MoneyNeverSleeps

This week, Pete gives some insight into the new Techstars Web3 accelerator and goes on a quick rant on FTX before he and Eoin riff on Block’s flywheel and their ambitions with Cash App, then they go through a hall-of-fame list of fintech and crypto apps from Rex Salisbury, and finally dive into NFTs and VR through an Apple lens with a dash of Reddit.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

STORIES COVERED

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Twitter Apology (Twitter, 10-Nov-22)

Block Says Goal of Cash App Is To Be Primary Bank (PYMNTS, 4-Nov-22)

Rex Salisbury on Consumer Fintech ARPUs (Twitter, h/t Simon Taylor, 2-Nov-22)

Apple cracks down on NFT functionality, social post boosts with App Store rules (TechCrunch, 25-Oct-22)

Web3 With a16z: Key Insights From Podcast With Chris Dixon, Sonal Chokshi & Punk6529 (Blockster, 9-Nov-22)

How Reddit defied Crypto Winter and created a $10 million market for customizable avatars—just don’t call them NFTs (Fortune, 3-Nov-22)

Decentralized Storage System Arweave's Native Token Surges 60% on Meta Integration (CoinDesk, 2-Nov-22)

LINKS

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Ollie Walsh is the co-founder and CEO of Pipit, who are bringing to market the new Konect network that is powering international cash transactions with DeFi and enabling migrants to support their families back home cheaper, safer, and now faster.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

In this episode, recorded live from Web Summit 2022 in Lisbon, Ollie Walsh riffs with Pete Townsend on a recap on Ollie Walsh’s journey as co-founder and CEO of Pipit, a for-profit social impact platform powering international cash transactions and mobile money payments for unbanked migrants.  Ollie and Pete also dive into Ollie's inspiration to bring the Konect network to market leveraging the Pipit tech stack, but with stablecoin rails and USDC, being the same singular mission of Pipit.  Finally, they explore what makes the Western African market so ripe for what Ollie Walsh and Pipit are working on with the Konect network, and how the incumbents’ fees on the $3bn in remittance that goes into Nigeria alone each year being of the magnitude to do far more impactful things in those economies.

LINKS

Connect with Ollie Walsh on Linkedin and learn more about Konect and Pipit

Follow Konect on Twitter and LinkedIn

Follow Pipit on Twitter and LinkedIn

Episode title inspired by Connected for Life by Mack 10 ft. Ice Cube, WC and Butch Cassidy

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Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and email us at [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter:  MoneyNeverSleeps  |  Eoin Fitzgerald  |  Pete Townsend

Nigel Verdon is the CEO and co-founder of Railsr (formerly Railsbank) and is a 3x fintech founder and ‘Finance 4 Good’ evangelist focused on building great ideas - first with Evolution (exited to BAE Systems), followed by Currency Cloud (exited to Visa), and now with Railsr.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

In this episode, Nigel Verdon riffs with Pete Townsend and Eoin Fitzgerald on the foundational experiences that pushed him towards becoming a fintech founder before the word fintech even existed, the rebranding of Railsbank to Railsr, the impact of Railsr’s $46mn Series C funding round and spending it on the right things, fintechs as public utilities, Nigel’s view on the digital asset market and decentralized finance, and the difference between starting a startup and scaling a startup.

LINKS:

Follow Nigel Verdon on LinkedIn and learn more about Railsr

Follow Railsr on Twitter

Episode title inspired by Forever by Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Eminem

Amazon Bay (referenced by Nigel Verdon) - 2005 short video narrative written by Sean Park predicting the financial services landscape in the year 2015.

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Follow us on Twitter:  MoneyNeverSleeps  |  Pete Townsend |  Eoin Fitzgerald

Alex Amartei is an Irish entrepreneur originally from Shannon and is also an investor, film writer, and producer. He recently won the Hollywood Icon award and the Monaco Streaming Film Festival Award alongside James Cameron and Mark Wahlberg. Alex is the producer of Antara - the first major DeFi Hollywood movie in history financed by NFTs and the power of web3.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

With a strong background in equities, real estate, corporate finance, and an extensive Hollywood network, Alex has built a brand around the democratization and decentralization of the movie business through web3, community, and blockchain.

In addition to launching the Antara Movie NFT, Alex also carried out the NFT campaigns for Arabian Camels, David Bowie, and Queen, and is soon to launch the full physical DC Comic collection onto Blockchain.

Alex has also been a governmental advisor on the future of industry as it convergences with web3, tokenization, DeFi, and blockchain.

LINKS:

Learn more about Antara the Movie and the Antara NFTs on the Arabian Camels website

Follow Arabian Camels on Twitter

Episode title inspired by All Eyez on Me by 2Pac

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Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and get in touch at [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter:  MoneyNeverSleeps  |  Pete Townsend |  Eoin Fitzgerald

This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto exchange FTX’s partnership with Visa enabling users to spend crypto anywhere Visa is accepted, Google Cloud enabling customers to pay in crypto in partnership with Coinbase, the state of ‘community fintech’ through the lens of Chetwood Financial’s deal with Mumsnet and their 8 million-strong community, NovaCredit’s big $10mn investment from HSBC as a rallying cry for public fintech utilities, the latest on Meta’s metaverse world, and how it’s backs-against-the-wall time for Goldman Sachs’ Marcus and Bank North.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

STORIES COVERED

Visa partners with FTX in a bet that shoppers still want to spend cryptocurrencies in a bear market (CNBC, 7-Oct-22)

Google Partners With Coinbase to Accept Crypto Payments for Cloud Services (Coindesk, 11-Oct-22)

Chetwood Financial partners with Mumsnet for family-focused financial service (Finextra, 30-Sep-22)

The Fintech 250: The most promising fintech companies of 2022 (CB Insights, 4-Oct-22)

HSBC Invests $10mn in Nova Credit (AltFi, 20-Sep-22)

Under Pressure, Goldman CEO Ditches Dream of Consumer Domination (Bloomberg, 10-Oct-22)

Meta announces legs (TechCrunch, 11-Oct-22 | Dave Cunningham on Twitter)

LHV UK to buy SME lending business of Bank North

LINKS

Leave a review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify 

Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website and email us at [email protected]

Follow us on Twitter:  MoneyNeverSleeps  |  Eoin Fitzgerald  |  Pete Townsend

Amor Sexton is Head of International Operations for Blockdaemon, the leading independent blockchain node infrastructure to stake, scale, and deploy nodes with institutional-grade security and monitoring. Amor is an experienced global leader with extensive commercial, legal and operational experience, and a diverse background that includes operations, strategy and commercialization, marketing and communications, regulatory and legal, and design and delivery of enterprise-grade products and solutions.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

LINKS:

Connect with Amor Sexton and learn more about Blockdaemon

Follow Blockdaemon on Twitter

Episode title inspired by Express Yourself by N.W.A.

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Get in touch at [email protected]

This week, Eoin and Pete riff on crypto asset service provider regulation through the lens of Revolut, the trifecta of crypto market failures in Voyager, Celsius and Terra, how Walmart’s metaverse play with Roblox feels like the right platform vs. Decentraland or Sandbox, credit as a service player Noble coming out of stealth mode, and Goldman Sachs’ next move into retail fintech with mobile network operator T-Mobile.

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by SecuriCentrix. SecuriCentrix is a trusted cyber security company with offices in Dublin, Cape Town and London. SecuriCentrix provides expert advisory services, primarily in the finance and fintech industries, with tailored security solutions to fit your specific needs and regulatory challenges.

STORIES COVERED:

Revolut wins FCA approval for crypto service (Finextra, 27-Sep-22)

Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager to sell assets to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX for $1.4 billion (CNBC, 27-Sep-22)

Alex Mashinsky resigns as head of Celsius Network (FT, 27-Sep-22)

South Korea seeks to freeze $62 million of bitcoin linked to crypto founder Do Kwon as manhunt continues (CNBC, 28-Sep-22)

Walmart Dives Into Metaverse With Launches in Roblox

Noble emerges from stealth to help companies extend lines of credit to their customers (TechCrunch, 21-Sep-22)

Goldman Sachs Strikes Credit Card Deal With T-Mobile After Apple and GM (20-Sep-22, Bloomberg)

Where Does T-Mobile Fit in Goldman's Consumer Strategy? (Jason Mikula, Fintech Business Weekly, 25-Sep-22)

LINKS:

Leave a review and subscribe on Podchaser | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Overcast

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Get in touch at [email protected]

In this episode, Eoin and Pete talk through the aftermath of the Ethereum Merge, some pandas and goofy songs, an early-morning Bankless livestream of the Merge, and critically, a 99% more energy-efficient blockchain. We also look at the new Revolut BNPL product live in Ireland, two new funding deals that a16z did on this side of the pond in Sequence and Sardines, opportunities for bored yacht owners, and how it feels like 2002 all over again with builders still building.

STORIES COVERED:

Ethereum Makes History With Merge to Proof-of-Stake (Crypto Briefing, 15-Sep-22)

Revolut rolls out BNPL product in Ireland (Finextra, 20-Sep-22)

Revolut confirms cyberattack exposed personal data of tens of thousands of users (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22)

Andreessen Horowitz leads London fintech Sequence’s $19m seed round (Sifted, 20-Sep-22)

Sardine raises $51.5M led by a16z to sniff out fishy fintech transactions (TechCrunch, 20-Sep-22)

Invest Like the Best: Trina Spear - Billion Dollar Scrubs (Podcast episode)

A Bored Ape Ethereum NFT Owner is Launching a Real-World Yacht Club (Decrypt (via Lex Sokolin’s Fintech Blueprint), 15-Sep-22)

Fintech startup Power flexes its credit card muscle following $316M equity, debt injection (TechCrunch, 14-Sep-22)

LINKS:

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Founder and CEO of PlanDail, Owen O’Driscoll, riffs with Pete Townsend on PlanDail’s mission to build Europe’s premier cross-border, seamless, regulated crowdfunding platform, powered by carbon-neutral Algorand technology.  PlanDail’s aim is to connect high-impact focused entrepreneurs with ESG/impact investors of all shapes and sizes who want to fund a better future for the planet.

In this episode, we dig into:

LINKS:

Connect with Owen O’Driscoll and join the PlanDail waitlist

Follow Owen O’Driscoll and PlanDail on Twitter

Episode title inspired by ‘Sky’s the Limit’ by The Notorious B.I.G.

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Get in touch at [email protected]

Eoin and Pete dive into the shortcomings of Metaverse graphics through the lens of Metaverse deep-thinker Matthew Ball and his new book on the Metaverse, what’s up with the Ethereum Merge, the big fundraisings of Irish unicorn Wayflyer and Techstars grad Alloy, the death of ING’s Yolt, Block’s Cash App’s small-dollar lending milestone, and old friend Bradley Tusk takes his super-charged regulatory advisory into crypto and DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations).

This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by Philip Lee, one of Ireland’s fastest-growing corporate law firms and expert advisors at the heart of the Dublin and London start-up, fintech and crypto communities.

STORIES WE COVERED:

When Metaverse (Life in Color, 1-Aug-22)

After $177 Billion in Investment, Why Do Metaverse Graphics Still Suck? (Decrypt, 27-Aug-22)

Ethereum’s Big Moment Is Coming With ‘The Merge.’ What It Means for Crypto (5-Sep-22)

Wayflyer secures €254m in debt financing from Credit Suisse (Irish Times, 1-Sep-22)

Fintech startup Alloy leans on fraud prevention to land new $1.55B valuation (TechCrunch, 1-Sep-22)

KlimaDAO Engages Tusk Strategies to Push Congress to Write DAOs Into Law (Decrypt, 4-Sep-22)

ING pulls the plug on Yolt, shutting down its open banking operation (AltFi, 30-Aug-22)

Cash App Now Originates 1m Small-Dollar Loans A Month (Fintech Business Weekly, 21-Aug-22)

LINKS:

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