Uncle Sean's Update - February 19th

Happy Friday!!!! 
 
It is COLD here in Texas!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update:

• The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is taking a close look at Ethereum based decentralized finance (DeFi).  They recently published a report titled “Decentralized Finance: On Blockchain and Smart Contract Based Financial Markets”.  Who cares???  Well, it’s more evidence that governing bodies are looking at this very closely; and yields more support.  New investors / interests coupled with new political administrations point towards even more visibility in the crypto / blockchain space.  Key takeaways to the FRED research report are:  1. The report has a fairly bullish tone and notes that DeFi has the benefits of accessibility, composability, efficiency, and transparency; but 2. Cautions that smart contracts, dependencies, and operational security are key risks to address (echoing comments by Janet Yellen earlier this month).

 

• Speaking of crypto, Mastercard and Island Pay launched the World’s first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) linked card – the Bahamas Sand Dollar prepaid Mastercard gives people “the option to instantly convert the digital currency to traditional Bahamian dollars and pay for goods and services anywhere Mastercard is accepted on the Island and around the world.”  And so it begins…

 

• FDIC appoints Neocova founder, Sultan Meghji as first ever Chief Innovation Officer.

 

• Brex is now the latest fintech / challenger bank to file for FDIC insurance via Utah ILC bank charter.

 

• Marqeta is making headlines this week as they filed confidentially with the SEC for a proposed IPO with a valuation of approximately $10B.  They also announced that they have expanded their card issuing capabilities with a new credit card platform allowing innovators to launch next-generation credit card programs with flexible controls and features such as rewards, APR and credit lines in real-time based on custom rules using an intuitive dashboard.  Marqeta has partnered with Deserve to “power Marqeta’s program management services, including origination, underwriting, bank and bureau integration, customer service, compliance and risk management”.

 

• Akoya (an FI consortium-owned financial data aggregator and competitor to Plaid in the US) announced that JP Morgan Chase has joined the Akoya Data Access Network.  “Fintechs, data aggregators and other data recipients can now request application programming interface (API)-based access to Chase customer data through Akoya” – thus providing massive scale to Akoya (not to mention significant street cred).  If you want to learn more about Akoya, Tearsheet has a good podcast and write-up with AkoyaCEO, Stuart Rubinstein (from December 2020).

 

• In case you missed it, PayPal surpassed Mastercard in overall market capitalization this week.  Wow!!!!!

 

• SeedFI raises $65M consisting of $15M Series A plus $50M Debt Facility led by Adreessen Horowitz (a16z) which is also the same VC firm that granted their $4M seed round (no pun intended) in 2019.

 

• Vista Equity Partners makes a strategic hire this week and lands Tom Hogan as an Operating Managing Director in Vista’s Flagship Fund.  Most recently, Tom served as Chairman and CEO of Kony for 6 years until the acquisition by Temenos in 2019 where he served as North American President until now.  I’ll be 100% honest – I’m intrigued to see what Vista does next in the Financial Services / FinTech vertical.

 

• Check out this article in Bankers Digest, Let Me Tell You a Story by Chris Williston – he nails it!  I laughed a little too hard as I am somewhat of a numbers geek; and we have the actual data that supports the core conversion rates that Chris refers to.  Actual facts, not narrow surveys forced into grandiose assumptions to fit a “consultants” prerogative (oops – did I just say that???).  I’m reminded of the line from the movie ‘Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy’ - “They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time.”  LMAO!!!

 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• You might have heard that we had a slight weather event over the last 8 days or so here in Texas.  WHEW!!!!  Ice, snow, single digit temps, rolling blackouts, and downed tree limbs / power lines are all manageable.  We’re Texans – we can handle anything….  but when the water runs out……  things got a little interesting – LOL.  And WHAT THE HECK IS FREEZING FOG – C’MON MAN!!!  I didn’t even know that was a thing!
• To paraphrase Mr. Robin Fussell, “It was so cold outside this week, I saw a Big 4 banker with his hands in his own pockets!!!!”
• I can’t wait to complain about it being 106 degrees while floating down the San Marcos river…  Ahhhhh, now that’s better.
• Oh yeah – and Happy Birthday to our middle son, Parker!!!!  Mom and Dad are proud of you, young man. 

 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe (and warm)!!!!
 
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.