Jack Dorsey and Jay Z invest 500 BTC to make Bitcoin ‘internet’s currency’ - The duo is putting 500 bitcoin, which is currently worth $23.6m, in the endowment called ₿trust. The fund will be set up as a blind irrevocable trust, Dorsey said, adding that the duo won’t be giving any direction to the team. Read more
Investors are now valuing Stripe at $115b - Investors are valuing Stripe at a $115b valuation in “secondary market” transactions, which is up more than threefold from the $36b Stripe fetched when it raised money in April 2020 from venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and Sequoia. Stripe is also planning a new primary funding round at a valuation north of $100b, according to a person familiar with the matter. Read more
Citigroup cannot recoup Revlon payouts after nearly $900m gaffe - A federal judge on Tuesday said Citigroup is not entitled to recoup half a billion dollars of its own money that it mistakenly wired lenders of Revlon, in what he called "a banking error of perhaps unprecedented nature and magnitude." U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said the Aug. 11, 2020, transfers were “final and complete transactions, not subject to revocation.” Read more
Bitcoin’s rise reflects America’s decline - The rise in popularity of highly volatile cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin could simply be seen as a speculative sign of U.S. Federal Reserve-enabled froth. But it might better be interpreted as an early signal of a new world order in which the U.S. and the dollar will play a less important role. Read more
Visa failed with Plaid. What’s its fintech plan now? - Visa global head of fintech Terry Angelos talks about the company's interest in striking partnerships and desire to be as prominent as Stripe. But Visa's vision is not just about partnering and wooing fintechs. Despite what happened with the Plaid deal, acquisitions will continue to be part of Visa's game plan. Read more
Robinhood allows crypto deposit and withdrawal including Dogecoin - Brokerage app Robinhood will allow customers to deposit and withdraw cryptocurrencies, Reuters reported. That will include the meme-based dogecoin. Currently, Robinhood doesn't invest in cryptocurrency or use any customer cryptocurrency for its own benefit. Read more
Artificial intelligence isn’t just for quants anymore - Artificial intelligence is no longer simply an experiment for traditional asset managers. Firms that have implemented a full range of artificial intelligence techniques — including data mining, signal generation, and optimization — are generating 3 percent in alpha, according to a new Accenture report. Read more
Goldman Sachs to offer its investing know-how to the masses - You used to need at least $10m in investable assets to draw the attention of wealth managers at Goldman Sachs. Now, all it takes is $1,000 and a smartphone. The Wall Street firm recently unveiled Marcus Invest, a low-cost digital platform that allocates and automatically rebalances individuals’ wealth across portfolios of stocks and bonds based on the models developed by the firm’s investment-strategy committee. Read more
Dogecoin has a top dog worth $2.1b - The dogecoin market has a pack leader. Records show that a person, or entity, owns about 28% of all of the cryptocurrency in circulation—a stake worth about $2.1b at current prices. The holder’s identity isn’t known, which is common in the opaque world of digital currencies. Read more
MicroStrategy raises Bitcoin bet with more convertible bonds - MicroStrategy is doubling down on its big bet on Bitcoin. The enterprise software maker announced a $600m convertible bond offering Tuesday, with the intention of adding to its Bitcoin stash amid a surge that pushed the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency past $50,000 for the first time. The convertible senior notes are due to mature on Feb 15, 2027. Read more
Competition heats up among Argentina’s digital wallets - Digital wallets are booming in Argentina, and the banks, fintechs and big techs behind them are looking at how they can get a competitive edge over their peers. Read more
Covid-19 forces electronic shift in bond markets - By December, one in every three transactions was taking place on an electronic platform, according to data from Greenwich Associates. This momentum continued last month, with volumes of digital trading in investment-grade and high-yield bonds rising 3% and 7% year-on-year, respectively. Analysts and traders expect this shift to continue. Read more
Investors, founders report hot market for API startups - Speaking with founders and investors this year, it has become clear to Techcrunch that the API model of delivering a product is more than an occasional hit-maker for companies like Twilio or Plaid. Instead, it appears that there is ample room for lots of API-powered startups to build and prosper. Read more
Cubs owner Ricketts merges bond broker with fintech startup - Tom Ricketts, the owner of the Chicago Cubs, says his bond broker Incapital lost its technological edge while he spent the past decade building one of the most successful teams in baseball. The billionaire believes he’s found a solution: merging the business with a San Francisco-based fintech startup called 280 CapMarkets. Read more
China mulls easing capital controls on offshore investments - China is considering relaxing restrictions to allow its citizens to invest in securities outside its mainland in a bid to facilitate two-way capital flows as it opens its own capital markets to more foreign participation. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) will conduct a study to see if it can allow domestic investors to use their $50,000 annual forex quota for purchases of securities and insurance offshore. Read more
North America’s first bitcoin ETF captures flurry of trading on debut - Close to 10m shares in the Purpose Investments bitcoin ETF changed hands on the first day of trading in Toronto, according to data from exchange operator TMX Group tracking the Canadian dollar version of the fund. Read more
How Apple Pay helps ‘cheat’ banks out of $250b in payments - Many consumers don’t link their primary debit and credit cards to their mobile payment apps but nearly 30% of Apple Pay users and 40% of Google Pay users link a debit or credit card from a provider other than their primary bank or credit card issuer to their Apple and Google mobile payment apps. In essence, these consumer are “cheating” on their primary providers. Read more |
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