Why hasn’t the crypto winter affected the larger economy?

Why hasn’t the crypto winter affected the larger economy?

In an interview with CoinDesk, Antonio Garcia Pascual, Deputy Chief of the Global Market Analysis Division at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said crypto’s nosedive hasn’t caused a similar downturn in the “real economy.” The crypto sector’s market cap has slid from $3T to $873B since November 2021.

Read More

Hedge fund eyeing PayPal after stock plummets

Hedge fund eyeing PayPal after stock plummets

According to the Wall Street Journal, Elliott Management, a $50B hedge fund, is considering an activist-investor takeover of PayPal. PayPal’s valuation has slid from $350B to $89B over the past year.

Read More

Balancing globalization and compliance with Episode Six

Balancing globalization and compliance with Episode Six

After interviewing the Episode Six founding team in 2020, The Financial Revolutionist sat down with CEO John Mitchell, revisiting Episode Six’s strategies and predictions for the future. Mitchell outlines the company’s steady course, shares the vision behind their business model, and hints at the future of hybridized, digital payments ecosystems.

Read More

CFPB sets sights on Apple Pay Later

CFPB sets sights on Apple Pay Later

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra said that Big Tech’s expansion into the BNPL space raises privacy and antitrust issues. To date, Apple is the only tech giant to launch a BNPL product, which is called Apple Pay Later.

Read More

Is P2P fraud approaching a turning point?

Is P2P fraud approaching a turning point?

In a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra, Democratic lawmakers asked Chopra to clarify whether consumers who are defrauded into making a financial transfer on peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps like Zelle are “errors” or “unauthorized electronic fund transfers.” This shift could make financial institutions liable for repaying consumers who have fallen victim to fraud on P2P platforms.

Read More

Meta eyes Instagram payments as gateway to metaverse

Meta eyes Instagram payments as gateway to metaverse

Meta, the parent company to Facebook and Instagram, announced the launch of its cross-platform payments system, Meta Pay, on Instagram. Meta said that 1 billion users message a business on one of its apps every week.

Read More

Are we seeing the rise of subscription-driven healthcare?

Are we seeing the rise of subscription-driven healthcare?

Amazon announced that it’s acquiring 1LifeHealthcare Inc., the parent company of primary-care network One Medical, for $3.9B. The health practice has 180 offices and offers benefits to employees at more than 8,000 companies.

Read More

Africa-based fintechs discontinue virtual dollar card services due to fraud

Africa-based fintechs discontinue virtual dollar card services due to fraud

Flutterwave, Eversend, and other Africa-based fintechs discontinued use of virtual dollar cards due to the processor’s susceptibility to fraud. Scammers could contact the card issuer and fraudulently claim that they never made specific purchases.

Read More

Through remittance network, India competes with SWIFT

Through remittance network, India competes with SWIFT

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the public-private payments incubator operating within the country’s central bank, announced plans to build international digital payments infrastructure for the country’s 32 million expats. The NPCI previously built India’s domestic digital payments rails, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Read More

Loyalty can be a currency, too, with Engage People

Loyalty can be a currency, too, with Engage People

To Len Covello, Co-Founder and CTO of Engage People, a Toronto-based loyalty network that connects loyalty programs with payment systems and retailers to let consumers pay with points at checkout, the future of payments leverages a fully-backed digital currency: the rewards point.

Read More

Despite tempered hiring plans, Meta still bets on metaverse

Despite tempered hiring plans, Meta still bets on metaverse

Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced it would reduce its engineer hiring goals by 30% this year. It will recruit between 6,000 and 7,000 engineers, down from an envisioned 10,000.

Read More

India’s BNPL journey is off to a rough start

India’s BNPL journey is off to a rough start

Last week, the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, banned loading pre-paid payment instruments using credit lines. The regulatory shift effectively outlaws the business strategy of major BNPL providers in the country.

Read More

Inflation may be a boost to rewards programs

Inflation may be a boost to rewards programs

With a surge in gas prices, travel costs, groceries, and rent, US consumers are adopting cost-cutting measures. Many are turning to credit card rewards programs as a needed windfall, especially cards with cashback offerings.

Read More

Making sense of Klarna’s tanked valuation

Making sense of Klarna’s tanked valuation

The BNPL giant is in talks to fundraise at a $15B valuation. It had previously been valued at $46B.

Read More

Remaking Samsung Pay

Remaking Samsung Pay

Samsung announced that it’s merging its Pay and Pass apps into Samsung Wallet, a single, integrated platform for financial products, official documents, home and car keys, and more. Users in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US are the first to have access to the updated service.

Read More