Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
N3XT Inc., a blockchain-powered bank, has partnered with YouHodler, a Web3 platform that supports crypto-backed loans, crypto-reward accounts, cryptocurrency trading, and universal currency exchange.
Launched in 2025 by former Signature Bank executives, N3XT provides instant, programmable USD Coin business-to-business payments. A so-called narrow bank, N3XT Inc., uses smart contracts for automated, real-time settlement. A narrow bank is a financial system requiring banks to hold 100% liquid, safe assets, such as government securities or central bank reserves, against deposits, rather than using them to make loans. Smart contracts are automated computer programs stored on a blockchain that are executed when predetermined conditions are met.
The partnership connects YouHodler’s crypto-collateral management environment with N3XT’s regulated dollar infrastructure, bridging digital-asset activity with continuously available fiat settlement. The partnership also helps N3XT to advance “bridge regulated fiat banking with blockchain-based financial services,” the company says. The deal will enable YouHodler to expand institutional-grade stablecoin-based settlement infrastructure across markets such as Europe and Argentina.
“Traditional banking infrastructure simply wasn’t built for the always-on nature of cryptocurrency markets, much less the direction of instant payments,” N3XT chief executive Jeffrey Wallis says in a statement. “Our partnership with YouHodler demonstrates how blockchain-powered banking can provide the real-time, programmable payment capabilities that digital-asset platforms and their users need to operate effectively in global markets that never sleep.”
In other crypto-related news, Barclays Plc has reportedly sent a request for information to potential technology suppliers about creating a blockchain platform for handling processes like payments, according to Bloomberg News.
Barclays’ dive into blockchain technology could include payments applications such as stablecoins and tokenized deposits, Bloomberg says. The bank reportedly aims to select tech providers as soon as April, according to Bloomberg.
