The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | March 21st

By Gaia Lamperti

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Crypto news

Stripe has launched its stall for crypto companies updating its existing products to suit digital assets and FTX and Blockchain.com are its firstly announced customers. Now, with Stripe Wallets, NFT projects and Exchanges can accept Fiat payments, make payouts, manage KYC and fraud. Another company venturing in the Web3 era.

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street heavyweight, completed an over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency-related trade with New York-based digital-asset financial company Galaxy Digital, in a transaction that the firms are announcing as the first of its kind. In a statement, the transaction was described as a bitcoin non-deliverable option, a type of cash-settled cryptocurrency options trade.

Unstoppable BNPL

Zilch, the FCA-approved BNPL, says it has topped the 2 million customer mark in just over three and a half years. In December 2021 only, more than 425,000 new customers joined, helping the firm to reach the benchmark. The UK fintech says it hit the number just six months after reaching the 1 million customer mark and claims to have doubled it faster than Revolut and N26.

UAE-based Buy Now, Pay Later startup tabby has successfully raised $54 million in an extension round to its initial $50 million Series B closed in August of last year. The round was led by Sequoia Capital India and STV, with additional participation from existing investors Arbor Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, and Global Founders Capital (GFC).  Along with $150 million in debt and equity financing secured in 2021, this round brings tabby’s total fundraising to date over $180 million.

Where is the buzz

In a letter to Barclays and Lloyds, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has written about a series of failures to make accurate and comprehensive data on its products and services available through open APIs. “Failure to make continuously available accurate, comprehensive and up to date information on products and services can mean that consumers take wrong decisions and they may therefore choose financial products or services which are not best suited to their needs,” the letter read.