The continued push by Amazon into financial services could have a bigger effect on startups over banks; Nicolas Parmaksizian, global head of Capco digital, tells TearSheet, “If you combine an Amazon with a Capital One, you’re combining the amazing power of Amazon and Capital One’s data analytics, and that’s a challenging thing to compete with as a startup banking brand.”; digital only banks look to offer a better experience at a lower cost than the traditional banks, adding Amazon into the mix could drown out those startups before they ever get going. Source.
SoFi has already done two Super Bowl commercials but has also become a sponsor of numerous sporting events; The company most recently sponsored the Big Ten men’s college basketball championship final last week; SoFi finds that sporting events are a great way to reach their target audience and build the SoFi brand. Source
The new fund will allow accredited investors to access all of the cryptocurrencies currently on Coinbase; the currencies will be weighted on market capitalization and new cryptocurrencies will automatically be added to the fund; the fund will charge a 2% management fee. Source
Caitlin Long recently stepped down as President and Chairman of blockchain startup Symbiont to help turn Wyoming into an ideal environment for digital asset businesses; she helped with the Delaware Blockchain Initiative and, along with her partners, recently introduced 5 bills in Wyoming; 3 of the 5 have passed and the Governor has indicated he will sign them into law later this month; American Banker interviewed Caitlin on institutional interest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin becoming financialized, the different between security and utility tokens and more. Source.
WorldRemit recently entered the U.S. market and already expects it to be their biggest market by year end; remittances sent from the U.S. back to home countries have risen to $66bn from $50bn in the last 5 years; immigrants are becoming more tech savvy and companies like WorldRemit see big potential as apps like WhatsApp have helped move people to use their phones more and more; WorldRemit has been driven in large part by relying on a number of different partners to help set up their expanding network; tax issues are still a big concern and recently receiving the NY approval, a 2 year effort, sets the company up to focus on scale. Source.
Lend Academy shares information related to filing taxes with LendingClub and Prosper for the 2017 tax year. Source
News of Amazon in talks with JPMorgan Chase and Capital One to offer a checking account product has brought up a number of regulatory questions; key questions include who owns the customer, what is Amazon’s role in the accounts, who regulates Amazon in this instance and will Amazon need to become a bank; while details of the deal are not fully known regulators will be keeping a close eye on the partnership. Source.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been hit with a class action lawsuit that alleges insider trading during their launch of bitcoin cash; the plaintiffs are accusing the exchange of tipping off insiders prior to the official launch; prices of bitcoin cash spiked ahead of the launch and Coinbase did say they would conduct an investigation into the matter, plaintiffs claim the results have yet to be revealed. Source.
BBVA has announced their Open Talent competition which is dubbed as the world’s largest fintech competition; the competition is in its tenth year and will focus on banking, data, money management and financial decision-making; the winner will take home $186,000 and finalists will take part in an immersion week which will show them how to work with a big corporate, become a customer of the bank and more. Source.
According to Visa 96 percent of U.S. payment volume took place on chip cards, with the large majority being chip and signature cards; starting next month major card brands will look to move customers to the chip and PIN cards that have been widely adopted across Europe; Merchants will be able to turn cell phones into terminals instead of buying expensive POS terminals with pin pads; wide adoption will take time as smaller retailers might not see the benefits as quickly and large retailers have invested a lot in the current technology. Source.