On CNBC's Squawk Box Ray Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund spoke negatively about bitcoin stating "It's not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold. Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble."; he went on to say that it could be a currency and work conceptually but the speculation going on hurts it. Source
JPMorgan Chase has been active in fintech partnerships with firms like Truecar, OnDeck and Roostify; they are now partnering with Bill.com in an effort to eliminate paper checks; JPMorgan spent $600 mn last year building fintech solutions and partnering with firms according to a letter CEO Jamie Dimon sent to shareholders in April. Source
Peter Renton from Lend Academy reflects on the news from SoFi last week which involved sexual harassment at the company; Renton shares his perspective on this problem, which is not specific to any one company or any one industry; there are many recent examples of women who are starting to speak out about inappropriate treatment and the negative behavior is starting to have real consequences. Source
TechCrunch has published the video from an interview with Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum; in the interview he talked about cryptocurrencies and blockchain, highlighting what makes a good use case for the technology. Source
Nathaniel Hoopes, head of the Marketplace Lending Association shares how the Madden v. Midland decision is having an adverse impact on borrowers in an American Banker opinion article. Source
Ellevest is an investment platform focused on women; the firm is led by Sallie Krawcheck and recently raised $34.6 mn in a Series A round; the round was led by Rethink Impact with participation from a wide variety of investors including PSP Growth, Salesforce Ventures, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, LH Holdings, SK Impact Fund, Morningstar, Khosla Ventures, Mellody Hobson, Ulu Ventures, Contour Venture Partners and Astia Angels. Source
A writer in a Bloomberg opinion article believes that the next financial crisis will have its roots in Silicon Valley, not Wall Street; author cites that fintech companies are vulnerable to rapid, adverse shocks compared to Wall Street banks because fintech firms are small and undiversified; article also shares that fintech companies are more difficult to monitor and that the fintech industry has not developed the set of unwritten norms and expectations that guide traditional financial institutions. Source
According to the WSJ, clients have been withdrawing more money than expected from the hedge fund; Pine River was best known for its profits after rebounding government-backed mortgages following the financial crisis; Pine River manages roughly half of the $15 billion it managed in 2015. Source
The recent PeerIQ weekly newsletter discusses the departure of Mike Cagney from SoFi, the Goldman & Mosaic deal and provides an analysis of recent SoFi (SCLP 2017-5) and Lending Club (CLUB 2017-P1) securitizations. Source