Global FinTech | 2022 #1
Weekly news up to Tuesday, January 4th, 2022
REPORT
The year 2021 saw the rise of many companies going public through listing methods—from Initial Public Offerings (IPO), Direct Listings, and the hot new trend of going public via Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC).
👉 Check the full WhiteSight overview article by Sanjeev Kumar and Risav Chakraborty here.
→On that note, which FinTechs might go public in 2022? Read the full Altfi article written by John Reynolds here.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Digital consumer finance is at the inflection point as investing, borrowing, and online-only payment methods will become dominant digital behaviors.
Consumers will increasingly see financial solutions embedded in consumer goods, retail, and technology offerings following The Wall Street Journal “Activate Technology & Media Outlook 2022” by Activate Consulting
👉 Download the full report here.
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
📰 ARTICLE
How Do NFT Royalties Work?
NFTs are the next evolution of the crypto tokens, where the Non-fungible and unique is born. The real crowd for the NFT rose from the major invasion of the artist and arts to the crypto space.
The NFT Royalty is offered for the original creator of an asset when they are sold every time. The recursive selling will bring the royalty fees to the creator in the event of valuing their creation and innovation.
👉 Read the full article here.
👨💻 BLOG
💬 INTERVIEW
The interview recommendation of the week belongs to The Wall Street Journal’s Q&A Elena Hughes, Chief Compliance Officer of Gemini Trust Co.
According to Hughes, opaque regulations remain a top challenge for the cryptocurrency industry.
👉 Read the full article here.
💡INSIGHTS
StartUs Insights showcases five of the most promising RegTech startups & scaleups, out of 1,075 global companies.
👉 Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🌎 FINTECH HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ How 22 different startups pitched their visions and products to investors. Link here.
⭐️ Fintech funding is at an all-time high in the MENA region. Link here.
⭐️ Finextra’s most downloaded whitepapers over the course of the past year. Link here.
⭐️ Five UK FinTechs that went out of business in 2021. Link here.
⭐️ State of FinTech: A review of the record-breaking year experienced by the FinTech industry. Link here.
⭐️ It’s raining unicorns in India amid an unprecedented funding spree for Indian startups across sectors. Link here.
⭐️ Southeast Europe startups & scaleups have raised $2.5+ billion in 2021. Link here.
⭐️ Eight African fintech startups that raised the most funding in 2021. Link here.
⭐️ 2021 alone has created a record of 108 new FinTech unicorns globally, tripling the total number of Unicorns start-ups from 61 last year to 184 as of 8 of December 2021, according to CB Insights data. Link here.
PAYMENTS
Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya has boldly predicted that Visa and Mastercard will be overthrown by emerging blockchain and DeFi projects in 2022. Link here.
Judopay, a leading mobile payments provider, announced that it’s partnering with Mastercard on its SCA compliant (Secure Customer Authentication, which requires two-factor authentication to ensure it is in line with Europe’s new regulations), Click to Pay solution. Link here.
Lloyds Banking Group is to follow Barclays in becoming a shareholder in Bink, a loyalty app launched in 2015. Link here.
Paysend just announced a partnership with the fintech arm of internet and technology company, Tencent. Link here.
BNPL
Britons now have the option of using buy now, pay later when shopping on Amazon's website, following a partnership between the retail giant and Barclays Bank. Link here.
OPEN BANKING
Anne Boden’s Treasury Select Committee comments, that open banking has failed to encourage bank account switching, were criticised today in a letter signed by 53 fintech founders. Link here.
CRYPTO
Jack Dorsey predicted bitcoin will eventually replace the U.S. dollar. Link here.
Binance users in Canada are getting mixed signals on whether the exchange can or cannot operate in the country. Link here.
Samsung introduced its “NFT aggregation platform” supported by its exclusive smart TV launches. According to Samsung, users can browse, and trade NFTs through their MicroLed, Neo QLED, and The Frame models. Link here.
Crypto custody providers are companies which are specialized in securely storing cryptocurrencies. Many large exchanges such as Bitstamp, Nexo and Crypto.com use third party crypto custody providers in order to safeguard their users’ funds. Link here.
Cryptocurrencies and property remained top-performing assets in Pakistan this year, with the country recording about $20 billion in cryptocurrency value in 2021, an amount in excess of current federal reserves, according to new research studies. Link here.
Shopify now allows its users to mint & sell NFTs. The company partnered with GigLabs to make it possible. Link here.
Robinhood plans to roll out the beta version of its digital wallet feature starting in January 2022. Link here.
BLOCKCHAIN / DEFI
It’s been a wild year for Blockchain / Crypto investments, and data from Blockdata proves it. For more amazing stats check out their “Blockchain & Crypto in 2021 - A review in data” overview, here.
INVESTMENT
BUX has introduced fractional investing to clients across Europe. Link here.
In 2021, Wefunder published an “Impact Report” that highlighted the value created by the online investment platform. At that time, Wefunder reported that it had funded 1759 founders, originating $386 million from 1.35 million investors, while creating more than 24,000 jobs. Link here.
OPPORTUNITIES
Bahrain has emerged as a key destination for fintech initiatives in the MENA region, and fintech companies in Bahrain are leveraging this to their success. Bahrain has been especially progressive from the standpoint of open banking and digital currencies.
👉 Read more here.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is stepping up its efforts to attract crypto-focused businesses as it seeks to become the leading cryptocurrency center in the Middle East. The government of Abu Dhabi had set itself a deadline of the end of this year to “ease passporting between digital cryptocurrency exchanges to ‘normal’ instruments.”
👉 Read more here.
FINTECH MAPS
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.