This week was primarily about crypto with so many big stories focusing on digital currencies. Square is quickly becoming a crypto trading platform as that becomes the biggest part of their business and stablecoins were in the news at PayPal and Visa. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 most important fintech news stories of the past week.
Federal Reserve Opens Consultation on Access to the Payments System from Crowdfund Insider – With many fintechs obtaining bank charters today the Federal Reserve has proposed new guidelines on how they can gain access to the Fed payments system. This is a big deal.
The Paycheck Protection Program is out of money from The New York Times – Even though the Paycheck Protection Program is not due to end until May 31 the program ran out of funding this week.
Cash App Is King at Square from The Wall Street Journal – Square released their first quarter earnings this week with some astounding growth numbers courtesy of bitcoin trading in their Cash App.
PayPal has held exploratory talks about launching a stablecoin: sources from The Block – PayPal is exploring creating its own stablecoin as it apparently has been in contact with some of the industry’s stablecoin protocol developers.
Fintech Wealthsimple raises about $610 million in funding round from FinLedger – It was a relatively quiet week as far as big fundraising announcements were concerned with Canadian fintech Wealthsimple leading the way by announcing a $610 million round.
Galaxy Digital to Buy BitGo in Crypto Sector’s First $1 Billion Deal from The Wall Street Journal – The first billion dollar deal in the crypto space has been consummated with Galaxy Digital, a leading crypto-focused financial-services firm, acquiring BitGo, a leading institutional digital asset platform.
Robinhood Slams Buffett And Munger For ‘Insulting A New Generation’ Of Investors from Forbes – Arguably the most successful investors in history, Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway, have directly criticized Robinhood for taking advantage of new investors’ “gambling instincts”. Robinhood hit back.
Chime has agreed to stop using the word ‘bank’ after a California regulator pushed back from TechCrunch – After an investigation from the California financial regulator Chime will no longer use the word “bank” in its promotions as it is not a bank (yet).
Tala and Visa Partnership Seeks To Ignite Stablecoin Use In Emerging Markets from PYMNTS.com – Tala, one of the leaders in providing access to unbanked populations throughout the developing world, is teaming up with Visa to bring stablecoins into digital wallets which could be used for cross border payments.
Bitcoin is coming to hundreds of U.S. banks this year, says crypto custody firm NYDIG from CNBC – In another sign that crypto is going mainstream, according to NYDIG banks are asking for crypto custody services driven by customer demand.
