What’s going on? Square (US payments giant) announced their plan to buy Afterpay (Australian fintech) for $29bn. What does this mean? Afterpay Afterpay is a buy-now-pay-later company that lets customers spread the cost of an online purchase over a period of time. If customers make payments on time, they don’t have to pay interests on…
Tag: fintech
Ep 84: Visa’s $5.3 billion surprise acquisition of Plaid
What’s going on here? Visa is buying fintech Plaid for $5.3 billion and expects the deal to close in the next three to six months (Mar-Jun, 2020). Plaid offers technology that allows consumers to link their bank accounts to its 2,600 fintech clients (including Venmo) and 11,000 financial institutions – making it one of several players…
Ep 82: Thai fintech startup Lightnet banks $31.2m in Series A round
What’s going on here? Bangkok-based fintech company Lightnet has nabbed $31.2 million in a Series A funding round to further develop a blockchain financial mobility network. Blockchain financial mobility network: by connecting existing financial systems with its vast network of non-bank agents and fiat-transaction network, improve the efficiency, convenience and affordability of legacy remittance and…
Ep 60: New money-laundering rules change everything for cryptocurrency exchanges
Complying with regulators could mean the difference between going mainstream and remaining forever on the margins of the global financial system. What’s going on here? One of the biggest knocks against cryptocurrency has always been its status as a refuge for tech-savvy criminals. The image persists, in part because some crypto firms have evaded regulators by…
Ep 58: Mobile payments have barely caught on in the US
Key points Compared with China, India and other parts of the world, the U.S. is way behind in adopting mobile payments. It seems odd considering the ubiquity of smartphones in America. But experts say a deeply embedded legacy system and rewards cards make it unlikely that we’ll see a major shift anytime soon. What’s going on…
with HT 