Why Europe’s best fintechs are being judged less by growth and more by trust, regulation, and resilience
Trust, regulation, and the future of money.
Five years ago, fintech was rewarded for moving fast.
Today, that is no longer enough.
The market has matured. The companies winning now are not simply the ones acquiring users the fastest. They are the ones that can scale money movement, survive scrutiny, and earn trust from users, regulators, and partners at the same time. That is the shift I keep coming back to when I look at Europe’s neobanks, payments platforms, and crypto-banking models.
Revolut, Monzo, and Deblock each point to the same conclusion from different angles: trust is no longer a soft brand attribute. It is an operating advantage.
The market has changed
The old fintech playbook was simple.
Build quickly. Grow fast. Add compliance later.
That playbook still created some remarkable companies. But it is no longer the full story. In the current environment, profitability matters because it signals discipline. Regulation matters because it shapes what products can safely become. And trust matters because money is not software in the abstract; it is an expectation that has to hold under pressure.
That is why the strongest fintech companies today are increasingly being judged less like apps and more like infrastructure. Users want speed, yes. But they also want reliability. Partners want clarity. Regulators want accountability. Those demands now sit at the centre of the business model.
What the leaders reveal
Revolut is the clearest example of scale and trust compounding together. In 2025, it reported £4.5 billion in revenue and £1.7 billion in profit before tax, and the company said it had delivered its fifth consecutive year of net profitability. Revolut described the year as “another year of breaking barriers,” with “sustainable growth, new banking licenses, and record profitability”. That is not just strong performance. It is a signal that the company has moved from disruption to institution-building.
Monzo tells a different but equally important story. Its FY2025 results showed £1.2 billion in revenue and £113.9 million in adjusted profit before tax, while 2.4 million new customers joined during the year. Monzo’s own framing was simple: “2.4m new customers” and “£113.9m adjusted profit before tax”. The important point is not only the numbers. It is the fact that customer confidence has become repeatable economics.
Deblock is the most interesting case because it sits at the intersection of fiat banking and crypto-native control. Deblock says it combines “the ease of a modern neobank with the power of a crypto wallet,” and that users can “hold and move both fiat and crypto from the same interface” while keeping the wallet self-custodial. It also holds an EMI license and was the first financial institution in France to obtain a MiCA license. That makes it a useful lens on where the market may be heading next: regulated, hybrid, and built around user control.
Why Deblock matters
Deblock is not a copy of Revolut or Monzo.
It is a different answer to a different problem.
Traditional neobanks solved convenience. Crypto-native products solved ownership. Deblock is trying to combine both: everyday banking usability with self-custody and on-chain access. That matters because the next phase of digital finance will likely reward products that reduce the gap between regulated finance and crypto-native behaviour.
The strategic significance is bigger than the product itself. Deblock shows that compliance is no longer a constraint sitting outside the product. In regulated finance, compliance is part of the product experience. In crypto, that is even more true. A great interface without regulatory credibility is fragile. A regulated structure without user value is irrelevant. The durable model has to do both.
Trust as a moat
The phrase “trust is the new fintech moat” is not just a nice line.
It is a practical operating thesis.
Trust is what allows a company to onboard faster without creating risk. It is what lets a product expand across markets without losing coherence. It is what turns a one-time user into a long-term relationship. And in fintech and crypto, where the stakes involve money, identity, and compliance, trust is also what determines whether a business can survive its own growth.
This is why the next winners will not simply be the fastest companies. They will be the ones that can build credible systems around speed. That means stable compliance, transparent operating models, clear customer value, and an ability to earn legitimacy from multiple constituencies at once.
For founders, that is a harder game than growth hacking.
For regulators, it is a more useful one.
And for customers, it is the difference between a clever product and something they will actually trust with their money.
The broader lesson
If there is one lesson in this market moment, it is this: fintech has entered its maturity phase.
That does not mean innovation is slowing down. It means innovation is being filtered through trust. The companies that win will be the ones that understand this early and design for it intentionally. That is true for neobanks, payments platforms, and hybrid crypto-banking models alike.
Revolut shows what scale looks like when trust compounds. Monzo shows what profitability looks like when trust deepens. Deblock shows what the next frontier looks like when trust meets self-custody and regulation. Taken together, they point to the same conclusion: the future of fintech will not be defined by speed alone.
It will be defined by trust that can scale.
If you publish in fintech or crypto today, the market is no longer asking whether your product is clever.
It is asking whether it is credible.
That is the real moat.
About the Author
Joseph Zammit is a CMO and CSO in fintech and crypto, with 25+ years at the intersection of marketing, strategy, and regulation. He helped design Malta’s pioneering DLT framework, launched the country’s first Neobank, and led the global expansion of crypto and Web3 platforms, turning complex regulatory and market conditions into clear go‑to‑market decisions. He is a member of the Crypto Valley Association.
Trust Is the New Fintech Moat was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.