Block continues building its Ecosystem of Ecosystems ??; Nubank to launch its own cryptocurrency. A game-changer or just a marketing gimmick? ??

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???Hey,?Linas here!?Welcome to a????weekly free edition????of my daily newsletter. Each day I focus on 3 stories that are making a difference in the financial technology space. Coupled with things worth watching & most important money movements, it’s the only newsletter you need for all things when Finance meets Tech.

If you’re not a subscriber, here’s what you missed this week:

1. Revolut launched Revolut Chat. Is it a Super App now? ???[+ a strong rant on this]
2. The biggest winners from NFTs are Nike and Gucci ??
3. Amazon + Venmo is a match made in heaven ???[steal their strategy!]
4. JPMorgan, DeFi, and the future of finance ???[this is the future of finance]
5. Visa continues building a payment ecosystem that even Marvel would be proud of ??
6. Going all in on crypto at the worst possible time, or how Andreessen Horowitz’s flagship fund lost 40% in value ???[what it hints about the future?]
7. Mastercard really loves crypto ????
8. Reddit may just have all the tools to take NFTs mainstream???[if you’re in NFTs, you cannot miss this]
9. Latest results from Mastercard & Visa: what the Macro Compass tells us? ??
10. Google wants to be like Klarna? ??

and more! Don't miss out and join the community here????

Last week (31 October - 4 November) was undoubtedly a gem of the month in FinTech.?We will look at Block which continues building its Ecosystem of Ecosystems; Nubank which is about to launch its own cryptocurrency (a game-changer or just a marketing gimmick?), and other interesting news and developments.

Without further ado, let us dive into what happened in the financial technology sector last week. Let’s connect the dots.

Block continues building its Ecosystem of Ecosystems ??

The new(ish) focus ???Payments giant?Block?is increasing its focus on Bitcoin mining and wallet hardware businesses.?

More on this ???The company is on a hiring spree to find heads of Bitcoin mining policy, communications, and partnerships, as per several job postings published on LinkedIn over the past 2 weeks, The Block reported.

The firm is also hiring product and engineering talent "to develop the next generation of mining ASIC" and to build its "first mining rig" and "future mining rig product lines." It also has several positions related to wallet design. Block revealed its Bitcoin hardware wallet this past spring.?

?? THE TAKEAWAY

Why it matters? ???If you’re a careful reader of mine, you know that Block/Square has developed probably the strongest FinTech ecosystem in the world (& their latest earnings & strategy prove that perfectly). It’s pretty clear by now that it’s not stopping with the traditional world and now Block is very aggressively trying to build out their crypto biz too. What matters here is that Block is making a push into mining despite squeezed margins resulting from Bitcoin’s lower value and higher energy prices. This perfectly shows their commitment to the industry and long-term vision. Zooming out, it’s important to stress that Block is?betting big?when it comes to Bitcoin and decentralized finance as such. Earlier this year, the firm said it sees a $3B profit opportunity for bitcoin consumer trading and announced a stablecoin partnership with Circle . The Ecosystem of Ecosystems just got a little bit stronger. Again.

Bonus: PayPal's biggest threat is coming from around the Block and it's called Cash Pay ??

Cash App (NOT Revolut) could become the New PayPal ??

Brazil's FinTech giant Nubank to launch its own cryptocurrency. A game-changer or just a marketing gimmick? ??

The news ???Brazilian digital banking gem?Nubank?will launch its own cryptocurrency in the country next year.

More on this ??? Nubank will launch the token, called?Nucoin, in the first half of 2023. Although details are limited, the token will reportedly offer discounts and other perks to holders of the token.

2,000 customers have been shortlisted to take part in a forum group for guiding the development of Nucoin, which was built on the Polygon network, a so-called “Layer 2” protocol that aims to alleviate congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, where transactions can often be costly and take longer to process.

Polygon says its platform is able to support thousands of transactions per second.

?? THE TAKEAWAY

The balancing act ???First and foremost, Nucoin marks the latest move into digital assets by a large financial institution. Furthermore, this move yet again proves Nu’s long-term vision and belief in the sector - back in May, Nubank launched crypto trading services that?amassed almost 2M users in its first 4 months. That’s massive! Zooming out, this move is very similar to their LatAm fellow Mercado Libre , which also launched a loyalty token recently. Coupling things like an e-commerce platform, a digital wallet, and a new digital currency gives both these FinTech gems the growing and strengthening characteristics of a Super App than just a bank. On the other hand, this comes at a cost. While creating your own token can provide financial benefits for the consumer and the company (i.e. boost engagement & loyalty), it also comes as an asset class to be regulated by the government, not to mention being subject to the volatility of capital markets. But this only makes it even more exciting!

Bonus: The real Amazon Bank is being built from the ground up in LatAm ??????

Extra Reads & Quick Bites for Curious Minds??

• The inevitable “takeover” ???Germany-based neobank?Vivid Money?has announced that it will take over the customer base of the insolvent crypto bank?Nuri.?From now on, Nuri customers will be forwarded to the Vivid app. Users can create an account there and transfer their credit directly. Vivid is a European-based provider of a mobile crypto and banking app with whom Nuri users will be able to continue to manage their daily finances and trade cryptocurrencies.?Smart play. Read more:?Crypto Winter takes another victim - a crypto exchange turned neobank ??
• More hacks ???Bad actors?used?API keys linked to crypto exchange?FTX?to conduct unauthorized trades for DMG trading pairs on the trading-bot platform 3Commas. The trading-bot platform?said?the exploited API keys probably resulted from phishing attacks or hacks and did not originate from its platform. FTX will?provide?around $6M in compensation to victims of a phishing scam that allowed hackers to conduct unauthorized trades on certain FTX users' accounts.?Alternatively, hackers?exploited?Polygon-based decentralized exchange (DEX) QuickSwap for $220,000. According to QuickSwap, the exploit occurred on the Market XYZ lending market, which was the only platform compromised.?A perfect illustration to why 2022 is the worst year in cryptocurrency history.

Money Moves??

• Worldline, a payment services provider, has closed the acquisition of a 55% stake in?SoftPos.eu, a Poland-based FinTech. Created in 2019, the FinTech converts regular Android devices into secure payment terminals, enabling merchants to accept card payments without the need for additional hardware.
• UK-based credit company?Tymit?has received GBP 23M in Series A funding to reimagine the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market.
• DeFi company?Thala Labs?raised?$6M to build DeFi applications on the Aptos blockchain. Thala is already working on a decentralized stablecoin.?

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:

?? Bitcoin in 2021: a story in 5 graphs, and what might come in 2022

???A Wise pitch deck that led to London’s biggest and most successful direct listing ever

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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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