If Crypto’s Bull Market Made VCs Look Smart, What Happens Now?

A he-said-they-said war of words has been swirling around FTX’s solvency since its bankruptcy. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) estimated that the crypto exchange’s customers have lost more than $8 billion as a result of alleged fraud. FTX lawyer Andrew Dietderich said the amount of the shortfall...

If Sezzle CEO Charlie Youakim had to write a book about the FinTech bubble that burst in 2022, he’d call it “Crazy Money.”. That nugget came up in a conversation between Youakim and PYMNTS’ Karen Webster during the first discussion in the new series “FinTech Reset: The Pivot to Profitability.”

Unbanked and Mastercard have partnered to accelerate decentralized finance (DeFi) card issuance in Europe. Through this partnership, the two companies will use their existing footprint in the United Kingdom and the continent to work with Web3 organizations to enable the issuance of cryptocurrency-powered card programs, the companies said in a Thursday (Feb. 2) press release.

The British government has unveiled “robust” cryptocurrency sector regulations following a string of industry failures. A proposal announced Wednesday (Feb. 1) by the U.K. Treasury would subject crypto companies to the same oversight as traditional finance firms. “Our robust approach to regulation mitigates the most significant risks, while...

In a challenging economy, companies must focus on the basics, treasury and other key areas, Julie Lubell, Global Head of Trends & Advisory at J.P. Morgan Payments, writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”. With 2022 being one of the most tumultuous years in...

GoLogiq is to continue growing its wealth management capabilities by acquiring Nest Egg. The proposed transaction, which is subject to customary closing terms, aims to add Nest Egg’s wealth-building platform for Gen Z and millennial consumers to GoLogiq’s range of FinTech and mobile solutions, the firms said in a Tuesday (Jan. 31) press release.

The metaverse has only just entered the mainstream discourse, but this new, immersive internet has already emerged as a lucrative new medium for generating revenue. Businesses as diverse as Gucci and FIFA already offer digitally savvy shoppers various new products accessible only via virtual reality headset. Their success paves the...

When Amazon reports earnings on Thursday (Feb. 2), Wall Street will be focused on how much earnings drop, and on whether revenues top expectations. Layoffs? They’ll be under discussion too. So will AWS and the state of enterprise tech spending. As the eCommerce giant grapples with a sales growth...

Nearly every day, it seems, some new scheme arises that’s aiming to replace or disrupt the existing global financial services system. Online payment platforms like PayPal begat cryptocurrencies which begat stablecoins which begat central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and now, per a recent PYMNTS report, CBDCs are begetting a Universal Digital Payments Network (UDPN) designed to translate real-time payment speed and minimal processing fees to international financial transactions that may one day use central bank-issued digital fiat.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger wants America to take a page from China and ban cryptocurrencies. In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece Wednesday (Feb. 1), the billionaire vice chairman of the conglomerate decried the “wretched excess” of the crypto market. “A cryptocurrency is not a currency, not...

Stripe is reportedly nearing a deal to raise $3 billion from its existing investors. The Information reported Monday (Jan. 30) that the deal would value the payment platform at between $55 billion and $60 billion. The company is pursuing the deal in order to give liquidity to employees who have...

Monzo is one step closer to achieving annual profitability by the end of this year. The firm’s latest earnings show that the U.K.-based neobank’s annualized revenues increased by 250% to 440 million pounds (about $542 million) in the year to December 2022. The figures, first reported by Sifted...

Peloton says its focus on subscriptions, fitness as a service and third-party partnerships with Amazon and Dick’s are paying off. During its fiscal second quarter 2023 earnings call Wednesday (Feb. 1) Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy added detail to comments in a shareholder letter that portrays a company in transition as the connected fitness brand continues to open its ecosystem with what McCarthy called an “anyone, anytime, anywhere” strategy.

With budgets growing tighter, more Americans are reportedly turning to 401(k)s in emergencies. Nearly 3% of the 5 million people who have 401(k) plans offered by Vanguard Group dipped into those accounts last year to pay for medical bills or stave off foreclosures or evictions, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Thursday (Feb. 2).

Two years ago, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider Treasury Prime, then a startup, raised $20 million. And Wednesday (Feb. 1), the company’s embedded banking marketplace model — which brings banks, FinTechs and enterprises together to boost revenues, deposits and reach new end users — got another $40 million vote of confidence.

The accounts receivable function is broken. The paper-based processes that have been AR hallmarks have been inefficient at best and punitive to cash flow management at worst. The great digital shift was supposed to fix all that, but this has not been the case — mainly because that shift has not been uniform across the globe.

U.K. digital bank Zopa is looking to expand after raising $93 million in an equity round. The funding, announced Thursday (Feb. 2) in a news release provided to PYMNTS, will be used to meet the bank's capital requirements and support merger and acquisition (M&A) dealmaking. “Today’s equity round reaffirms the...

With consumers continuing to reel at food inflation, even upscale grocers are forced to adjust. Whole Foods Market, for instance, Amazon’s premium grocery retailer, recently asked suppliers to lower their wholesale prices so that the chain could reduce prices for consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (Jan. 31), citing a virtual meeting.

CFOs are leveraging technology and breaking down internal silos to build holistic organizational growth frameworks. Even in the face of macroeconomic headwinds, or perhaps especially in the face of them, organizations need to put in place the right infrastructure that can support both their near- and long-term goals. “The challenge...

U.S. prosecutors are reportedly examining Silvergate Capital’s hosting of accounts for FTX and Alameda Research. Bloomberg reported Thursday (Feb. 2) that the probe centers on what banks and intermediaries knew about the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency companies that have since been accused by U.S. officials of fraud. Silvergate’s bank catered to...