#434
Whaling - Past, Present, VC

Robinhood signs agreement to acquire Ziglu - Ziglu, which allows consumers to trade crypto and earn yields, holds licenses to operate in the U.K. and Europe. Robinhood is leaning on crypto to expand abroad and reignite growth and this deal marks the company's first major move as part of that strategy. Read more

Amazon targets rival Shopify with new ‘Buy With Prime’ service - The new “Buy With Prime” feature combines Amazon’s payments and fulfillment services and makes them available at checkout on other websites, letting shoppers use their Amazon Prime membership to receive fast-shipping and other benefits. Read more

Fintech giant Stripe jumps into crypto with a feature that lets Twitter users get paid in stablecoin - Stripe will allow businesses to pay their users via cryptocurrencies, starting with Twitter, in the latest sign of how large financial firms are warming to digital assets. Starting imminently, the social media platform will let a certain number of creators receive their earnings from its paid Ticketed Spaces and Super Follows features in USDC. Read more

Crypto thieves get bolder by the heist, stealing record amounts - Last Sunday, a hacker exploited a new algorithmic stablecoin project called Beanstalk and drained it of $182m worth of digital assets. The Beanstalk hack was the fifth-largest crypto theft on record and the WSJ explains how they did it. The Beanstalk hack follows a $540m theft last month from the platform for the online game Axie Infinity. Read more

China to launch private pensions in bid to unlock vast savings stockpile - China has said it will launch an official private pension scheme that aims to push more of the country’s vast household savings into the financial market, as the government grapples with an aging population. Employees in China will be able to contribute up to Rmb12,000 a year ($1,860) to private schemes. Read more

The Fed is looking to speed up payments - The Federal Reserve promises that FedNow — a new service for banks and credit unions — will help make real-time payments a reality for the U.S. banking industry. Read more

2021 cryptocurrency gains by country: Ethereum leads as gains skyrocket around the world - 2021 was another strong year for cryptocurrency, as assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum were able to build on positive momentum gained at the end of 2020 and hit new all-time highs in 2021. Overall, across all cryptocurrencies Chainalysis tracks, investors around the world realized total gains of $162.7b in 2021, compared to just $32.5b in 2020. Read more

Plaid co-founder takes aim at rickety banking tech - Mr. Hockey, a co-founder of the $13b fintech startup Plaid, and his wife, Annie Hockey, plunked down about $50m for Northern California National Bank last year, then gut-renovated its operating systems and renamed it Column. Read more

‘It could destroy your life’: crypto trading goes to rehab - From a $90,000-a-week Swiss clinic to inexpensive teletherapies, addiction specialists are offering treatments for compulsive crypto traders. Read more

The Wolf of Crypto! - Jordan Belfort, the inspiration for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” is marketing himself these days as a cryptocurrency guru! Read more

2022 Wharton fintech conference recap - Last year global fintech funding doubled to reach record highs. The covid pandemic shifted how people access their financial services and accelerated digital adoption worldwide. The 2022 panels covered the latest trends in fintech investing, fintech in emerging markets, the evolution of the fintech capabilities of tech giants, personal finance including wealth management, lending and financial inclusivity, and enterprise fintech empowering startups and SMBs. Read more