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我是 Jonathan，在美國 University of Rochester 取得光學工程與金融經濟雙學位後，就職於日本三大投資銀行之一的 SMBC Nikko。之後在創投 SBI 負責海外投資，主要專注於區塊鏈，金融科技，人工智能等領域的成長期新創。2020 年加入基石創投。
- TOP NEWS
- KuCoin is hacked. Over $150M was drained.
- Leaked FINCEN files show HSBC transferred Ponzi scheme dollars despite warning, BNY Mellon processed $4B linked to Ponzi scheme OneCoin, and JPMorgan Chase, Standard Chartered, Deutsche Bank also involved in money laundry.
- Kraken becomes the first crypto company to turn into a regulated chartered bank. It will also be the first newly chartered bank in US since 2006!
- VC funding is being poured into later stage Blockchain and Fintech startups, as below.
- EARLY STAGE FUNDING
- Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures is on a roll, led $18.6M Series A of a Singapore-based Robinhood-like investment app Syfe (Detail), led $52M Series A of European crypto brokerage startup Bitpanda (Detail), and tripled down on New York based Petal, which disrupts credit card industry but looking at the cash flow, instead of the credit scores, of borrowers. Valar has led the $13M Series A, $30M Series B, and now $55M Series C of Petal. (Detail)
- Ideal, founded in 2019 and now the 3rd largest broker-dealer in Brazil, raises the highest ever funding round by a LATAM Fintech startup, with a $18M Series A. (Detail)
- Backed by Sequoia, BEENEXT, and Blume Ventures, the Indian fintech startup Smallcase, which allows users to invest in portfolio of stocks and ETFs, has raised its $14M Series B. (Detail)
- Philippine based online payment API startup PayMongo, the first Filipino-owned Fintech startup to graduate from Y Combinator, raises $12M Series A led by Stripe. (Detail)
- Indonesian SME-targeted accounting app BukuWarung graduates from Y Combinator and raises an undisclosed amount of funding from DST Global, GMO Ventures, and angel investors such as founders of Tinder and Plaid. (Detail)
- LATE STAGE FUNDING / IPO
- Known of the leading player in “buy-now pay-later”, Swedish unicorn Klarna raises $650M at post valuation of $10.65B to continue expanding in US market. (Detail)
- API enabled cross-border collections and payments unicorn Airwallex raised additional $40M, following $160M raised in April, for it Series D. (Detail)
- US digital bank Chime adds $475M at a $14.5B valuation, whose valuation was set at $5.8B in Dec 2019, and $1.5B in early 2019. (Detail)
- Investment app Robinhood has raised $460M in addition to the $200M Series G announced in last month, at valuation of $11.7B. (Detail) Don’t forget it just raised $320M Series F at valuation of $8.6B in July 2020. (Detail)
- Kakao Pay set to be Korea’s first mobile payment fintech to go public, with an expected market cap of $8.5B. Largest shareholders are Kakao and Ant Financial. (Detail)
- GreenLight Financial, the fintech US company that supports parents with kid-friendly bank accounts, raised $215M at valuation of $1.2B, competing with Kard, Step, Current, and Mozper. (Detail)
- REGULATION / Compliance / FRAUD
- A new bill proposes to put US crypto exchanges under a national framework, allowing them to operate in the entire U.S. rather than applying for 49 different state licenses. (Detail)
- SEC and OCC has issued first regulatory clarifications for Stablecoins, saying national banks can provide services to stablecoin issuers in US. (Detail)
- SBI backed crypto wallet BRD partners with Chainalysis, Elliptic, CipherTrace, and Unblound Tech to launch Blockset, an initiative to bring compliance into crypto. (Detail)
- CBDC / STABLECOINS
- Total value of Stablecoins, which are heavily used by DeFi users to received yields, hit $20B milestone, a nearly 300% Year-to-Date surge.
- Ethereum-focused solution provider ConsenSys is chosen by Hong Kong and Thailand to work on the cross-border CBDC pilot. (Detail)
- JD.com, to compete with AliPay and Wechat Pay, establishes strategic agreement with People’s Bank of China to co-develop CBDC projects. (Detail)
- The Bahamas confirms it will release the world’s first retail CBDC, in October this year. (Detail)
- Taiwan’s central bank has completed the first technical phase of developing wholesale CBDC, and will roll out public CBDC in 2 years. (Detail)
- OTHERS
- EY releases enterprise procurement solution that utilizes Microsoft-backed Baseline Protocol and Ethereum blockchain, which can integrate with companies’ ERP systems. (Detail)
- The first ETF to broadly track the crypto market has been accepted to list on Bermuda Stock Exchange. (Detail)
- Ant Financial launches Trusple, a cross-border business trading blockchain platform built on AntChain which can automate payment process, order placement and tax paying. (Detail)
The Future Is Unwritten.
