Fintech Focus For December 21, 2020

Quote To Start The Day: When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place.

Source: Paulo Coelho

One Big Thing In Fintech: Seed and angel deals are projected to fall to 37% of total deal activity in 2020, down from 42% in 2019. We expect Series B rounds to finish the year with the greatest increase in share, up 3 percentage points to 19% by year-end.

Source: CB Insights

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• FinCEN proposing new KYC rules.
• N26 to fundraise before 2023 IPO.
• Paxos taps $142M Series C funds.
• Mettalex added to Binance’s Chain.
• Treasury weighing new crypto rule.
• Making money in fintech is difficult.
• NerdWallet has hired eBay’s CFO.
• ABN Amro app breaks login record.
• Finicity introduced Brex agreement.
• Citi builds new fintech marketplace.
• ESMA opens consult on algo trade.

Watch Out For This: [C]onstructing a massive amount of new infrastructure that achieves a cohesive set of national goals is impossible if we simply allow cities and citizens to prioritize their individual concerns.

Source: MIT

Interesting Reads:

• The impact of financial stress in US.
• Tiny reactor yields lots of hydrogen.
• MX: The State of Banking into 2021.
• Space Force discusses partnerships.
• D91: The Personal Finance Survey.
• Amazon Halo tracker raises concern.
• Hedgeye CEO on models, investing.
• Eliminate wasteful worker spending.
• Apple Pay draws antitrust attention.

Market Moving Headline: U.S. index futures auctioned to new all-time highs last week, before weakening into Friday’s derivative expiry.

Key Takeaways:

- Financial markets are priced to perfection.

- Vaccine progress, stimulus both positives.

- Innovation gains traction, softens inflation.

- Depth, breadth of recovery remains rough.

- Sentiment and positioning levels elevated.

- Higher-time frame breakouts remain intact.

As BlackRock Inc BLK said in one Q1 2021 commentary, “a rising tide lifts all boats”; though financial markets have largely priced in positive news surrounding vaccines and stimulus, the rally remains intact, bolstered by a drive for yield — technical factors as a result of resurgent systemic and hedge fund strategies, among other things.

Source: Physik Invest