Uncle Sean's Update - 7/18/25

​Happy Friday!!!
 
It’s so HOT outside 🥵 (in my best Ron Burgundy voice – “milk was a bad choice” 🤠)!  So while you are trying to stay cool this weekend, be sure to tell your friends and colleagues to sign up here to receive the Uncle Sean Update and FinTech Cowboys interviews straight to your inbox each week.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 7/18/25:
 

• The BLS June CPI Report came in a tad bit hotter at 0.3% for the month putting the annual rate at 2.7% but in line with expectations (last month was 0.1% and 2.4%).  Core CPI at 0.2% and 2.9% (estimate was 0.3% and 2.9%; last month was 0.1% and 2.8%).  Note that the monthly Core CPI rate came in slightly below expectations.  Hey – take the good news whenever you can 😊!!!  CNBC has a good summary with some good graphs.

 

• In a first of its kind, Congress has passed the GENIUS Act providing a starting regulatory framework for the stablecoin market.  The President is expected to sign into law this afternoon.
  • Not lost on me this week during big bank earnings was plenty of commentary from the C-Suite execs related to stablecoins…  This Banking Dive article is a great summary of comments from JPMorgan, BofA, Citi, U.S. Bank, and Morgan Stanley.
  • Mastercard and Visa temper and downplay the stablecoin threat (as an alternate payment rail) for their businesses as they look to embrace stablecoins as an infrastructure and investment vehicle.

 

• 👀 Coinbase dive deep into the consumer side…  Per this Coinbase blog, Coinbase Wallet is now the "Base" app evolving from a wallet to an  “everything app that brings together social, apps, chat, payments, and trading. Anyone can manage their assets, post, connect with others, and directly earn from their work.”
  • Includes embedded mini-apps for gaming, yield farming, and prediction markets are also included; and an enhanced chat provides end-to-end encrypted messaging with AI agents for trading and transactions.  CNBC has a pretty good summary article on the new Base app as well.

 

• DuGood Federal Credit Union (charter 15146; total assets $555M) partners with equipifi to launch a new Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution for its 36,000 members across Southeast Texas.

 

• Lafayette Federal Credit Union (charter 619; total assets $2B) selects Lenders Cooperative to modernize and enhance the credit union’s commercial lending operations; and has engaged Lenders Cooperative’s SBA Loan Service Provider (LSP) team.

 

• Patelco Credit Union (charter 68579; total assets $9.5B) deployed Payfinia’s Instant Payment Xchange (IPX) platform enabling its 500,000 members to receive real-time instant payments 24/7 via FedNow.

 

• Here comes the payment flex 💪…  Speaking of FedNow…  💥 ICYMI (and credit goes to Booshan Rengachari for pointing this out on LinkedIn)…  The Federal Reserve announced that FedNow® Service processed almost $246 Billion in Q2, representing a staggering 405.7% increase in value from the previous quarter.  Keep in mind that FedNow just recently raised the transaction limit from $500K to $1M effective June 24, 2025 – so I suspect we will continue to see FedNow processing value and volume explode! 🚀
  • The average payment size ballooned from $37,099 in 1Q25 to $115,332 in 2Q25, a 211% increase.
  • Quarterly Transaction Volume (number of transactions) also increased by 62.7% to 2.1M payment transactions (average of 23.4K payments per day).

 

• Meanwhile – more payment flex 💪…  The Clearing House announced that the RTP® Network Hits $481 Billion in Q2, representing a 195% increase in value from the previous quarter – driven by the network’s increased transaction limit of $10M introduced in February.
  • The average payment size skyrocketed from just $842 in January to more than $4,000 by June, a 376% increase.
  • Quarterly Transaction Volume (number of transactions) also increased by 8% to 107M payment transactions (average of 1.18M payments per day), which equates to 98% of instant bank-to-bank payments in the United States.

 

• While we’re at it – how ‘bout some P2P flex 💪…  Zelle announced that at least 178 new financial institutions have gone live or signed up for the money transfer service during 4Q24 and 1Q25, bringing the total count to more than 2,300 banks and credit unions on the Zelle Network – 95% of which are community banks and CUs.

 

• 🤠 And more payments…  Cash App announced the launch of Tap to Pay on iPhone for Cash App Business sellers, “allowing them to accept contactless payments – including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and other digital wallets – directly on their iPhone using the Cash App iOS app, with no additional hardware required.”

 

• Hey - let’s keep the payments vibe going!!! 😊  Highnote (embedded finance and modern card issuance) announced the launch of instant payments enabling businesses to deliver near real-time payouts from Highnote-issued cards to eligible external debit and prepaid cards. The solution is supported by Mastercard Move (Mastercard’s portfolio of money transfer solutions) and Visa Direct, and is now available to all Highnote subscribers in the U.S.

 

• Grasshopper Bank, N.A. (FDIC 59113; total assets $939M) selects Lendio to bring instant Small Business Administration (SBA) loan offers to market on Lendio's Marketplace. 
  • “By leveraging Lendio's advanced customer acquisition and AI-powered decisioning tools, Grasshopper will streamline the entire SBA top-of-funnel process from application to approval, enabling a faster, more modernized approach to SBA lending.”

 

• Castellum.AI (agentic compliance and real-time sanctions and watchlist screening) makes headlines again following up on their previously announced Series A funding round.  This week Castellum.AI announced they have partnered with Ground Truth Intelligence (a global investigative due diligence platform) to deliver a fully automated end-to-end screening and due diligence solution leveraging AI agents to automate every phase of the workflow.
  • “The result: end-to-end automation that reduces alert processing costs by over 90% and slashes resolution times from 60 days to between 1 day and 1 week.”  Nice!!! 👏

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • MeridianLink, Inc. (NYSE: MLNK) appoints Denise Cox as its Chief Customer Officer (CCO).
  • Finzly makes a pair of executive announcements with Adam Carson as its first Chief Financial Officer and Robert Coakley as Head of Partnerships.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Panacea Financial (direct digital bank division of Primis Bank supporting financial services for doctors) extends its Series B Round to $62M following an additional $37 million investment from Valar Ventures.
  • Viva Finance (payroll deducted personal loans – originated by Thread Bank) raised $220M in capital
  • Receive (card-based cash flow solution for SMBs) has emerged from stealth and raised $4M Seed Round.  The platform includes a Mastercard business charge card issued by Patriot Bank, N.A., where spend limit is based on eligible earned receivables.
  • On the wealth management side…  Retirable (retirement platform for Americans who “often fall through the cracks of traditional wealth management services”) raised $10M in Series A while doubling its client assets in the last six months stating, “It maintains a 99% client retention rate and notes that 70% of its users had never worked with a financial advisor before.”

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 👉 PSA – here is a quick IRS update regarding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Tax deductions for working Americans and seniors.  Note the expected employer reporting requirements for the ½ portion of overtime pay for tax exemption (subject to income based phase out)… 
  • I’m guessing there will be a new W2 format that splits that out for employees to see?  Employers may likely need a new earnings code within your payroll system for the ½ “reportable portion” of OT for deduction purposes…  Just thinking out loud as an old financial ops guy… 😊
• Oh happy days are on the horizon!!!  🏈 Looks like Uncle Sean will be busy on Saturday, August 30th…!!!  Check out the NCAA Football TV schedule that day (all times Central):
  • 11:00 AM – Texas @ Ohio State on Fox (what a great opener)
  • 2:30 PM – Alabama @ Florida State on ABC (this one could be over early, but you never know)
  • 5:00 PM – Illinois State @ Oklahoma on SEC Network + (Uncle Sean is an OU fan)
  • 6:30 PM – LSU @ Clemson on ABC
  • 7:00 PM – Eastern Michigan @ Texas State on ESPN + (Uncle Sean is a Texas State Alumnus)
  • 10:00 PM – Utah @ UCLA on Fox (if I can stay up that late – highly doubtful, but I’ll give it the ole college try 😊)
• And here are the Dad / Bad Jokes to wrap up the week:
  • Apparently I snore so loudly that it scares everyone in the car I’m driving! 😲😅
  • My reality check bounced…. 🙄🙃🤠
  • Aunt Patty said my dance moves look like I’m trying to tell the guy on first base to steal second!  That’s good, right?!?! 🕺🤣

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.