Hi y’all, Cokie here!

Welcome to Saturday Tea. This is where I’ll be from now on. My move to Saturday, in part, signifies that we are growing up. We’re a big kid company now. But don’t worry, my ramblings aren’t all of a sudden going to have any semblance of legitimacy, I leave that to Julie. In that spirit, I bring you 21 predictions for 2021. Yes, there have been other predictions for the year, but you know this was the list you were waiting for.

Cokie's Column

1. ​Subscribe to FTT+. Thank me later. ​
2. Consumer lending will continue to make serious cash, check out this report on Affirm, co-written by our very own Julie Verhage.
3. Niche banking based on communities of affinity are in! Check out Daylight and First Boulevard for proof.
4. White Doc Martens are out after reigning supreme over VSCO girls for years.
5. Hedge funds will enter the fintech sphere in a more pronounced and public way.
6. My theory on the Bitcoin / ETH bull run is that people have spent the last four years losing faith in government -- and therefore the mechanisms of government control, like USD. As I write this, we’re in the midst of a coup d’etat of sorts, but Bitcoin is above $40k. Correlation is not causation, but my gut says our dying democracy is certainly playing its part.
7. I’m getting a cat. (Writer’s note: To my fiance, Lorenzo. Are you reading this? I AM GETTING A CAT.)
8. Fitness trackers are going to start facilitating payments. No knowledge here, just a gut feeling. I mean, the Apple Watch sort of does already. Only a matter of time before the others do.
9. Energy companies are going to do very, VERY well under the Biden administration.
10. “Stablecoins decisive move into the non-crypto world and fulfill the long held promise of crypto as a real world payment rail. Whilst recent moves by the OCC are exciting, the significant action will be in remittances.” - Will White, COO of Daylight
11. Move over, Banking as a Service, you’re so 2020. Credit as a Service will be on the tip of everyone’s tongue in 2021. Stay tuned on this, I have a surprise for y’all coming soon ;)
12. ​Lasagna Technology is gonna pop TF off. You heard it here first.
13. Limited skincare routines are back in after we all spent years trying to do 12 step routines. Babes, trust me, you do not need four serums.
14. Valuations are going to keep rising (both public and private). And yeah, it’ll be unsustainable.
15. First Black & South Asian woman in the White House (confirmed, but idc it’s still amazing to me).
16. The housing market will continue to get more affordable. And then suddenly, it won’t be.
17. I feel like a bold blue eyeliner is gonna happen for me this year? You know?
18. We’re all switching to Public vs Robinhood. Use my link if you wanna get a head start: https://share.public.com/cokie
19. The future of work is empathy.
20. Not a prediction but Black Lives Still Matter and Trans Lives Still Matter.
21. Fintech Today is just getting started. Strap in for a banner year for our entire community. *This is also less a prediction and more of a fact ;)

Premium Sneak Peek

Julie just got married! Congratulations are in order and, more importantly, she’ll be writing about couples finances in tomorrow’s edition of FTT+ (subscribe here). This is super cool for me because I’ve always recognized the importance of finances in relationships… also hella relevant because I just got engaged (thanks, Lorenzo!!).

And on Thursday, we introduced a new writer, Charley Ma! He told us how he first stumbled into fintech in the first place (he was actually studying biophysics in college, I had no idea!) and will be continuing to write for us every other Thursday. We have another new author that we’re introducing this coming Thursday that I’m super excited about given everything that’s happening in the regulatory sphere.

Any guesses on who it is? Tweet me.

Cokie Hasiotis is the founder of Lasagna Tech and resident baddie at Fintech Today. She’s passionate about BaaS for societal good, financial inclusion, and community banking. Previously, Cokie has worked at BCG, 11:FS, and AFME. In her limited spare time, Cokie enjoys competitively reaching her step count, the musical stylings of the early 2000s, and dismantling the patriarchy.