🇺🇸 Elon Musk Wants X to Be Your Next Stocks & Crypto Brokerage
a16z is hunting for an AI that runs your entire financial life 🇺🇸, how Klarna turns shoppers into savers 🇸🇪, Grab buys Stash to add investing 🇸🇬, Airwallex signs San Francisco Giants 🇸🇬 & more
🇺🇸 X Will Turn Ticker Symbols Into Buy Buttons for 600 Million Users
Elon Musk’s (pictured above) social platform X is preparing to let users trade stocks and cryptocurrencies without leaving the app.
X is introducing Smart Cashtags, an interactive ticker symbols embedded in posts that allow users to tap an asset and execute a trade instantly. The rollout coincides with the external beta launch of X Money, the platform’s in-house wallet and payments system expected within weeks.
With roughly 600 million monthly active users and over one billion installs, its distribution scale is comparable to major consumer fintech platforms. Subscriptions have already crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue.
According to research done by social media marketing firm Recurepost’s 2026 data analysis, cryptocurrency is among X’s most active content categories, with an estimated 15 to 18 million daily active crypto users globally. Crypto-focused accounts average a 4.2% engagement rate against the platform average of 2.9%.
Growth metric: 15 to 18 million daily crypto users
Cryptocurrency is among X’s most active content categories, with an estimated 15 to 18 million daily active crypto users globally.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & Bloomberg
🇨🇦 Introducing Fintech Delta, a Program Aligning Fintech Startups With Institutional Clients
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🇺🇸 Andreessen Horowitz General Partner Is Hunting For An AI Agent That Can Manage Your Entire Financial Life
Andreessen Horowitz general partner Andrew Chen (pictured above) is looking to invest in a personal finance AI agent that could transform how consumers discover financial products. He wrote in a recent Linkedin post that he is looking for a startup working on “OpenClaw for personal finance”.
Chen’s post implies that OpenClaw, an AI agent that got so viral it’s causing a Mac Mini shortage in the Silicon Valley, could be managing people’s entire financial life. He envisions an AI tool that would “integrate with all your banks/cards/etc, understand tax returns and filings, monitor portfolio and competitors, digest proprietary data sources (credit card panels, app rankings, and etc), read company news and X”
OpenClaw, an open-source AI agent, can actually execute tasks autonomously, like sending emails, connecting to third-party services and booking meetings. By connecting to a user’s financial accounts, it could help consumers uncover the most suitable financial products, from credit cards to mortgages and stocks, removing fintech platforms like Credit Karma and Rocket Money from the buying journey of many consumers.
Financial services is the highest-payout sector in the $20 billion global affiliate marketing industry, according to research data from Post Affiliate Pro, and such an AI agent could change how people discover financial products. And the fact a partner from Andreessen Horowitz, a VC firm that invested in Stripe, Plaid and Robinhood, believes it’s the future, is telling.
Growth Metric: 2M visitors per week
OpenClaw, the viral open source AI agent, claims its drawing 2M visitors per week.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
🇺🇸 Airwallex Signs Multi-Year Jersey Patch Deal With San Francisco Giants to Drive US Growth
Australian payments platform Airwallex has signed a multi-year jersey patch partnership with the San Francisco Giants to accelerate customer acquisition and brand credibility in the US market.
The Giants drew 2.93 million attendees in 2025, averaging over 36,000 fans per game, according to audit data by Baseball Reference. A 2025 marketing analysis by newsletter platform Newsletter Bear puts the franchise's email reach at approximately 680,000 active subscribers, including 12,400 corporate contacts tied to suite bookings and company events.
That list skews affluent and local, with an average household income of around $127,000, with most subscribers based within 50 miles of San Francisco. Social following across English and Spanish-language accounts surpassed seven million in early 2026, extending visibility to global audiences. Beyond brand exposure, Airwallex will streamline the Giants’ own payments, billing and expense management workflows.
The Giants deal extends Airwallex’s global sports portfolio, which already includes McLaren in Formula One, Arsenal in the Premier League and the Blues in Super Rugby. CEO Jack Zhang has set a target of one million new customers over five years, with brand equity and geographic expansion identified as primary growth levers. The company established its US headquarters in San Francisco last year and is expanding its local office footprint.
Growth metric: Giants nearly 3 million annual stadium attendees
The Giants also have seven million social followers and 680,000 email subscribers, with the 12,400 corporate contacts in the Giants’ first-party database.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & NBC Sports
🇺🇸 Gen Z Investment App Hits 1M Investors, Adds Debt to Scale Paid Acquisition
US-based Gen Z investing platform Alinea Invest has surpassed one million users through founder-led social growth and is now layering debt financing to scale paid acquisition without raising new equity.
Founded by Anam Lakhani (left) and Eve Halimi (right), the wealth app skews heavily toward young women, with 92% of users female and 70% Gen Z, and an average age of 22. The company reached a $6 million net revenue run rate in 2024 with sixfold annual growth and a team of just 10, reflecting unusually efficient early acquisition.
Instead of relying on paid media, Alinea built distribution through direct creator engagement on TikTok, Instagram and community events, generating more than 550 million views under the #alineaapp tag. That founder-native channel created a large organic base before the company turned to paid growth.
Growth metric: 550 million views
The #alineaapp hagtag generated 550 million views across TikTok, Instagram and community events.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider, Forbes
🇸🇪 Klarna Is Turning 180 Million Shoppers Into Banking Customers
Swedish buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna is converting online shoppers into full banking customers at scale and the numbers are starting to show it.
The company, led by CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, already captures consumers at the moment of purchase across 966,000 merchants. Its fourth quarter 2025 earnings reveal the flywheel gaining momentum: banking customers reached 15.8 million last year, more than doubling year on year, while consumer deposits climbed 37% to $13 billion, drawn from a total base of 180 million users.
The economics of conversion are striking. Average revenue per user rises from roughly $30 across Klarna’s full base to $107 among banking customers. Transaction frequency jumps from around 10 purchases a year to 28.5, and average balances grow from $64 to $475.
Card adoption tells the same story. Active card users hit 4.2 million, up 288% year on year.
Growth metric: $13 billion in deposits
Accumulated from a payments-led acquisition model with Klarna banking customers reaching 15.8 million in 2025.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & PYMNTS
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🇸🇬 Superapp Grab Expands Into Wealth Management With $425 Million Stash Acquisition
Singapore-based superapp Grab, which offers ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital banking across Southeast Asia, has acquired US retail investing platform Stash at a $425 million valuation
Stash operates exclusively in the US, targeting small retail investors seeking long-term ETF (exchange traded funds) investing, while Grab has built digital banking presence across Southeast Asia through GX Bank in Malaysia, GXS Bank in Singapore, and Superbank in Indonesia, without yet offering investment products. Grab says it plans to explore introducing Stash in Southeast Asia longer-term, but has not committed to a timeline.
Grab, led by CEO Anthony Tan (pictured above), takes a controlling 50.1% stake in Stash, which has over one million paying subscribers and approximately $5 billion in assets under management. Central to the deal is Stash’s AI Money Coach, which drove same-day positive financial actions from approximately one in two users since its late 2024 launch. This tool could help Grab in its ambition to monetize its 50 million active users.
Grab’s financial services revenue grew 34% year on year in Q4 2025, its neobank Superbank turned profitable in Q3 2025 with 60% of users from the Grab ecosystem, and the company posted its first full-year profit of $200 million in 2025.
Growth metric: Grab's 50 million active users
The Stash acquisition could give Grab a direct path to convert its 50 million active users base into Stash subscribers
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider & Forbes
🇺🇸 Etsy Finds Higher-Value Users Through AI Agents
US-based online marketplace Etsy is attracting higher-value customers through AI assistants like ChatGPT and Google Gemini.
According to an analysis by TradingView of its Q4 2025 earnings report, orders arriving via AI recommendations carry higher average order values than traditional channels, with ChatGPT-referred purchases skewing particularly high. Agentic traffic grew approximately 15 times since 2024, though it still accounts for less than 1% of total visits.
Etsy has also co-developed Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol alongside Walmart, Target, and Wayfair, allowing US shoppers to purchase directly within Google AI Mode and Gemini, and signed an agentic payments agreement with Stripe. CEO Kruti Patel Goyal (pictured above) says early participation lets Etsy shape how its products surface inside AI experiences.
The broader trend supports the urgency, with Adobe data recording a 693% surge in referral traffic from generative AI sources during the 2025 holiday season
Growth metric: Agentic traffic grew 15X
Agentic traffic on Etsy grew 15X year over year on Q4 2025, with orders from ChatGPT skewing higher value than all other acquisition channels.
Sources: Fintech Growth Insider, TradingView & PYMNTS
🇺🇸 Fintech Ad of The Week: Chime and Jason Momoa Prove That the Best Fintech Marketing Doesn't Look Like Fintech Marketing
US-based fee-free digital bank Chime’s, which counts over 22 million customers, has been running a multi-campaign partnership with Jason Momoa and their latest spot is a good example of why it works. There is no mention of interest rates, fees or financial empowerment.
It is just Momoa goofing around with the brand and that is entirely the point. The ad is all about branding, and since it looks nothing like an ad, it's much more likely to be watched by their target audience.
Source: Fintech Growth Insider
Upcoming Fintech Events
🇺🇸 ICBA LIVE will take place from March 6 to 9, 2026, in San Diego, with speakers such as Rebeca Romero Rainey (President and CEO, Independent Community Bankers of America), Jack E. Hopkins (ICBA Chairman and President and CEO, CorTrust Bank), and Alice P. Frazier (ICBA Chairman elect and President and CEO, Potomac Bank).
🇺🇸 T3 Technology Conference will take place from March 9 to 12, 2026, in New Orleans, with speakers such as John O’Connell (Founder and CEO, The Oasis Group), Raj Madan (Chief Information Officer, AdvisorEngine), and Oleg Tishkevich (Chief Executive Officer, Invent).
🚨 GFI Exclusive Offer: Save $200 on tickets using the T3GFI200 promo code!
🇬🇧 CBC Summit Europe will take place on March 17, 2026, in London, with tickets priced between £906.43 and £1,246.53, with speakers such as Jason Allegrante (Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Fireblocks), Ajay Amlani (President and CEO, Aware, Inc.), and Sabih Behzad (Head of Digital Assets and Currencies Transformation, Deutsche Bank).
🇬🇧 Insurtech Insights Europe will take place on March 18 to 19, 2026, in London, with tickets priced between £399 and £999. Speakers include Sirma Boshnakova (Board Member), Cécile Paillard (Group Chief Transformation Officer), and Pravina Ladva (Group Chief Digital and Technology Officer).
🚨 GFI Exclusive Offer: Enjoy a 25% discount on tickets using the GFI25 promo code!
🇺🇸 Fintech Americas will take place from March 24 to 26, 2026, in Miami, with tickets priced between $795 and $2,195, with speakers such as Cristina Junqueira (Co Founder and Chief Growth Officer, Nubank), Biswa Sengupta (Managing Director for Generative AI, JPMorgan Chase), and Rohit Patel (Director, Meta Superintelligence Labs, Meta).
🚨 GFI Exclusive Offer: Enjoy a 10 percent discount on tickets using the GFI10 promo code.
🇬🇧 PAY360 will take place from March 25 to 26, 2026, in London, with speakers such as Will Marwick (Chief Executive Officer, IFX Payments), Jas Narang (Chief Transformation and AI Officer, Santander), and Saira Khan (Head of Innovation and Partnerships, First Direct Bank).
🇺🇸 InsurTech NY Spring will take place from March 30 to 31, 2026, in New York City, with tickets priced between $657 and $1,017, with speakers such as Raj Kalahasthi (Chief Information Officer, The Baldwin Group), Patrick Gallic (Head of International AI Hub, Tokio Marine), and Greg Hendrick (Chief Executive Officer, Vantage Risk).
Who Am I?
Hi, my name is Julien Brault.
From 2017 to 2024, I was the CEO of Hardbacon, a fintech I co-founded, which reached 400,000 unique visitors at its peak.
A Google update ultimately sealed the company’s fate, and I started this newsletter to keep myself busy in the aftermath.
I then launched an another fintech affiliate site called MooseMoney, but I still find the time to publish this newsletter.
Why share this?
Because my goal is to use my experience as an economic journalist, fintech entrepreneur and product manager to present the most essential fintech news from around the world through the eyes of an insider.
If you like what I do, feel free to share this newsletter and follow me on LinkedIn, X, Reddit, YouTube & TikTok.
If you would like me to accompany you on your fintech entrepreneurship journey and provide you with ongoing feedback, feel free to hire me as coach on MentorCruise.
If all you need is to pick my brain on specific topic in the field of fintech marketing, product or strategy, feel free to book a one hour consulting call with me instead.
P.S : Once you refer a new subscriber to the newsletter using your unique share link, you'll receive a personalized social media shout-out from me to promote your work or professional profile. Just write to me at jrbrault@icloud.com once your referral is confirmed on our leaderboard and include your social media account(s) URL(s) and who you are.