PayPal brings crypto service to Europe🇬🇧; WorldRemit’s massive funding & IPO plans💸; Visa goes NFTs 🤯

Good Morning FinTech. 29/30

Good morning Everyone,

And happy Tuesday! I hope Monday wasn’t harsh for you… Also, a gentle reminder that this is one of the last free issues - after tomorrow daily newsletters will be available to subscribers only. So if you enjoyed the 28 daily newsletters, hit that subscribe button and join the community 🙌🏼

And here’s a mix of 3 great stories for the 29th issue:

PayPal brings crypto service to Europe🇬🇧

UK launch🇬🇧 Payments giant PayPal is extending its crypto service to the UK, allowing its customers to buy, sell and hold four different cryptocurrencies on its platform.

Users hence will be able to transact in Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash for as little as £1 ($1.40).

Testing international waters 🌊 The current rollout is the first expansion of PayPal's crypto offering outside the U.S. The process will begin this week and should be available to all eligible customers within the next few weeks.

Still not your coins… 😬 PayPal introduced crypto buying, selling, and holding to U.S. customers last October. Since then, the company has not yet allowed users to move crypto holdings off-platform, though this stance may change - a withdrawal function is reportedly in the works.

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

Bringing crypto to the Main Street. PayPal is one of the biggest mainstream financial firms to offer cryptocurrency trading. Since the launch in October, the payments giant has been doing a really good job when it comes to crypto, exceeding even their own expectations. Although crypto revenues are still a very small fraction of their total income, the idea is clear - digital assets will probably be one of the key future growth drivers for PayPal in the years to come. Hence, it will be very interesting to see how they will succeed with crypto operations in Europe.

WorldRemit’s massive funding & IPO plans💸

The funding 💸 Zepz, formerly WorldRemit, a digital cross-border payments platform has just raised $292M in new primary financing, achieving a valuation of $5B.

The USP 🥊 Zepz reaches over 5,000 money transfer corridors, including emerging markets with high barriers to entry, establishing digital connectivity into geographies that had previously been underserved. WorldRemit and Sendwave brands offer a faster (85% of transactions settled in minutes) and more flexible (digital offering with multiple pay-in and pay-out options) user experience at fairer prices. 

Numbers 📊 In 2020, Zepz’ brands enabled over 4.5 million monthly transactions on its platform generating almost $10 billion of Gross Send Volumes and $338 million of revenues.

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

IPO on the horizon 🌅 Further to the newest funding, going public is only a matter of time. Sources told Bloomberg that details of the deal could change and that the IPO could come as soon as 2022, although the company had considered going public earlier this year. And it’s about time. If we would take TransferWise as Zepz’s peer, there’s no better time than now to IPO. At the core, WorldRemit was created in 2010, borne out of founder Ismail Ahmed’s frustration with the steep transaction fees he’d pay to send money to his family in East Africa (similarly like TransferWise’s founders). Furthermore, remittance flows stayed strong in 2020 even in light of the virus, dipping just 1.6% in low-income and middle-income nations, according to data from World Bank. Hence, I’m still bullish on remittances and players like WorldRemit/Zepz.

Visa goes NFTs 🤯

The purchase 🤑 Payments giant Visa has bought a female CryptoPunk for around $150,000, taking a step into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as it seeks to learn more about the burgeoning market. CryptoPunk 7610 was bought on August 19, the payments technology company announced Monday.

What is it? 🤔 CryptoPunks, of which 10,000 have been minted, are considered to be the original NFTs. CryptoPunk 7610 is one of 3,840 "female" punks.

The learning curve 👀 Visa's head of crypto, Cuy Sheffield, said in a blog post that the main purpose behind Visa's purchase was to learn more about the growing market. "We think NFTs will play an important role in the future of retail, social media, entertainment and commerce," Sheffield wrote. "To help our clients and partners participate, we need a firsthand understanding of the infrastructure requirements for a global brand to purchase, store, and leverage an NFT."

✈️ THE TAKEAWAY

The new type of commerce. NFTs is the new e-commerce, and Visa wants to own it. Online commerce is the lifeblood of card networks like Visa, hence, any new emerging trends in this area should naturally be of their interest. Given the surge in popularity and adoption, NFTs might be a big industry in the future. More importantly, this is arguably the best marketing that Visa could ever do for $150k. Not only everyone is talking about it. Also, it moved the market. Following the news of Visa's purchase, a further 90 CryptoPunks NFTs were snapped up in the next hour for combined sales of around $20M. They continue to grow as we speak. Looks like Visa made a good play, a very good play… 👌🏽😎

🔎 What else I’m watching

• Internal struggles at Bitstamp 🤷‍♂️ Founder Nejc KodriÄ claims Bitstamp owner NXMH is trying to force the sale of his remaining shares in the company at a price “very significantly” below market value. The legal filing reveals details of Bitstamp’s plan to pursue an IPO at a valuation of $1B.

• Execs believe in digital assets 👀 Three-quarters (76%) of executives globally think digital assets will be a “strong alternative to or replacement for” fiat in the next five to 10 years, Deloitte’s 2021 "Global Blockchain Survey" found.

• New FinTech IPO 🔔 Payment platform Sezzle said it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for an initial public offering (IPO) to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, according to a press release. The release notes that neither the number of shares or price has been revealed. The IPO will likely take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market conditions.

💸 Following the Money

• Specialized payments platform Paysafe will be acquiring Germany-based viafintech, which offers the biggest bank-independent payments structure in the DACH region (Austria, Germany and Swizerland). Viafintech operates under the brands Barzahlen/viacash and viacash and offers an alternative to traditional banks.

• B2B tech and services platform Alerzo, based in Nigeria and Singapore, has announced it raised $10.5M in a Series A funding round. Alerzo, which was launched in 2019, works to empower informal retailers with various tools, the report stated. Alerzo customers can order products through phone calls, text messages, or WhatsApp. Once orders are received, Alerzo sends the requests to the right warehouses, where logistics teams deliver to the customer in around four hours.

• Taiwan-based blockchain startup XREX has raised $17M in pre-Series A funding led by CDIB Capital Group.

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

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