Crypto’s market cap fell below $1T. Now what?

Crypto’s market cap fell below $1T. Now what?

Bitcoin’s value dropped as much as 17% after crypto lending platform Celsius froze withdrawals on its platform. Bitcoin fell to its lowest value since December 2020, contributing to crypto’s aggregate value sliding from a high of $3T to below $1T.

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African payments company acquires US fintech

African payments company acquires US fintech

Digital payments company MFS Africa acquired US-based Global Technology Partners (GTP), a card-issuing startup, which will let MFS issue virtual debit cards to its customers. MFS Africa paid $34M for GTP through cash and shares.

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Binance hosted billions in illicit crypto, exposé reports

Binance hosted billions in illicit crypto, exposé reports

Investigative work by Reuters suggests Binance has processed more than $2.35B in crypto originating from hacks, fraud, and illegal drug sales. The volume of illicit crypto processed by Binance has plummeted since it established KYC/AML protocols, but the crypto exchange has still failed to cooperate with cybercrime investigators on several occasions since then.

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Disrupting meetings with OpenExchange

Disrupting meetings with OpenExchange

In an interview with The Financial Revolutionist, Mark Loehr, CEO of OpenExchange, explains his path to OpenExchange, offers tips for organizing virtual meetings, and outlines his vision for the future of virtual contact.

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Is State Street about to acquire Credit Suisse?

Is State Street about to acquire Credit Suisse?

After a third straight quarter of losses at Credit Suisse as well as an upcoming round of layoffs, the Swiss blog Inside Paradeplatz has reported that State Street may make a bid for Credit Suisse at 9 francs per share.

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SEC slated to overhaul stock market rules

SEC slated to overhaul stock market rules

SEC Chair Gary Gensler is expected to outline new rules to make the stock market more efficient for small investors and public companies.

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What’s in the bipartisan Senate bill on crypto?

What’s in the bipartisan Senate bill on crypto?

Senators Cynthia Lummis (R., WY) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D., NY) introduced a bill called the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, which proposes a “complete regulatory framework for digital assets.”

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Citigroup commits to “digital explosion”

Citigroup commits to “digital explosion”

Jonathan Lofthouse, Head of Markets and Enterprise Risk Technology, said Citigroup plans to hire more than 4,000 tech workers to help digitize services for institutional clients.

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Is Apple’s BNPL launch too late?

Is Apple’s BNPL launch too late?

This morning at its 2022 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the computing giant introduced attendees to Apple Pay Later, a proprietary buy now pay later (BNPL) service. Goldman Sachs is the lender for the instalment loans.

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French bank eyes decarbonization as competitive edge

French bank eyes decarbonization as competitive edge

La Banque Postale, the 16-year-old banking branch of France’s postal service, is the world’s first bank to set a hard deadline on financing for oil and gas. It will discontinue investments in those companies by 2030.

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Digitizing bank security with old-school practices

Digitizing bank security with old-school practices

The Royal Bank of Canada announced that it will combat fraud by combining card and biometric authentication with a PIN authentication via mobile apps. Canadians lost more than $300M to fraud in 2021, as compared to $80M in 2020.

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What’s behind the VC crypto push?

What’s behind the VC crypto push?

Binance Labs, the venture arm of Binance, the crypto exchange, announced a $500M fund to invest in Web3 and blockchain technologies. The raise comes a week after Andreessen Horowitz launched a $4.5B crypto fund.

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Fully digital capital markets with Clear Street

Fully digital capital markets with Clear Street

In an interview with The Financial Revolutionist, and a week after Clear Street’s $165M Series B announcement—making the company a unicorn—Bailey details the market gap Clear Street tackles, explains why capital markets have been slow to modernize, and outlines how new technology can level the playing field between large and small players.

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Is Robinhood’s crypto push bound to fail?

Is Robinhood’s crypto push bound to fail?

Reporting by Business Insider exposed a woefully delayed pivot to crypto trading by Robinhood. An overly cautious legal team and leadership churn further contributed to the slow pace.

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How finance plays a role in gun control

How finance plays a role in gun control

Daniel Defense, which allegedly manufactured the weapon used to kill 21 people last week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, offers BNPL financing through the fintech Credova. Larger BNPL providers, like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna, do not work with firearms sellers in the U.S.

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