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MEME STOCKS: DOGECOIN RISES AS BITCOIN FALLS BACK
Bitcoin and Ethereum fell during Tuesday trading, extending a price decline that began last week, while joke cryptocurrency Dogecoin rallied further after a record surge.
Bitcoin was down 4.6% by 9.20 AM in London, while Ethereum was down around 5.3%. The world’s two most highly valued cryptocurrencies were trading at $54,763.19 and $2,134.70 respectively.
Meanwhile, Dogecoin was up 18% at $0.4075, a jump that coincided with social media attention on 20 April. Supporters of the cryptocurrency are celebrating the date – which is also International Weed Day – as “DogeDay” and are urging fans to buy up the token in a bid to raise its price to $1.
JPMORGAN TO FINANCE BREAKAWAY EUROPEAN SUPER LEAGUE
JPMorgan confirmed on Monday that it is financing the nascent European Super League, a breakaway group featuring 12 of Europe’s biggest football clubs that threatens to shake up the sport.
Six Premier League teams – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – are involved in the deal, alongside AC Milan, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid.
MORGAN STANLEY FLAGS HIGH PROFITS AND $1 BILLION ARCHEGOS LOSS
Morgan Stanley on Friday disclosed a loss of almost $1 billion from the collapse of private fund Archegos Capital Management, undercutting an otherwise upbeat 150% jump in first-quarter profit.
The Wall Street giant was one of six banks that had exposure to Archegos, a family office fund run by controversial former hedge fund manager Bill Hwang. Last month, Archegos defaulted on margin calls and triggered a stock fire sale.
COINBASE HITS $100 BILLION VALUATION IN NASDAQ DEBUT
Coinbase, the US’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, reached a valuation of over $100 billion on its first day of public trading on Wednesday.
The company was valued at $99.6 billion when trading opened, with stocks priced at $381 apiece. This price would later fall to $328.28, but not before reaching the $100 billion milestone.
GOLDMAN SACHS AND JPMORGAN INVESTMENT BANKING PROFITS SOAR
US stock indexes were set to rise on Wednesday following positive earnings reports from investment banks.
JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc both beat analysts’ expectations for first-quarter profit.
Goldman saw its overall investment banking revenue jump 73% to $3.77 billion, the highest amount seen since 2010. The bank managed to effectively capitalise on record global investment banking activity, which Refinitiv data showed as reaching an all-time high of $39.4 billion in the March quarter.
BANKS NEED TO PROTECT CONSUMERS FROM RISING LEVELS OF PAYMENTS FRAUD
Contactless and digital payments have without doubt grown in popularity during the last year, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic and consumers trying to avoid using cash to reduce the spread of the virus. As a consequence, the contactless limit in the UK has recently been increased to £100. While a welcome move for both consumers and the payments ecosystem, this increase comes with the inherent risk of more fraud.
POUND REMAINS STABLE AS UK ECONOMY REOPENS
Non-essential shops and services have reopened across England and Wales as lockdown rules are eased across the UK.
Gyms, hairdressers and zoos can now reopen, while pubs and restaurants are able to host customers in outdoor areas. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged people taking advantage of the eased restrictions to “behave responsibly” and continue to exercise advised steps to reduce the likelihood of contracting or spreading coronavirus.
MANAGING MONEY WITH AN ONGOING SICKNESS OR INJURY
Being faced with long-term illness or disability is incredibly stressful, and can cause serious implications for your finances. For those who have become financially vulnerable due to ongoing illness, or are looking for ways to plan for unexpected circumstances, business growth consultant Daniel Groves has compiled some the resources that can help.
CIRCLE LAUNCHES ‘CIRCLE IMPACT’ TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL INCLUSION, DIGITAL FINANCIAL LITERACY AND HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE VIA DIGITAL CURRENCY
Circle Internet Financial, LLC, a global internet finance firm that provides payments and financial infrastructure to businesses of all sizes today announced the launch of Circle Impact. The initiative is dedicated to measurably improving three key areas of focus: financial inclusion, responsible financial service innovation, and supporting humanitarian efforts through the faster deployment of aid and relief using corruption-resistant real-time payments.
NUULA LAUNCHES FINANCIAL METRICS TOOL, INTEGRATING ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE DATA INTO THE NUULA MOBILE APP
Nuula, a fintech company focused on providing small businesses the tools and the capital they need to succeed, today announced the launch of its Financial Health tool — a new feature that lets small business owners stay on top of key financial metrics from their cloud accounting software right within the Nuula app.
With the Financial Health tool, small businesses can get real-time insights from their QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Wave or other accounting software anytime and anywhere.
SOGOTRADE OFFERS CASH-BACK TO FINANCIAL PORTFOLIOS WITH EVOSHARE
SogoTrade, a digital brokerage subsidiary of Sogo Financial Group, Inc. (“Sogo”), has partnered with EvoShare, a microsavings-oriented FinTech startup based in Berkeley, CA, to bring cash-back savings opportunities to its customers.
“Cash-back offers are popular and incentivize people who spend money at retailers, restaurants, hotels, and more,” said Jonathan Yao, CEO of SogoTrade. “SogoTrade is excited to partner with EvoShare, bringing a robust cash-back savings infrastructure to everyday people, enabling them to earn on everyday spending and invest in their future.”
WHALE CLOUD AND ANT GROUP JOIN FORCE WITH TOKA FINTECH TO EXPAND INCLUSIVE FINANCIAL SERVICES
Whale Cloud, a leading technology company providing software solutions and services for telecommunications and multiple other industries, today reached a partnership with Toka Fintech, a Mexican-leading financial group, to help it develop its own digital payment app with Alipay+ Digital Wallet Solution, providing Mexicans with better access to inclusive financial services.
Toka Fintech is a company belonging to Grupo Toka, which is one of the most important groups in the prepaid card market and has more than 4.5 million customers in Mexico. Grupo Toka is increasingly embracing digital payment services because of the fast adoption of smartphones in the country and the COVID-19 pandemic.
VOLT LAUNCHES IN BRAZIL TO ACCELERATE GLOBAL OPEN BANKING PAYMENTS REVOLUTION
Volt, the leading open payments gateway, today announced its expansion to Brazil following a period of rapid growth for the FinTech company. Volt has now integrated Brazil’s domestic instant payments network Pix – and established its physical presence in São Paulo – as it builds upon its proposition as the global leader in real-time payments everywhere.
Already strongly established in Europe with over 5,000 bank connections on the PSD2 Open Banking network, the expansion sees Volt bring its real-time payments offering to the Brazilian market. Volt customers can now access Latin America’s largest and fastest growing markets, whilst cutting out the region’s lengthy settlement times (from 28 days to two seconds) and costly card infrastructure, whilst boosting payment conversion rates. For those without a domestic presence, Volt acts as the merchant of record in-country and manages currency export, FX, and declarations to the Central Bank of Brazil.
FINASTRA PARTNERS WITH HEXAWARE TO ACCELERATE DIGITAL PAYMENTS FOR SELECTED EUROPEAN BANKS
Finastra today announced its partnership with Hexaware Technologies (Hexaware) to provide managed services for Finastra’s payments solutions deployed in the cloud. The move helps Hexaware customers in Germany, Belgium, the UK and Ireland take ownership of their payment infrastructure. The partnership brings together the companies’ industry leading payments and integration experience, to provide mid-sized banks with an end-to-end Payments as a Service (PaaS) offering which helps them remain competitive while mitigating operational costs.
VOYAGER TOKEN INTEGRATED INTO COINIFY’S GLOBAL CRYPTO PAYMENT PLATFORM
Voyager Digital Ltd. , one of the fastest-growing, publicly traded cryptocurrency platforms in the United States, today announced the integration of the Voyager token (VGX) into Coinify’s cryptocurrency payment platform, a wholly-owned Voyager subsidiary that provides merchant payment services in over 150 countries.
ENTERPRAI LAUNCHES NEW WAY FOR GLOBAL MACRO PLAYERS TO STAY ON TOP OF FINANCIAL MARKETS
Enterprai – the AI-powered SaaS workstation for global macro professionals, pioneering predictive analytics for FX and fixed income markets – today launched a set of products offering global macro portfolio managers, traders, and analysts a new way to stay on top of financial markets. Off the back of strong demand for its product the Company is now embarking on its next funding round, seeking to raise a further $10M of growth capital to invest in tech and talent to further fuel client expansion.