The US Weekly Newsletter powered by Marcel van Oost

REPORT

• I highly recommend downloading this FinTech report by Ingo Payments to find 12 charts that tell the story of Instant Payments .

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?? NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• Grasshopper Bank begins rollout of SBA lending strategy .

Small businesses demand efficient access to capital and Grasshopper Bank is meeting the needs of its small business clients through its latest digital lending solutions.

The New York-based digital bank launched its digital Small Business Administration (SBA) loan application on April 18 to allow small business clients to start a loan application on their own.

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?? ARTICLE

• Coinbase generated $1.6 billion of total revenue and $1.2 billion of net income. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.0 billion – more than they generated in all of 2023 .

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NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S?NEWS

???? NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

?? FTX account holders will get their money back after bankruptcy .

?? British neobank Monzo boosts funding round to $610 million to crack U.S. market, launch pensions .

?? Robinhood Would Likely Win Crypto Court Case With the SEC: KBW .

?? FIS Launches Innovative New FinTech Platform Atelio? by FIS.

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Join my Angel Investors Syndicate!

FINTECH

Federal prosecutors are examining financial transactions at Block, owner of Cash App and Square. Internal documents indicate Block processed crypto transactions for terrorist groups and Square processed transactions involving nations subject to economic sanctions.

Block, Inc. Announces Upsize and Pricing of $2.0 Billion Offering of Senior Notes. The aggregate principal amount of the offering was increased from the previously announced offering size of $1.5 billion.

Financial technology lender Upstart Holdings Inc. has been subpoenaed by Wall Street’s main regulator about disclosures, including its artificial intelligence models and loans, the company said Wednesday .

Thunes, a global money movement innovator, has joined forces with Pomelo, a pioneering credit-powered remittance company and credit card issuer, to introduce a groundbreaking international money transfer solution from the United States to the Philippines.

PAYMENTS

BNPL firm Sezzle turns to gamification to encourage timely payments. Called Payment Streaks, the new feature promises to reward consumers for consistent and timely payments .

Mastercard: Tokenized Transactions Grow 50% Year Over Year. Worldwide gross dollar volume (GDV) increased by 10% year over year to $2.3 trillion. In the U.S., GDV increased by 6% to $712 billion with credit growth of 6% with credit growth of 12% and debit growth of 13%.

Orum launches No Code Verify tech for FedNow payments. The new technology, launched in October 2023, makes it easy for businesses and banks to verify the status of any type of bank account .

Fitbit warns you have 3 months before mobile payments switch to Google Wallet . The brand also announced earlier this year that users would need to ditch Fitbit Pay in favor of Google Wallet if it wanted to continue using mobile payments from the wrist.

Fractal, a new FinTech platform exclusively servicing SaaS companies, announces the launch of the most efficient payment processing services in the U.S. Founded by industry veterans, Fractal is taking household names in the payments industry head-on by offering simpler service with up to 30% savings.

Same Day ACH and B2B Propel ACH Network Growth in the First Quarter. Same Day ACH volume in March 2024 was 95.6 million, averaging more than 4.5 million payments per day , both all-time monthly highs since Same Day ACH launched.

DIGITAL BANKING

Finxact, a Fiserv Company and provider of a core banking platform to the U.S. regional and super-regional banking sector , and Zafin, a provider of SaaS core modernization and transformation solutions for banks, form a partnership.

In an exclusive interview with Forbes, Chris Britt, CEO of neobank Chime, has revealed some interesting stats, but not quite the 38 million a Cornerstone Advisors survey research earlier this year suggested.

Chase Announces New Digital Products to Help Small Businesses Grow. Chase announced today a series of new product innovations designed to help small business owners overcome some of their biggest pain points.

Wells Fargo has joined JP Morgan in revealing that US authorities are investigating the handling of complaints about P2P payments service Zelle .

FinTech Littio launches U.S. bank account for Colombians. Littio, a digital financial solutions FinTech, presented its latest product: the possibility of having a bank account in the United States through the Littio App to send and receive international transfers.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined SoFi Securities $1.1 million for failing to establish and maintain a reasonable Customer Identification Program for SoFi Money, its cash management brokerage account, which resulted in $2.5 million in stolen funds .

CRYPTO

MoonPay Users Can Now Buy Crypto Via PayPal. The partnership means MoonPay users in the U.S. can seamlessly buy crypto with PayPal through wallet transfer, bank transfer, and debit card transactions, according to a press release .

Robinhood’s crypto business is next target in US crackdown, filing reveals. The potential action could see Robinhood issued with a cease-and-desist order and pay civil penalties .

DONEDEAL

Altruist Raises $169M Series E to Set a New Standard in Wealth Management. The new round brings the company’s total funding to over $450M and values the company north of $1.5B .

Securitize, a US-based firm that tokenises assets and traditional securities, has successfully completed a $47 million funding round spearheaded by global asset manager BlackRock.

M&As

SVB Financial Group Enters into Definitive Agreement for the Sale of SVB Capital. Pinegrove provides customized and scalable secondary liquidity solutions for general partners and limited partners with a focus on investing in leading mid-to-late-stage private technology companies.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Uplinq Adds Former Visa Small Business Leader Matt Baker as Strategic Advisor, Strengthening Business Development Efforts. Baker’s appointment signifies Uplinq’s continued growth and its commitment toward expanding access to working capital for small businesses globally .