Latitude raises $35M for local stablecoin off-ramps

The licensing stack, not the headline number, is the real signal here: 39 money transmission licences plus no-action letters across dozens of U.S. markets is slow, expensive groundwork that most stablecoin infrastructure startups avoid by leaning on banking partners. That positions Latitude closer to the regulated fiat rail than to the software layer, which matters as compliance expectations around stablecoin conversion tighten. Whether that licence-heavy model scales faster than lighter, partner-dependent competitors is the open question.