Uncle Sean's Update - February 12, 2021

Happy Friday!!!! 
 
There is quite a bit of substantial crypto news this week.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 2/12/21:

• Last week we mentioned Visa’s plans related to crypto (testing with OCC approved Anchorage Trust and First Boulevard fintech company), so it’s only fair that we share Mastercard’s plans. Check out their blog on Why Mastercard is Bringing Crypto Onto Its Network.  Here are some cool statistics for you:  Mastercard is accepted at 37 million merchants in 210 countries; Visa is accepted at 44 million merchants in approximately 200 countries; and PayPal is accepted at about 29 million merchants.  But only 15,000 business globally accept cryptocurrency payments (for now).  With increasing adoption and regulatory (OCC) guidance, it looks like the global payments landscape is beginning to have a major change.

• Blue Ridge Bank (one of the FinTech Sponsor Banks that we are tracking here at FedFis) now allows their customers to purchase and redeem Bitcoin at 19 of their ATMs.  They are the first commercial bank in the US to provide access to Bitcoin through their ATMs at its branch locations.  They partnered with BluePoint ATM Solutions and LibertyX.  While there are other Bitcoin ATMs out there, they are not connected to a bank account.  The Blue Ridge scenario is unique (this week anyway) as it has the dual capability of servicing cash and Bitcoin transactions.

• BNY Mellon announced that they will begin financing bitcoin and other digital currencies and plans to be able to offer these services to their customers later this year.  “BNY Mellon is proud to be the first global bank to announce plans to provide an integrated service for digital assets,” Roman Regelman, CEO of asset servicing and head of digital at BNY Mellon, said in a press release.

• I’m pretty excited to be following (okay, more like stalking - LOL) these folks at Moov.  They are making headlines with their fintech_devcon conference later this fall.  Also, check out this super cool interview with Wade Arnold (CEO of Moov) where he talks about BaaS and payments as not just for fintech companies integrating with legacy bank tech stack, but more related to EVERY consumer facing company.  “We see a proliferation of the Uber of neighborhood lawn mowers to whatever the next great startups are going to be,” Arnold said. “To allow those payments to be easier for developers to add that feature to their platform is going to be key for that proliferation to happen.”  I love it!!!

• Have you heard about this public bank concept brewing in New Mexico?  Basically it would be a state created bank (initially capitalized by a $50M contribution from the State Treasurer) that receives deposits from local governments and lends to local NM businesses in order to promote economic development.  It’s been kicked around for a few years, but is really starting to gain momentum and is likely to be introduced during the 2021 legislative session. 

• Our Credit Union friends have been busy this week too!  Catalyst Corporate FCU announced the launch of PayMoli, their P2P mobile payment solution, allowing CUs an easy onramp to the marketplace. 

• PSCU announced their plans to roll out a new installment payments solution, aka BNPL installment plan, citing “tremendous demand”.  Their BNPL product will have the flexibility to enable CUs to customize the criteria for their respective installment offers.  The platform will “integrate with PSCU’s Digital Xperience (DX) suite of market-leading digital offerings and will be available through APIs, and will leverage technology from Fiserv.”

• You didn’t think I would miss an opportunity to mention a SPAC, did you???  MoneyLion is set to go public with $2.9B valuation via acquisition by SPAC Fusion Acquisition Corp. according to the MoneyLion press release today.  If you want to geek out (like me) – here is the MoneyLion Investor Presentation (nicely done by the way). 

• Monzo taps $69M Series G extension in a down round on lower valuation.  This follows their $80M raise just in December which was also a down round on lower valuation - OUCH!!!  They announced this week that they hired Carol Nelson as US CEO to focus on the US market.

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• Reddit raises $250M Series E round.

• Nymbus raises $53M Series C round.

 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• HAPPY VALENTINES DAY or Presidents Day Eve for those less smitten!
• They are forecasting a low of 8 degrees on Sunday and 0 (yes, zero) degrees on Monday here in the Texas Hill Country.  DANG that’s cold!  But it’s okay because they are also calling for 3-5” of snow; and I can’t wait to go outside and build a fire in the snow!!!!
• That reminds me - I better hurry up and get to the store for some whiskey – oops, I mean “supplies”…  LOL!!!

 
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.