Rich by Coin

In what I can only describe as one of the dumbest lawsuits in fintech, TomoCredit, which also claims to offer products under the names TomoBoost and TomoIQ, is refusing to memorialize a settlement in a trademark dispute with Prism Data over use of the trademark “CashScore.” The company — which counts names like Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays as investors — did, at one point, issue what Tomo described as “No FICO” credit cards, aiming to serve upper-income recent immigrants that lacked an established credit history in the U.S. TomoCredit had to stop offering its card, issued by Community Federal Savings Bank, after repeatedly defaulting on a credit facility provided by Silicon Valley Bank. Since then, the company pivoted to offering a “credit building” service that consisted of furnishing fake, back-dated tradeline data and, more recently, what appears to be something akin to an AI-powered credit coach.

Tomo continues to market its “credit building” product, despite the major credit bureaus terminating the company’s ability to furnish data and deleting previously furnished tradelines. Tomo even goes so far as to send marketing emails that appear designed to trick recipients into thinking they’re pre-approved for a credit card, then directing them to sign up for a “VIP” subscription that costs as much as $70 per month. At one point, Tomo purported to offer a proprietary cashflow-based underwriting score for use by third parties, which it attempted to dub “CashScore.” The only problem was, Prism Data already offers such a score by that name and holds a registered trademark for it.

Joshua Howland, cofounder and president of Y Combinator-backed neobank Seis, announced last week that the company is shutting down. Other investors in the company include F-Prime Capital, Pioneer Fund, and Duro Ventures, as well as individual investments from Immad Akhund (cofounder CEO of Mercury), Austen Allred (founder of Lambda School aka BloomTech), and Harry Hurst (cofounder of Pipe), according to data from Pitchbook. Seis aimed to offer banking services to some of the 40 million to 45 million people in the U.S. for whom Spanish is their primary language. Seis offered a website and app in Spanish, with the ability to open an account with a passport and ITIN.

Seis worked with middleware intermediary Unit and underlying bank partner Thread Bank, as well as offering a secured credit card and cash advances through a partnership with Lead. According to cofounder Howland’s post, Seis “opened accounts” for more than 500,000 people and grew to $10 million in revenue in the 16 months after it launched in 2021. In explaining what led the company to shutdown, Howland wrote, “There’s a lot to say here, but the short story is that immigration patterns changed and we saw less demand for our product.” The failure of Seis demonstrates the stark realities of the economics of the neobanking business model, especially for companies that haven’t achieved sufficient scale.

At its base tier, Seis users incurred no monthly fee only if they spent at least $1,500 per month with their Seis debit card. Per U.S. Census data, the median gross income for Hispanic households is $65,000. Actual household take home pay would vary based on exemptions, state income taxes, and other payroll deductions, but would end up approximately in the $45,000 to $50,000 range, or, taking the midpoint, about $4,000 per month. When many of households’ biggest expenses generally cannot be paid by card (rent, mortgage, child care), hitting that $1,500 per month threshold could actually be quite difficult for Seis users — some of whom no doubt could find fee-free banking products elsewhere. While Seis’s Howland pointed to changing immigration patterns leading to reduced demand, an alternate way to interpret that is that Seis, like other neobanks and wallets, probably had a churn problem. When users can easily open and switch between products, retention is a challenge, and many startups pour money into marketing to acquire new customers rather than solving the fundamental churn problem. Seis faced competition not only from money center banks and mainline neobanks and wallets (Chime, Venmo, Cash App), but also from the rapidly emerging set of stablecoin-based banking-like products. App store analytics suggest Seis’ downloads stalled out about a year ago.

Without new users coming in, whether due to shifting immigration policies, a reduction in Seis’ marketing spend, or both, Seis would have seen revenue growth stall and fall into reverse, without necessarily seeing matching drops in opex. The sunsetting of Zelle’s standalone app also likely hurt Seis’ business. While many Americans use Zelle as part of their banking app, the standalone Zelle app was disproportionately popular with Latino users. When the Zelle app was deprecated in spring 2025, it disrupted a key channel for Seis users to onboard funds. Ultimately, splitting revenue with numerous service providers vs. the cost of customer acquisition and operating expense appears to have been unsustainable for the company.

Tether calls its newly launched USA₮ a “federally regulated” stablecoin. The U.S.’ move to regulate stablecoins posed a dilemma for Tether: coming into compliance with the yet-to-be-finalized implementing regulations could mean less volume, due to anti-money laundering requirements, and lower profitability, due to the restrictions on permissible reserve assets. Tether’s answer? Launch an “on shore” stablecoin, USA₮, while continuing to offer USDT outside of the United States. The company announced the official launch of USA₮ last week, describing it as a “federally regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin.” The description, though, is belied by Tether’s own press release. While Anchorage Digital, an OCC-chartered bank, is the issuer (this is the “federally regulated” part, I guess), the release goes on to refer to “a potential framework for federal oversight emerging” and USA₮ being “designed to operate within the GENIUS Act’s new federal stablecoin framework.” As of today, applicable regulatory agencies (OCC, FDIC, FRB, NCUA and state financial regulators) haven’t even finalized the application process to be licensed as a “permitted payment stablecoin issuer,” so it should go without saying that Tether, nor its issuing bank partner Anchorage, are currently licensed as such. All to say, describing USA₮ itself as “federally regulated” seems more like a marketing ploy than a material differentiator, at least at the moment.

Kontigo, the Y Combinator-backed Venezuelan crypto app, went silent on social media for several weeks following the bombshell report on how the app could be used to evade sanctions on the country and to launder funds — including through Kontigo’s business relationships with well-known names in fintech and crypto like Stripe, Bridge, Rain, and PayPal. As of Monday, January 26th, it appears that all known U.S. service providers that offered the ability for Venezuelan consumers and business to on-ramp dollars from the U.S. into USDC in Kontigo have cut ties with the company. Kontigo is claiming it will conduct an “internal review” and that the company is “committed to complying with U.S. laws, including sanctions.” Kontigo’s Venezuelan crypto license, held by subsidiary Oha Technologies, expired on January 8, 2026. The regulator SUNACRIP is undergoing “reorganization” following the $17 billion PdVSA-crypto scandal. It is unclear if SUNACRIP has granted Kontigo subsidiary Oha an extension or new license to continue operating as a crypto exchange in the country — though, on January 2, 2026, SUNACRIP did grant a new license to Crixto, the only crypto firm confirmed to be officially licensed in the country. The language choice suggests the “internal review” may be more geared to Kontigo’s American audience of service providers and investors, rather than its actual customers.

TomoCredit is entangled in a trademark dispute with Prism Data over the CashScore mark, drawing attention to branding and regulatory risk in fintech. The case comes as TomoCredit pivoted from offering “No FICO” cards to a credit-building service, amid data issues and backdated tradelines that led to scrutiny from major credit bureaus. The dispute underscores how marketing claims and brand protection intersect with compliance in a rapidly evolving fintech landscape. Seis, the Spanish-language neobank, recently shut down amid questions about demand, churn, and competition from traditional banks and new stablecoin-based products. Industry observers note that immigration patterns and scaling challenges have pressured neobanks focused on specific demographic segments. The broader takeaway is that achieving sustainable scale remains essential for low-cost or free banking offerings in fintech, especially as user switching and churn pressures intensify. Tether’s USA₮ rollout frames itself as federally regulated, even as licensing and regulatory frameworks remain unsettled. The move illustrates the tension between rapid product launches and evolving rules for stablecoins under prospective federal oversight. Kontigo’s sanctions-related troubles further complicate the regulatory narrative, with American service providers cutting ties and SUNACRIP licensing status in Venezuela remaining in flux.