Brexit

Way back in 2021, CardsFTW #18 was titled: “Brex Wants to Own a Bank.” Those were the days. Well, as of last week, a bank wants to own Brex, with Capital One announcing its plan to acquire Brex for $5.1 billion.

But will this ALSO become a Discover card?

I didn’t see this one coming. If I had guessed which bank would have acquired Brex, it would have been Fifth Third, which just last month announced a partnership for corporate cards (see CardsFTW #183). I also assumed Capital One is busy integrating Discover, which is an enormous project.

The deal makes sense to me, however, as Capital One has a large market presence with small business credit cards, but isn’t known for its corporate card business. Brex has long focused on being an all-in-one provider, not just a corporate card, with deposit accounts and more for its customers. Shifting that to a true bank charter should help economics and expand services for both brands.  

Bushel

Bushel is an integrated workflow solution for agribusinesses, helping farms to manage their operations, including payments. Bushel was a customer of ours at Apto Payments (see this aged LinkedIn post), but, to be honest, we had trouble getting the debit card program that we all desired in place. With new partners and people, it looks like Bushel has finally launched something we were aiming for back then: a debit card helping to speed up payments, because, as always in business, cash is king.

Eliott Bush

Affirm’s Bank Charter

Speaking of how Brex wanted a bank charter, so does Affirm, and maybe everybody else! Affirm announced it will seek an Industrial Loan Charter in Nevada (not as popular as Utah, but closer to San Francisco). ILCs can help non-bank owners access cheaper deposits, become a direct member of payment networks, and more. (For more on ILCs and Utah, see CardsFTW #171.)

Alfred Firm

It truly is the golden age of bank charters: Ford and GM were granted charters this past week. What’s old is new again: GM’s former finance operation, GMAC, became Ally Bank. Now it’s time for GM to have in-house finance again. 

Avelo Airlines Launches a Card

Avelo Airlines, a relatively new discount carrier, announced the launch of its first co-brand card product in partnership with technology provider Cardless and issued by First Electronic Bank.

The Avelo Airlines World Elite Mastercard earns 5% Avelo Cash on Avelo flights and 2% everwhere else, plus free carry-on bags, standard seat assignments, and priority boarding for everyone in the cardholder's reservation.

Alejandro Velos

As far as discount airline cards go, this is a very solid offering, with very strong base cashback at 2%. If you find yourself flying Avelo frequently, it's a good choice.

From an industry viewpoint, this is Cardless's first domestic airline partner, following prior launches with international brands like TAP Portugal, Qatar, and others (not to mention the Coinbase One card profiled below). We continue to see more brands select modern card issuing platforms over traditional bank ones.

(More to come on this as we update our annual Credit Card Program Management Platform Market Analysis for 2026.)

Coinbase One

Coinbase is the leading crypto exchange in the United States and one of the oldest, founded in June 2012. Over the years, Coinbase has positioned itself as a trusted way to access a new alternative financial system, with bridges back to the traditional financial system.

In 2015, Coinbase launched its first debit card in partnership with Shift Payments. The Visa card allowed users to spend their Coinbase balance anywhere Visa was accepted. I had one of these cards and spent what is now an absurd amount of USD buying a latte at my favorite coffee shop. (A personal aside: Shift Payments eventually became Apto Payments and powered debit cards for many programs, including Coinbase and Uphold. Apto acquired my last startup, Vertical Finance, in 2021, and most of the Totavi team joined me at Apto.)

Full credit for "Taylor Shift"

In 2020, Coinbase relaunched a debit card with leading payment processor Marqeta and Pathward Bank.

Yet, for all these attempts at debit, no credit card was launched until just last year, when Coinbase announced the Coinbase One American Express card. The card is issued by First Electronic Bank and powered by Cardless.

Why Credit is Better Than Debit for Crypto

My experience at Apto, where we powered Coinbase’s UK/EU card and Uphold’s US debit card demonstrated key challenges with using debit for crypto. The traditional US payment networks (American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Discover) are dual-message networks allowing for changes between when you authorize a transaction (e.g., check for fund availability) and when you settle or capture a transaction (e.g., finalize it).