eBay Is considering taking crypto as payment, allowing sale of NFTs - eBay CEO Jamie Iannone told CNBC that he is optimistic about the future for his company, including with the potential for the eCommerce site to introduce non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The company is also expanding payments, including ways to pay via Apple Pay and Google Pay, as well as other options like cryptocurrency. Read more
TikTok is the place to go for financial advice if you’re a young adult - The big benefit of TikTok is that it allows users to dole out and obtain information in short, easily digestible video bites. And that can make unfamiliar, complex topics, such as those related to personal finance and investing, more palatable to a younger audience. But can TikTok users, many of whom are in their teens, 20s or early 30s, trust the financial advice that is increasingly being offered on the social-media platform? Read more
Berkshire Hathaway’s stock price is too much for computers - Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is trading at more than $421,000 per Class A share, and the market is optimistic. That’s a problem. The price has grown so high, it has nearly hit the maximum number that can be stored in one common way exchange computers handle digits. Read more
Europe’s largest banks plan joint attack on US payments giants - More than 30 of Europe’s largest banks and credit card processors are trying to create a payments giant capable of shattering a US-dominated “oligopoly”. A Brussels-based venture, which currently employs 40 payment experts, has until September to draw up a blueprint for a pan-European payments service that can be used to pay online as well as in stores, to settle bills between individual consumers and to withdraw cash at ATMs. Read more
Galaxy Digital to buy BitGo in crypto sector’s first $1b deal - The deal coincides with a surge in interest and a nearly yearlong rally in the crypto sector whose market value has surged to $2t. The acquisition will make Galaxy Digital a crypto-focused financial-services firm with more than $40b in assets under custody. The combined company will offer an array of products and services, including trading, custody and asset management, investment banking, prime lending, tax services and even a mining operation, aimed mainly at institutional investors. Read more
Payments startup DLocal said to confidentially file for IPO - The Montevideo, Uruguay based company is working with banks including JPMorgan Chase on a listing that could occur as soon as this year, and is set to be valued at more than $5b. Founded in 2016, DLocal counts General Atlantic, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Bond and Alkeon Capital among its investors. Read more
Robinhood’s biggest business more than tripled amid trading frenzy - When its customers buy and sell stocks and options, Robinhood routes those orders to high-speed traders, which pay the startup brokerage for the right to execute many of those trades. That business, known as payment for order flow, generated about $331m in revenue for Robinhood in the first quarter, which is more than triple the $91m Robinhood brought in from payment for order flow in the first quarter of 2020. Read more
Chime has agreed to stop using the word ‘bank’ after a California regulator pushed back - The development won’t surprise anyone familiar with U.S. banking laws. No outfit can represent itself as a bank or credit union unless it’s licensed to engage in the business of banking. The commission that pushed back on Chime issues such licenses and regulates state-chartered banks in the state of California through the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, and it said in the settlement that “at all relevant times herein, Chime was not licensed to operate as a bank in California or in any other jurisdiction, nor was it exempt from such licensure.” Read more
Sure Inc. lawsuit says Boost Insurance is a copycat - It's every founder's worst nightmare: You take money from a venture capitalist, who then uses what he learns from due diligence and board meetings to create a competitor. Sure Inc., a startup that provides the infrastructure layer between insurance companies and consumer brands, has sued Boost Insurance, a rival VC-backed startup whose founder and CEO was an early Sure investor and director. Read more
Bill.com to acquire Divvy, a leader in spend management for SMBs - Bill.com, a leading provider of cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes, and automates complex back-office financial operations for SMBs, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Divvy in a stock and cash transaction valued at approximately $2.5b. Read more
WhatsApp Pay set to shake up Brazil’s payments market - Facebook’s messaging app, used daily by millions of Brazilians, will turn the dynamics of the country’s retail payments industry on its head. Read more
Dogecoin’s 12,000% rally spurs hunt for next crypto winner - The jump from one speculative asset to another is indicative of the broader frenzy that has driven up prices for a range of assets including stocks, commodities such as silver and cryptocurrencies. It also shows how new investors with savings bolstered by stimulus checks and who are spending more time at home during the Covid-19 pandemic have become a volatile new force in financial markets. Read more
Yale endowment’s David Swensen dies - After stints at Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers, Swensen returned to his alma mater in 1985 to lead its investment office. At the time, endowments were typically conservatively managed, but Swensen overhauled the model dramatically, taking advantage of their long-term focus to invest heavily in the nascent private equity and hedge fund industries. His approach was so successful it revolutionized how endowments and many other institutional investors allocate their money, and the “Yale model” spread and helped change the wider investment industry. Read more
Payments firm Flywire makes U.S. IPO filing public - Boston based payments firm Flywire made its paperwork for a U.S. listing public and revealed a 38% surge in revenue in the latest quarter as it benefits from strong remote working trends due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Flywire had confidentially filed to go public in March and could seek a valuation as high as $3b when it sets terms for the offering. Read more
Fed considers proposal to allow fintech companies access to payment system - In the past few years, new financial products and delivery mechanisms have been introduced that work with traditional banking services. Many institutions, notably, have leveraged emerging technologies, including from institutions working with new types of bank charters designed to support such innovation. To make that happen, institutions have sometimes requested access to the payment system offered by Federal Reserve Banks. Read more
Tala and Visa partnership seeks to ignite stablecoin use in emerging markets - Cuy Sheffield, head of Crypto at Visa, and Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO of Tala, said a new partnership between the two firms is aimed at putting stablecoins into digital wallets, onto credit cards — and bringing that digital commerce direct to merchants. Read more
Coinbase acquires cryptocurrency market analysis tool skew - Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has acquired skew, a UK based data analytics firm for cryptocurrency markets, allowing the exchange to provide real-time data analytics to the institutions and traders who leverage its platform. The acquisition is part of its work to strengthen services for institutional clients. Read more
Citi weighs launching crypto services after surge in client interest - The group is the latest banking giant to consider pushing into the new markets according to Itay Tuchman, its global head of foreign exchange. Despite the reputational challenges, large dealers have been forced to respond to surging interest in bitcoin from asset managers and hedge funds. Tuchman said the bank had not yet decided whether it would offer its clients cryptocurrency-related services, but he said that trading, custody and financing were all under consideration. Read more
99 Pay digital wallet hits 1.3m users and plans to expand throughout Brazil - The digital wallet from Brazilian ride-hailing app 99, owned by the Chinese giant Didi Chuxing since 2018, when the app became the first Brazilian unicorn, hit 1.3m active users less than a year after its launch. Read more |
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