DeFiWarhol

Visa and Mastercard crypto neobanks might be cooked in Europe.
The EU is connecting its largest domestic payment systems into one interoperable network covering 130 million people across 13 countries.
A Wero user in France could send money directly to a Bizum user in Spain as easily as sending a text.
The biggest advantage of crypto neobanks is to make crypto spendable everywhere.
BUT, if European users are able to move money instantly across borders and eventually pay merchants directly from their bank accounts, the crypto becomes less valuable in this equation.
Why hold USDC, pay conversion

My friend is looking for his first crypto card.
What should I tell him?

Interested in launching your own neobank?
It’s definitely not as easy as it looks. Some obstacles are surprisingly hard to overcome.
Here’s what it takes to get one running:
1⃣ Licensing
Pick a country, secure the required licences, or find a regulated partner willing to support the product.
2⃣ Banking Infrastructure
Set up customer accounts, transfers, top-ups, withdrawals, and regulated custody for customer funds.
3⃣ Card Issuance
Find an issuer, processor, and card-network partner, and set up support for Apple Pay and Google Pay. The diagram below shows how many parties sit behind the card

This is an important metric people are not talking about much – DEX-to-CEX trading ratio.
DEX share climbed 3% → 13% through 2025, then slid to 10% by Apr‑26 — CEX back to a 90% super‑majority (first time since Oct 25).
• Jan 25: CEX 97% / DEX 3%.
• Peak DEX share: 13% in Nov 25 / Dec 25 / Jan 26.
• Apr 26: CEX 90% / DEX 10% – first month ≥90% CEX since Oct‑25.
• CEX absolute volume: Aug 25 peak $9.2T → Apr 26 $4.4T (broad decline).
• DEX absolute volume: Nov 25 peak $1.1T → Apr 26 $0.5T (also down ~50%).
• Jan 26 → Apr 26:
> DEX $0.8T → $0.5T (~‑38%);
> CEX $5.1T → $4.4T (~‑14%).
I read this

Very interesting btw:
Perps -10% QoQ to $12.7T while spot collapsed -39.1%
Some insights from the @coingecko study ↓
• Top 10 Perp CEXes: $12.7T in Q2 2026, down -10.0% QoQ from $14.1T in Q1 2026
• Monthly Top-10 perp volumes (Jan→Jun): $4.9T, $4.7T, $4.4T, $4.3T, $4.0T, $4.4T – every month > $4.0T; May hit the H1 low at $4.0T
• Spot CEX volume fell -39.1% QoQ over the same period
Here's the why:
Perps are churn- and leverage-driven (plus emerging RWA-perp demand), so they retain activity when spot capital inflows dry up.
Spot reflects conviction and exits faster.
The May trough (BTC < $60k) f

This is crazy.
Mastercard's crypto card volume has fallen by 50% so far in 2026.
It's fair to say Visa has officially won the neobank battle.