Latest news with #SmartPay
Arabian Post
13-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
Robinhood Seizes Canadian Crypto Market with WonderFi Acquisition
Robinhood has announced a definitive agreement to acquire WonderFi Technologies Inc. for C$250 million in cash, marking a significant expansion into Canada's regulated cryptocurrency sector. The deal, anticipated to close in the second half of 2025, offers a 41% premium to WonderFi's shareholders and will integrate WonderFi's entire team into Robinhood Crypto's Canadian operations. This acquisition grants Robinhood access to WonderFi's regulated crypto trading platforms, Bitbuy and Coinsquare, which collectively manage over C$2.1 billion in client assets. These platforms have experienced substantial growth, with a 110% increase in assets under custody since the end of 2023. WonderFi's consolidation of Bitbuy and Coinsquare under a single regulated investment dealer has positioned it as a dominant player in Canada's crypto market. The company now serves over 1.7 million registered users, offering services that include crypto trading, staking, and payment processing through its SmartPay platform. The acquisition aligns with Robinhood's strategy to diversify its offerings beyond traditional stock trading. By integrating WonderFi's platforms, Robinhood aims to provide Canadian users with a comprehensive suite of financial services, including crypto trading, staking, and payments. This move also reflects a broader trend of consolidation in the crypto industry, as companies seek to expand their global footprint and comply with evolving regulatory standards. The Canadian crypto market has become increasingly attractive to international firms, partly due to its stringent regulatory environment. WonderFi's adherence to Canadian regulations and its status as a fully regulated investment dealer make it a valuable asset for Robinhood's international expansion. The acquisition is expected to enhance Robinhood's competitiveness in the global crypto market, providing a robust platform for growth in Canada and potentially beyond. This transaction is part of a series of strategic moves by Robinhood to deepen its involvement in the cryptocurrency space. The company previously acquired crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, signaling its commitment to expanding its crypto offerings. Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Congressman is investigating fintech Ramp's attempt to win $25M federal contract
Rep. Gerald Connolly, ranking member of the U.S. House Oversight Committee, has initiated an investigation into whether expense management startup Ramp is receiving preferential treatment in its bid for a $25 million government contract. Connolly sent a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) Acting Administrator, Stephen Ehikian, demanding information and documents related to the GSA's reported plans to award a contract for a pilot program to Ramp. News of the probe was first reported by ProPublica. Among Connolly's biggest concerns are that Ramp allegedly has 'zero federal contracting experience' and its investors include a number of Trump allies and supporters. Those investors include Peter Thiel's Founders Fund; Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures; Thrive Capital, which was founded by Josh Kushner, brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared; vocal Trump supporter 8VC's Joe Lonsdale and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and brother of former Republican President George W. Bush. Rabois, according to Connolly's letter, raised more than $1 million for Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. Connolly is requesting several things from the GSA, including a detailed list of all meetings between any GSA official and any Ramp representative and all communications between any GSA official, contractor, or subcontractor and any Ramp representative. The government's internal expense card program, dubbed SmartPay, is a $700 billion program. Currently, Citibank and US Bank, two of the nation's largest suppliers of credit cards, are the official banks of the current SmartPay contract. In April, Ramp's head of communications, Lindsay McKinley, confirmed to TechCrunch that the startup was 'competing in a standard procurement process for a SmartPay pilot program based on the strength of our solution.' She claimed that the startup Ramp saw a public post on X shared by the Department of Government Efficiency, better known as DOGE, on February 18 that said 'the US government currently has ~4.6M active credit cards/accounts, which processed ~90M unique transactions for ~$40B of spend in FY24.' A former customer, Ramp claims, introduced Ramp to GSA a few days later. However, Connolly alleges that Ramp reportedly began contacting entities in the payment industry about special bank identification numbers required to process government payments before a request for information (RFI) related to the contract was publicly announced. He also claimed that a GSA employee recently stated that Ramp was the 'favorite' to win this business. Ramp did not have any comment on Connolly's investigation. In March, Ramp doubled its valuation to $13 billion after a $150 million secondary share sale. Since its inception in 2019, the startup has raised over $1 billion in equity financing and $700 million in committed debt funding.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ramp reportedly angles for part of $700B US credit card program
This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Financial technology startup Ramp has leveraged its political connections for at least four meetings with Trump administration appointees at the General Services Administration in seeking a contract for a project to revamp a $700-billion charge card federal employees use, according to a ProPublica report. The GSA did not respond Friday to a message from Payments Dive seeking comment. The agency told ProPublica it 'refutes any suggestion of unfair or preferential contracting practices,' with a spokesperson adding that the 'credit card reform initiative has been well known to the public in an effort to address waste, fraud, and abuse.' Created in 1998, SmartPay is the government's charge card program for federal employees at about 550 agencies, allowing them to purchase travel, office supplies, gasoline and other work-related expenses on the Visa and Mastercard branded cards. The program has generated hundreds of millions in fees for the banks that operate it currently, U.S. Bank and Citibank, ProPublica reported. The pilot project would be worth as much as $25 million for Ramp, ProPublica reported Thursday citing unnamed sources familiar with the effort. The top U.S. procurement officer, Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, organized some of the meetings, ProPublica reported. Gruenbaum was appointed to the role in January, according to a GSA press release. The GSA will decide by year end whether to extend the SmartPay contract, and is planning for the program's next generation, according to the news report. SmartPay handled $39.7 billion in government spending and 90 million transactions in the 2024 fiscal year, with an average $441 per transaction, according to the GSA. New York-based Ramp Business, founded in 2019, sells a financial operations platform to handle various tasks such as expense management, accounting, travel and procurement along with software tools to analyze and optimize corporate spending. Ramp is competing 'in a standard procurement process' for the pilot program, company spokesperson Lindsay McKinley wrote Friday in an email. 'Ramp's technology has prevented billions of dollars in wasted spend across the economy, and if chosen, we'll bring those same results to the American taxpayer.' The GSA's SmartPay request for information proposals process is still in progress, she said. The 'high-level attention that Ramp received was unusual, especially before a bid had been made public,' ProPublica reported, citing a senior GSA official who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. Ramp's investors include billionaire Peter Thiel, a Trump supporter whose Founders Fund has invested in seven rounds of funding for the startup, Pro Publica reported, citing PitchBook investment data. Ramp has raised about $2 billion in venture funding, much of it from firms tied to President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the publication reported, citing startup research site Crunchbase. Ramp investors include Keith Rabois of Khosla Ventures; Thrive Capital, the firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner; and 8VC, an Austin, Texas-based venture capital firm co-founded by Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir Technologies, with Thiel, and a major financial supporter of Trump. Recommended Reading Alivia Analytics scans for healthcare payments fraud
WIRED
20-02-2025
- Business
- WIRED
DOGE Puts $1 Spending Limit on Government Employee Credit Cards
Feb 20, 2025 11:57 AM The restrictions are already in place at the General Services Administration along with several other agencies. Soon they'll roll out to most of the federal government, sources say. Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency put a $1 spending limit on most credit cards belonging to employees and contractors of the General Services Administration—a critical agency that manages IT and office buildings for the US government—along with at least three other federal agencies. Similar restrictions are expected to roll out to the entire government workforce soon, according to several sources familiar with the matter. 'Effective immediately, all GSA SmartPay Travel and Purchase Cards issued to GSA employees and contractors are being paused and will not be available for use except in very limited circumstances,' GSA wrote in a memo to staff Thursday morning viewed by WIRED. The memo later stated that for 'up to 0.1% of the GSA workforce, requests may be made for certain individual purchase charge card spend thresholds be set above $1. Please provide the rationale for all such deviations on an employee-by-employee basis along with the proposed increased threshold.' The GSA, one of the first agencies that Musk allies infiltrated after DOGE was established, manages the SmartPay program for more than 250 federal agencies and organizations. The SmartPay website claims it is 'the world's largest government charge card and commercial payment solutions program.' The spending freeze comes after DOGE posted on X earlier this week that it was working to 'simplify' the government credit card program and 'reduce costs.' The restrictions immediately apply to GSA, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and the United States Agency for International Development, according to a source with direct knowledge of the project. All four of the agencies have been prominent targets of DOGE in recent weeks. Employees who spoke with WIRED say the changes will result in enormous complications to their existing workflows and that excessive or fraudulent spending is rare. Those who've already received approval for travel expenses (and may currently be traveling) have to request a temporary spending limit increase, the sources say. One important reason that federal employees typically put expenses on special government-issued credit cards is to ensure they avoid paying state sales tax on things like hotels and rental cars, which federal agencies are supposed to be exempt from. The GSA's website states that the state sales tax exemption is 'determined by method of payment,' not by the employee's ability to prove they work for the federal government. As DOGE attempts to cut billions of dollars from the federal budget, Elon Musk has been posting examples of alleged 'fraud' his team has uncovered to his over 218 million followers on X. In some cases, reporting from WIRED and other outlets suggests DOGE may be misinterpreting or misrepresenting what they've found. For example, Musk has falsely claimed that 150-year-olds were receiving Social Security benefits. Experts told WIRED that DOGE likely overlooked a quirk in the payments system that doles out these benefits, which automatically sets a person's birthday to May 20, 1875 if the real date is unknown, making these individuals appear to be 150 in the system. The new spending restrictions apply to both SmartPay travel and purchase cards. Travel cards are widely used across the government (for example, most army reservists have these cards). The government tracks travel expenses, like hotel and airline fees, through software tools like Concur. The GSA already requires receipts for any purchase that its employees make over $75. 'The system is a pain in the ass and requires authorization from a supervisor before any money can be spent,' says a current GSA employee. Once a trip is done, employees have to submit a voucher that matches the approved expenses. Expenses are scrupulously tracked—employees are told to minimize ATM withdrawals to avoid unnecessary fees, according to a current GSA employee, who like the others in this story, spoke to WIRED on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They say misusing a card is already grounds for disciplinary action, including termination. Purchase cards are more rare and are used for work expenses under $10,000; anything above this amount requires a formal government contract. They're used for office supplies, IT equipment, and trainings, among other things. If employees want to spend money on a purchase card, they have to submit a form called SF182. This form then needs to be approved and signed by a supervisor. When that's done, the form is submitted for approval to the approving office, with the name of the person who wants to make the purchase, a description of the item, the estimated price, an accounting code, and the date when the goods or services are needed. Once the payment is approved, it's assigned a purchase request number. Only then can the employee actually spend money. If they spend 10 percent more than the approved amount, they need written approval again. At the GSA, each purchase is tracked through a program called Pegasys, which requires a separate form to access. Pegasys has two sides: The purchase side, which shows the money that was spent, and the reconciliation side. The card holder has to match these two sides, cent for cent, using the request number. 'To commit fraud, you'd have to have the employee, supervisor, and likely someone in finance in on it,' says another current GSA employee. 'It's not as easy as [DOGE is] claiming.'
