Fintech Nexus Newsletter

The UK has published a number of proposals for stablecoin regulation and how to bring the digital asset into the economy.

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.

During the height of the 2021-22 fintech VC boom, no sector was hotter than spend management. Companies like Brex, Ramp and Navan all raised massive rounds at multi-billion dollar valuations. While the category has cooled off, like most areas of fintech, it is still attracting capital from some big names in venture capital.

Zelle has started refunding imposter scam victims, after years of banks questioning their responsibility to do so.

The US dollar stablecoin market has long been dominated by Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC). Together these stablecoins have a market cap of around $140 billion or so. While others have tried, notably PayPal last year, there is no other stablecoin with a market cap of more than $3 billion.

In the new Apple iOS 17.4 update there is a little something for fintech enthusiasts: a new API called FinanceKit. This is another example of Apple edging its way into open banking after last November the company allowed UK users to connect outside accounts.

HSBC has announced Zing, a new retail-focused service offering inexpensive foreign exchange. The large banks. particularly in Europe, have mainly looked on with envy as startups like Wise and Revolut have built large businesses on the back of offering cheap foreign exchange to tens of millions of retail customers.

While the AI hype cycle continues, we are starting to see real fintech products come to market using this new technology. Today, core banking provider Temenos has announced the release of its Responsible Generative AI solutions for core banking as part of its "AI-infused banking platform."

Back in the go-go days of 2021 the two biggest names in crypto were known just by their initials: SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) and CZ (Changpeng Zhao). They often took to Twitter arguing with each other about where the market was going and whether certain tokens were overvalued. But there were no bigger names than SBF and CZ. They controlled the biggest crypto exchanges, outside of Coinbase: FTX and Binance.

As we hear tell of Mint's demise it becomes clear that the market for personal finance management is evolving beyond just budgeting.