Fintech Nexus Newsletter

The slow-moving dumpster fire that is the Synapse-Evolve meltdown has turned into a nightmare for many fintech customers. Synapse acted as a middleman between banks and fintechs, but there have been several disagreements between Synapse and these banks and fintechs. Consumers who assumed their money was safe are caught in the middle.

Yesterday, Apple shared details on Apple Card usage for the first time. The card was introduced in 2019 and since then it has acquired 12 million users, not a bad effort in less than five years. Users earn Daily Cash rewards when they use the card and Apple reported that the total for 2023 was over $1 billion.

We are moving to a world of instant payments but how we get there is still uncertain. A blockchain-based payments system designed for central banks has just completed its first live transactions with the Bank of England. Created by Fnality, the system processed live payments from member banks, Lloyds, Santander and UBS.

Twitter/X has been going state-by-state obtaining money transmitter licenses. The social media platform is now approved in 12 states.

Today, Klarna announced an interesting new global partnership with Uber. Klarna is now a payment option for Uber users in the U.S., Germany and Sweden. Interestingly, Klarna is not offering its typical Pay-in-4 payment method. Instead, this is for the Pay Now option that allows users to pay in full with their Klarna account in one click.

We know consumers love BNPL, with millions preferring it over credit cards as a purchase method. We also know that much has been written about consumers misusing BNPL and causing themselves financial difficulties.

ChatGPT launched a year ago and the tech world will never be the same. The New York Times has an in-depth look at the impact of this revolutionary new product, focusing on big tech. It is interesting to me that one of the greatest tech launches of the past decade came not from a big tech company but from an AI startup that was not even seven years old and was set up as a non-profit research lab.

Upgrade continues to break new ground in consumer fintech. When the Upgrade Card launched in 2019, it was the first credit card ever to marry the benefits of a revolving line of credit with a fixed-rate installment loan.

When we covered the BlackRock announcement last week of their new tokenized treasuries fund I thought it was a big deal. One week in, this new investment vehicle (ticker symbol BUIDL) is proving to be quite popular. On-chain data shows that $245 million worth of BUIDL shares are now held in seven different wallets. That is the beauty of blockchain data, everything is transparent.

Yesterday, the OCC issued new guidance for banks, addressing the risks of buy now pay later lending. The guidance focused on the popular "pay in 4" segment of BNPL.  Not surprisingly, the national bank regulator recommended tight oversight of third-party servicers, the importance of transparent loan terms and fraud mitigation.