Fintech Focus For June 30, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Source: Mark Twain

One Big Thing In Fintech: [D]oes the success of BNPL spell doom for the $3tn credit card industry? A new report by Sifted Intelligence says that BNPL companies shouldn’t be so confident yet.

Source: Sifted

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• QuantHouse partners up on crypto.
• JPMorgan eyes fintech acquisition.
• SEC’s Peirce eyeing DeFi potential.
• Crypto.com, Formula 1 teamed up.
• Trade floors and needed integration.
• Tidal is exploring NFT opportunities.
• Smart raised a $228M investment.
• Checkout.com, BigCommerce team.
• JPMorgan takes a stake in C6 bank.
• CoinMarketCap adds token swaps.
• Ceramic Mainnet alive for first time.
• Börse added Crypto Finance stake.
• CoolBitX adds crypto licensing tech.
• Numerated improves digital lending.
• dxFeed expanded Quantower offer.
• TP ICAP is launching crypto trading.
• Certegy intros new Virtual Terminal.
• Nansen adds $12M Series funding.
• Fetch adds AI to combat DeFi loss.

Watch Out For This: Miami is a center of Bitcoin, TradeStation's James Putra said earlier this month at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in the Magic City.

A paradigm shift is occurring, Drew Hinkes, an author, lawyer, and New York University professor, said in a conversation with Putra at the event.

That shift — institutional interest in digital assets — is most visible in Miami, due in part to initiatives put in place by leaders like Mayor Francis X. Suarez, he said.

“The innovation, the influx of talent, the excitement is really unbelievable.”

Source: Benzinga

Interesting Reads:

• Home prices up the most in decades.
• Unpacked: Scaramucci’s crypto plan.
• Trainual eyeing workforce innovation.
• Research on chatbots as teammates.
• Banks mustn’t expect normal bailouts.

Market Moving Headline: The S&P 500 Index continues to make new all-time highs. Home prices have followed suit and have made historic YoY advances. Core inflation readings are running at the hottest rate since the early 1990’s. The labor market is healing. In fact, job openings are at all-time highs. Corporate profit margins are just below their best levels ever. Junk bond yields are making new lows. COVID-19 infections in the United States are at the lowest levels since late March 2020 (when testing was not widespread).

Source: Cboe