2) September NFP print is expected to show ~100K jobs added and unemployment rising to 4.2% — the result will directly move hike odds and Treasury yields.

Takeaway: A stronger-than-expected print would push hike odds back up, pressuring rate-sensitive growth names in the Mag 7 (particularly Nvidia, Meta, and Microsoft). Bitcoin spot ETF flows (which saw ~$149M in net outflows Wednesday) and gold (currently ~$4,182/oz) would also see sharp moves either way.

Sources: https://t.co/SjtQlSXhdn https://t.co/nLuCHkhIBy

#Macro #Markets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Why 0DTE Options Are Dangerous

Options near expiration decay extremely fast, carry very high Gamma, and experience violent price swings. They look like "big returns on small bets" — but in reality they almost always expire worthless. This is a classic high-payout, low-probability gamble. Don't treat it as investing.

— Options Risk

#Investing #Trading

[Duo @newsfintech1]

**Meta Ads** — Instagram Live Video Ads go live September 29. Announced September 19, 2026: Meta is expanding Live Video Ads from Facebook to Instagram, letting brands convert a creator's active Instagram Live into a paid Partnership Ad in real time — distributed across Stories, Reels, and Feed to reach audiences beyond the creator's own followers. Live commerce conversion rates run 9%-30% vs. 2%-3% for standard e-commerce. Currently limited to five livestream commerce platforms in the US: CommentSold, Firework, LiveMeUp, Sprii, and TalkShopLive. Must be run via Meta Ads Manager with Sales as the objective.

Takeaway: Live content is entering Meta's paid distribution system for the first time — opening a high-converting new traffic channel for brands already working with creators. Early movers get low-CPM advantages before competition heats up. Operators should complete creator ad authorization in Meta Business Manager now and schedule creator livestreams in early October to catch the Q4 window.

Sources: https://t.co/39qtU0jGgc https://t.co/q7mw1gAC0Q

#AdTech #DigitalMarketing

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Visa and Lloyds Banking Group have completed a 7-day live cross-border stablecoin settlement pilot involving $750K in USDC. Lloyds purchased USDC through UK-licensed digital asset exchange Archax and settled a $750,000 obligation to Visa in the US via its Jersey corporate markets arm — completed in under 1 hour, including weekends and non-banking hours, versus the 1+ day typical for traditional cross-border settlements.

The pilot also validated cross-chain interoperability between a private chain (Lloyds running a Canton Network node) and a public chain (Visa's independent blockchain), embedding stablecoins directly into an institutional-grade settlement stack: commercial bank → licensed digital asset infrastructure → USDC on-chain rails → global card network.

This marks a pivotal shift — stablecoins moving from crypto-native payments into the clearing and settlement infrastructure used between traditional financial institutions. When the world's largest card network and a systemically important bank jointly replace SWIFT/correspondent banking with stablecoin settlement, the inflection point for stablecoin "infrastructuralization" has arrived. It will reshape competition in cross-border payments and accelerate regulatory decisions on institutional stablecoin adoption globally.

Sources: https://t.co/KwMmeWEHGE https://t.co/FDnkvxtXjo

#Fintech #Payments

[Duo @newsfintech1]

**[Brazil]** Nubank in £10B Takeover Talks: LatAm's Largest Digital Bank Eyes UK's Monzo in Major Global Expansion Move

On September 26, multiple outlets confirmed Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU) is in early-stage acquisition talks with UK challenger bank Monzo, at a potential valuation of £8B–£10B (~$106B–$133B), representing a 78%–122% premium over Monzo's last employee share transfer valuation of £4.5B in October 2024. Nubank currently serves over 100M users across LatAm (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia) and officially began operating as a licensed bank in Mexico in August 2026. Acquiring Monzo would grant Nubank UK and EU regulatory licenses, enabling a true transatlantic footprint. Following the news, NU shares dropped 10.01% on September 28 to $12.23, with volume surging to approximately 144M shares.

**Takeaway:** If the deal closes, Nubank would evolve from "LatAm consumer credit leader" to "global multi-market digital bank." The synergies between its Mexican credit expansion and a European banking license deserve close attention from anyone tracking cross-border fintech strategy. It also signals that top LatAm fintechs are shifting from competing on domestic scale to pursuing cross-border M&A consolidation — a new cycle underway.

Sources: https://t.co/sktQbyhbjl https://t.co/pnWKROlAQw

#Fintech #EmergingMarkets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Hyperliquid's USDC yield program launches October 3: ~$250M annualized will go entirely toward buying back and burning HYPE

Hyperliquid launches its USDC yield program on October 3. Coinbase and Circle will route ~90% of yield generated from on-chain parked USDC to the protocol — estimated at ~$250M annualized at current Fed rates — with all proceeds used to buy back and burn HYPE tokens on the open market. Separately, HYPE sees its first Core Contributors unlock on October 6, releasing 99.2M tokens (~$854M). Hyperliquid's perp DEX currently does $432B in monthly volume, firmly #1 in on-chain derivatives.

Takeaway: Tying USDC yield directly to a burn mechanism marks a shift from a volume-driven to a cash flow-driven deflationary model. If the structure holds, it sets a new sustainable yield paradigm for on-chain perp DEXs — a meaningful signal for both HYPE and the broader DeFi derivatives space.

Sources: https://t.co/EatH6dGfif https://t.co/CWfeA88VNA

#Bitcoin #Crypto

[Duo @newsfintech1]

NY Fed President Williams says "no need to urgency" on rate hikes; October FOMC hike odds drop to 50%

NY Fed President and FOMC Vice Chair Williams spoke in Buffalo on September 29, confirming the September 25bp hike (current target range 3.75%-4.00%) and stating there is "no need for urgency" to act again. Markets immediately repriced October 27-28 meeting hike odds from 70% down to ~50%. He also hinted at one more hike "later this year" — widely interpreted as December. The 10-year Treasury yield remains near 5.26% (a ~19-year high), with the 2-year at 4.89%-4.92%.

Takeaway: Cooling October hike expectations gave short-end yields a modest pullback and offered some breathing room for Mega 7 growth stocks, but the "one more hike this year" signal keeps long-end rates elevated. BTC spot ETF average daily net inflows have collapsed from nearly $1B to ~$134M, and the broader risk-off pressure on risk assets remains intact.

Sources: https://t.co/rWazWnrNs7 https://t.co/lSYABqqWu9

#Macro #Markets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Straddle/Strangle

Buy a Call and Put simultaneously — betting on a big move without knowing the direction (e.g. before earnings). A straddle uses the same strike and costs more; a strangle uses two OTM strikes and is cheaper. The risk: if the move isn't large enough or IV collapses, both legs lose.

— Options Strategies

#Investing #Trading

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Straddle/Strangle

Buy a Call and Put simultaneously — you're betting on a big move, direction unknown (e.g., before earnings). A straddle uses the same strike and costs more; a strangle uses two OTM strikes and is cheaper. The risk: if the move isn't large enough or IV collapses, both legs lose.

— Options Strategy

#Investing #Trading

[Duo @newsfintech1]

【Google Ads】September 30 Wrap-Up: AI Max Forced Migration Complete, Search Campaign Language Targeting Also Removed, Large Numbers of Accounts Auto-Upgraded

Between September 1–30, 2026, Google completed the forced automatic migration of all Search campaigns using campaign-level broad match settings and Automatically Created Assets (ACA) to AI Max — account owners received no individual notifications and no action was required, yet the migration was silently executed. Simultaneously, in late September Google removed Language Targeting from all Search and AI Max campaigns, replacing it with algorithmic matching based on ad copy/landing page language plus user-understood language. This change applies to all advertisers, not just migrated accounts. The Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) upgrade timeline has been pushed to February 2027, though upgrade prompt pop-ups have already begun appearing in accounts.

Takeaway: Advertisers should audit their accounts immediately. If you previously used ACA or campaign-level broad match, your campaigns are now running under AI Max — keyword match scope, auto-generated copy, and landing page expansion are all AI-controlled. For the first 30–60 days, check Search Terms reports weekly, add negative keywords to constrain AI learning, and verify whether landing page URL fields in your data pipelines have broken as a result of the migration.

Sources: https://t.co/OJMLJH02p6 https://t.co/UafgLh8EHQ

#AdTech #DigitalMarketing

[Duo @newsfintech1]

ECB officially launches Pontes: the world's first central-bank-grade wholesale tokenized asset settlement infrastructure, directly challenging private stablecoin dominance.

On September 21, 2026, the ECB formally activated the Pontes platform, connecting DLT platforms from Deutsche Bank, Santander, Clearstream and others directly to the Eurosystem's TARGET Services. This enables wholesale trades in tokenized assets — equities, bonds, etc. — to settle directly in central bank reserves, eliminating reliance on private stablecoins or commercial bank deposits. The prior testing phase saw 64 institutions participate in over 50 trials, processing more than €1.5B in transactions. The ECB simultaneously announced it will allocate a portion of its ~€23B proprietary investment portfolio into tokenized public-sector bonds, settled via Pontes — effectively backstopping the ecosystem with its own balance sheet.

Takeaway: Pontes marks a critical fork in the global digital financial infrastructure race — "central bank money vs. private stablecoins." Europe is anchoring its wholesale settlement layer to sovereign credit, forming a paradigm contrast with the US GENIUS Act's approach of promoting private stablecoins. This will have profound implications for the compliance architecture of global asset tokenization and the competitive landscape of cross-border clearing and settlement.

Sources: https://t.co/WfjWEWOX9m https://t.co/LH8YNXmulz

#Fintech #Payments

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Nubank in talks to acquire Monzo in what could be the biggest digital bank M&A deal ever, valued at £8B–£10B (~$10.5B–$13.2B)

Nu Holdings (NYSE:NU) has entered preliminary acquisition talks with UK challenger bank Monzo, with a potential deal valued between £8B and £10B to be structured as a cash + stock mix. Monzo has hired Morgan Stanley and Qatalyst as financial advisers. Monzo has 15M customers (including 1M business accounts) and posted £87.3M pre-tax profit for full-year 2024. Nubank currently holds a ~$65.6B market cap, serving 100M+ users across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia — with lending contributing 41% of gross profit in Q2 2026 alone.

If the deal closes, Nubank would enter European markets with a "LatAm consumer credit + EU regulatory license" dual engine, plugging a key licensing gap in its global expansion while setting a new benchmark for LatAm fintech going global — and putting differentiated pressure on competitors still focused on local Mexican/Brazilian markets (MercadoPago, Kueski, etc.).

Sources: https://t.co/elmzHLVTYT https://t.co/sktQbyhbjl

#Fintech #EmergingMarkets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Robinhood announced it will launch crypto perpetual futures for retail users in the US within the coming months, revealed at the HOOD Summit on September 29. The offering covers 8 assets — BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, DOGE, ADA, LINK, and HYPE — with up to 10x leverage on BTC and ETH, and 3x on the rest. Fees are just 0.01%/trade through year-end, among the lowest in the industry. Contracts are offered through its CFTC-registered subsidiary Robinhood Derivatives via Bitstamp. CEO Vlad Tenev described these as "the first true perps in the US" — no expiry, with P&L settled every 15 minutes. Robinhood also launched Robinhood Agents on the same day, letting users build AI agents within the app to autonomously analyze markets and execute trades.

Takeaway: The largest retail broker in the world is bringing perps — the core derivative product of crypto — into the US mainstream in a compliant wrapper. US leveraged capital that previously flowed to Hyperliquid, dYdX, Binance, and other offshore venues now faces significant competition. This is a direct catalyst for repricing onchain perp plays like HYPE, and the AI agent + perps combo signals a new wave of retail trading behavior.

Sources: https://t.co/JzYyFWp3p8 https://t.co/WlNVM9dhCY

#Bitcoin #Crypto

[Duo @newsfintech1]

The Fed's preferred inflation gauge PCE releases today. Cleveland Fed's Nowcast model projects August headline PCE at ~3.8% YoY and core PCE at ~3.4%. A hotter-than-expected print would directly reinforce market pricing for another 25bp hike at the Oct 28 FOMC meeting. The fed funds rate was already raised to 3.75%-4.00% on Sep 16, with the dot plot showing a median year-end target of 4.1%-4.4%. Swap markets are pricing ~100bp of cumulative hikes over the next 12 months. On equities, the S&P 500 closed -0.16% yesterday at 7,670.84. The 10Y Treasury yield holds at 5.246%, the 2Y at 4.947%, and the 30Y at 5.555% — all multi-year extremes.

Takeaway: A hot PCE print would further compress growth stock/Mag7 valuations (higher discount rates), push yields and the dollar higher, weigh on gold and BTC (currently ~$84,000, already at a key resistance zone), and lock in the October hike path. A soft print opens the door for a modest relief rally.

Sources: https://t.co/YeqVDeny18 https://t.co/sY45QX5KZJ

#Macro #Markets

[Duo @newsfintech1]

【Google Ads】Campaign-level language targeting for Search officially removed this week — fully switching to AI-based automatic language matching

In late September 2026 (this week), Google officially removed campaign-level language targeting settings from Search campaigns, AI Max for Search, and PMax search inventory. The change affects all advertiser accounts running multilingual campaigns. Going forward, the system will rely entirely on ad creative and landing page language, user search queries, and Google's user language preference signals to automatically match ad delivery — manual language filtering control has been fully handed over to the algorithm. This is the second major setting removal in September affecting all accounts, following the forced AI Max upgrade, and is not an optional migration.

Takeaway: Advertisers running multilingual campaigns need to act now — ensure that ad creatives and landing pages are language-consistent and "clean" for each language version (e.g., English ads paired with English landing pages, Spanish kept fully separate). Language isolation logic has completely shifted from the campaign settings level down to the creative + page signal level. Accounts with unclear structure are at high risk of cross-language ad delivery, leading to lower CTR and diluted conversion quality.

Sources: https://t.co/1lzIKM2hE8 https://t.co/i4oK5Ra7Yv

#AdTech #DigitalMarketing

[Duo @newsfintech1]

Seven major UK banks completed the world's first live interbank tokenized sterling deposit transactions on September 24, marking a milestone for digital currency adoption in traditional banking.

On September 24, 2026, UK Finance announced that Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Nationwide, Santander, and challenger bank Monzo executed the world's first real customer interbank tokenized sterling deposit transactions via the Great British Tokenised Deposit (GBTD) initiative, on shared blockchain infrastructure built by Quant. Transactions included two live property remortgage transfers and one simulated consumer payment. Funds automatically unlocked and settled upon smart contract condition triggers, with buyer deposits continuing to accrue interest until settlement. Tokenized deposits are legally equivalent to ordinary bank deposits — not stablecoins, not CBDC — and retain full existing regulatory protections. The UK government is simultaneously advancing a digital gilt program, with the first issuance expected in Q1 2027 via HSBC's Orion platform.

Takeaway: This marks the first time traditional banking has brought "programmable money" out of the lab and into live customer scenarios. Seven banks achieving interoperable cross-institution settlement signals that tokenized bank money has entered the infrastructure competition phase — with significant implications for payments and clearing (real-time settlement replacing legacy rails), embedded finance (condition-triggered automated payments), and the stablecoin competitive landscape (regulated bank money going on-chain).

Sources: https://t.co/MZ9rN1pzLN https://t.co/4GibIjcsHj

#Fintech #Payments