Fintech
Labubu Mania: From Bridal Boutiques to Blockchain | PYMNTS.com

Published
3 weeks agoon
By
Hrishi
David’s Bridal once helped you snag a gown; now it wants to outfit your inner gremlin. The 70-year-old retailer will make you a dress for your Labubu plushie. It’s the latest twist in the runaway toy craze that’s turned Pop Mart’s snaggle-toothed sprite into a $1 billion culture bomb. But wedding aisles are hardly the weirdest place you can nab (or lose) a Labubu. Strap in.
Where to Buy a Labubu When You’ve Lost Your Mind
Mall claw machines, but make it covert. In Los Angeles, collectors stalk random “surprise drops” in Pop Mart-branded vending machines scattered through Westfield Century City and Glendale Galleria. Miss the moment and you’ll pay triple at a tiny Japanese gift shop one floor up.
TikTok Live “drop culture.” Pop Mart’s twice-weekly streams have become QVC for Gen Z insomniacs. Comment “bubu plz” fast enough and you might score a blind box before bots vacuum the inventory.
Crypto exchanges. Yes, there’s a LABUBU token. MEXC and a handful of Solana DEXes let you swap USDT for the memecoin, whose only utility is bragging rights and the occasional plush redemption code during promo events.
Customization Nation
Etsy sellers are cranking out accessories faster than you can say “K-fashion for cryptids”:
- KC Chiefs jerseys, mini cowboy hats and even 40 oz. Stanley tumblers for a 5-inch monster.
- TikTok DIYers airbrush “cotton-candy” pastel gradients onto blank figures, turning each toothy grin into confectionery nightmare fuel.
- Instagram artists take commissions for full repaint jobs — think goth-black Labubu with Swarovski fangs delivered in under two weeks.
Peak Sticker Shock
Record-setting prices are now the norm:
Labubu Variant | Price (USD) | Why It’s Nuts |
Mint-Green 131 cm “Human-Sized” | 150,000+ | One of one; literally toddler-height. |
Labubu × Vans Old Skool | 55,000 | Sneakerhead clout meets vinyl gremlin. |
MEGA Sketch 1000% | 38,000 | 1:72 chase ratio fuels feral bidding wars. |
Fraud, Fakes and the Rise of ‘Lafufu’
Scammers smell FOMO like sharks smell blood:
Counterfeit crisis. U.K. trading-standards raids seized thousands of fake dolls with loose limbs and toxic dyes; some “heads literally disintegrated” during inspection.
BBB scam tracker. More than 70 U.S. consumers paid sketchy sites advertised on TikTok only to receive nothing or a corpse-painted knock-off missing the requisite nine teeth.
Bot brigades. Resellers deploy automation to clear official stock in seconds, then relist on eBay at 5-10× markup, pushing frustrated newbies into shady channels.
Pro tip: if the box lacks Pop Mart’s hologram QR or the doll’s grin looks too gleeful, you’re holding a Lafufu, not a Labubu.
Paying With Crypto (Because, Obviously)
Pop Mart itself sticks to fiat, but secondary marketplaces go full Web3:
- Collectors in Discord “bububanks” swap ETH for grails using multisig escrow bots.
- Pharrell’s Joopiter auction accepted BTC for a Sacai × Seventeen collab set that cleared $11,000 apiece.
- There’s even a Labubu NFT.
The Bottom Line
Labubu’s mutant mash-up of kawaii and chaos has leapt from blind-box addiction to luxury asset class, with side quests in wedding merch, memecoins and law-enforcement seizures. Whether you’re bidding six figures for life-size mint-green vinyl or frantically thumbing a TikTok Live to beat the bots, one truth remains: the gremlin always wins. Happy hunting, and may your nuptials be blessed with nine perfectly pointy teeth.
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Fintech
HappyRobot Raises $44 Million for AI Supply Chain Workers | PYMNTS.com

Published
16 hours agoon
September 3, 2025By
HrishiHappyRobot, an artificial intelligence startup focused on supply chain operations, raised $44 million.
The Series B funding will help the company with hiring, product development and expansion into more enterprise deployments, according to a Wednesday (Sept. 3) press release.
While the company did not share its valuation, a report by Reuters cited unnamed sources who said HappyRobot is now valued at $500 million.
A wave of venture investment into AI firms has raised concerns about possible saturation and increased competition for the companies, the report said.
HappyRobot is hoping its in-house tech and logistics expertise help separate it from general-purpose AI voice startups such as ElevenLabs, according to the report.
“Being verticalized” gives the company an advantage over more general-purpose competitors who might be “clueless about the operations and the intricacies of these industries,” said HappyRobot co-founder and CEO Pablo Palafox, per the report.
Launched 18 months ago, the company has more than 70 enterprise customers, including DHL, Ryder, Schneider and Werner, which use HappyRobot for tasks such as appointment scheduling, collections and outbound sales, according to the press release.
“The early results are clear: AI workers aren’t just cutting costs — they’re unlocking new revenue opportunities, increasing visibility and freeing teams to focus on strategic, relationship-driven work,” the release said.
HappyRobot’s AI operating system combines “real-time truth,” specialized AI workers, and an orchestrating intelligence to manage “complex, mission-critical work,” starting with supply chain and industrial-scale operations, per the release.
The goal is to help enterprises operate with speed and ongoing improvement, “while humans focus on higher-value work,” the release said
The PYMNTS Intelligence report “The Agentic Trust Gap: Enterprise CFOs Push Pause on Agentic AI” found that 15% of chief financial officers surveyed are even considering putting agentic AI to work, with most still in the early evaluation stage.
“This contrasts with the surging adoption of generative AI, which CFOs are increasingly using for tasks like content creation, customer service, coding and data analysis,” PYMNTS wrote Aug. 15. “The report shows generative AI’s deployment for product and service innovation up 21% and for spotting fraud and errors up 31% since March 2024.”
For all PYMNTS AI and B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily AI and B2B Newsletters.
Fintech
Kraken Brings Tokenized Equities to Ethereum Blockchain | PYMNTS.com

Published
2 days agoon
September 2, 2025By
Hrishi
The effort is designed to offer new opportunities to integrate tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) “across the world’s most widely adopted smart contract network,” according to a Tuesday (Sept. 2) Kraken blog post.
“Ethereum’s vibrant developer community, deep liquidity and global user base make it a natural home for the next phase of xStocks’ expansion,” the post said. “By extending Kraken’s support of xStocks to Ethereum, we’re enabling millions of Ethereum users and thousands of live applications to source the industry standard for tokenized equities liquidity.”
In the weeks ahead, eligible Kraken clients will be permitted to deposit and withdraw xStocks directly on Ethereum, which offers investors greater choice and flexibility to transfer assets between Kraken and self-custodial wallets for on-chain activity, per the post.
Kraken announced in late June that it started offering tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on its platform for eligible non-U.S. clients, thanks to xStocks.
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said in the blog post that xStocks is a key component in Kraken’s efforts to bring traditional assets “onto trust-minimized infrastructure” while integrating public markets with the internet’s base layer.
“Our multi-chain strategy is deliberate,” he said in the post. “It ensures tokenized equities are accessible across ecosystems, portable between wallets and protocols, and composable within the applications users already trust. Ethereum is the next logical step. It is the center of gravity for smart contract innovation, on-chain liquidity and decentralized finance. By launching xStocks on Ethereum, we are making tokenized equities programmable, interoperable and continuously accessible to builders and institutions worldwide.”
PYMNTS explored the world of tokenized stocks earlier this summer following Kraken’s initial launch of xStocks and Robinhood’s tokenized stock announcement. Soon after, the news broke that JPMorgan Chase was developing a new service to tokenize carbon credits.
“While the initiatives may appear distinct, ranging from environmental credits to fractionalized equity exposure, the connective tissue is the same,” PYMNTS wrote July 3. “Moving traditional financial services onto the blockchain.”
Fintech
PYMNTS’ Summer of Big Quotes, From Tariffs to Trust Codes | PYMNTS.com

Published
3 days agoon
September 1, 2025By
Hrishi
Summer is over. Time for PYMNTS to look back on the season’s best quotes from PYMNTS Intelligence and our news and feature stories.
“They have white labeled premium products or materials for highly purchased categories like athletic wear. They also have established exclusive partnerships with athletic companies to carry products on online storefronts like Nike. This has enabled Amazon to be the easiest platform for customers to buy and return products. More and more customers are using Amazon as a one-stop search engine versus going to each of their brand’s websites individually.”
—Amrita Bhasin, CEO of reverse logistics company Sotira on Amazon’s dominance in apparel
“Over 90% of U.S. adults use debit, yet most brands don’t reward that spend. Galileo’s Co-branded Debit Card changes that. Our API-first platform simplifies the tech stack and accelerates time to market
—Derek White, CEO of Galileo, from “Rethinking Rewards With a Loyalty Platform for the Debit Generation”
“Instead of click to buy, we are moving to ‘code to buy.’ Agents are nothing more than lines of code. Making sure that code is tied to the right consumer, with clear consent parameters, is essential to building trust.”
—Trulioo CEO Vicky Bindra on his firm’s new agentic AI collaboration with Worldpay
“Strip away the digital tools (which are mostly mobile), and what you find underneath is remarkably familiar: Young people want to build credit, save money, buy things with the least amount of friction, stay healthy, go to concerts and watch movies, and connect with friends.”
—From July’s “The Gen Z Decoder Ring,” by PYMNTS Intelligence
“Obviously, 0% transactions are somewhat less profitable for us. They’re still profitable … but the interest income that comes in interest-bearing loans is obviously more profitable … the experience using Affirm is so positive, they do convert to interest-bearing users just fine, and come back to us for many other things than just ‘zeroes.’”
—Affirm CEO Max Levchin on whether consumers embracing the 0% APR offerings shift to repeat usage
“Some firms attempt to absorb the costs, reducing profitability to preserve customer loyalty. Others trim product assortments, cutting lower-margin items from shelves. A few attempt to differentiate with premium offerings that justify higher prices. Even those face resistance as those who serve the consumer find middle-income consumers cutting back. This strategy is not sustainable. Businesses cannot lose money indefinitely. At some point, they must either raise prices more aggressively or thin product selection. Both choices carry risks. Higher prices may further dampen demand. Fewer products may reduce consumer choice and weaken competitive positioning.”
—PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster on tariffs from “Tariffs. Who Really Pays.”
“This isn’t a world where you can go and say, ‘I have a North Star in mind. I’m going to take the next four years to get there,’ because in four years, the landscape will look radically different than it does today in terms of consumer behavior and consumer expectations.”
—Matt Swatzell, head of Solutions, North American Acceptance at Visa, commenting on the “Rise of the Mobile-First Shopper” series.
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