Fintech Focus For April 19, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

Source: Lao Tzu

One Big Thing In Fintech: Coinbase’s public listing documents revealed an unusual set of circumstances for a startup: Its venture arm, Coinbase Ventures, had acquired stakes in a handful of companies partially owned by some of Coinbase’s own major investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.

Such disclosures are the side effect of a growing trend in venture capital. Well-funded startups such as Stripe, taking a page from older tech companies such as Google and Salesforce, are becoming increasingly active VC investors. They often back companies they believe will help expand the market for their technology. In the process, they become prolific VC investors while remaining private and raising their own venture funding.

Source: The Information

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Clearcover adds $200M for growth.
• Dogecoin rockets, Robinhood fails.
• Europe’s most underrated fintechs.
• Fintech Wise planning to direct list.
• Voyager CEO welcomes Coinbase.
• Cboe expanding product portfolio.
• Blend Labs files with SEC to IPO.
• Apollo launching investment tech.
• BoJ: Digital Yuan won’t pose threat.
• Revolut on path to $10B valuation.
• JPM taps blockchain for transfers.
• Northern Trust to launch FX engine.
• Record liquidations amid crypto dip.
• Deutsche builds FX trading engine.
• Fintech uprising to define banking.
• Nelo taps $3M to grow BNPL tech.
• SocGen looks to crypto innovation.
• Russian central bank plans crypto.
• Dapper Labs eyes $7.5B valuation.
• Mark Cuban invests in CryptoSlam.
• Blockcap mining over 500 bitcoins.

Watch Out For This: People who have fought off the Covid-19 virus will be deliberately reinfected in a first-of-its-kind trial at the University of Oxford that may shed light on how to develop more effective vaccines against the pathogen.

Source: Bloomberg

Interesting Reads:

• Miami to join Formula One calendar.
• Clubhouse closed on funding round.
• StockX brings shoe scene to Detroit.
• Two dead in ‘driverless’ Tesla crash.
• Facebook to announce social audio.
• DeSantis: Lockdowns a big mistake.

Market Moving Headline: The S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, and Dow Jones Industrial Average made new all-time highs before closing the week out with an attempt to balance and validate newly discovered prices.

Key Takeaways:

- Data suggests economic outlook improving.

- Earnings pick up, add to clarity on recovery.

- Risk, reward poor for new entries. Be picky.

In the coming sessions, participants will want to pay attention to where the S&P 500 trades in relation to Friday’s open-high-low-close (OHLC).

Any activity above Friday’s regular trade-low suggests participants are not yet done discovering higher prices.

Trading below Friday’s low suggests an inclination by participants to (1) form a consolidation area that denotes acceptance of higher prices or (2) revert to the mean and repair some of the poor structure left behind prior discovery.

For more on next week's trade, see the weekly market recap below.

Source: Physik Invest