AstroPay Platform is now open to all businesses, offering the same embedded finance infrastructure that powers its consumer wallet. For the first time, any company—fintech or not—can build and launch their own global financial products using the same infrastructure. With a single integration, businesses gain access to multicurrency infrastructure with native support for major currencies and real-time foreign exchange, local accounts and payment rails like PIX (Brazil), CVU (Argentina), IBANs (Europe), and UK sort codes, and card issuing and management for virtual and physical cards powered by Visa or Mastercard. Businesses can also accept AstroPay via its proprietary checkout, enabling one-click payments and in-app promotion. The platform includes a regulatory compliance framework with KYC, AML, sanctions screening, fraud detection, and licensing across jurisdictions. Real-time processing and APIs allow seamless deployment and customization, with modular APIs enabling fast go-live. Key use cases include retailers and consumer apps embedding wallets and prepaid cards; regional fintechs expanding globally with international accounts and cross-border payments; e-commerce platforms localizing buyer and seller experiences; content platforms offering instant earnings access; and payroll platforms automating payouts in local currency. AstroPay Platform helps businesses scale financial products globally with speed, trust, and flexibility.
Cryptocurrency conversion APIs are increasingly being used by developers offering multi-chain coverage, faster data refresh rates, and predictive analytics
Cryptocurrency conversion APIs are increasingly being used by developers and enthusiasts to access real-time and historical exchange rate data for applications like portfolio trackers, trading bots, and financial dashboards. These APIs are essential for streamlining operations in the fast-paced crypto market. Popular free APIs include CoinGecko, CoinMarketCap, CryptoCompare, CoinCap, and CCXT. When choosing a free API, developers should evaluate factors such as data coverage, frequency of updates, sourcing mechanisms, documentation quality, uptime reliability, and compliance with terms of service. Integration of these APIs is typically straightforward, involving HTTP requests to specified endpoints to fetch structured data in JSON or XML format. They can be used in various advanced applications, including real-time portfolio tracking, cross-border payment conversions, market trend analysis, and AI-driven analytics tools. The ecosystem for free crypto APIs is evolving with growing demand for multi-chain coverage, faster data refresh rates, and predictive analytics. Token Metrics offers an API that combines real-time price data with on-chain insights and trading signals, supporting the development of more intelligent crypto applications. However, users should always review the terms of service of any API before deployment, particularly if intending to use the data for commercial purposes.
Study: Embedded finance lifts conversion, basket size and repeat purchases; but only 53% rate providers’ CX as strong, exposing support and scalability gaps to address
Major UK brands with an annual average revenue of over £100M are seeing a positive business impact from deploying embedded finance, according to a new study from NatWest Boxed. The report, finds that 80% of brands have reported improved business outcomes following their rollout of embedded finance. The most common outcome is increased customer conversion rates, followed by improved loyalty, positive customer feedback, and repeat purchases. Brands were found to offer a diverse range of embedded finance products. While point-of-sale credit was the most popular product, offered by 62% of those surveyed, surprisingly, savings accounts, insurance, and merchant wallets were almost as popular, despite not being products commonly associated with embedded finance. When asked to rank their needs from a provider, brands rank customer excellence as the priority over operational and technical excellence. However, only 53% of brands say that ‘customer excellence’ applies to their current provider. While 90% of brands that launched an embedded finance product saw a rise in customer support enquiries, only 38% of brands say that their provider offered customer support that was as good as their own. In addition, only 46% of brands believe that their current provider will be able to handle increased customer intake without delays or downtime. 99% of brands said that they were satisfied with their provider’s current approach to risk, and almost all brands had confidence that their provider met new Consumer Duty regulations (84%). However, 75% said that they had concerns about future compliance and regulatory requirement support. With new regulation for Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) expected to come into effect in 2026, this may require brands to seek reassurance regarding future compliance.
Starting this year, Plaid will power an increasing portion of Xero’s US bank feed sources to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States
Xero announced a strategic partnership with Plaid, a financial data network, to eventually triple the number of high-quality bank feeds available to customers in the United States. This partnership will significantly improve these business owners’ access to reliable bank connections, giving them a clearer, real-time view of their finances which, in turn, will empower them to make more informed decisions, supporting their growth, their employees, and the communities they serve. This partnership gives Xero’s customers access to more than a thousand secure, direct connections through Plaid’s expansive network of US financial institutions, delivering better reliability, data quality, and peace of mind for small businesses. Starting this year, Plaid will power an increasing portion of Xero’s US bank feed sources, offering customers more dependable connections to their financial data. “This partnership with Plaid is expected to supercharge bank connections. It will provide more robust integrations and higher-quality information from a wide range of financial institutions including smaller banks and credit unions. This will in turn make managing the finances a lot smoother, more precise and successful, as well as save valuable time for small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers,” said Vikram Grover, SVP Global Partnerships for Xero.
Kira is an end-to-end, stablecoin-native infrastructure abstracting the complexity of DeFi and giving businesses a turnkey solution to launch embedded products, such as cross-border remittances, treasury automation, currency trading, import/export payments and global payroll solutions
Kira, a next-generation fintech infrastructure startup, has officially emerged from stealth mode, announcing it has hit $3 million in revenue in its first year of operations. Kira is building the first all-in-one infrastructure to launch embedded fintech products — supercharged by Vertical AI Agents and stablecoins. By abstracting the complexity of DeFi, Kira gives businesses a turnkey solution to launch embedded products, such as cross-border remittances, treasury automation, currency trading, import/export payments and global payroll solutions. Kira’s platform is the first of its kind: an end-to-end, stablecoin-native infrastructure built for scale. It includes: Universal Payment Gateway: Abstracts away complex rails into a single, AI-driven interface. Accept payments via cash, debit, ACH, or SWIFT through a white-labeled payment link; AI-Powered Treasury & Wallet Infrastructure: Let vertical agents manage yield-bearing wallets and optimize treasury across stablecoins and U.S. Treasuries — generating up to 7% yield; Agentic Compliance: Automate onboarding and regulatory workflows — from KYC/KYB to AML, VASP, and sanctions screening — with integrated APIs and customizable agent sessions; AI-Managed Instant Global Payouts: Autonomous agents can initiate global payouts in seconds — using localized payment methods that deliver directly into bank accounts in 35+ countries.
Precisely’s code-light conversational interface uses MCP to connect APIs with LLMs through natural language prompts and enables instant access to location intelligence tools and rich datasets without requiring any code
Precisely has developed a lightweight setup using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect APIs with large language model (LLM) interfaces like Claude Desktop. This approach eliminates the need for writing boilerplate code and allows for intuitive exploration of services through conversational interfaces. MCP offers a standardized method for AI applications to connect with APIs, data, and tools, enabling LLMs to dynamically decide which functions to invoke in response to user prompts. This aligns with Precisely’s goal of making it easier to integrate high-integrity data with applications and workflows. An MCP server was built to wrap all available endpoints from Precisely APIs, resulting in a code-light environment where Claude Desktop can execute API calls automatically based on a user’s request. The MCP server supports natural language prompts and enables instant access to location intelligence tools and rich datasets without requiring any code. It also helps scale the impact of data programs across the organization without adding to developer workload.
StackOne reinvent SaaS and AI agent integrations building real-time enterprise integrations with unrivalled speed, scale and 5x better accuracy
StackOne – the next-gen, AI-powered platform fuelling the future of enterprise AI agents and SaaS integrations – has raised $20 million in a Series A round led by GV (Google Ventures). StackOne is the AI-powered platform supercharging SaaS and AI developers to build real-time enterprise integrations with unrivalled speed, scale and 5x better accuracy. Its AI integrations agent connects complex enterprise APIs in days instead of weeks; freeing product teams to focus on roadmaps and scale without sacrificing security. It automatically builds use-cases on top of even the most complex APIs, connecting AI and SaaS tools to their customers’ entire tech stack in a fraction of the time, and with higher accuracy than even the most precise, leading LLMs. Through the platform, product teams get access to 3,000+ actions on 200+ connectors instantly, from HR to CRM, ticketing, messaging, and IAM. StackOne’s proprietary AI-first, enterprise-ready approach means integrations are secure and up-to-date by default, and all of this frees developers up to focus on core roadmap features and scale without sacrifice. In this way, StackOne represents an entirely new generation of integration platforms. The funding will be used to continue building StackOne’s state-of-the-art tool-calling LLM, invest in R&D, and further expand the number of integrations and depth of actions available in the StackOne platform.
MuleSoft now has features to help organizations control which APIs are made available to agents in the Salesforce ecosystem
MuleSoft is an enterprise integration platform company known for its API-centric connectivity capabilities and its low-code/no-code API lifecycle management services. The company is now extending its core platform and tools to offer an increasing number of agentic AI-facing technologies. Shari Lava, senior director for AI and automation at analyst house IDC said, “MuleSoft now has features to help organizations control which APIs are made available to agents in the Salesforce ecosystem, although that capability is of course narrowed to Salesforce-specific software implementations. In addition, MuleSoft like many integration vendors has been quick to add MCP support and works with Google’s A2A protocol (an agent-to-agent communications layer), demonstrating a responsive focus on solving barriers to AI adoption in the hopes of getting more customers agent-ready.” MuleSoft has now provided support for Model Context Protocol in Beta. A new but already widely lauded technology standard, MCP is an open protocol that enables integration between large language model applications and external data, services and tools. It enables language model and agent-based applications to communicate with each other in a consistent form. With all the focus on agentic connections, MCP provides ways for LLMs to get access to the live data flowing through external systems and their executing actions via a standardized protocol layer. MuleSoft says that because LLMs need access to the API specifications, they must be annotated with metadata that the LLMs can reason with. In other words, the freedom to build custom-aligned API technologies can actually cause incongruent complexity, so MuleSoft MCP Support (Beta) addresses these challenges.
Salt Security launches Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server enabling AI agents to discover, understand, and analyze API behavior with contextual awareness and enterprise-grade precision
Salt Security announced the launch of the Salt Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, giving enterprise teams a novel access point of interaction with their API infrastructure, leveraging natural language and artificial intelligence (AI). Built on the open MCP standard, Salt’s MCP Server enables AI agents to discover, understand, and analyze API behavior with contextual awareness and enterprise-grade precision. Salt’s MCP server creates a personal ChatGPT experience for our customers with new capabilities: Contextual API Search: Contextual search across their entire API inventory. API Explainer: Explain the use and functionality of each API in your environment so security teams can be more independent. Posture Gap Contextual Search and Analysis: Allow security teams to identify API posture gaps and misconfigurations in a free-form search. Remediation Guidance: Offers AI-driven, actionable recommendations to mitigate high-risk vulnerabilities.
Clearent’s solution enables SaaS providers to embed merchant financing from a capital as a service platform directly into their software ecosystems via a simple API or branded loan widget
Clearent by Xplor has launched Xplor Capital, an embedded financing solution for software providers and their merchants. This is made possible through a strategic partnership with Parafin, a capital as a service platform specializing in capital solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. The extension allows Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers to integrate merchant financing capabilities directly into their software ecosystems. With 67% of US small-business owners planning to pursue funding within the next 12 months, 77% are concerned about accessing capital. Xplor Capital allows software providers to offer pre-approved funding options based on sales data, fueling growth and increasing software platform engagement. Key Benefits of Xplor Capital: Frictionless Financing: Merchants receive pre-approved funding offers based on their sales volume, eliminating lengthy applications and credit checks. Embedded Growth Solution: Software providers can integrate Xplor Capital with a simple API or branded loan widget, increasing the value of their software. Increased Revenue: Businesses using financing can see a revenue boost. Predictable Transparent Repayments: Merchants repay their funding through a one-time fixed fee, and automatic deductions from a fixed percentage of sales, with no late fees or hidden interest.