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Hi all, Julie here.

Lots of crypto news today, so it’s also fitting that my interview with Stash Co-Founder and CEO Brandon Krieg was published this morning. The company just added crypto exposure to some portfolios. Take a listen here as we discuss crypto, the importance of brand, and thoughts on how to beta test new products.

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Company News

Shopify CEO Joins Coinbase Board

The e-commerce site has been doing more in crypto lately, so it’s not surprising that Coinbase has added the CEO to its board.

Funding and Deals

Another FTX Round

I’m gonna stop trying to keep up tbh. Cryptocurrency exchange FTX now has a $32B valuation in a new funding round. The Bahamas-based company said it raised $400M, its third fundraise in the last nine months. The company offers derivatives products as well as spot trading and is one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges. It doesn’t offer trading in the US, which is provided by FTX US, its sister exchange. Last week, FTX US announced a $400M investment valuing the firm at $8B. Coinbase, FTX’s publicly-listed rival of which I own 2 shares, has seen its shares slide 40%+ since debuting on the Nasdaq last April. FTX said its user base grew 60% since October 2021, and daily trading volumes rose 40% to an average of $14B.

Crypto Watch

NFT Collateral

Genesis is accepting NFTs as collateral for loans and derivatives deals. It’s one of the first of its kind and is yet another addition to an already booming space of crypto financial products. Structuring products around NFTs allows investors to pledge their tokens in a similar way to how a traditional trader would use a high-grade asset such as government bonds to underpin a financial deal. A key difference between the two is the volatility. Genesis said it is being very conservating in valuing NFTs as a backstop for loans or trades and using them as security against loans or trades, only accepting “blue-chip” NFTs that have some historical significance or a lively market for secondary trading. This could end up being a huge market given Genesis’ reach. In the last three months of 2021, Genesis underwrote $50B of loans and the trading desk handled $170B worth of cash and derivatives deals all of last year.

Arizona + Bitcoin + Payments

Another state wants to be known as more crypto friendly. A state senator in Arizona has introduced a bill that would make Bitcoin legal tender in the state. This could get pretty complicated though thanks to a thing called the Constitution. “The Coinage Clause of the Constitution means that the power to determine what is and isn’t legal tender in the United States is the exclusive province of Congress,” Preston Byrne, partner at law firm Anderson Kill, told Blockworks. Keep in mind that this also doesn’t change the tax status of Bitcoin. Feels more like a political move than anything else.

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​Director of Engineering, Platform at Highline​

Highline is a payments startup that helps millions of people turn careers into better credit. By automating bill payment from income, consumers can get approved for lower cost credit and pay down loans faster without worrying about missed payments and overdraft fees. It is looking for a driven, results-oriented individual to lead its payments platform engineering team. As an Engineering leader, you'll help build and scale the payments platform, ensuring that its systems continue to be highly performant and available. If you lead by example and want to build a team that can confidently tackle complex challenges, apply above!

Julie VerHage-Greenberg is the co-founder of Fintech Today, where she focuses on editorial content and brand. Prior to joining, she was Bloomberg’s first fintech reporter, covering Robinhood from before it was a billion dollar company, breaking the news that Plaid was acquiring Quovo, and interviewing executives on Bloomberg TV and at several large conferences.

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