Sitemap - 2023 - Fintech Blueprint π€π¦π§
DeFi: Are Bitcoin & EVM inscriptions a valuable asset, or just spam exploiting a vulnerability?
Long Take: Deciphering Solana's remarkable 700% rise, and why Ethereum lags behind
Artificial Intelligence: Neobank Dave launches GPT chatbot for scalable customer service
Fintech: Paytech SumUp raises $307MM at $8.6B, defying market gravity
DeFi: $225MM airdrop from Solana's liquid staking derivative protocol Jito
Long Take: Trusting Artificial Intelligence based on ZK Proofs, and the $10B fraud market
Artificial Intelligence: Mistral $2B valuation and Open Source strategy
Fintech: Canopy expands into commercial lending, part of $400B digital lending market.
Podcast: Can open banking power AI-based finance?, with Bud CEO Ed Maslaveckas
DeFi: Bridging protocol Wormhole raises $225MM at a $2.5B valuation
Long Take: The $2B of tokenized Real World Assets (RWAs) trading onchain in 2023
Artificial Intelligence: Commerz Bank uses Generative AI to creative financial avatars
Fintech: Why is Goldman Sachs leaving the Apple credit card partnership?
DeFi: $600MM+ deposited into Blast, an L2 that stakes bridged ETH, despite rug risk
Financial Analysis: Can Affirm beat Klarna in the BNPL market?
AI: Stock Trader AI covers up use of insider information in trading simulation
Fintech: $300MM bet on wealthtech Alpheya by BNY Mellon & Abu Dhabi-based Lunate
Podcast: Modernizing private investment infrastructure, with Templum CEO Christopher Pallotta
DeFi: Crypto media on sale as Coindesk sold to EOS exchange Bullish & The Block acquired for $70MM
Long Take: What would AGI do to the economy and financial industry?
Fintech: Private investment fintech Arch raises $20MM from capital markets insiders
DeFi: Goldman & BNP Paribas invest $95MM in Fnality, blockchain-based wholesale payments
Fintech: Black Ore, an AI automating tax prep, gets $60MM from a16z & Oak HC/FT
Podcast: Engineering the Dollar from ETH and Perpetuals, with Ethena Labs founder Guy Young
DeFi: Yuga Labs and Magic Eden's royalty focussed marketplace
Long Take: An obituary for Mint.com, which inspired a fintech revolution
Fintech: Brazilian embedded finance champion QI Tech raises $200MM in growing market
Podcast: Using AI to digitize financial documents at scale, with Ocrolus CEO Sam Bobley
DeFi: Andreessen bets on transparent and composable EVM computation with smlXL blockchain infra
Long Take: Can we be optimistic about 2Q2023 Equities, Crypto and Venture markets?
Fintech: Removing cross-border FX fees for SMEs gets YouBiz $50MM round
DeFi: Scam detection platform Blockaid raises $33MM; SynFutures DEX raises $22MM
Long Take: Dissecting the 2023 Macroeconomy, from personal savings to global politics
DeFi: Account abstraction wallet UniPass gets $7MM; Liquid staking from Ether.Fi using EigenLayer
Long Take: How Wise disrupted $150T of Cross-Border Payments and earns $1B in revenue
Fintech: $30B in fraud targeting seniors, Carefull raises $16MM to protect elderly
Podcast: Mastering fintech from public to private investments, with Portage CEO Adam Felesky
Long Take: The difference between Generative AI and Machine Learning for Finance
Podcast: Applying artificial intelligence to investing and finance, with Auquan CEO Chandini Jain
DeFi: Cross-chain oracle network Supra raises $24MM; NFT platform IYK raises $16.8MM
Long Take: Is Apple Wallet's Open Banking integration a fintech extinction event?
Fintech: WhatsApp in-chat payments launching in India; $131MM valuation for Wealthtech Farther
Podcast: How to build a $60B volume global payments platform, with Rapyd CEO Arik Shtilman
DeFi: Proof of Play raises $33MM; Ordinal's creator launches Runes
Long Take: How Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) impacts finance and the machine economy
Podcast: MoneyLion's evolution from neobank to finance super app, with CMO Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner
DeFi: NounsDAO fork splits the community; Web3 orchestrator Bastion raises $25MM
Office Hours: Let's Talk About Finding True Innovation with Scott Abrahams
Fintech: Morgan Stanley & OpenAI advisor bot; Neobank Monzo's launches digital investing
Fintech: UK's Zopa raises $93MM; A dive into The Robo Report for 2Q
Podcast: Modernizing the entire banking system, with Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia Bank
DeFi: Coinbase new institutional crypto lending service; MakerDAO Solana fork as appchain
Long Take: Visa, Worldpay, and Nuvei settling transactions using stablecoin USDC on Solana
DeFi: Grayscale's Spot Bitcoin ETF success; Biden administration's new US crypto tax rules
Long Take: Down from $6B to $500MM, better for Better Mortgage to stay private
Fintech: TruStage launches Payment Guard Insurance
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DeFi: friend.tech's revenue is plummeting; Binance.US partner with MoonPay
Long Take: Can Bunq, the $1.9B profitable European neobank, crack US consumer banking?
Fintech: Splitit raising to go private; Securitize acquires Onramp Invest
Podcast: A glimpse into stablecoin Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, with CTO Paolo Ardoino
DeFi: Binance launces L2 opBNB to rival Coinbase's Base; BitGo is a unicorn π¦
Fintech: Wealthtech Endowus' $35MM round; Fasset exchange's 1 million user super app launch
Podcast: From gift cards to a global payments network of digital value, with Runa CEO Aron Alexander
DeFi: Flashbots raises at $1B valuation; Animoca invests $30MM in Web3 neobank hi
Fintech: AngelList expands into private equity with acquisition of fintech startup Nova
Building Company Playbook #7: Planning and executing your exit strategy
Fintech: Who will be disrupted by FedNow?; TP24 gets Β£345MM for SME digital lending
Long Take: Growing financial engagement with messaging in Coinbase Wallet, Venmo, and the super apps
Long Take: Starbucks and Nike NFT strategy, with potential for $1B in additional revenue
Office Hours: Let's talk about how to sell into financial institutions
Fintech: Inflection AI raises $1.3B from Microsoft and Nvidia, while ChatGPT traffic drops 10%
Podcast: Revolutionizing Web3 identity with lessons from IBM and Amazon
Long Take: The Chaos underneath Prime Trust's failure and $3B of TrueUSD
Fintech: Visa's $1B acquisition of Pismo, the LatAm core banking and cards platform
Long Take: What actually matters about the Bitcoin ETF
DeFi: BlackRock files for Bitcoin ETF testing the SEC; Ethereum restaking goes live with EigenLayer
Building Company Playbook #6: Using token design for financial and product success
DeFi: Uniswap V4 and its new Hooks; Machine learning compute protocol Gensyn raises $43MM
Long Take: Strategic analysis of Apple's mixed reality launch and impact on Fintech & Web3
DeFi: SEC charges Binance, founder Changpeng Zhao, and Coinbase for securities violations
Long Take: Surviving the recession and understanding low unemployment, RPA, and AI's rising role
Podcast: The success of crypto payment processing in eCommerce, with Triple-A CEO Eric Barbier
Long Take: Understanding US government debt default impact on Fintech & Web3
Digital Wealth: Retirement platform Smart raises $95MM for payroll-roboadvisor integration
Long Take: Corporate Raiders of DeFi treasuries attack, starting with Aragon & Rook DAO
Web3: Worldcoin's $100MM raise, as it reaches 1.7MM eyeball scans hashed onchain
Podcast: Building an $800MM blockchain infrastructure company with Quicknode COO, Jackie Kennedy
Digital Wealth: Orion, a $3T+ wealthtech platform, integrates ChatGPT for advisors
Long Take: Now is the time to learn Generative AI, not after the knowledge worker layoffs
Podcast: Value of digital identity in fintech and crypto, with Plaid Head of Identity Alain Meier
Digital Wealth: AI wealthtech Range gets $12MM to replace human advisors with neural nets
Long Take: FDIC consent order vs. $3B banking-as-a-service champion Cross River Bank
Special announcement and invite to join Lex and Fintech Nexus
Digital Wealth: $900B AUM DWS and Galaxy Digital to launch crypto ETPs
Long Take: Combining AI agents, like AutoGPT, with Web3 chains will create self-driving money
Digital Wealth: RIA custodian Altruist raises $112MM to battle Schwab and Fidelity
Long Take: Is Apple's Goldman-powered 4.15% yield account the fintech apocalypse?
Podcast: Modern Wealthtech for complex balance sheets, with Masttro CEO Padman Perumal
Building Company Playbook #5: Creating your Fintech financial model and raising venture capital
Blueprint: BloombergGPT; $400MM round for DMI Finance; LayerZero valued at $3B
Digital Wealth: Rathbones acquires Investec UK for Β£840MM, AUM at Β£100B+
Long Take: Consolidation logic for fintechs and SPACs, starting with Acorns and GoHenry
Web3: Crypto & AI intersect in $40MM raise for Fetch.ai; PancakeSwap upgrades its DEX to V3
Your Opinion Matters -- Feedback on Building Company Playbooks
Digital Wealth: BloombergGPT is an Internet scale financial language model
Hype vs. Reality: The impact of Generative AI in financial services on jobs, investing, and services
Web3: Tinder for NFTs; MetaMask institutional staking; DeFi asset management on Cosmos
Digital Wealth: Private equity tokenized by Securitize, accessed via Onramp
Deep Dive: Can Klarna, the BNPL category creator, rise to its market challenge?
Web3: Using Chat-GPT prompts to create Oncyber metaverse worlds connected to crypto assets
Digital Wealth: Masttro gets $43MM for UHNW data from FTV & Citi
Long Take: Learning from SVB, Signature, and Silvergate, and unpredictable complex systems
Blueprint: Silicon Valley Bank deposits including USDC are saved, equity wiped
Podcast: Reinventing the credit card as a Fintech super app
Digital Wealth: How Vise spent $60MM and landed at a "refounding"
Long Take: Why is Silvergate failing in the best time for banks?
Blueprint: Railsbank in a fire sale; Scroll zkEVM live on testnet; Paytech Pagos gets $34MM
Podcast: Modern spend management systems for CFOs and employees, with Payhawk CEO Hristo Borisov
Digital Wealth: Santander using SigFig to launch roboadvisor PathFinder
Building Company Playbook #4: Building Fintech & DeFi software products
Web3: Deep dive on Ordinals, the Bitcoin NFT Wave
Blueprint: Coinbase launching own L2 network; Klarna winning US market; Uniswap NFT aggregation
Digital Wealth: Euronext bids β¬5.5B for B2B Allfunds investment platform
Long Take: What should we do with a psychotic AI in finance?
Web3: Tokenized US treasuries DeFi yield; $450MM Blur token airdrop; Polygon mainnet zkEVM launch
Digital Wealth: Canoe Intelligence gets $25MM for AI approach to Alternatives data
Long Take: Why is FIS spinning out Worldpay after 4 years and a $17B writedown?
Podcast: Creating a B2C fintech marketing strategy
Digital Wealth: Conquest, an AI financial planner, raises $24MM
Building Company Playbook #3: Creating a B2B fintech go-to-market strategy
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Digital Wealth: BlackRock partners with neobroker Bux for European ETF growth
Web3: Solana phone dApp Store; Rollup wars wars on Twitter; Magic Eden taking on OpenSea on Polygon
Podcast: Powering the AI revolution from DeepDream to Dall-E, with Lambda Labs CEO Stephen Balaban
Podcast: Powering the AI revolution from DeepDream to Dall-E, with Lambda Labs CEO Stephen Balaban
Digital Wealth: $1.5T FNZ gets into fixed income fintech by buying YieldX
Long Take: What do Jamie Dimon and Yifan He (Red Date Tech) accuse of being a Ponzi, and Why?
A new Blueprint for digital art, technology, and artificial intelligence
Digital Wealth: $130B Alts manager Blue Owl selling through iCapital and Allfunds
Long Take: JPM's frank $175MM M&A mistake and the dangers of synthetic humans
Podcast: The $100B fintech custodian powering digital investing, with CEO of Apex Bill Capuzzi
Digital Wealth: Impact of Betterment's new $48/year minimum fee
Building Company Playbook #2: Creating a B2C fintech marketing strategy
Podcast: The Fintech Blueprint guide to designing your 2023 business model
Building Company Playbook #1: How to design your Fintech business model
Blueprint: $200MM for Asian Fintech Akulaku; Chinaβs digital asset marketplace; Lido leads in TVL