Fintech companies are not the only players here: Facebook and Google are also attempting to expand their role in payments/currency. And keep an eye on Amazon, Uber and Walmart, too. More
Why Insurtech Firm Root Tanked After IPOing
Amidst an otherwise febrile fintech market, Root has gone underground, falling from a $6 billion IPO market cap to $3 billion. In one important sense, Root’s public humiliation is healthy. More
Why a US-Backed Bitcoin ETF Feels Inevitable
March 2021 was the month when a US-sanctioned exchange traded fund (ETF) focused on Bitcoin and/or other cryptocurrencies turned the corner from prohibited to inevitable. More
The Would-Be Robinhood Killer You’ve Never Heard Of
This week the Israeli company eToro announced that it will go public in a $10.4 billion deal, being acquired by a SPAC created by veteran banker Betsy Cohen. eToro may provide the biggest competition Robinhood will face in the next couple of years. More
Awaiting Stripe’s Massive IPO
Five years ago, when the founders appeared on the cover of Inc. magazine, Stripe was estimated to process $20 billion in annual payments. Last year that figure was estimated at $350 billion. More
A Dialogue on Cryptocurrency
FIN's James Ledbetter sat down with Jalak Jobanputra, the founder and managing partner of FuturePerfect Venture, to discuss Bitcoin's trajectory, what to expect from NFTs, and the future of crypto. More
Inside the Coinbase Direct Listing
An exclusive interview with Jeff John Roberts, author of the recently published history of Coinbase, The Kings of Crypto. What can Coinbase's S-1 filing tell us about the state of the crypto industry? More
How Much Do You Owe in 2020 Taxes–and To Whom? It’s A Mess.
Upwards of 55% of the population worked remotely during the pandemic. With April 15th approaching, keep your financial planner on speed dial. More
Will Fintech End Racist Lending?
Fintech should be able to replace racially-tainted methods of measuring risk with shiny, new algorithms that don’t discriminate. More
Finance Media & Marketing Opinion
Robinhood: More Drug Pusher than Democratizer
In an era where millions are easily seduced by immediate gratification and self-flattery, and suspicious of any kind of earned expertise, Robinhood's "We Are All Investors" ad might be the most dangerously misleading commercial in Super Bowl history. More
Reddit, Robinhood, and Wall Street – Watch the Conversation
A band of investment outsiders rallied behind some obscure stocks and caught some of the world’s largest hedge funds napping. With technology enabling coordinated investment and free stock trades, is this the new normal? Will Congress and the Biden Administration see the need to intervene? Watch the lively discussion with fintech, Wall Street, and Reddit experts James Ledbetter, Alexis Goldstein, and Christine Lagorio-Chafkin. More
Robinhood: A Fintech Suicide
Live by the day-trading mob, die by the day-trading mob. More
E-Commerce Finance Tech & Society
Why GameStop Was the Wrong Company to Lionize
The GameStop saga is more than a David/Goliath saga of Redditors versus Wall Streeters. It’s the story of reality versus the both of them. More
Finance Tech & Society Techonomy Events
Stock Trading Is Just the Latest Thing Social Media Has Broken
Techonomy hosted a session on “Reddit, Robinhood, and Wall Street,” which might seem unrelated to its regular coverage of how social media fanned the flames that led to the Capitol insurrection. But the imposition of a temporary circuit breaker to limit trading in GameStop by Robinhood stems from the same roots as Twitter and Facebook’s “In Case […] More
Paypal: America’s Greatest Fintech Success
PayPal is arguably the greatest US-based fintech success story; it has completely upended how the world pays for everything, and at last glance its market capitalization was a little shy of $300 billion. As more vaccines are administered and the world slowly returns to in-person shopping where PayPal is less advantaged, will the company and its stock be able to sustain this breakneck growth? More
What to Expect from Gensler’s SEC: “Not Everyone Is Going to Be Happy”
Reports that President Biden will appoint former CFTC chairman Gary Gensler to head the SEC might seem destined to send panic waves through the financial community, but reality is a little more nuanced. More
Mastercard CMO’s Prescription to Fix the US Health Care System
In a candid keynote address to the W2O Digital Health Summit last week, Mastercard Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Raja Rajamannar attacked the “horrors” of the U.S. healthcare system, which he labeled “unparalleled in the world.” More
How COVID Did, and Didn’t, Change Fintech
The pandemic forced finance to pivot to contact-free customer acquisition and transactions. Breakneck growth followed for standalones like PayPal and many startups. COVID accelerated the entire sector. More
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