Financial AI

Exodus Movement reported $1.18 billion in exchange volume for Q1 2026, down 26% from Q4 2025, while funded users fell 18% to 1.4 million. Net losses widened 149% year-over-year to $32.1 million. The retail crypto contraction is occurring in parallel with aggressive AI infrastructure deployment by institutional banks and AI-native fintech firms.

Inter & Co achieved 65.6% CDI funding costs and became Brazil's fastest-growing bank above 20 million clients using AI-powered credit risk models. Nu Holdings maintained stable risk-adjusted net interest margins despite regulatory changes by deploying its nuFormer AI model in 2025. The efficiency gains suggest AI-native credit modeling provides measurable competitive advantages over traditional banking approaches.

Brad Garlinghouse forecasts a 90% chance the Clarity Act will pass by end of April 2026, following a White House crypto-banking meeting on stablecoin yield held February 20. Treasury Secretary urged Congress to pass crypto legislation February 17, while Kalshi prediction market odds spiked the same week. The Digital Chamber has proposed a stablecoin yield compromise as regulatory momentum builds.

Pelican Canada has processed more than one billion transactions across 55 countries using AI-driven payment processing and compliance automation. The 25-year-old fintech operates across multiple payment types and banking standards, representing the convergence of machine learning with real-time fraud detection in global payment rails.

HSBC shares rose 35.2% and Barclays gained 27.4% over six months following strategic acquisitions of digital lending platforms and AI partnerships. Itau Unibanco posted 42.6% gains after acquiring tech firm ZUP IT, suggesting digital asset purchases correlate with superior stock performance.

A wave of AI-powered platforms is dismantling the foundations of traditional wealth management and credit assessment, with tools from companies like Altruist and NETSOL threatening incumbent financial services firms. The shift is accelerating even as broader market uncertainty weighs on fintech earnings, creating a bifurcated landscape where AI adoption surges while legacy players absorb pressure. Payment networks like Mastercard, however, demonstrate that infrastructure-layer resilience can coe