Revolut warns it risks backlash over support for energy-intensive AI and crypto
TL;DR
Revolut reports a 57% profit jump to £1.7bn for 2025, while simultaneously flagging reputational risks from supporting energy-intensive sectors like crypto and AI.
Key Points
- The company finally received its UK banking licence this month after a five-year wait and is now preparing a US market push.
- Its 2025 annual results explicitly list activities in high-energy sectors as a potential image liability.
- Revolut is one of the few fintechs to publicly acknowledge ESG risks from AI infrastructure as a formal business risk.
Nauti's Take
Revolut is posting record profits while dutifully warning about the risks of the very technologies driving those profits — that is calculated risk management, not remorse. The real question is whether this disclosure stays a footnote or actually shapes strategic decisions going forward.
Still, the fact that a crypto-friendly neobank unicorn is naming AI energy consumption as a liability signals that the topic has fully entered mainstream finance. Anyone still treating power draw as a purely technical footnote risks backlash from regulators and investors alike.
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