It seems like SBF is in the news every week lately, as is Goldman Sachs. Also making news this week we have Ramp getting into BNPL and blockchain making inroads on Wall Street. Here are what I consider to be the top ten fintech news stories of the past week.
The 30-Year-Old Spending $1 Billion to Save Crypto from The Wall Street Journal – Sam Bankman-Fried (aka SBF), the founder and CEO of FTX, has become a crucial lifeline to many companies in the crypto space. In this in-depth piece, we learn how many companies FTX has helped and what it has meant for the industry.
Goldman May Tap Brakes, Again, on Consumer Unit’s Next Big Thing from Bloomberg – Goldman Sachs first promised a Marcus checking account in the summer of 2021. They have delayed the launch multiple times and this week we learned it may be delayed again, into 2023.
Goldman Sachs Should Kill Its Planned Marcus Checking Account from Forbes – Ron Shevlin thinks Goldman should just cancel the project completely, arguing that the role of the checking account has changed and it is no longer the center of consumers’ financial lives. He thinks Goldman should be putting more effort into Marcus Insights (formerly Clarity Money).
Ramp will now let businesses flexibly finance bills from TechCrunch – Ramp has launched a B2B BNPL offering called Flex that allows their customers to finance any invoice paid through their bill pay feature. There are 30, 60, and 90 days options available, it is now live for select customers with the expectation of a general rollout over the coming months.
As Crypto Slumps, Goldman Sachs Aims for a Wall Street Built on Blockchain from The Wall Street Journal – Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are already processing live trades on blockchain-based systems with Goldman building up their digital assets group to 70 full-time employees. JPMorgan launched its Onyx blockchain-based trading system in 2020 and it has already processed $350 billion worth of trade repos.
A showdown is coming over who is liable for P2P payments fraud from American Banker – The CFPB is expected to issue guidance on fraud that occurs on P2P payments platforms such as Zelle. Consumers have protection when fraud occurs in credit or debit card purchases and the CFPB is expected to propose similar protections for P2P payments, which will likely result in a barrage of lawsuits.
Coinbase CEO says crypto exchange has ongoing plans to cut costs and is actively engaged with regulators from CNBC – In an interview with CNBC this week, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared that the company is looking to cut costs amid the crypto downturn. He also shared that he is fully aware that there will be compression in transaction fees over time and that he expects to get regulatory clarity from the SEC after the midterm elections.
Andreessen Horowitz Says Crypto Can Shift Power Away From Big Internet Companies: Report from CoinDesk – Chris Dixon is the head of Andreessen’s crypto investing arm and he said this week that it is not a good thing for entrepreneurs or VCs that the internet is controlled by five big tech companies. He sees web3 as a way to democratize this power away from big tech, where network effects accrue to the community instead.
Bank of America Beefs Up Tech Offerings as Digital Logins Rise to a Record from Bloomberg – Of the big four banks in this country Bank of America is the one you hear about least when it comes to groundbreaking fintech innovation. But that may be changing as the company is beefing up its tech offerings.
Five months after a $55M Series B, fintech Argyle cuts jobs from TechCrunch – Another week, another fintech company doing layoffs. While there was no announcement, TechCrunch is reporting that Argyle is laying off 20 people or 6.5% of its workforce. It looks like it is more about a realignment within the company as there are still 30 open positions.
Every Thursday afternoon, the Fintech Nexus News team and a special guest discuss the news of the week live on LendIt TV, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. We have now made the show available in podcast format – click on the audio player below.
