Fintech: Profit Plays, Stablecoin Shifts, and Tokenized Markets (October, 2025)
October’s biggest stories — from Money20/20 to SWIFT’s blockchain pilot — all pointed to the same truth: we’re moving from experimentation to execution.
Stablecoins are stepping into the system.
Profitable infrastructure is back in favor.
And automation is finally moving money, not just talking about it.
Less hype. More proof.
Investors favored profitable infrastructure over hype, regulators moved stablecoins further into the mainstream, and product teams pushed automation from pitch decks into real payment flows.
The takeaway for founders and PMs: build for resilience and distribution. Partnerships, compliance readiness, and faster settlement are becoming the new competitive edge.
Funding and M&A: Scale Meets Survival
Investors favored profitable infrastructure and consolidation plays that simplify how fintechs move money.
Jack Henry acquires Victor Technologies
Core-banking vendor Jack Henry bought Victor Technologies to expand its Payments-as-a-Service offering and speed up embedded payments for banks and credit unions, showing how incumbents are buying rails instead of building them.1
Barion buys PSC CEE (SmartKassa)
Hungarian payments firm Barion acquired Polish PSP PSC CEE to grow merchant services and expand across Central and Eastern Europe.2
Deel raises $300 million at a $17.3 billion valuation
Payroll platform Deel closed a $300 million Series E led by Ribbit Capital and a16z, reporting profitability and $1 billion ARR despite a legal dispute with Rippling.3
Policy and Regulation: Stablecoins Step Into the System
Banks moved from watching to issuing stablecoins, signaling crypto rails’ shift into regulated finance.
SWIFT to launch blockchain-based shared ledger for 24/7 cross-border payments
SWIFT announced a shared ledger pilot with over 30 banks to enable instant, traceable international settlements.4
Major banks explore G7-pegged stablecoins
Ten global banks — including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, UBS, Barclays, TD, Santander, BNP Paribas, and MUFG — are collaborating on stablecoins tied to G7 currencies for institutional use.5
Japan’s top banks plan a joint yen-pegged stablecoin
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and Mizuho Financial Group will jointly launch a yen-pegged stablecoin under shared technical standards, with future multi-currency expansion likely.6
Product and Tech: AI Becomes the Feature, Not the Pitch
This month’s product story: faster settlement and smarter automation, as Visa and HSBC lead with real-world pilots.
Visa to pilot stablecoin pre-funding via Visa Direct
At Sibos, Visa announced a pilot using tokenized pre-funding on Visa Direct to speed cross-border settlements and reduce reconciliation delays for businesses.7
HSBC partners with Juspay to build a full-stack acquiring platform
HSBC and Juspay are launching an end-to-end acquiring and payment-gateway stack for digital-first global merchants, expanding HSBC’s fintech partnerships in Asia and beyond.8
Capital Markets and Tokenization: From Pilot to Product
Tokenized securities moved from pilot to product, signaling real equity exposure on-chain is here.
Crypto race to tokenize stocks raises investor protection flags
Firms such as Robinhood, Gemini, Kraken, and Coinbase are rapidly rolling out tokenized stock products, prompting regulators and exchanges to warn of gaps in investor protections.9
Blue Ocean pushes into blockchain-based equity offerings
Blue Ocean, an off-exchange U.S. trading platform, is expanding into blockchain-based equity offerings to enable 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks.10
Backpack adds SEC-registered tokenized U.S. equities via Superstate
Backpack is integrating Superstate’s Opening Bell to offer SEC-registered equities on-chain to non-U.S. users, providing full shareholder rights instead of synthetic exposure.11
For Founders and PMs: What to Do Next
Treat policy as product. Design for issuance, settlement, and reporting paths that assume stablecoin or shared-ledger rails will be options in 2026.
De-risk with partnerships. Where incumbents are buying rails, partner early for distribution rather than rebuilding core. Read more about how to forge successful business partnerships.
Prototype working-capital wins. If your users manage cross-currency cash, test pre-funding and instant settlement to show time-to-cash improvements.
Sources
1 “Jack Henry Acquires Victor Technologies to Expand PaaS Capabilities.” Jack Henry & Associates, Inc., Oct. 1, 2025. https://ir.jackhenry.com/news-releases/news-release-details/jack-henry-acquires-victor-technologies-expand-paas-capabilities
2 “Barion strengthens CEE presence through acquisition of SmartKassa operator PSC CEE Ltd.” PYMNTS.com, Oct. 2, 2025. https://www.pymnts.com/newswire-announcements/barion-strengthens-cee-presence-through-acquisition-of-smartkassa-operator-psc-cee-ltd/
3 “Deel hits $17.3B valuation after raising $300M from big-name VCs.” TechCrunch, Oct. 16, 2025. https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/deel-hits-17-3b-valuation-after-raising-300m-from-big-name-vcs/
4 “SWIFT Adding Blockchain-Based Shared Ledger to Infrastructure.” PYMNTS.com, Sept. 29, 2025. https://www.pymnts.com/blockchain/2025/swift-adding-blockchain-based-shared-ledger-to-infrastructure/
5 “Major banks explore issuing stablecoins pegged to G7 currencies.” Reuters, Oct. 10, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/major-banks-explore-issuing-stablecoins-pegged-g7-currencies-2025-10-10/
6 “Japan’s top banks to jointly issue stablecoin, Nikkei says.” Yahoo Finance, Oct. 17, 2025. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/japans-top-banks-jointly-issue-093903908.html
7 “Visa Direct Pilots Stablecoin Prefunding to Modernise Cross-Border Business Payments.” The Fintech Times, Oct. 12, 2025. https://thefintechtimes.com/visa-direct-pilots-stablecoin-prefunding-to-modernise-cross-border-business-payments/
8 “HSBC and Juspay partner on digital acquiring platform for global merchants.” Yahoo Finance, Oct. 17, 2025. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hsbc-juspay-partner-digital-acquiring-120414993.html
9 “Crypto race to tokenize stocks raises investor protection flags.” Reuters, Oct. 8, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/crypto-race-tokenize-stocks-raises-investor-protection-flags-2025-10-08/
10 “US platform Blue Ocean banks on tokenization of securities.” Reuters, Oct. 10, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/us-platform-blue-ocean-banks-tokenization-securities-2025-10-10/
11 “Backpack expands to SEC-registered tokenized stocks with Superstate partnership.” CoinDesk, Oct. 15, 2025. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/10/15/backpack-expands-to-sec-registered-tokenized-stocks-with-superstate-partnership/
