FinTech Weekly Issue #389 - Everyone Bets On Businesses

Cryptocurrency Regulation

Chuchi Fonacier, deputy governor of the Philippines central bank, discusses the role of regulators in the development of a modern financial system. In particular, the focus is on digital assets: according to the governor, regulators should be able to create an innovative ecosystem while keeping the financial system safe.

Cryptocurrency Regulation

Hong Kong is planning to improve its level of regulation for crypto-related financial products. Thanks to an increasingly sophisticated regulatory system to protect investors, Hong Kong wants to regulate Bitcoin and Ethereum-based ETFs to allow investors to safely use this type of product.

Banking Cryptocurrency Regulation

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) can be a very innovative and useful way to integrate digital and traditional economies, but many technicalities and legal considerations must be taken into account. According to Paolo Gentiloni, EU Commissioner, CBDCs may threaten the sovereignty of nations. This issue, along with other problems like handling international transactions, may require global regulation involving Central Banks’ digital currencies.

Business Future of Work

Chime, the popular fintech firm, is now among the fintech companies that needed to announce layoffs. The neobank has to cut 12% of Chime’s staff to deal with uncertain global economic conditions.

Banking Business Regulation

The government tasked the Bank of Canada with supervising fintech and paytech firms that provide businesses with innovative payment methods. This task is the first step towards a more comprehensive regulatory system in Canada that will also take into account tech firms involved in the payment industry.

Business

The 2022 edition of the Singapore FinTech Festival was the occasion for institutions and fintech firms to launch new fintech products and services, among which we can find services that digitize guarantees and insurances, services that allow businesses to easily integrate BNPL with their business models, DeFi solutions for institutions, cross-border fund management services, and new payment solutions for e-commerce.

Business Future of Work Investments

Top tech companies, among which we find Amazon, Apple, Meta, Lyft, Stripe, and Twitter, stopped hiring or announced huge layoffs. This is the result of a mix of economic tough times and overvalued companies, and it could have dramatic effects on the whole economy.

Banking Business Investments

Fintech in Latin America and Africa is a thriving sector: the need to solve the issues of unbanked people made startups and established companies offer innovative services, payments, and bank accounts. European and US fintechs could learn a lot from these experiences to better meet people’s needs and serve the digital economy without all the limitations of the traditional banking system.

Artificial Intelligence Business

OpenAI, the nonprofit organization founded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk then became a for-profit company, launched a new program – called Converge – that will use the $100 million worth OpenAI Startup Fund to invest in AI startups.