Fintech Focus Roundup For December 12, 2020

Webull CEO On Crypto Assets, Innovation

What Happened: Anthony Denier, CEO of Webull Financial, recently joined "The Raz Report," where he discussed Webull’s expansion into cryptocurrency trading.

Denier said Webull is making cryptocurrency a priority for the online trading platform.

“To be honest, I am hyper-focused on cryptocurrency at the moment, so I am very happy to say that Webull has launched our beta cryptocurrency trading platform where we currently have about 15,000 of our beta test accounts. These are customer accounts that are right now trading crypto,” Denier told Benzinga founder and CEO Jason Raznick.

The timing for the launch was perfect given the attention on crypto heading into 2021, Denier said.

“Crypto is the gold for the new generation. Especially when you have a younger investor base, they’re very comfortable with owning — whether it be a bitcoin, an ethereum, a Litecoin — as an asset class, and it’s now a legitimate asset class, to hedge a portfolio,” he said.

Why It Matters: Cryptocurrency adoption is just one of the many ways the next generation of investors will be changing the world of finance, the CEO said.

“There is a literacy when it comes to managing your money that I don’t think any generation has ever come close to what they have today.”

How Tickeron Could Make You Money

In the new age of gamified, low-cost democratized investing pioneered by brokerage providers like Robinhood, investors are becoming increasingly active.

That’s according to Tickeron founder and CEO Sergey Savastiouk, who told Benzinga that 77% of the 70 million people who identify as self-directed investors are looking for new opportunities to excel in markets.

"The problem with being active is knowledge,” the fintech founder said of the new wave of retail investing.

Savastiouk, whose background is in artificial intelligence and game theory, founded Tickeron in 2014 as an SEC-registered financial marketplace that optimizes portfolios based on an individual's asset allocation, stock selection and risk parameters.

Simply put, Tickeron’s embedded AI technology provides investors with personalized insights, as well as back-tested investment strategies.

“Because we’re registered with the SEC, we can go deeper and give you personalized advice,” Savastiouk said, speaking on what differentiates Tickeron. “Our main slogan is artificial and human intelligence for investors and traders.”

Adena Friedman Recognized For Diversity Effort

What Happened: Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman was recognized as one of the world's most powerful women.

Why It Matters: According to Forbes, Friedman is "seeking S.E.C. approval for a diversity mandate that would require their more than 3,000 list companies to have at least two diverse board members and disclose diversity statistics."

SEC Planning to Modernize Market Structure

What Happened: The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules to modernize the infrastructure for the collection, consolidation, and dissemination of market data for exchange-listed national market system stocks (“NMS market data”).

Why It Matters: This infrastructure has not been significantly updated since its initial implementation in the late 1970s. The adopted rules update and significantly expand the content of NMS market data to better meet the diverse needs of investors in today’s equity markets. The adopted rules also update the method by which NMS market data is consolidated and disseminated, by fostering a competitive environment and providing for a new decentralized model that promises reduced latency and other new efficiencies.

Robinhood Hires Goldman Sachs To Lead Its IPO

One Big Thing In Fintech: Stock trading app Robinhood Markets Inc has picked Goldman Sachs to lead preparations for an initial public offering (IPO) which could come next year and value it at more than $20 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

When Fintech Succeeds: The Three Ds

One Big Thing In Fintech: The fintech space is becoming increasingly crowded (since fintech is eating the world) with over $20 billion in venture capital invested in fintechs globally just in the first half of 2020. So where and when can fintechs break through the noise and succeed? The answer is the letter D.

Why DocuSign Doesn’t Use Blockchain

One Big Thing In Fintech: Bitcoin was created more than a decade ago, and technology whizzes have spent recent years trying to use its blockchain architecture for other applications in finance. But so far, despite high hopes, blockchain companies have produced more press releases than viable enterprises.

A key reason for that, according to DocuSign chief exec Daniel Springer, is that blockchain is still too expensive for the kinds of things his company does. Seventeen-year-old DocuSign runs encrypted e-signature technology and automates and manages agreements, from mortgages to healthcare, online. Springer says the pandemic has accelerated the shift away from paper contracts, and we won’t be going back to the old ways of doing things even when the virus is contained.

Chinese Fintech Giants On Notice

In A Nutshell: China’s top banking regulator on Tuesday questioned the power of the country’s large financial technology companies and hinted at “timely and targeted measures to prevent new systemic risks.”

The move appears to be a nod toward more regulations in China’s burgeoning fintech sector.

Over the past few months, Chinese regulators have been growing increasingly concerned about the size of its technology giants and have proposed draft rules to regulate areas including data use and antitrust.

Like in the U.S., China’s technology firms have been largely able to grow unencumbered and have become a feature of daily life in China — particularly in areas like mobile payments and communications.

On Tuesday, Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), laid out areas that the authorities will be looking at closely in the fintech industry during a speech at the Singapore Fintech Festival.

“Facing the rapid growth of fintech, we will adopt a positive and prudent approach. We will encourage innovation while enhancing risk control, so as to address to new problems and challenges,” Guo said.