Fintech Focus For June 23, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: “Amazon is the most formidable. If Amazon can get you lower-debt payments or give you a bank account, you’ll buy more stuff on Amazon.”

Source: Alex Rampell

One Big Thing In Fintech: While headlines from the blockchain industry have recently been dominated by Bitcoin, the biggest story in the space has still largely been overlooked (or missed) by most news outlets: the rise of DeFi, or Decentralized Finance.

Over the last year, a “decentralized Wall Street” has emerged, with users locking up over $50 billion worth of assets into applications that are replicating traditional financial products on decentralized blockchain infrastructure.

Source: Nasdaq

Other Key Fintech Developments:

• Liti Capital announces token launch.
• Deutsche, Fiserv have partnered up.
• The battle rising in European fintech.
• Toss secured $406M at $7.4B value.
• Rewards program for rent payments.
• TrueLayer launches verification API.
• MAJORITY raises $19M seed round.
• Fifth Third acquires fintech Provide.
• TT adds Cboe trading functionalities.
• Fundbox added to board of directors.
• Tabby taps $50M financing to grow.
• Myos raises $30M Series A funding.
• Moneycorp unveils enhanced APIs.
• Blockchain Capital added new funds.
• Zeller lands $50M AUD led by Spark.
• Tradefeedr adds FX trading database.
• Mollie secured $800M for payments.
• Bueno Finance secured $3M funding.
• Magma added Obsidian quant fund.
• Egypt laws will spark fintech growth.
• Nonbank lenders tackled mortgages.
• Banks, credit unions lend to pot firms.
• CommerceIQ closes $60M Series C.
• State Street, Canoe have partnered.
• JPMorgan outlines visions for future.
• Unpacking Amazon’s fintech visions.
• Discover moves into crypto with hire.
• Third Point leads CipherTrace round.
• NCR is reinventing ATM technology.
• Rivalry secured $22M funding round.
• Sporttrade secured $36M for betting.

Watch Out For This: With consumption habits of younger and older Americans moving in opposite directions, advertisers and media companies will likely need a clear understanding of their target audiences in order to be successful.

Source: Visual Capitalist

Interesting Reads:

• Delta variant gaining across the US.
• Canadians looking to regulate media.
• Oil could reach $100/barrel next year.
• Is inflation or deflation the bigger risk?
• Automation increase unemployment?
• Morgan Stanley requires vaccination.
• Which VC-backed SPACs will come?

Market Moving Headline: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the price increases seen in the economy recently are bigger than expected but reiterated that they will likely wane.

Source: Bloomberg