REPORT
While financial institutions have been swinging hot and cold on crypto offerings, keeping in line with the uncertain regulatory stance, not much can stop them from experimenting and implementing these technologies in their operational models or investing in startups that are doing so.
👉 Read the full article by Sanjeev Kumar and Kshitija Kaur here.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The controversial cryptocurrency project that Mark Zuckerberg once defended in front of Congress is unraveling after regulatory pressure.
The Diem Association, a cryptocurrency initiative once known as Libra backed by Meta Platforms Inc., is weighing a sale of its assets as a way to return capital to its investor members, according to people familiar with the matter.
Diem is in discussions with investment bankers about how best to sell its intellectual property and find a new home for the engineers who developed the technology, cashing out whatever value remains in its once-ambitious Diem coin venture, said the people, asking not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
👉Read the full Bloomberg article here.
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📊 INFOGRAPHIC
SoFi has become the latest American FinTech to acquire a banking charter in this race of banking licenses, as the national regulators accepted its applications to become a Bank Holding Company and form SoFi Bank.
Through this post, WhiteSight is taking a look at some of the key events that shaped its path towards becoming a national bank.
👉Read the full article by Sanjeev Kumar and Risav Chakraborty here.
📰 ARTICLE
A financial technology start-up that Walmart created and backed said Wednesday it is acquiring two more companies as it aims to build an all-in-one app where consumers can manage their money.
The combined company will be called ONE, the name of one of the firms that the fintech start-up is acquiring. It is also purchasing another fintech company, Even. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Walmart has the majority stake of the start-up, which until now had been called Hazel, and its board includes several top executives, including Walmart's chief financial officer, Brett Biggs, and Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner.
👉Read the full CNBC article written by Melissa Repko here.
👨💻 BLOG
Robinhood is bleeding. Jamie Dimon is spending. JPMorgan Chase has billions to spend catching up with fintech startups. What about just doing a deal instead?
👉 Read the full Protocol newsletter by Benjamin Pimentel here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Vroon Modgill, CEO of Sokin talks to The Banker's Liz Lumley about meeting the needs of today's migrant workforce.
👉 Watch the full interview here.
👀 Looking for funding news? We've moved them to their own special weekly newsletter here.
👉 Read all about M&As, VCs, Down Rounds, IPOs, Funding Rounds, etc.
Subscribe to our #DoneDeal Newsletter and never miss an important update again.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Apple is planning a new service that will let small businesses accept payments directly on their iPhones without any extra hardware, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Link here.
⭐️ Stripe has done a deal with Spotify to make it easier for podcasters to accept payments and ensure revenue becomes recurring. Link here.
⭐️ UBS, a Swiss bank and one of the world's larger wealth managers, on Wednesday said it will buy U.S. robo-advisor Wealthfront for $1.4 billion in cash. Link here.
DIGITAL BANKING
Digital banking provider Chime Financial Inc has asked Goldman Sachs Group Inc to help it with preparations for an initial public offering in New York, according to people familiar with the matter. Link here.
PAYMENTS
1Password, a leader in human-centric security and privacy, has partnered with Brex, the company reimagining finance for growing businesses, to launch an industry-first integration to simplify online transactions and provide enterprise-grade security and frictionless online payments. Link here.
Market-leading SaaS banking platform Mambu, and global provider of cloud payments and financial messaging solutions, Volante Technologies, announced a pioneering collaboration to help banks and lenders modernize their banking and payment infrastructures rapidly. The strategic partnership will enable joint customers to speed up the delivery of innovative payment products and services without needing to rip and replace legacy systems. Link here.
BNPL
The latest BNPL startup seeking to target the B2B space to secure financing is Vartana, which aims to be the “Affirm for B2B.” For the unacquainted, Affirm — started by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin — was one of the earliest players in the consumer BNPL sector. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Plaid settled a class-action lawsuit in August for obtaining “more financial data than was needed” in the US. The issue in question was around how Plaid operated bank account login screens between 2013 and 2021—starting long before banking APIs were commonplace—that often mimicked those of a user’s own bank, while it was actually Plaid collecting the data. As part of the settlement, Plaid admitted no wrongdoing, agreed to delete all the data that was collected, and to pay valid claimants $58m. Link here.
CRYPTO
EarlyBird, the platform that makes it easy for parents, family, and friends to collectively invest in a child's future, announced the launch of EarlyBird Crypto. Link here.
Silicon Valley-based online trading app Robinhood has announced that it has begun rolling out crypto wallets to 1,000 users from the top of the wallets waitlist. Link here.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that his first paycheck will be automatically converted into cryptocurrency, as previously promised. The salary will be converted to Ethereum and Bitcoin. Link here.
Stash announced the launch of its first-ever crypto offering, designed to give customers a simple and easy way to own digital currencies as part of a fully managed account called Smart Portfolio. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Splitit Payments Limited, the Company empowering shoppers to use their credit cards to pay in installments, has announced that its board of directors has appointed Nandan Sheth as CEO, effective 28 February 2022. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES
Mastercard is to commit $5 million to support the creation of a Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics (Cadsa) at Howard University, focused on addressing racial bias in AI-driven credit approval processes.
The interdisciplinary unit is being set up to support social impact research and training for a new generation of data scientists with expertise in incorporating analysis of racial bias in financial services.
👉 Read the full Finextra article here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.