Facebook’s Novi is ready to go live? 🤔; Whales love Coinbase 🐳; Emerging markets are driving crypto adoption 🚀

Good Morning FinTech. 26/30

Good morning Everyone,

And happy Thursday! We are almost there, Friday is just around the corner… Here’s a mix of 3 FinTech stories to dive into today:

Facebook’s Novi is ready to go live? 🤔

The positivity 🙌🏼 David Marcus, the leader of Facebook Financial and Novi, still remains confident in the digital wallet’s ability to succeed and thrive despite more than two years of regulatory challenges, The Block reported.

In an August 18 blog post, Marcus wrote:

Novi is ready to come to market. It’s regulated, and we’re confident in our operational ability to exceed the high standards of compliance that will be demanded of us.

The pivot 👀 Few might recall that Novi initially launched as Calibra, a wallet designed for Libra, which now goes by the name Diem. How more complicated can it get? 😬

Both (unsurprisingly) have faced intense regulatory scrutiny as soon as Facebook announced the project back in June 2019. Diem has yet to officially launch, and the organization backing it moved from Switzerland to the United States.

Stablecoin focus 🔎 Novi is clearly having some big ambitions for stablecoins. According to Marcus, “what defines a well-designed stablecoin is how its reserves are designed and managed, how transparent these are to consumers and regulators, and what consumer protections and compliance feature the issuer offers". Can Facebook achieve all of that though? 🤔

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

Let the time be the judge. Up until today, time wasn’t in favor of Novi. Two years of regulatory challenges and the brainchild of a Facebook-inspired project is yet to go live. On the other hand, Novi wasn’t wasting this time. According to Marcus, in the US, they have secured licenses or approvals for Novi in nearly every state, and they will not launch anywhere they have not yet received such clearances. The Diem Association though has become an independent entity. My question for you - would you use Novi? 🤔

Whales love Coinbase 🐳

SEC filing 📄 A new SEC filing revealed that a bunch of megabanks, including top names like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Bank of America, asset managers such as BlackRock, Miller Value Partners, and Bridgewater; and even states such as Tennessee’s Treasury, hold COIN, or Coinbase’s stock.

States hold $COIN too 👀 What’s even more interesting is that more straight-laced institutional types – namely state-run investment entities – held notable Coinbase positions last quarter, CoinDesk reported.

Pennsylvania’s public school employee retirement fund was long on $2.6 million while the Wisconsin Investment Board held $6.4 million, the state of Tennessee $1.7 million, and Utah Retirement Systems $13.2 million. Getting that crypto exposure, hey?

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

The demand is there 📈 The aforesaid investments yet again illustrate the exploding demand for exposure to the crypto economy, not just the assets themselves. Are you holding 5% of your portfolio in crypto? 🤔

Emerging markets are driving crypto adoption 🚀

Growing adoption 🚀 Crypto adoption has increased 23-fold globally over the past year with India, Pakistan, Ukraine, and other emerging markets driving the surge, Chainalysis said in a new report. That’s huge! 🤯

In its “2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index,” Chainalysis found that Chinese and U.S. positions as crypto adoption leaders have been waning amid an ongoing Chinese crackdown on crypto trading and the growing role of major financial institutions in crypto markets. We could have anticipated that…

3 metrics 🔎 Based on three metrics – on-chain value received, the on-chain retail value received (value under $10,000) and peer-to-peer exchange trading volume – Vietnam, India, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Kenya were the top-five ranked countries among 154 surveyed by Chainalysis. Nigeria ranks just after Kenya, showing a huge African appetite for crypto.

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

The future of crypto is probably in the hands of developing nations. Based on the newest data it’s clear that emerging markets are the new driving force when it comes to digital assets. We can yet again comprehend that in emerging markets, many turns to cryptocurrency to preserve their savings in the face of currency devaluation, send and receive remittances, and carry out business transactions Furthermore, the “skyrocketing” crypto adoption in the past 12 months tells that crypto has become a “truly global phenomenon.” A global phenomenon that is in the hands of developing countries.

🔎 What else I’m watching

• Visa goes live with BNPL 💳 Visa has partnered with i2c, a US-based provider of payments processing, to offer credit cards issuers in the i2c network the option to introduce installments at online checkout. Visa Instalments is a payment technology created by Visa that enables issuers to offer instalment plans for their cardholders under their existing credit account lines, and for participating merchants to display the instalment plans to eligible cardholders. In other words, it’s a white-label BNPL proposition from Visa.

• WhatsApp payments in India🇮🇳 Whatsapp has launched backgrounds to payments for its users, in collaboration with the National Payments Corporation of India. WhatsApp users in India will effectively be able to add payments backgrounds while sending money through WhatsApp. Designed in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the new feature on WhatsApp is a payment system that enables transactions with over 227 banks.

• Apple Pay in Qatar🇶🇦 Apple has announced that its Apple Pay service was launched in Qatar. The company’s latest expansion sees its Apple Pay service now available on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Mac. Apple Pay will launch with the QNB Group bank, while Dukhan Bank is another institution offering Apple Pay at launch in the country. 

💸 Following the Money

• MobileCoin, a privacy-oriented and mobile-first cryptocurrency project, has raised $66M in venture capital to build out its payments technology. Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, BlockTower Capital, and other investors participated in the oversubscribed Series B funding round.

• Branch has raised over $540M to fuel its momentum in delivering flexible workforce payments. Branch will use the funding to deliver faster payments and inclusive financial services to W-2 and 1099 workforces through partnerships with employers, gig platforms, staffing companies, and other businesses. 

• FinTech Brex has acquired Israel-based commerce API company Weav for $50M as part of a plan to expand its global footprint by bringing an innovation hub to Israel.

• Enterprise resource planning system xentral has raised $75M in Series B funding.

• The accounts receivable (AR) automation platform Biller Genie has completed a seed round of $3.5M.

👋 That’s it for today! Thank you for reading and have a productive Thursday! And if you enjoyed this newsletter, invite your friends and colleagues to sign up:

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