The payments landscape is evolving rapidly, with numerous startups spearheading innovations that are reshaping banking, particularly in emerging areas like stablecoins and artificial intelligence (AI). Stablecoins are gaining traction among banks, especially amid congressional discussions about establishing regulatory frameworks for payment stablecoins. Meanwhile, retail giants such as Walmart and Amazon are exploring issuing their own stablecoins in the U. S. as alternative payment methods. Crunchbase tracks over 8, 600 fintech and nearly 2, 400 payments startups, collectively having raised approximately $257 billion and $96 billion, respectively. These startups are vital to banks not only for the services they offer but also as potential acquisition targets, exemplified by Stripe’s recent purchase of stablecoin payments platform Bridge. Below is an overview of five early-stage startups that industry experts recommend banks monitor closely in 2025. 1. **Darwinium** - **Founders:** Alisdair Faulkner, Ananth Gundabattula, Ben Davey, Caleb Moore, Colin Goldie - **HQ:** San Francisco, with operations in Australia and the U. K. - **Founded:** March 2021 - **Website:** www. darwinium. com - **Use Case:** A fraud prevention platform combining automated detection with traditional methods. It offers comprehensive real-time visibility and control over all digital interactions across web, apps, and APIs to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent behaviors. - **Funding:** $28 million VC - **Investors:** U. S. Venture Partners, Blackbird, Airtree, Accomplice, Naval Ravikant - **Customers:** Global companies spanning neobanks, fintechs, marketplaces, gaming - **Milestones:** Expanded into U. S. with enhanced leadership and moved HQ to San Francisco - **Growth:** Projected 5x revenue increase in 2025 2.

**Skyfire** - **Founders:** Amir Sarhangi, Craig DeWitt - **HQ:** San Francisco - **Founded:** 2022 - **Website:** https://skyfire. xyz/ - **Use Case:** A payments and identity platform that harnesses AI to autonomously process payments, verify identities, and access services without human input. - **Funding:** $9. 5 million seed capital - **Investors:** Coinbase Ventures, a16z CSX, Neuberger Berman, Brevan Howard Digital, and others - **Customers:** Agent developers, platforms, some banks - **Milestones:** Launched platform in August 2024; over 10, 000 developers transacting via agents - **Growth Plans:** Launch updated, scalable platform and deepen partnerships with banks and internet providers 3. **Crossmint** - **Founders:** Rodri Fernández Touza, Alfonso Gómez-Jordana - **HQ:** New York and Miami - **Founded:** March 2022 - **Website:** https://www. crossmint. com/ - **Use Case:** An all-in-one platform enabling companies and AI agents to utilize stablecoin and blockchain infrastructure for wallets, payments, and tokenization. - **Funding:** $24 million VC - **Investors:** Ribbit Capital, Nyca Partners, First Round, Franklin Templeton, Lightspeed Faction - **Customers:** Dozens of Fortune 500 firms, one top 20 bank by assets, and a leading remittance company - **Milestones:** 1, 100% growth in subscription revenue over the past year; 40, 000+ companies and developers using the platform across 40+ blockchains - **Growth Plans:** Expand customer base after launching a new agentic commerce toolkit and an open-source fintech app development toolkit 4. **Merge Money** - **Founder:** Kebbie Sebastian - **HQ:** London - **Founded:** 2022 - **Website:** www. merge. money - **Use Case:** An API-first stablecoin payment infrastructure serving businesses. - **Funding:** $9. 5 million VC - **Investors:** Coinbase, Octopus Ventures - **Customers:** B2B marketplaces, fintechs, corporate treasurers, licensed crypto firms, European banks - **Milestones:** Secured Electronic Money Institution and Virtual Asset Service Provider licenses; expanded instant local payments to over 75 countries - **Growth Plans:** Expand geographically, including entry into the U. S. market 5. **Conduit Technology** - **Founder:** Kirill Gertman - **HQ:** Boston - **Founded:** 2021 - **Website:** https://conduitpay. com - **Use Case:** Facilitates cross-border payments through stablecoins or local currencies as alternatives to SWIFT, offering faster, cheaper, and more reliable transactions for banks and clients. - **Funding:** $53 million VC - **Investors:** Dragonfly, Altos Ventures, Helios Digital Ventures, Portage Ventures - **Customers:** Banks, fintechs, multinational corporations - **Milestones:** In 2024, transaction volume rose 16-fold, surpassing $10 billion; signed deal with Braza Group, owner of Brazil’s largest foreign exchange bank These startups demonstrate how innovation in stablecoins, AI, and payment infrastructure is rapidly advancing and present significant opportunities and challenges for banks as they adapt to this dynamic environment.