RBI AI Lending Push: India’s central bank chief Sanjay Malhotra urged banks to use AI trained on alternative data (cash flows, GST, utility payments) to expand credit—while keeping humans accountable for bad decisions. Payments Disruption: A suspected global Mastercard outage hit Australian banks’ tap-and-go payments, with customers reporting declined transactions while ATMs stayed working. US Crypto Regulation Stalls: CLARITY Act odds fell to 10% as Senate action slipped; meanwhile the SEC cancelled a key “Regulation Crypto” vote, leaving token firms waiting on rules. Crypto Banking Charter: The OCC granted World Liberty Trust Co. conditional approval for a national trust bank tied to the USD1 stablecoin, advancing Trump-family crypto plans. Israel Crypto Expansion: Israel’s Bank Leumi is partnering with Galaxy to offer crypto trading services. Banking Tech & Fraud Controls: TRAI rolled out India’s 1601 number series for service/transaction calls to help consumers spot impersonation scams. Banking Market Watch: YES Securities flagged stressed recoveries at India’s PSU banks, noting written-off loan stocks remain material. Corporate Finance Deal: Goldman Sachs agreed to buy NEOS Investments, adding about $30B in options-based income ETF assets. Security/Compliance in Crypto: Ripple’s Sherlock audit contest found 96 XRP Ledger vulnerabilities before mainnet, including critical bugs that could have enabled account-draining attacks.