Is Binance FTX 2.0? ??; Visa's expanded stablecoin settlement capabilities mark a paradigm shift ??

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1. Your Ultimate Bundle of Profit & Loss Statement Templates ?? [use this to always keep your financials in check]
2. Elon Musk continues ??’s expansion into the payments biz ?? [recap of what’s been done & what’s next + a deeper dive into the build of the most powerful FinTech company ever]
3. Visa & Mastercard eye credit card fees increase ?? [what it’s all about + deeper dives into two financial giants & the USP of Open Banking]
4. Gen Z has the fastest-growing credit card debt of any generation ??
5. Morgan Stanley to launch an AI chatbot powered by OpenAI ????
6. Amazon strengthens its digital wallet with new BNPL option ??
7. Square suffers a major outage ??
8. N26 loses another top executive ??
9. RegTech is rising and raising ??

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Last week (4-8 September) was another interesting week in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency. We will question whether Binance is finally having an FTX moment (let’s be honest, the smell is not great here…); look at Visa which just expanded stablecoin settlement capabilities (why it’s a game-changer + more bonus deep dives), and explore other interesting news and developments.

Without further ado, let us dive into what happened in the new age of finance last week. Let’s connect the dots.

Is Binance FTX 2.0? ??

Following the news ??? Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, is facing significant headwinds. And that’s actually an understatement.

In fact, more and more industry insiders are starting to speculate that we might soon be witnessing FTX 2.0. And that would be catastrophic for the whole crypto industry.

Let’s take a look.

Zooming out ?? To connect the dots, you always have to zoom out. Below is a good summary of the major negative events for Binance since December. Seeing everything in one place definitely makes you think:

Is this FUD? Could be. But it definitely makes you question things quite a bit.

Exec exodus ?? Earlier I’ve talked about the massive executive exodus from Binance. Below is a brilliant summary of Binance leadership departures since early 2021:

Of course, departures, resignations, or layoffs is a natural thing that happens in every industry. Not to mention the vibrant and challenging ones like crypto.

Yet, at some point, you should start questioning how the largest exchange in the world, which processes 90% of the world’s crypto volume, has so much executive turnover? Something’s not right here…

A cheery on top ?? If the above wouldn’t be enough, here’s a recent wild response from the former head of PR for Binance:

I will leave this to your own interpretation.

?? THE TAKEAWAY

So what’s next? ?? We must remember that founded in 2017, Binance is by far the largest crypto exchange in the world. For years it operated without licenses and an official home base, serving traders through its Binance.com platform. As regulators started cracking down on the industry, the company said it would change and become compliant, though it continued to take risks. Now, Binance's challenges are mounting, with probes from multiple global regulators and several lawsuits. These include a lawsuit by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) citing 13 counts of securities law violations and another by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The recent exodus from, legal, compliance, and product units may only hamper Binance's defense efforts, not to mention making business operations increasingly difficult. Zooming out, if Binance would really go down that would undoubtedly be the bottom for the crypto industry, not to mention all the collateral damage and loss of trust in the industry. The only good thing here when looking for parallels with FTX is that the fraudulent exchange collapsed after a $8B withdrawal while Binance was simply unmoved. Will it continue like that? We shall soon find out.

P.S. here’s what you all think:

ICYMI: The aftermath of the FTX collapse could be bigger than the earthquake ?? [a recap of what happened]

The mindblowing collapse of FTX-linked stocks ?? [+6 more bonus reads]

Visa's expanded stablecoin settlement capabilities mark a paradigm shift ??

The news ??? Financial technology powerhouse Visa is expanding its stablecoin settlement capabilities to the Solana Foundation blockchain and is also working with merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei .

This is a BIG deal, so let’s take a look.

More on this ?? We must remember that the payments giant has been working with issuers of stablecoins since 2021 and the latest move is part of Visa looking into settlement options to send funds onchain and hence speed up settlement times for their merchants.

By leveraging stablecoins like USDC and global blockchain networks like Solana and Ethereum, Visa helping to improve the speed of cross-border settlement and providing a modern option for merchant acquirers like Worldpay and Nuvei to easily send or receive funds from Visa’s treasury.

Using its own account with USDC outfit Circle, Visa can now manage settlement payouts in USDC to Worldpay and Nuvei who can then route these payments in USDC to their end merchants.

?? THE TAKEAWAY

What’s next? ?? This development from Visa is a massive one as it has the potential to revolutionize dollar settlements between institutions by taking advantage of crypto's speed and global accessibility. It makes cross-border dollar payments faster, cheaper, and available 24/7. The funds can be sent instantly rather than having to wait days (or sometimes - even weeks). Thus, acquirers (payment processors like Worldpay or Nuvei) can receive funds instantly from Visa after a transaction, rather than waiting days. They can then instantly pay merchants, eliminating settlement risk. More importantly, it not only validates the value of stablecoins for cheaper and faster cross-border payments. Also, this unlocks huge potential across the whole payments ecosystem and can modernize the entire cross-border finance value chain. Zooming out, this means that Visa is not only quietly bringing crypto to one billion users. More importantly, it shows that stablecoins might eventually become the de facto interbank settlement solution via card networks. In other words, Visa is de-banking the banks… ?? Huge.

ICYMI: Visa & Mastercard eye credit card fees increase ???? [+ more reads & deeper dives]

Game-changer: Visa just made P2P payments interoperable ???? [one of the biggest payments developments this year!]

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds ??

• Crypto custody ?? South Korea's Hana Bank has teamed up with BitGo to offer clients digital asset custody services from next year. One of South Korea's biggest banks, Hana will offer the services in the second half of next year, tapping crypto custody specialist BitGo's blockchain security technology. BitGo is also set to open a South Korean office after securing regulatory licenses, according to local press reports. We can remember that the US firm recently closed a $100M Series C funding round at a $1.75B valuation. Good move.

Money Moves ??

• Qashier, a Singapore-based payments system provider, has closed US$10M in a series A funding round.
• Nigerian Banking-as-a-Service platform Anchor has raised $2.4M in seed funding from several prominent investors, including Goat Capital, FoundersX, and Rebel Fund, alongside existing backers Y Combinator and Byld Ventures.
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has entered an agreement to acquire the cloud-based invoice lending platform, Waddle.

Continue reading by subscribing to Linas's Newsletter. You will receive fresh news about FinTech with hot takeaways every day.

P.S. You might enjoy my earlier pieces as well:

?? Top 10 FinTech predictions for 2023 ??

?? Top banking trends to watch in 2023 ??

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About: I am a business developer, sales professional, FinTech strategist, as well as Cryptocurrency and Blockchain enthusiast. I'm highly passionate about Financial Technology and Digital Innovation, and strongly believe that it will change the world for the better. Apart from my daily job at a global payments startup where I'm leading the company's expansion into Europe, I'm an active member of the FinTech community and a TechFin evangelist.

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