The $1.6 billion-asset institution says it has simply outgrown its old moniker.

Its modifications aim to help two government-sponsored mortgage investors manage risk and rebuild capital while retaining enough flexibility to fulfill their affordable housing missions, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s acting director, Sandra Thompson.

The firms are working to make this subset of cryptocurrency — which is designed to avoid wild swings in valuation — easier to adopt and more useful for routine transactions by focusing on "last mile, or user experience layer," says Jeremy Allaire, Circle's CEO.

Cloud-hosted systems add flexibility to develop payment and lending services that aren't possible on legacy platforms. “We want to develop products that suit our customers rather than what our core provider tells us to provide,” said Samantha Pause, chief marketing and benefit officer at Mascoma Bank in New Hampshire.

Brad Bolton, incoming chairman of the Independent Community Bankers of America, wants the advocacy group to push back against overly broad policymaking and credit unions' tax status, while opening the door to cannabis banking.

The M&A surge promises to improve the services fintechs offer to many banks. But it's also creating a new class of full-service competitors.