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Hi all, Julie here.

Happy Friday everyone! Keeping my intro short today and just gonna recommend that you check out this new Bessemer post on NFT 101 and send it to any friends you have that keep asking you what NFTs are and why anyone should care.

Today's Partner, Secureframe

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Company News

Affirm Accidentally Reports Earnings Early

Next time you think you’re bad at keeping secrets, just remember that at least you’re not Affirm. The BNPL accidentally reported second-quarter results ahead of schedule. A since-deleted tweet was sent from Affirm’s official Twitter account at around 1:30 ET on Thursday, announcing details of the company’s financial performance, including that its sales rose by 77%. Initially shares rose by something like 10%, but then the full results came out a few minutes later and investors weren’t as excited. Revenue was a beat at $361M vs. $328.8M expected, but loss per share was 57 cents vs 37 cents expected and the third quarter revenue outlook was $325M to $335M when the consensus was for $334.8M.

Funding and Deals

Funding to Fight Fraud

Sardine raised $19.5M in a round from Andreessen Horowitz, NYCA, and Experian Ventures. Developed by Coinbase, Revolut and PayPal veterans, the company helps fintech with compliance. The core tech leverages AI to provide a real-time fraud score based on the user’s identity, device, and behavior patterns at the time of account origination and account funding. It then continuously monitors for fraud during account login, deposits, and withdrawals. Big names like Brex, Bakkt and FTX are among the 50+ companies using it.

Crypto Watch

YouTube NFT Push

YouTube talked a bit more about its plan for NFTs in a blog post this week. You won’t be surprised to hear that the tech giant is doubling down on the idea that it could have a huge upside for its creators. YouTube’s chief product officer said:

“Web3 also opens up new opportunities for creators. We believe new technologies like blockchain and NFTs can allow creators to build deeper relationships with their fans. Together, they’ll be able to collaborate on new projects and make money in ways not previously possible. For example, giving a verifiable way for fans to own unique videos, photos, art, and even experiences from their favorite creators could be a compelling prospect for creators and their audiences. There’s a lot to consider in making sure we approach these new technologies responsibly, but we think there’s incredible potential as well.”

Brazil DeFi ETF

The world’s first ETF dedicated to DeFi networks is launching in Brazil next month. Called the Hashdex DeFi Index ETF, it will track projects betting on DeFi, trading and lending networks whose standards are automated and often decided by consensus. As of most recent figures, decentralized applications (Dapps) hold about $107B of customers’ funds. The ETF will invest in eight Dapps, as well as related service providers such as oracles, which gather data on asset prices from the outside world and send it to a blockchain or distributed ledger. The Dapps it has targeted include Uniswap, Aave, Polygon and Chainlink.

UBS Making More Moves

No, it’s not making another acquisition, but it is trying to “acquire” more more crypto portfolio managers. Much like other traditional financial institutions, UBS is exploring ways it can get more involved in the crypto space, and trading is one clear way that can happen. Blockworks says that UBS’ efforts have accelerated as the number of crypto-focused hedge fund launches has been rapidly rising. The asset management unit had $43.8B of gross assets under management as of November 2021, the most recent data available.

Words With NFTs

Words with friends creator Zynga wants to get into gaming on the blockchain. Zynga’s vice president of blockchain (wow what a title) told Axios that in the next year, the company plans to launch NFT (non-fungible token)-based games, make related acquisitions and beef up its staff. The games would target players already familiar with the play-to-earn gaming sector. Not long ago, Justin Kan, co-founder of streaming platform Twitch and gaming NFT marketplace Fractal, told Blockworks that digital collectables are the future of gaming:

“It’s very obvious now that there’ll be this wave led by gaming and utility NFTs,...There’s already a multi-decade precedent for digital assets that have some sort of utility, and those are things that you have in [gaming.]”

Together With Fintech Meetup

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​Fintech Copywriter at Orum​

After completing work to sharpen its brand strategy and market narrative, Orum is now looking to refresh their website in order to serve as both an educational and acquisition tool for key audiences. While it has secured talent to help evolve the brand's visual identity and build the website, it is on the hunt for a rockstar writer with deep fintech experience and familiarity with technical language in a B2B context that can bring its new tone of voice to life. In addition to the website, Orum has additional content initiatives that it would be interested in discussing as well. If this sounds like you, click the link 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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