Britain to ease listing rules to buttress London after Brexit - Britain will modernize its listing rules to attract more high-growth and “blank cheque” SPAC company flotations to London, Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said after a government-backed review said the capital was on the back foot after Brexit. The London Stock Exchange is facing tougher competition from NYSE and Nasdaq in New York, and from Euronext in Amsterdam since Britain fully left the European Union on Dec. 31. Read more
Dallas Mavericks first merchant to accept Dogecoin for tickets and merchandise - With fans in mind, the Mavs use BitPay to process all cryptocurrency purchases including tickets and merchandise with all top cryptocurrencies including BTC, BCH, ETH, USDC, GUSD, PAX and BUSD and now DOGE. The ability to accept crypto expands a business’ sales opportunity into international markets where accepting credit cards is not practical while reducing high fees and increasing payment transparency and efficiency. Read more
Insurer Oscar Health falls in Wall Street debut after $1.4b IPO - Oscar’s IPO came on the heels of several other public market debuts for insurtech groups in the past year, which fueled an already strong run of stock market listings. While Oscar, which bills itself as the first health insurance company “built around a full stack technology platform”, has more than half a million paying members and offers its insurance plans in 18 US states, the company has struggled to become profitable. Read more
Coinbase founder rides crypto boom to Nasdaq listing - Of all the ways to grow rich from the cryptocurrency boom, Brian Armstrong chose perhaps the most conservative. 9 years after founding the most popular destination in the US for cryptocurrency buyers, Coinbase, trades between private investors at about $100b valuation. At those prices, Armstrong’s shares are worth a cool $14.8b. Read more
Square acquires majority of Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, in $297m deal - What did Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey talk about when they went yachting around the Hamptons together last summer? Perhaps only Beyoncé knows. Maybe now we do, too. Square, the mobile payments company led by Mr. Dorsey, announced on Thursday its plan to acquire a “significant majority” of Tidal, the streaming music service owned by Jay-Z and other artists — including Beyoncé, Jay-Z’s wife, and Rihanna, who is a client of Jay-Z’s entertainment management company, Roc Nation. Read more
Watch out, PayPal. Square just launched its own bank - Square launched an in-house bank that it says will allow it to "operate more nimbly" in an increasingly crowded fintech market. The firm announced Monday that the bank has begun operations after completing the charter approval process with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions. It will operate as an independently governed subsidiary of Square Inc (SQ), and will provide business loans and deposit products to sellers who use its card reader and other point-of-sale services. Read more
Insurance startup Hippo to go public in $5b SPAC merger with Reinvent Technology Partners Z - Reinvent’s co-directors are LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus, founder of mobile-game maker Zynga Inc. Hippo’s move will provide funding as it continues a transition from being a partner to insurance carriers that provides a digital-sales channel for them to being both a partner and a direct competitor. Read more
Walmart poaches two Goldman Sachs bankers to lead new fintech startup - Walmart’s move -- depriving one of Wall Street’s elite firms of the talent atop its own foray into online banking -- underscores the seriousness of the retailer’s intent to intertwine itself in the financial lives of its customers. The audacious poaching punctuates years of warnings by bank leaders that their industry faces tough new challengers, after regulators smoothed the way for corporate giants and Silicon Valley to expand into payments and other services. Read more
Barstool’s Portnoy touts buzz-focused ETF with team owner, hedge fund manager - Portnoy announced a new ETF focused on stocks with high levels of social media engagement, nicknamed BUZZ, to begin trading Thursday. The ETF, formally named the VanEck Social Sentiment ETF, will trade under the ticker BUZZ. The fund uses algorithms to track social media and news, buying the top 75 large cap stocks viewed as being discussed ‘most favorably’ by the algorithm. Read more
PayPal to buy crypto custody firm Curv - PayPal is said to be in the process of buying Curv, a technology firm that powers the secure storage of cryptocurrency, according to three sources familiar with the situation. Several people in the cryptocurrency space have said PayPal, which made an entrance there last year, turned its attention to Curv after talks to buy crypto custody and trading firm BitGo fell through last year. Read more
LatAm’s wealth techs face regulatory and educational challenges - Digital investment platforms are quickly gaining traction, but industry players say regulatory clarity and greater education for users are key for sustainable growth of LatAm’s nascent wealth tech industry. Read more
Greensill Capital faces possible insolvency after Credit Suisse suspends investment funds - Greensill’s problems came to a head Monday after Credit Suisse’s asset-management arm said it would stop allowing investors to buy into or sell out of four private investment funds that rely exclusively on debt like securities created by Greensill. A part of the funds is “currently subject to considerable uncertainties with respect to their accurate valuation,” according to a notice the bank sent to investors. Read more
Goldman Sachs restarts cryptocurrency desk amid bitcoin boom - The desk, which will begin dealing bitcoin futures and non-deliverable forwards for clients from next week, is part of Goldman’s activities within the fast-growing digital assets sector, which also includes projects involving blockchain technology and central bank digital currencies. As part of this work, the bank is also exploring the potential for a bitcoin exchange traded fund and has issued a request for information to explore digital asset custody. Read more
Italy’s green bond demand smashes peers in debut offering - The rush of demand allowed the nation to knock a few basis points off the pricing, the latest evidence of a so-called greenium for sustainable assets. Countries and companies issuing such debt, where spending is ring-fenced for environmental projects, have often managed to achieve cheaper financing than from conventional bonds. Read more
Oxxo enters the fintech ecosystem with its digital wallet Spin - Oxxo presented Spin, a digital wallet through which it will be possible to manage, send and receive money from a cell phone or a store of this chain. According to ComproPago, in accordance with the provisions of the fintech law, this platform can offer products and services that it will manage through the Spin brand. Read more
KKR moves to ‘democratize’ private equity as SEC signals industry scrutiny - KKR has invested in iCapital, which will offer individual investors access to KKR’s strategies. The iCapital KKR Private Markets Fund gives accredited investors access to private equity funds and co-investments sponsored or advised by KKR. Read more |
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