An interesting mix of news this week as we have many developments on the digital currency front, we have DeFi news in the mainstream media, overdraft fees are being abandoned, and of course, we have IPO news and fundraises. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week.
Second Circuit overturns challenge to OCC fintech charter from Banking Dive – Three judges on the Second Circuit reversed the 2019 decision that said the OCC lacked authority to offer the fintech charter. It might be a moot point now as so many fintechs are going the full bank charter route but it is a victory nonetheless.
DeFi Is Helping to Fuel the Crypto Market Boom—and Its Recent Volatility from The Wall Street Journal – The DeFi world is booming but it is also contributing to increases in volatility, because when prices tumble many positions are automatically liquidated causing more downward pressure on prices.
Why more banks are weaning themselves off overdraft fees from American Banker – The overdraft fee has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time and you can see the impact that the digital banks are having as more traditional banks are foregoing this punitive measure. Ally Bank is the latest to end overdraft fees.
SoFi Starts Trading on Nasdaq as a Public Company from LendIt Fintech News – SoFi started trading on Tuesday on Nasdaq as the SPAC deal was consummated.
Visa And The Cryptocurrency Opportunity: Inside The Card Network’s Digital Currency Plans from Forbes – Few companies have more to lose than Visa if the world moves to digital currencies so they are aggressively pursuing a strategy with five different initiatives.
Uruguay’s DLocal Jumps Almost 54% After $617.4 Million IPO from Bloomberg – The only IPO of the week saw Uruguayan fintech DLocal have a successful IPO raising $617 million and with a valuation after its opening day jump of $10.4 billion.
Alternative investments platform Yieldstreet raises $100 million amid pandemic growth from CNBC – The alternative investment platform for individual investors, Yieldstreet, closed a $100 million Series C and is on track to hit $100 million in revenue in 2021 as they passed 300,000 members.
Institutional Ethereum (ETH) backed Loans to be Offered by Anchorage Digital via BankProv Partnership from Crowdfund Insider – Digital bank Anchorage is partnering with BankProv (formerly The Provident Bank – a 200 year old institution) to offer loans backed by Ethereum to institutions.
In The War Between Square, PayPal And Shopify, Banks Are Collateral Damage from Forbes – It is a good time to be a small business owner as the big tech companies are falling over themselves to provide a complete suite of financial services…but Ron Shevlin asks where does this leave banks?
A world tour of digital currency projects from American Banker – This is a great synopsis of the digital currency projects that are in various stages of development around the world.
