Bronze🥉!
Congrats to all of you listed and to those who are not. Keep sharing those updates for the FinTech community!
👉 Check out the full Onalytica list/article “Who’s Who in Fintech? Top 50 Influencers to Follow” here.
REPORT
More than 1 in 5 US consumers still need better banking.
👉 Download the full Morning Consult “The State of Consumer Banking & Payments“ report by Charlotte (Bowden) Principato here.
REPORT
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's long-awaited Buy Now Pay Later report dropped.
👉 Check out the full Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's long-awaited Buy Now Pay Later report here.
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👨💻 BLOG
Decoding Block – Cash App & Square.
Block is one of the most interesting consumer fintech businesses in the US and the world. It is also one of the few companies with a successful consumer (Cash App) & B2B Play (Square).
👉 Read the full product notes and interesting overview article by Dinesh Vernekar here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Colin Walsh answering the critics: Varo Bank is viable and not for Sale.
👉 Read the full Financial Brand interview with Colin Walsh here.
💡INSIGHTS
While no list can ever do justice to the exciting number of events that have transpired in the Crypto, DeFi, & the larger Web3 world, this is an attempt by WhiteSight to capture some of the key milestones the community has witnessed over the last ten years.
👉 Read the full article by Sanjeev Kumar here.
🎤 PODCAST
Where’s the center of the startup world? Depends on which VC you ask.
👉 Listen to the full podcast episode by Natasha Mascarenhas, Alex Wilhelm, and Mary Ann Azevedo here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️The United States took a big step toward launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Link here.
⭐️PayQuicker announced the launch of Payouts OS. Link here,
⭐️Ryan Breslow, Bolt’s executive chairman, announced that he’s taking the role of CEO and founder of a health startup called Love. Link here.
⭐️ Denim (previously Axle Payments) raised $126 million in Series B funding. Link here.
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DIGITAL BANKING
The move made Varo the first-ever all-digital nationally chartered U.S. consumer bank. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Adyen was selected as the first financial technology platform to launch Cash App Pay. Link here.
ModusBox spins out PortX into a new financial services company and raises $10M. Link here.
Chipper Cash partners with Highnote to launch a card product for the US. Link here.
BNPL
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to start regulating BNPL. Link here.
Ratio secures $411 million to launch BNPL for B2B SaaS businesses. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Stash unveils Stash Core Stash now operates a custom-built core platform. Link here.
CRYPTO
The Biden White House has just released its first-ever framework on what crypto regulation in the U.S. should look like. Link here.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong: the USA cannot afford to let crypto go offshore “as well”. Link here.
Higlobe raises $14 million for a stablecoin-based money transfer service. Link here.
INVESTMENT
Harry & Meghan-backed fintech Ethic raises $50m. Link here.
First Dollar announced a new partnership with DriveWealth to power a Health Savings Account investing experience inside of their API-driven Health Wallet Platform. Link here.
Front launches Front API on Product Hunt. Link here.
UP Fintech was approved as the latest member of the NYSE. Link here.
Stackwell releases a robo-investing app to close the racial wealth gap. Link here.
GREEN FINANCE
Bitgreen secures $5M in crowdfunding to launch the Polkadot climate investment platform. Link here.
FRAUD PREVENTION
Portabl raises $2.5M to help consumers securely store financial data. Link here.
FINANCIAL LITERACY
Kendrick Lamar teams up with Cash App and Ray Dalio to give a quick financial literacy lesson. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Apple's manager of credit risk for the Apple Card, Abhi Pabba, has left the company for credit card startup X1. Link here.
Jim Messina, a previous close advisor to former President Barack Obama has become a key advisor on Blockchain.com’s government relations and policy strategy for the crypto company. Link here.
equipifi announced that Doug Preston will be joining as its Head of Strategy. Link here.
Nasdaq hired Ira Auerbach, who ran prime broker services at crypto exchange Gemini, to head up the new Nasdaq Digital Assets unit. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions, send me an email. Maybe I can answer a few.