Uncle Sean's Update - 11/12/21

Happy Friday!!!
 
Sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update sent direct to your inbox each week!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/12/21:
 

• October Consumer Price Index (CPI) came in at a red hot 6.2% this week and is the biggest inflation surge in 30 years.  Core inflation (excludes food and energy) increased 4.6% - another 30 year high.  Check out the 26.4% increase in used cars and trucks in this BLS CPI Detail report – OUCH!!!  It will be interesting to see how much CPI “normalizes” next year as Covid impacted supply chains and bottlenecks begin to correct themselves.  At the current taper of $15B per month, the FOMC we will be out of the QE bond buying business in late June 2022. 

                                                                   

• Avanti Financial Group announced their intent to apply for FDIC insurance.  This announcement comes shortly after the PWG report on stablecoins last week recommending stablecoins be issued by FDIC insured banks.  While Avanti is already a Wyoming SPDI Bank and a “qualified custodian”, they are not currently FDIC insured as they are focused on custody of digital assets (including a tokenized U.S. Dollar called Avit), trading, and settlements on public blockchain.

 

• According to this article in The American Prospect, the Postal Banking Pilot Program that launched in September has not had a single person put their paycheck on the “gift card” at the Bronx test location…. GREAT JOB (sarcasm) – LOL!!!!!

 

• Robinhood made some negative headlines (I know – shocking, right???  LOL!!!) this week by a cybersecurity hack and data breach exposing data for 7 million customers (5 million names and email addresses plus another 2 million of just names – about 310 had names, birthdates, and zip codes compromised).  According to this statement by the company, the security attack did not expose Social Security numbers, bank account numbers or debit card numbers, and no customers experienced “financial loss” from the incident (yet).  But it certainly opens up the prospect of future phishing attacks on those 7M customers.

 

• Have you seen the new Burger King "side of crypto" rewards promotion (powered by Robinhood Crypto)?  It’s part of Burger King's Royal Perks program through their mobile app or website.  Basically, the BK promotion giveaway runs through 11/21 and gives eligible participants a chance to win one coin from a pool of 20 Bitcoin, 200 Ethereum, and 2 million Dogecoin.  Wow – “the times they are a-changin!”

 

• Recall about a month ago in the 10/15 Uncle Sean Update we talked about SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s speech regarding digital analytics in finance and digital engagement practices (DEP) specifically pointing to robo-advisors???  Well, turns out it his speech definitely was a precursor…  This week the SEC Division of Examinations issued a risk alert for RIAs offering electronic investment advice (aka robo-advisors) regarding compliance documentation, fee structure, cyber security, conflicts of interest and investor protections.

 

• Ripple announced 2022 plans for Ripple Liquidity Hub as a turnkey crypto solution to enable financial institutions to offer their clients the ability to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash.

 

• Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is set to revisit crypto asset proposals that would require banks to set aside capital equivalent to the most riskiest investments after pushback from industry trade groups (Regulatory Capital at 1250% risk weight – which essentially precludes most banks from holding any crypto assets).  The Committee is targeting “mid-2022” for further revised guidance.

 

• Flexbase, an automated payment platform for contractors, launched a credit card (issued by Celtic Bank) with interest-free financing for up to 60 day terms targeting SMB construction companies.

 

• Atomic Invest (investing API for fintechs, banks, and CU’s) announced their launch this week in conjunction with a $25M Series A capital raise. 

 

• Airbase (corporate card and spend management platform) announced a free tier of their service for SMB’s and huge rewards on their cards of 2.25% cash back on prepaid and 1.75% cash back on charge cards.

 

• Affirm (BNPL) announced an expanded agreement with Amazon (page 2) where “Affirm will serve as Amazon's only third party, non credit card, buy now, pay later ("BNPL") option in the U.S.  Until January 2023, Amazon will be subject to certain restrictions on providing other installment products in the U.S. by other BNPL providers.  Affirm will also be integrated into Amazon Pay’s digital wallet in the U.S.”

 

• While we are on the Amazon train…..  PayPal announced an agreement with Amazon to allow “Venmo’s more than 80 million users in the U.S. to pay with Venmo at checkout using funding methods that include their linked bank account and Venmo balance” starting in 2022.

 

• DoorDash and Payfare launch instant pay for DoorDash drives across the U.S. via the DasherDirect business prepaid Visa debit card and mobile banking app.

 

• Blend (NYSE: BLND) and Ocrulus announce a partnership to accelerate digital mortgage applications and automate end-to-end mortgage process.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Socure (identity verification) raised a whopping $450M in Series E funding at a valuation of $4.5B which is up from $1.3B just 8 months ago in March ($100M Series D) – HOLY COW!!!!  The company stated that they have grown their customer base from 350 in March to approximately 1,000 across a wide range of industries; and boasts having 12 of the top 15 banks as customers.
  • Zilch (UK based BNPL) raised $110M in Series C funding round to expand into the U.S. with a valuation of $2B.  That’s a 4x valuation increase from their last round just 8 months ago!!!
  • Drata (security and compliance firm) raised $100M in Series B funding round at a valuation north of $1B after emerging from stealth mode only 10 months ago and covering 4 compliance frameworks including SOC2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and PCI DSS
  • H2O.ai (AI cloud based solution platform for retail and business customers) raised $100M in Series E round at a $1.7B valuation
  • Meow (compliant investing for corporate treasuries in crypto markets) raised $5M in Seed funding
  • SafeBreach (cybersecurity - continuous validation platform) raised $53.5M in Series D round
  • Obligo (rental fintech platform with a non-insurance deposit alternative based on credit profile) raised $35M in Series B funding round
  • Circle announced the launch of their Circle Ventures Fund to support early stage blockchain projects and companies
  • Spectral (non-fungible credit scoring – yes that’s a thing now; and it’s fun to say) raised $6.75M in funding

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• This is really cool and also kind of terrifying (LOL) – Walmart and Gatik have achieved fully driverless deliveries in a first for autonomous trucking industry worldwide.  Since August, the companies have been operating two box trucks without a safety driver on a 7 mile loop daily for 12 hours in Bentonville, AR.  The safety driver was pulled over the summer for a true driverless operation on public roads.  CNBC has a good article detailing the project as well as tests for other companies including Kroger (with Nuro) and Albertsons (with Tortoise).
  • We may not have widely available flying cars yet, but we have driverless commercial distribution trucks – pretty cool!!!
• And of course Uncle Sean has a couple of quick Dad Jokes for you:
  • Aunt Patty opened the car door for me…  It would have been a nice gesture had we not been going 70 mph - LOL!!!
  • What is blue and tastes like red paint?  Blue paint, of course!
  • Why is it that when you open a can of evaporated milk, it is still full???
• Keeping up with the November trend of recipe sharing, here is Uncle Sean’s Texas Hill Country Pesto (the cilantro and pecan is what gives it that nice earthy hill country flavor):
  • 2 cups chopped Basil leaves
  • 2 cloves of garlic (I take the easy path and use the minced garlic in the jar)
  • 2 cups chopped cilantro
  • 2 diced jalapenos (de-seeded)
  • 1 large handful of pecan crumbles (a “handful” is indeed an Uncle Sean scientific measurement standard)
  • 1 large handful of slivered almonds
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup Garlic & Herb Sunflower Oil
  • Throw everything into a food processor until finely minced, then just add salt & pepper to taste (I use coarse ground black pepper and garlic salt).  Goes great with bread or crackers – enjoy!!!! 😊

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.