Latest news with #FintechMeetup
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Small Startups Are Fueling Stablecoin's Engine
Kura CEO Stephanie Joseph and COO Clifford Nau The vibrant, booming stablecoin sector comprises of visionary Small and medium-sized enterprises that are tackling significant challenges within the current payments infrastructure. Yet, they are to a large extent eclipsed by a handful of large players, such as Circle and Tether, which are center stage in the current Washington legislative debate. The bills advancing in both chambers of Congress focus on standards for issuance, liabilities, disclosures, guardrails. Specifically licensing requirements, guidelines for guaranteeing reserves, consumer rights, and others related matters. Innovation is already fostering growth. The benefits towards a U.S. digital dollar were deliberated over the last five years and policymakers are finally on the cusp of implementing rules pertaining to federal, state, and foreign-issued coins used by Americans. Ben Milne, CEO, Brale Stablecoins, decentralized tokens pegged to an asset like the U.S. dollar, already make up a robust global market, valued at over $220 billion according to Forbes. And the industry is being fueled by small builders all over the world, including in America. Some startups facilitate creation, others power the system. 'Fintechs and financial institutions worldwide are waking up to the idea of introducing protocols and stablecoins into their tech stacks to increase efficiency and revenue,' Brale Founder Ben Milne recently shared during Fintech Meetup in March. His state-regulated firm helps entities create and integrate stablecoins into their business. Milne, who serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Technology Advisory Committee, boasts about the ease of anyone being able to design a stablecoin in just five steps using his company. There is broad optimism about the ways that stablecoins are bridging the gap between decentralized and centralized finance. 'Kura is using USDC to make immense progress toward driving down the cost of remittances, while increasing utility by enabling beneficiaries to spend these digital dollars in the real economy. Their cross-border payment solution enables instant settlement for merchants, instant spending for beneficiaries and transparency on all transactions through point-of-sale data,' Circle, the largest stablecoin issuer in the United States, cited in a recent report. A woman walks past signs advertising cryptocurrency banking at Union Station in Washington, DC, on ... More March 16, 2023. (Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) Kura was a finalist in Circle's Unlocking Impact pitch competition in Washington, DC last year. Founded by Harvard and MIT scholars Stephanie Joseph and Clifford Nau, the US-based startup provides an alternative method for merchants in the Caribbean and Central America to capture cross-border payments. 'Traditional payment and banking rails no longer suit our digitally-connected world. We leverage blockchain technology to execute near-instant transfers of value across borders while mitigating fraud for merchants at the points of sale. Leveraging stablecoins as a payment utility for cross-border transactions offers the advantage of enabling secure, transparent, and near-instantaneous transactions, reducing costs associated with currency conversions and settlement times,' Joseph and Nau told me in a statement. Other stablecoin founders like Seree CEO Lance Davis are monitoring Washington's progress towards getting a bill across the finish line. The Senate is expected to schedule a vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act shortly after Congress is back in session next week. New capital investments are flowing into the exploding marketplace, and micro enterprises and large companies alike are getting ready for the next stage of growth once a reconciled bill is signed into law later this year.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fintechs egg on ‘willingness to challenge norms,' Bolt president says
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Digital checkout company Bolt, like other fintechs, is riding a wave of economic and regulatory change roiling the industry, thanks partly to the ascent of the Trump administration and the changes unfolding in Washington. Bolt President Justin Grooms attended the industry Fintech Meetup conference in Las Vegas earlier this month and heard a lot of talk about how those changes may affect the industry. In an interview with Payments Dive shortly after the event on March 18, he touched on the impact of leadership changes happening in Washington, including at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Reserve, and how they will dovetail with industry changes already underway. For one thing, the Trump-propelled shift toward digital assets will have an impact on fintechs like his. Grooms also noted how U.S. payments evolution has been driven by fintechs, such as buy now, pay later firms, as well as novel ideas, like the emergence of stablecoins, all of which are causing upheaval and competition for legacy payments players, including banks. Editor's note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. JUSTIN GROOMS: I didn't hear a broad discussion around that, but what I did hear some discussion about that was interesting is a pick-up in applications for money transfer licenses more broadly. We think about these walls kind of falling down around banking, or at least being challenged…even very powerful fintechs that have a lot of cash don't generally sit on ten billion (dollars) of assets under management, so they don't always hit that classical Fed threshold of what it takes to be a bank type financial institution… So, with Michelle Bowman's nomination to be the vice chair of the Fed, she's historically said, 'Hey, that number might be too high,' which all of a sudden makes banking more manageable for fintechs to look at. And the second thing is that some people that we spoke to that are in the business of helping companies get and manage (money transmitter licenses) were saying business has picked up a lot for us recently, which is interesting to me, because I don't think the biggest fintechs are out there looking to spool up MTLs. This means to me, there might be a lot of innovation happening in the smaller fintechs. I think the biggest thing is just this concept around banks trying to get more creative in how they market their existing products. So, regarding buy now, pay later, there is this amazing situation where these banks offer built-in BNPL capabilities themselves as part of their financial banking products, but consumers are still adopting the branded BNPLs, like the Klarnas and Afterpays and such, at much higher rates than what the banks can get folks to use on their existing cards. There was a lot of discussion that was interesting to me about the need for the banks to partner with companies like Klarna to access that visibility. There was some discussion that was very self-aware coming out of the banks like we need to find better ways to to market our products in a language that speaks to consumers. My knee-jerk reaction would be that Klarna did give them a better deal. I think that Klarna seems to be clearly driving their business towards growth, as opposed to building profits at this time. I take them at their word when they say that they want to be everywhere. The vibe that seems to be emerging right now is the willingness to challenge norms and status quo in how people access finance, financial tools in their life. What's exciting to me is that some of these concepts that are going to shake up the industry, from a deregulation perspective, and challenging, essentially is that we're going to see, from my perspective, more of these niche products emerge, different ways of paying. Stablecoin is starting to get some real traction – this concept of being able to work with different types of digital currencies. I think pay-by-bank payments are slowly getting more and more accepted, especially for people that want to move money quickly. What's exciting to us is that this really puts in a strong need for an identity layer to give consumers agency over all of this. Sign in to access your portfolio
Axios
12-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Bolt did not complete controversial $14b fundraise from last year
Bolt confirmed today that it had cleared up the bevy of legal cases against the company, but it didn't say whether it had completed its controversial 2024 fundraising attempt. Why it matters: That deal, which carried a $14 billion valuation and would have crammed down existing shareholders, was never completed, four sources familiar with the situation say. When the attempted deal first came to light, existing investors balked, with BlackRock and Hedosophia suing to block it last year. Investors that have remained with the business include Invus and Streamlined Ventures. The deal also called for Ryan Breslow to return as CEO. Even without the deal's consummation, Breslow was reinstated this month. Since his return, Breslow has had discussions to raise new capital, but he's also said the company has two to three years of runway. Zoom in: This all comes as Breslow seeks to reinvigorate his super-app ambitions, something that could be costly and which had previously been pared back by his 2022 CEO successor, Maju Kuruvilla. During the Fintech Meetup conference, Breslow compared his plans to those of fintech giant Revolut, and he spoke of launching peer-to-peer payments, crypto, cards and other financial products all in one app. The intrigue: Why would investors stay in? Newcomer previously reported that Bolt's annualized run rate was at $28 million in revenue at the end of March 2024. Bolt also bought back shares from several investors last year (including Tribe Capital). When asked about why they still believed in the business, one investor described the industry as lumpy. Yes, revenue looked bleak. But all it takes for such a payments business to rise is a successful partnership with the right commerce giant — and Bolt has been stellar at inking high-profile partnerships, just less so at maintaining them. On the flipside, governance remains a concern to investors, with the recent attempted cramdown cited. This was a major argument in Activant's lawsuit, which alleged that Bolt had replaced board members repeatedly (five in nine months) and ended up with yes-men. BlackRock, Hedosophia, Streamlined and Invus did not respond to requests for comment.
Associated Press
05-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Crypto Industry Insiders Partner With Founders of Money20/20, Future Proof, Fintech Meetup & Shoptalk to Launch Mint, a Groundbreaking New Crypto Event Where Real Business Gets Done
Events industry disruptors Anil D. Aggarwal, founder and former CEO of Money20/20, Fintech Meetup, Shoptalk and Groceryshop, and Matt Middleton, founder and CEO of Future Proof, have partnered with crypto industry insiders Mitul Parmar and Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan to launch Mint, a groundbreaking new U.S. crypto event where real business gets done. Mint will be held on September 14-17, 2025 on Huntington Beach, CA with 2,500+ leaders from the crypto community and a growing number of open-minded changemakers from traditional industries, including 175+ incredible speakers across 80+ insightful sessions. Mint sets a new standard for U.S. crypto events because: Mint is where real business gets done with a unique focus on real use cases, users, and revenue Mint features crypto's biggest ever meetings program with 25,000+ prescheduled 1:1 15-minute meetings, making it easy to meet new people, discover new companies, and capture incredible opportunities that deliver real results Mint includes crypto's largest ever peer collaboration program with 250+ curated and valuable intimate group discussions to discuss challenges, brainstorm opportunities, and share learnings Mint is the only entirely outdoor crypto event, and will be held on Huntington Beach in Southern California, making for a fun, first-class experience that combines incredible learning, efficient networking, and memorable social activities Mint is created by founders with a 15-year track record of disrupting incumbents and creating industry-leading events across multiple categories, including financial services and commerce, that deliver outsized results for everyone Mint has gained significant early, pre-launch traction with 70+ leading companies from crypto as well as traditional industries joining as Launch Partners and/or speakers, including: Alchemy Google Story Aptos J.P. Morgan Solana Foundation Ava Labs Kraken Sui Foundation Berachain Lightspark T-Mobile BinanceUS Monad Foundation Trust Wallet Coinbase Plaid Walmart FIS Polygon Worldpay Galaxy Republic Zero Hash Agora Kiln Reown Bitwise MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab Serotonin Blockdaemon Mesh Silicon Valley Bank CoinFund OrangeDAO Skybridge Capital DAWN Pantera Capital Socure DIMO PayPal Ventures Sol Strategies Dragonfly Capital Portal Sphere Electric Capital Proof of Coverage Stanford Blockchain Accelerator Figure Markets Privy Stellar Framework Ventures Prove Superstate GeoComply Public Syndicate Helium Mobile Quantstamp The Venture Dept. Hivemapper QuickNode Trust Machines Incode Render World Foundation Mint will feature the most popular crypto podcasts live onsite, including Bankless, Bits + Bips, Crypto Prime, Empire, Talking Bitcoin, and Unchained. Mint's 50+ early confirmed speakers include: Abe McCallum Bam Azizi Himal Makwana Head of Consumer Fintech Co-Founder & CEO Global Head of Corporate Strategy Walmart Mesh FIS Alex Kruger Christian Catalini Ian Lee Co-Host Founder Co-Founder Bits + Bips MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab Syndicate Amanda Cassatt Connor Lovely James Seyffart CEO & Founder Founder & CEO Co-Host Serotonin Proof of Coverage Bits + Bips Amir Haleem David Hoffman Jason Pate Founder & CEO Co-Founder Chief Strategy Officer Helium Mobile Bankless Plaid Andrew Durgee Dan Thygesen Jason Yanowitz President SVP, Product Partnerships & Growth Co-Host; Co-Founder of Blockworks Republic T-Mobile Empire Anthony Scaramucci Edward Woodford Jason Zhao Founder & Managing Partner CEO & Co-Founder Co-Founder Skybridge Capital Zero Hash Story Ariel Seidman Eowyn Chen Jess Houlgrave CEO & Co-Founder CEO CEO Hivemapper Trust Wallet Reown (fka WalletConnect) Arjun Sethi Eunice Giarta Jim Hiltner Co-CEO Co-Founder & GM Co-Founder, Head of Business Development Kraken Monad Foundation Superstate Avichal Garg Henri Stern Joe McCann Managing Partner Co-Founder & CEO Co-Host Electric Capital Privy Bits + Bips John Nahas Leif Abraham Nate Geraci Chief Business Officer Co-Founder & Co-CEO Host Ava Labs Public Crypto Prime Jules Urbach Lesley O'Neill Neil Chatterjee Founder Chief Compliance Officer CEO & Co-Founder Render BinanceUS DAWN Keerthi Moudgal Matt Hougan Nikil Viswanathan Executive Director, Head of Product - Kinexys Digital Assets Chief Investment Officer Co-Founder & CEO J.P. Morgan Bitwise Alchemy Keone Hon Matthew Homer Paul Veradittakit Co-Founder & GM General Partner Managing Partner Monad Foundation The Venture Dept. Pantera Capital Konstantin Richter Michael Anderson Rich Widmann Founder & CEO Co-Founder Head of Strategy, Web3 Blockdaemon Framework Ventures Google Laszlo Szabo Mike Cagney Rob Hadick Co-Founder & CEO Co-Founder and CEO General Partner Kiln Figure Markets Dragonfly Capital Laura Shin Nabil Manji Rob Solomon CEO & Journalist SVP, Head of Fintech Growth & Financial Partnerships Co-Founder Unchained WorldPay DIMO Leah Wald Natalie Brunell Shan Aggarwal President & CEO Host VP, Corporate & Business Development + Coinbase Ventures Sol Strategies Talking Bitcoin Coinbase Coinbase 'We believe crypto and blockchain are at the tipping point, ready to transform a wide range of industries over the coming years,' said Mitul Parmar, Co-Founder and CEO of Mint. 'Mint was created to catalyze that transformation and take crypto from awareness to mass adoption by accelerating crypto's pursuit of real users, revenue, and use cases.' 'For more than a dozen years, Matt Middleton and I have had outsized success in launching and leading disruptive new events, each of which have set completely new standards in their respective sectors with cutting-edge experiences, programs, and formats that we've pioneered,' said Anil Aggarwal, Co-Founder of Mint. 'We're looking forward to doing it again, this time by bringing together the already tight-knit crypto community, and helping bridge it to the most open-minded changemakers at the frontier of traditional industries.' For more information about Mint, visit follow us on X, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and join our Telegram group. About Mint From the founders of Money20/20, Future Proof, Fintech Meetup and Shoptalk, Mint is a groundbreaking new U.S. crypto event featuring unprecedented formats, including the biggest and most productive 1:1 meetings program in the history of crypto. Crypto and blockchain are at a tipping point, ready to transform a wide range of industries over the coming years. Mint catalyzes that transformation and takes crypto from awareness to mass adoption by focusing on real users and use cases. Join more than 2,500 leaders from the crypto community and a growing number of open-minded changemakers from traditional industries in a fun, friendly, and unforgettable outdoor beachside environment to connect, collaborate, and get real business done. Mint will be held on September 14-17, 2025, in an entirely outdoor venue on Huntington Beach, California. Mint [email protected] X: @mitulparmar_ SOURCE: Future Proof Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 03/05/2025 08:57 AM/DISC: 03/05/2025 08:57 AM
