European challenger bank Revolut announced today that it will enter the US market with crypto trading services through a partnership...
Fintech VC Ribbit Capital is planning a $600mn special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to target fintech businesses; the SPAC could...
Featured keynote speaker Richard Cordray from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) discussed the Bureau's fintech initiatives at LendIt USA; a video of the presentation can be found here; in prepared remarks Cordray discussed the Bureau's focus on both providers and consumers with three areas of special interest including: consumer-friendly innovations, consumers' control over their personal financial data and the use of alternative sources of data for underwriting loans; recent fintech innovation activity from the CFPB has primarily been centered around its Project Catalyst; on February 16 the CFPB also issued a request for information on the uses of alternative credit data with an open comment period until May 19. Source
Grab is a well known ride-hailing app in Singapore; now they are acquiring Bento, a wealth management startup; they plan...
Ripple has announced the appointment of a new CEO; Brad Garlinghouse, previously president and chief operating officer, will take over the role as of January 1, 2017; Garlinghouse will replace Chris Larsen who will become Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors; the fintech blockchain payments company has been significantly expanding in 2016 with its network now including 15 of the top 50 global banks; much of the company's growth has been attributed to Larsen who will now take more of a strategic adviser role. Source
According to Bloomberg, Ripple attempted to provide financial incentives to exchanges Gemini and Coinbase for its XRP cryptocurrency to be listed; Some believe that the exchanges are reluctant to include XRP because the token could be deemed securities because it is controlled by one single company; the article by Bloomberg shares that a Ripple executive offered a $1 million cash payment to Gemini which was followed by other incentive offerings; Ripple also offered lending Coinbase $100 million of XRP to let users trade the asset. Source
The startup donated its digital currency (XRP) to public schools in the United States; Ripple shared it is the largest cryptocurrency gift to a single charity and will be used to buy materials at over 28,000 schools in all 50 states; Ripple currently owns 60 billion of the 100 billion XRP in existence and has a market cap around $35 billion; the cryptocurrency will be liquidated over a two period in order to not disrupt the market price. Source
Ripple is a leading innovator in the current internet of value market also currently involved with the Federal Reserve's payments task force initiatives; the firm has enhanced its XRP product suite and rebranded it as RippleNet; their blog post provides more details on RippleNet's product offerings. Source
Enterprise blockchain company Ripple was one of 14 companies top join the Hyperledger consortium last week; Ripple and NTT Data partnered on Hyperledger Quilt, a java based interledger protocol that they submitted to Hyperledger; Hyperledger Executive Director Brian Behlendorf explained to Finovate that this growth is beneficial to the future of the blockchain. “The accelerating pace of growth and adoption of Hyperledger across industries and geographies underscores the power of our community and the technologies it is building,” he said. “It also reflects a global awakening to the impact of blockchain for business.” Source.
Speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum, the CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse, shared that an IPO would be...