Fiserv shares rise on stablecoin launch plans
June 23 (Reuters) - Fiserv (FI.N), opens new tab shares rose 6% in premarket trading on Monday after it unveiled plans to launch a stablecoin, joining a growing number of U.S. companies exploring the technology as the crypto asset moves into the mainstream.
The announcement comes after the U.S. Senate passed a landmark stablecoin bill last week, which analysts said could mark a turning point in the crypto oversight debate and a breakthrough for a sector long mired in regulatory uncertainty.
The financial technology firm said its stablecoin, FIUSD, will be integrated into its existing banking and payments infrastructure by year-end. The company added that FIUSD will rely on stablecoin infrastructure provided by Paxos and Circle Internet (CRCL.N), opens new tab.
Shares of Circle, which issues the second-largest stablecoin by market value, rose nearly 4% before the bell.
Stablecoins are pegged to currencies like the U.S. dollar, and are meant to hold a steady value backed by reserves. Once a niche part of the crypto market, these crypto assets have grown in popularity as they offer protection from price swings.
Fiserv also said it has partnered with PayPal (PYPL.O), opens new tab to build future interoperability between FIUSD and PayPal USD (PYUSD), to allow consumers and businesses to move funds domestically and internationally.
Interoperability typically allows different stablecoins to function across platforms, enabling users to send, receive or convert between tokens without disruption.
From fintechs to legacy financial institutions, firms are increasingly exploring stablecoins to streamline cross-border payments, reduce settlement times, and expand access to digital finance.
Analysts expect the stablecoin bill's passage could bring greater legitimacy to the sector.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives must pass its version of the bill, known as the GENIUS Act, before it heads to President Donald Trump for approval.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
36 minutes ago
- The Independent
Florida condo owners will get financial relief under a new law
Florida condominium residents grappling with the steep cost of building improvements will get some financial relief under a new bill signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday. The new measure gives condo homeowner associations more flexibility in how to build up their reserve funds and eases some requirements for safety assessments. Approval came the day before the fourth anniversary of the partial collapse of Champlain Towers South, which killed 98 people in Surfside in 2021. The new law goes into effect July 1 and is aimed at reforming a condo safety law passed in 2022 in the wake of that disaster. Speaking at Monday's bill signing in Clearwater, Republican state Sen. Ed Hooper said the 2022 law was meant to ensure there was never another collapse like Surfside. In retrospect, he said some of the requirements enacted were probably an overreaction, which lawmakers are now hoping to correct. 'Now it's time to make the change,' Hooper said. 'Elderly people are losing their condos because they could not afford to make the increase in their monthly HOA fees. That's just wrong.' Condo owners in Florida faced rising costs under the 2022 law, which requires condo associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs. In the aftermath of the Surfside disaster, some residents were caught off guard by hefty fees levied to cover years of deferred maintenance expenses required to bring their buildings into compliance with the 2022 legislation. The mounting costs to cover renovations and build up reserve funds have strained residents in the condo haven of South Florida, especially retirees and those living on fixed incomes. Condo owners along the state's southwest coast have taken the extra hit of last year's back-to-back hurricanes, which clobbered waterfront communities in the Tampa Bay area and forced additional renovations and repairs. 'It's a full-time job for me keeping track of this,' condo owner Earle Cooper said of the repairs to his building in Belleair. 'Hurricanes just multiply the problems.' The new measure allows certain condo associations to fund their reserves through a loan or line of credit. It also gives residents greater flexibility to pause payments into their reserve funds while they prioritize needed repairs and extends the deadline for associations to complete structural integrity studies. Some smaller buildings will be exempt from having to do those analyses. 'I think that this will provide relief,' DeSantis said. 'But to the extent that there needs to be some cleanup next year when the legislature reconvenes, we got to be willing to do that.' ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Times
38 minutes ago
- Times
Tesla needs robotaxis to be a hit but rivals are picking up fares
'This image might be in textbooks at some point,' wrote a Tesla super-fan beneath a picture of Elon Musk and his team at the carmaker launching robotaxis in Austin, Texas, at the weekend. 'Kinda just the beginning of post-driving civilisation. Second only to space because it basically rewrites daily life on earth, commuting, cities, car ownership, jobs, time, autonomy. The ripple effects are f***ing civilisational,' they gushed. Dan Ives, a tech analyst and Tesla evangelist, was equally breathless, saying: 'We view this autonomous chapter as one of the most important for Musk and Tesla in its history as a company' — one that could add $1 trillion to its valuation. On Monday the share price jumped by 8 per cent as excitement grew at what the launch could mean: Tesla's valuation rests on its potential in robotics and autonomous vehicles rather than the here and now of selling EVs. It has been a bumpy ride. Issues with Tesla's 'full self-driving' software have included phantom braking and breaking traffic rules. This has forced recalls, triggered official investigations and eroded consumer and investor confidence. The competition is stiff and better established. Wayve, a British company, is making strides in autonomous driving technology, while in the US and China, Alphabet's Waymo and Baidu's Apollo Go cabs are already on the road. Waymo launched in San Francisco three years ago and makes 250,000 driverless journeys a week. It has applied for a licence in New York. Life at Tesla has been tough. Musk's failed bromance with President Trump damaged the brand and slowed sales, while safety checks and recalls for models such as the Cybertruck sapped morale. There have also been mass lay-offs as cheaper electric cars make headway. Despite the enthusiasm of believers, the Texas launch was not the big bang Musk hoped for. Only a select few were given invitations to try the fleet of 20 cabs in service, which had safety drivers in the passenger seat, hands on knees, poised to step in if needed. Musk is talking up a rosy future, saying there will be 'hundreds of thousands, if not over a million Teslas doing self-driving in the US' by the end of next year. His argument is that Tesla's advantage lies in its ability to make the cars itself: it has huge production plants, access to real-world driving data and is taking a cheaper camera-only approach rather than using sensors. Tesla spent $10 billion last year on training, data and artificial intelligence computing for driverless cars. Its fleet feeds billions of real-world miles into its Dojo supercomputer daily. Before the start of 2027, the company aims to start production of a two-person Cybercab, without pedals and steering wheel. It will cost less than $30,000. Never short on ambition, Musk has another trick up his sleeve. Tech start-ups love to bill themselves as 'the Uber' or 'the Airbnb' of their sector and Musk dropped both names this weekend when he said Tesla owners will be able to make extra money by adding their vehicles to the company's fleet of robotaxis. Tesla takes a small cut of the fees but they will often be able to earn more than their monthly payment for the car. Tesla will be both the Uber and Airbnb of the autonomous vehicle world. The question is, will all of this help it to overtake its rivals after so long in the slow lane? On a recent speed awareness course (24 in a 20 limit, in case you were wondering), the instructor got us to list the emotions that could affect our driving, such as anger, sadness or anxiety. What is the answer? He wanted to know. 'Driverless cars!' I piped up, to eyerolls from my fellow students. It may be a long way ahead but this is not just about Musk's business. The safety implications of cars driven by emotionless, sober computers are potentially, well, 'civilisational'.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
US court says worker's COVID safety concerns covered by labor law
June 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday agreed with the National Labor Relations Board that a Pennsylvania factory worker's critical comments about the plant remaining open in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were protected by federal labor law. A unanimous three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by Miller Plastic Products that the worker, Ronald Vincer, was not acting for the benefit of other employees when he made the comments at a 2020 meeting. "Vincer's statements and conduct reveal a belief that shutting down the facility, or alternatively implementing more stringent quarantine protocols if it remained open, was necessary to ensure employee safety. Thus, he raised concerns to improve conditions of employment," Circuit Judge Theodore McKee wrote. But the court said the NLRB, which in 2023 used the case to expand the type of worker conduct that it considers concerted activity and thus protected by federal labor law, must reconsider whether Miller fired Vincer about a week after the meeting because of his comments or for other, legitimate reasons. The five-member NLRB already had two vacancies when President Donald Trump took office in January and now lacks a quorum to decide cases after Trump fired Democratic Member Gwynne Wilcox, who is challenging her removal. An NLRB spokesman and lawyers for Miller and Vincer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Miller claimed that Vincer was fired for performance issues and not because of his comments about keeping the plant open. But the company had also argued that Vincer's comments were not protected by the National Labor Relations Act because he was expressing concerns about his personal safety and not advocating on behalf of his coworkers. The board disagreed and also said that the test that a Republican majority had adopted in the 2019 case Alstate Maintenance to determine when conduct is concerted was flawed. That ruling said raising concerns in a group setting is not necessarily protected activity, and required workers to show evidence of prior group discussions on a topic to prove their conduct was protected. The board said that instead, it would consider the "totality of the circumstances" on a case-by-case basis to determine whether a worker had engaged in concerted activity. Miller appealed, arguing that it was unreasonable for the board to overturn the Alstate decision and that under that standard, Vincer's comments were not protected. The 3rd Circuit disagreed on both counts on Monday. McKee, an appointee of Democratic President Bill Clinton, wrote that the standard announced by the board was not entirely new and was instead a refinement of a series of rulings released since the 1980s. But the board did not adequately explain why it concluded that Vincer's termination resulted directly from his comments at the meeting, the panel found. McKee said the board should take another look at that claim while considering the credibility of workers who testified and the fact that three other employees were fired around the same time as Vincer. The panel included Circuit Judges D. Brooks Smith, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, and Luis Restrepo, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama. The case is NLRB v. Miller Plastic Products, 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 23-2689. For Miller: Robert Bracken of Bracken Law Firm For the NLRB: Jared Cantor Read more: NLRB restores broader test for determining when labor law protects workers US judges question NLRB's broad protections for worker conduct US Supreme Court lets Trump keep labor board members sidelined for now
