the blog
AUGUST 17, 2026
How AI perceives the neobanks: 10 spirit animals
We asked an image model what animal each neobank evokes — no brand briefs, no art direction. Revolut came back an octopus, MetaMask a fox with the keys, Nubank a jaguar in a purple suit. All ten portraits, free to share.
the experiment AUGUST 12, 2026Who actually holds your money? The four questions your app won't answer
Only 132 of 379 tracked neobanks are licensed banks. 192 hold your balance without a charter; 55 hold nothing at all. A field guide to the money chain — who holds the funds, who keeps the ledger, and what protection survives a failure.
the money chain AUGUST 11, 2026Ask your AI about neobanks: neobankbeat now speaks MCP
A dependency-free Model Context Protocol server — five tools over the live dataset. Point Claude at it and it searches, compares and looks up any of the 379 neobanks from current, cited data instead of stale training memory. No keys, ~180 lines, MIT.
for machines JULY 28, 202645 ways to cut 368 neobanks — and the two counts we won't merge
The filters are now 45 linkable pages: license, KYC, card, region, country, audience. 60 neobanks issue no card at all. And where the data can't support a ranking, the page says so instead of sorting alphabetically and calling it "the biggest".
the dataset JULY 26, 2026The neobank dataset is now on Hugging Face and Kaggle
All 368 verified-active neobanks, mirrored to both hubs with two new shapes: entities.jsonl and a flat 38-column entities.csv that splits the nested source and as-of fields out. One load_dataset call, no account, still MIT.
open data JULY 23, 2026Who really runs the neobanks? The BaaS rails behind the apps
Only 127 of 379 tracked neobanks hold their own bank license. 77 are a front end on someone else's — Coastal, Evolve, Column, Cross River — and most won't tell you whose. The Banking-as-a-Service census, and why the sponsor bank is the risk nobody prices.
the rails JULY 20, 2026The neobank ecosystem map: all 368 on one poster
Every entity in the directory, on one map: 254 traditional, 58 hybrid, 56 web3-native — plus the 106 infrastructure providers underneath and the 219 investors behind them. No sample, no sponsors, regenerable from data.json. Free download.
the map JULY 16, 2026AI neobanks: narrative vs. production — who actually ships
"AI neobank" is 90% narrative — so we tagged the 10% that isn't. Sixty-seven tracked neobanks with AI verified in production — the whole directory audited name by name: underwriting, interface, and the only genuinely new segment — banking for AI agents. Now a field in data.json.
narrative check JULY 16, 2026The fastest-growing neobanks of 2026 nobody talks about
Slash to $1.4B on rejected SMBs, Plata to $600M ARR in 36 months, Kontigo to $30M revenue with seven people, Veera's onchain full stack — five growth stories and the one pattern they share.
the growth board JULY 12, 2026It's Sunday, your bank is closed — and 1.5 billion people don't care
Summing every reported user figure in the dataset: ~1.46B people, 817M of them in Asia — and the entire West is a rounding error on WeBank. Who actually uses neobanks, charted.
the sunday read JULY 7, 2026Why neobanks die: the compliance stack behind $245M-a-week crypto cards
Crypto-card top-ups just set an all-time high — yet only 127 of 379 tracked neobanks hold their own license. WaveCrest, Wirecard, Binance — and why card-rail cuts like Ready 2026 are a different class of event.
the survival stack JULY 7, 2026The best neobanks for digital nomads (2026): cards, QR rails and the custody question
A fiat anchor, a stablecoin card, and the new QR-rail apps for the 70% of merchants where cards don't work. The three-layer nomad stack, mapped from open data — no affiliate links.
the nomad stack JULY 6, 2026Who funds the neobanks? The 198 investors behind digital banking
Ribbit's pure thesis, Tencent's quiet global portfolio, YC's seed factory — and why the web3 wave isn't VC-funded at all. The investor map, decoded.
follow the money JULY 5, 2026The State of Neobanks 2026: what 357 verified-active digital banks reveal
The founding boom is over, the stablecoin race is on, and a third of new neobanks are self-custodial. Ten findings from the full open dataset.
annual report JUNE 2, 2026Best neobanks for freelancers and small businesses (2026 field guide)
43 tracked neobanks are built for freelancers, creators or SMBs — from Mercury and Qonto to Hnry, which files your taxes for you. How to choose, honestly.
field guide APRIL 21, 2026MiCA and the crypto neobank: who's actually licensed in Europe
What CASP authorisation means, which tracked neobanks hold it, how e-money tokens changed euro stablecoins — and where the gaps are.
risk & regulation MARCH 17, 2026Where neobanks actually win: Africa, Latin America and the underbanked billion
Nubank has 131M customers — more than every US neobank combined. The data on why emerging markets are the real neobank story.
geography FEBRUARY 10, 2026Niche neobanks: 117 banks for women, teens, immigrants, freelancers and the faithful
A third of all neobanks now serve a specific audience — and the strategy works for boring, decisive reasons. The full niche map.
the niche wave JANUARY 13, 2026No-KYC money apps in 2026: what's actually possible (and what isn't)
Only 13 of 379 tracked neobanks work without identity checks — all of them self-custodial. Where the line sits, and why.
web3-native DECEMBER 9, 2025The rise of the self-custodial neobank: 47 apps where you hold the keys
A new category of neobank holds none of your money. What MetaMask, Gnosis Pay, Payy and 44 others are building — and where the model leaks.
web3-native NOVEMBER 18, 2025Stablecoin cards explained: how a Visa that spends USDC actually works
Authorization, conversion, settlement — the full mechanics behind the 103 stablecoin-supporting neobanks, and what GENIUS and MiCA changed.
stablecoins OCTOBER 28, 2025Are neobanks safe? Deposit insurance, partner banks and the Synapse lesson
"FDIC insured" can mean four different things, one of which failed in 2024. The fine print behind licensed banks, partner banks, e-money and self-custody.
risk & regulation OCTOBER 7, 2025Neobank vs traditional bank: what actually changes (and what doesn't)
Fees, speed, credit, cash, insurance — an honest scorecard, including the license question most comparisons skip.
fundamentals SEPTEMBER 16, 2025What is a neobank? The three waves explained (2026 guide)
Traditional challengers, hybrid crypto apps and self-custodial web3 wallets — how the three waves differ, with data on all 368.
fundamentals