Why Your BaaS Accomplice Selection Can Kill Your Enterprise 

Throughout Europe, crypto and fintech firms are being reminded of a tough fact: your Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) or card issuer associate is a single level of failure. 

Current regulatory actions involving Quicko (Poland) and UAB Monavate (Lithuania) present how shortly that failure can materialise — and the way devastating the influence will be for fintechs that depend on card issuance and banking infrastructure. 

That is not an edge case. It’s a structural danger each builder wants to know. 

In early 2026, Quicko, a Poland-based card issuer that had turn out to be common amongst crypto card programmes, misplaced its potential to supply cost companies following a licence revocation. 

Quicko’s personal assertion says that as of February 3, 2026, it misplaced the flexibility to supply cost companies as a consequence of a call of Poland’s Monetary Supervision Authority (KNF) dated January 21, 2026.  Quicko assertion: https://www.quicko.pl/ 

The implications have been instant: 

• Dozens of associate fintechs misplaced card and banking performance 

• Hundreds of finish customers have been affected 

• Companies stopped “in a single day,” with no significant transition window 

For the fintechs constructed on prime of Quicko, the lack of the issuer was not a setback — it was an operational shutdown. 

Solely weeks earlier than the Quicko choice, the Lithuanian central financial institution (Lietuvos bankas) issued a binding instruction to UAB Monavate, a Lithuania-based digital cash establishment that had additionally turn out to be extensively utilized by crypto-related card programmes. 

Monavate was ordered to cease offering monetary companies to 6 companions: 

Once more, the influence on associate fintechs was instant and disruptive. 

These circumstances will not be remoted incidents. They replicate a broader regulatory tightening throughout the European Union, notably round: 

• Digital cash establishments (EMIs) 

• Card issuers serving crypto-adjacent companies 

• Cross-border embedded finance fashions 

Regulators are more and more centered on ongoing compliance, not simply preliminary authorisation. Issuers that expanded shortly by onboarding massive numbers of programmes — usually with minimal scrutiny — are being required to exhibit sustained danger administration, governance, and operational management. 

For some issuers, that scrutiny is exposing weaknesses that result in enforcement motion or lack of licence. 

For those who’re constructing a fintech product that depends on: 

• Card issuance 

• Embedded banking 

• Account infrastructure 

…your issuer selection just isn’t a procurement choice. It’s an existential one. 

When an issuer loses its licence or is compelled to halt companies: 

• Playing cards cease working instantly 

• Accounts could also be frozen or restricted 

• Buyer belief collapses 

• Migration to a brand new issuer can take months 

Most fintechs can not change BaaS companions shortly, even when they’ve funding, authorized help, and a substitute lined up. 

Issuers most weak to regulatory motion usually share frequent traits: 

• Heavy publicity to crypto or high-risk programmes 

• Quantity-driven onboarding fashions 

• Restricted ongoing associate monitoring 

• Beneath-resourced compliance and danger groups 

Against this, extra resilient issuers usually exhibit: 

• Conservative associate choice 

• Clear regulatory alignment 

• Clear engagement with supervisors 

• A compliance tradition embedded into every day operations 

Within the present atmosphere, an issuer that claims “no” extra usually is often a safer long-term associate. 

I’m not scripting this as a impartial observer. 

I’m scripting this as somebody who’s been constructing on this house since 2014.  

Wirex is extensively credited with launching one of many world’s first crypto-enabled cost playing cards in 2015 — a foundational second for the “crypto card” class. We’ve issued playing cards at scale and operated by way of a number of market cycles and main regulatory shifts. 

We didn’t survive by reducing corners. We survived by treating compliance and danger administration as product infrastructure, not an afterthought. 

And sure — I’m genuinely proud that Wirex has been recognised for that work, together with: 

• Finest Digital Banking Platform on the 2025 FinTech Breakthrough Awards  

• Winner on the ICA Compliance Awards Europe

• 2025 (Compliance Tradition class)  

These awards matter as a result of they replicate what the issuer disaster is actually about: operational maturity. 

Our Stablecoin BaaS platform is designed for builders who perceive that infrastructure reliability issues as a lot as characteristic units.

Constructed on compliance infrastructure that does not disappear when regulators come knocking.

The lesson from Quicko and Monavate just isn’t “keep away from crypto.” It’s perceive dependency danger. 

Founders and product leaders ought to deal with issuer choice as a governance-level choice, assessing: 

• Regulatory observe file and jurisdiction 

• Focus danger throughout companions 

• Depth of compliance infrastructure 

• Contingency planning and exit situations 

Velocity to market issues — however resilience issues extra. 

The crypto card issuer disaster just isn’t a brief disruption. It’s a structural correction in embedded finance. 

As EU regulators elevate expectations, fintechs constructed on fragile BaaS foundations will proceed to face sudden, extreme disruptions. Those who select resilient, conservative companions — and plan for issuer danger early — are way more more likely to survive the following regulatory wave. 

In embedded finance, your issuer’s licence is your licence.