Fintech Focus For October 25, 2021

Quote To Start The Day: “We’re starting to see a lot of financial education startups disappearing and consolidating into these larger players building communities.”

Source: Brian Curcio

One Big Thing In Fintech: FTX Trading Ltd. secured more than $420 million in funding from 69 investors, upping its valuation to $25 billion, the company announced Thursday.

The proceeds of the transaction will be put toward marketing as well as mergers and acquisitions, bolstering the company’s position as one of the top-five Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) futures exchanges by volume.

Benzinga recently caught up with Tristan Yver and Nate Clancy of FTX’s U.S. affiliate FTX.US to talk about FTX’s motivations and growth initiatives in the states.

Source: Benzinga

Other Key Fintech Developments:

Rally commits $12M to initiative.
Goldman and AmEx teamed up.
Walmart installs 200 BTC ATMs.
UBB, RiskScout have partnered.
Brex adds $300M funding round.
Clear secures $75M from Stripe.
CRED valued at $5B post-raise.
Resistant AI has added $16.6M.
Pomelo adds $9M for payments.
XanPool raises in $27M funding.
Daily Pay honing value it brings.
First public pension bought BTC.
Sublime users stake reputations.
Plaid eyes new payments offers.

Watch Out For This: Students, broadly speaking, lack a solid understanding of financial wellness and markets.

That’s according to Brian Curcio who, along with Myles Gage, is building Rapunzl Investments, a Nasdaq Inc-powered app unlocking the markets to a new generation.

Read below to find out how Rapunzl is helping teach and build strong financial habits.

Source: Benzinga

Interesting Reads:

Yellen expects inflation to linger.
Digitalization fosters efficiencies.
The key to sports betting growth.
Home sales jump amidst crunch.
China sees outbreak worsening.
Faith in mega tech growth broke.
Market Moving Headline: The U.S. Securities and Commission issued a report earlier this month suggesting brokers — via gamified user interfaces and mechanisms such as PFOF — lured investors to increase their trading which, in turn, resulted in higher revenues.

In the SEC’s analysis of the options market, there was no evidence of a gamma squeeze.

The SEC’s conclusion on the role options played during the near-vertical price rise in stocks like GameStop may be flawed, according to SpotGamma founder Brent Kochuba.

Source: Benzinga