John Adams

While other digital payment providers have partnered with banks to improve their offerings, Circle's plan would enable it to offer regulated financial services in-house to complement its U.S. Dollar Coin cryptocurrency.

As tech giants rush into point-of-sale lending, the smaller companies that built the market are counting on acquisitions and partnerships with specialized vendors to defend their turf and pull in new borrowers.

The blockchain company's new lead on the Continent, Sendi Young, discusses its plans to foster real-time and cross-border transactions between banks and fintechs in ways that aren't possible on legacy networks.

The $29 billion purchase of the Australian installment lender would bring larger retail relationships, as well as a fast-growing product that has appeal to both consumers and merchants.

The $29 billion deal would enable Square to better compete with PayPal and Apple, and provide an opportunity to cross-sell other services to the Australian lender's global audience.

A posting for a digital currency job at Amazon stirred speculation that the e-commerce giant might begin accepting bitcoin at checkout. The company denies that — and experts say it has many other ways to make the most of its intended hire.

The card brand has been pitching itself as a testing ground for central bank digital currencies, a payment portal for stablecoins and — most recently — an accelerator for startups.

The card brand's recent deals to buy Tink and Currencycloud for a combined $3 billion are meant to give it a stronger presence in fast-growing fintech markets.

Western central banks trying to develop sovereign cryptocurrency models face pushback from lawmakers and other obstacles, while the digital yuan has a much clearer path.

These nine fintechs have made their market debuts or signaled plans to do so in the past few weeks, continuing a robust year for both IPOs and e-commerce.