Daily Fintech Newsletter | Feb. 25th
The Bahamas became the first country globally to offer a CBDC nationwide
Hi!
In case you missed it, please see below today's most relevant fintech news.
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian stalled over the northern Bahamas. Just as the economy started to recover, the pandemic hit. When banks and ATMs are physically damaged by natural disasters, the aid system available is often bare-bones essentials that deprive people of the “dignity of choice". Because restoring mobile phone coverage takes far less time than rebuilding a bank, a central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) could bring needed relief to citizens much faster. Within months of Hurricane Dorian, The Bahamas piloted its own digital currency, called the Sand Dollar, on the Exuma and Abacos island chains. In October, it became the first country globally to offer a CBDC nationwide. Read more here.
Katana Smart Manufacturing Software, a fintech that specializes in manufacturing ERP (enterprise resource planning) for SMEs has raised an $11m Series A. Link here.
Square stock fell Tuesday as December-quarter earnings topped estimates while net revenue and gross payment volume came in slightly below expectations, despite Bitcoin transactions via the Cash App boosting the top-line. Link here.
Digital lending and payments provider WLTH saw a $1.44 million founder investment at the end of 2020, meaning the successful completion of this subsequent funding round would bring the total capital injection to $6.44m. Link here.
Digital payments provider Skrill, part of the integrated payments platform Paysafe, has announced a new feature for its digital wallet that enables users to withdraw funds directly to a cryptocurrency address of their choice. Link here.
Mastercard and ACI Worldwide, a leading global provider of real-time digital payment software and solutions, announced that Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE) will utilize the ACI Enterprise Payments Platform to accelerate financial institutions’ access to Mastercard’s Instant Payment Service, the new real-time payments managed service that will enter Industry Testing in Peru later this year. Link here.
Marketplace lender SocietyOne is the second Australian fintech to join Westpac's new digital banking-as-a-service platform. Link here.
Alpha Capital Acquisition Company’s SPAC Closes $230 Million IPO on Nasdaq. Link here.
TrueLayer, the leading technology company building financial infrastructure that’s open to everyone, has announced that former SVP of Engineering at Checkout.com, Ben Foster, has joined the firm as its VP of Engineering. Link here.
This ends my Daily Fintech Newsletter. Let me know if there are any questions or news/insights worth mentioning in the next newsletter. Until the next!
Regards,
Marcel van Oost
marcelvanoost.com
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