It has finally happened. More than a decade after receiving the first spot bitcoin ETF application the SEC gave its approval yesterday. While this was widely expected, it wasn't a slam dunk as demonstrated by the tight vote: 3-2 in favor with SEC Chair Gary Gensler providing the deciding vote.

In a blog post yesterday describing their 2024 plans, we learned that X will be launching peer-to-peer payments later this year. We know that the company has been slowly obtaining money transmitter licenses as it builds out its payments capabilities. But this is the first time we have heard about concrete plans to launch a payments service.

Small business lending is more complicated than consumer lending. Both have term loans and lines of credit but in small business you also have SBA loans, revenue-based financing, merchant cash advances, venture debt, equipment finance, invoice factoring, asset-based financing and more. This leaves a lot of room for unscrupulous lenders to charge hidden fees on some of these products.

After they famously imploded in March 2023, you could be forgiven for thinking that Silicon Valley Bank's fintech business was done. Not so. This time last year SVB was still the go-to bank for fintech companies, with the vast majority of venture-backed firms as clients. That changed in March.

When the CFPB released their long-awaited proposal on open banking rules in October there was cautious optimism from both banking and fintech groups. Fast forward two and a half months, when everyone has had a chance to fully digest the 299-page proposed rulemaking, there are many suggestions for improvement. With the 60-day comment period ending this week, the CFPB has received over 11,000 comments.

Fraud is going to be top of mind for all financial institutions in 2024. Banks and fintechs alike are constant targets of fraud attacks. It was interesting to read this morning about the experience of Regions Bank when it comes to check fraud.

Fraud is going to be top of mind for all financial institutions in 2024. Banks and fintechs alike are constant targets of fraud attacks. It was interesting to read this morning about the experience of Regions Bank when it comes to check fraud.

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.