PayPal for crypto gets FCA approval ✅; Apple Cash updates 🤷♂️; Zomato is a FinTech too 😲
Good Morning FinTech. 18/30
Good morning Everyone,
And happy Monday! Hope you had some time to relax during the weekend. Here’s a mix of 3 great stories to get you going:
PayPal for crypto gets FCA approval ✅
Ramp 😎 UK crypto payments infrastructure startup Ramp has become the 8th crypto firm to secure registration with the country’s financial-services watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The PayPal for Crypto 👀 Ramp is the first on-ramp service to be certified by the FCA. Branding itself as the "PayPal for crypto," Ramp offers a software development kit to companies wishing to offer crypto-enabled services, removing the need to integrate with third-party exchanges.
Solid backing 💸 The firm has raised $10M in June in a seed funding round led by NFX and Galaxy Digital.
✈️ THE TAKEAWAY
Bringing the best of both worlds? 🤔 Adopting capabilities in both regulatory compliance and financial technological innovation, Ramp wants everyone to enjoy the benefits of a decentralized financial ecosystem. Given they have managed to get the FCA approval first in their niche, it’s definitely worthwhile to keep an eye on them.
Apple Cash updates 🤷♂️
The updates 📲 Apple Cash, Apple's peer-to-peer payments service that works with Apple Pay and iMessage, has received a couple of updates.
It's now possible to use Instant Transfer with both Mastercard and Visa debit cards. Previously only the latter card could be used, so the addition of Mastercard means Instant Transfer is more accessible to users who want to quickly transfer money from an Apple Cash balance to a bank account without having to wait for the transaction to be processed. That’s easy and simple, but where’s the catch? 🤔
The fees… 😬 Apple says that beginning 26 August, 2021, the cost of making an Instant Transfer will change to 1.5% (previously 1%) of the transfer amount, with a minimum fee of $0.25 and a maximum fee of $15. If users don't want to use Instant Transfer, they can also transfer money to their bank account using ACH and receive it within one to three business days with no fee
Availability 🇺🇸 Currently only available in the United States only, Apple Cash can be used to make and receive payments in Messages, or you can get Siri to send money to a friend or family member.
✈️ THE TAKEAWAY
It’s clear that Apple is going deeper into Finance. It’ also clear that it wants to more monetise their user base and Apple Cash users. Given the tests in their home market (=US) turn out to be well, I’m pretty sure that Apple Cash with all its features will be slowly rolled out to other countries. Should FinTechs worry? Well, they should stay very cautious the least… 👀
Zomato is a FinTech too 😲
Payments 💸 India-based food-tech giant Zomato has announced entering FinTech with a digital payments entity called Zomato Payments.
Net entity 🔔 In a regulatory filing on 4 August 2021, the Deepinder Goyal-led company announced the incorporation of Zompany Payments Private Limited (ZPPL) as its wholly owned subsidiary. Zomato said ZPPL would provide payment aggregator and gateway services.
The focus 👀 The entity, Zomato said, would handle all types of electronic and virtual payment systems, e-wallets, mobile-wallets, cash cards for consumers. It would set up a payment and settlement system and offer payment gateway services, prepaid and post-paid payment instruments, including closed or semi-closed payment instruments and direct debit facility on mobile phones.
✈️ THE TAKEAWAY
It’s all about data 📊 Tech businesses like Zomato are collecting a lot of customer data through operation-based consumer services. They know a lot about you and your preference and hence food delivery companies can become payments companies and payment companies can start delivering food (that might be a bit more difficult though…). Uber is doing that already, why can’t Zomato? 🤔
🔎 What else I’m watching
Massive debut 📈 Digital lender Kakao Bank’s stock market debut in South Korea rocketed out of the starting gate with share prices up 62% in Seoul on Friday. At one point, Kakao Bank’s shares on the Korea Stock Exchange (KRX) soared almost 80% over the opening price, with a market capitalization topping $28B, and positioning the digital-only bank as the biggest lender by market value.
Pet Now, Pay Later 🐶 Petco will begin offering its customers a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option with the help of the Swedish BNPL company Klarna. The new payment option lets pet parents split their purchases into four interest-free installments, paid off over the course of 6 weeks.
BoA is digital-first now 📲 Bank of America announced that digital deposits now account for 85% of transactions. These transactions are fueled by almost 48M checks deposited in the second quarter, the bank said in a press release.
Music on the blockchain 🎶 Audius – a music streaming platform that runs on the Ethereum blockchain – hit a major milestone as 5 million people a month now use the platform to stream music, making it one of the largest consumer applications on any blockchain. Over 100,000 artists use the platform, including acts such as deadmau5 and Skrillex.
Luxury Crypto 💸 Philipp Plein has becomes the first major fashion brand to accept crypto payments. The retailer will accept 15 cryptocurrencies for both online and in-store purchases.
💸 Following the Money
UK-based private equity asset manager Apis Partners has invested $32M in DOKU, a digital payments company owned by Emtek Group, based in Indonesia
Indexing protocol Nakji Network raises $8.8M in SAFT funding.
👋 That’s it for today! Thank you for reading and have a productive Monday! And if you enjoyed this newsletter, invite your friends and colleagues to sign up:
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