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Hi all, Julie here.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Ian got to go to the big game in LA (as did some of my friends at SoFi) and it’s safe to say I am INCREDIBLY jealous lol. I was rooting for LA since Stafford used to play for Detroit (my home team) and his wife has one of the best podcasts I’ve ever listened to. Anyways, Jordan, Tux, Pippa and I just watched the game at home and then I got donuts and flowers for Valentine’s Day this morning :)

Today's Partner, Secureframe

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Company News

Earnings This Week

Shopify is a big company in our space reporting earnings this week. The stock obviously was on a tear throughout Covid but has had a rough start to 2022 (down about 30% YTD). Analysts will be keeping a close eye on the numbers for this past quarter as well as future guidance. Other payments stocks have been hit hard after earnings, so I’m interested to see if Shopify can buck this trend.

Funding and Deals

Stitch’s New Round

Very excited for my friends at Stitch, who just announced they closed a $21M round of funding. The African fintech is building and operating these APIs in the region to help businesses build and scale financial products. With the fresh capital, the team wants to create the infrastructure to allow businesses to write code once, launch in multiple markets and scale faster based on interoperability across regions, providers, banks, and other types of financial accounts. No wonder they needed to raise more money….that’s a lot! Customers currently use Stitch for things like KYC, onboarding, personal and business financial management, lending, and e-commerce checkouts. If you haven’t already listened to it, I recently talked to Stitch CEO Kiaan Pillay for our podcast :)

Crypto Watch

Crypto App Downloads Surge

I scanned the Coinbase QR code commercial almost instantly last night but I wasn’t able to actually open the app for 5-10 minutes. That’s a pretty good sign that the idea worked lol. Anyways, it wasn’t just Coinbase that saw its app surge in popularity, but crypto apps broadly. While data tracked by The Block shows that Coinbase's app surged from 186th place to second on the App Store, FTX’s Blockfolio and eToro also quickly rose in the rankings over the past 24 hours.

BlockFi’s Big Fine

BlockFi is poised to pay $100M in one of the largest settlements in our space. This would be to settle allegations from the SEC and state regulators that it illegally offered a product that pays customers high interest rates to lend out their digital tokens, according to Bloomberg. As part of its agreement with regulators, BlockFi will no longer be able to open new interest-yielding accounts for most Americans. This would be huge news given that there are a number of other companies exploring similar offerings (and in several cases already offering similar products). The SEC is also scrutinizing Celsius, Gemini and Voyager Digital over similar issues.

Together With Fintech Meetup

Less than 3 weeks left to get a Fintech Meetup ticket! 1,000+ organizations have already signed up. Join thousands of fintech and banking industry professionals from:

• Fintechs, including Alloy, Argyle, Array, BitPay, BlockFi, Boomtown, Bread Finance, Cash App (Square), Checkout.com, Dave, Dwolla, Equifax, Emburse, Feedzai, NIUM, Pipe, Ripple, Sila, Socure, Stripe, Thought Machine & Upstart (and many more!)
• Payments, Networks and Tech Cos, including American Express, Discover, Finastra, FIS, Fiserv, Mastercard, SWIFT, The Clearing House, Visa & Western Union
• VCs, including Bain Capital Ventures, Commerce Ventures, General Atlantic, Mosaik Partners, Next Level Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Point 72 Ventures & Tribeca Venture Partners
• Major banks, including Bank of America, Citi, CIT Bank, Cross River, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, J.P. Morgan, Santander & USBank
• Plus Retailers & Merchants, Media and many others

Virtual, March 22-24. Discounted startup rate available for qualifying companies. Qualifying Banks & Credit Unions can get FREE tickets. Get Your Ticket Now!

​Product Manager, Koalafi​

Koalafi is making it simpler, faster, and more transparent to purchase the things you need to make your life go. By combining smarter technology with a relentless focus on customer experience, the team is transforming the financing experience for essential life purchases in retail transactions nationwide. In this role, you’d help it create the best in-store and online financing experience for consumers of all means and credit backgrounds. You’d be part of a small but growing product team driving the vision, strategy, and process that scales a rapidly growing business. You will partner with various internal teams, developing a detailed understanding of our merchant partners and their customers to remove friction, create delight, and innovate in Koalafi’s product offering. If this sounds like you, 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.

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205