Led by David Marcus, co-creator of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project Libra, Facebook Financial is the social media giant’s latest effort to enhance the company’s payments initiatives.

Facebook has not made an official announcement about Facebook Financial – referred to internally as F2. Reporting at both MarketWatch and Bloomberg suggests that the new unit will also feature Stephane Kasriel as payments vice president. Kasriel comes to the project from Upwork, where he was CEO. Marcus currently runs Novi, a division of Facebook that is developing a digital wallet for Libra, and will continue in that capacity as Novi moves under the F2 umbrella.

“We have a lot of commerce stuff going on across Facebook,” Marcus told Bloomberg earlier this week. “It felt like it was the right thing to do to rationalize the strategy at a company level around all things payments.” Notably, Marcus has significant payments experience, having been PayPal president from 2012-2014.

Facebook Financial will also handle WhatsApp Pay, recently launched in Brazil, and Facebook Pay, the social media platform’s e-commerce payment system. Engadget’s reporting on the conversation surrounding the new division noted that Facebook sees unifying payments on its different platforms as key to boosting value for advertisers and increasing in-app transactions.

The discussion over Facebook Financial comes just a week after the firm announced another e-commerce-friendly initiative: a Commerce Accelerator that will partner with 60 startups from countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America to help build out Facebook’s online marketplace.

“In this critical time, Facebook is doubling down on commerce and accelerating its work to enable every business to sell online and help people gain inspiration and discover and buy the products they love. We can’t achieve this alone,” the company announced in a blog post, “so we are looking for startups to build technology with us.”

Zuckerberg himself has praised the role of payments in Facebook’s future. In a recent earnings call, the Facebook CEO noted that “as payments grow across Messenger and WhatsApp, and as we’re able to roll that out in more places, I think that that will only grow as a trend.”

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2020 may be a tough year overall, but it has been quite good to the cryptocurrency space. PayPal announced plans for a cryptocurrency offering, Visa revealed plans to incorporate cryptocurrencies into its payment network, and Mastercard expanded its existing cryptocurrency program.

Late last week, another development took shape: cryptocurrency payments platform Wirex announced it received its first money transmission license in the U.S. The license, issued by the State of Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, comes two years after Wirex received its e-money license from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.

Receiving the license is a major step in the direction of a U.S. launch. In fact, Wirex said it will formally launch in the U.S. “in the coming months.”

“We are very excited to receive our license as a money transmission business for the State of Georgia,” said Wirex CEO and co-founder Pavel Matveev. “With the sector growing rapidly, approval of this license is an important step in Wirex’s endeavor to ensure the company complies with money transmission regulations and cryptocurrency laws worldwide. This is an important step in realizing our vision to grow cryptocurrency adoption and use with a mainstream audience in the U.S.”

Wirex was founded in 2014 and helps its 3 million customers in 130 countries buy, hold, and exchange fiat money and cryptocurrencies. Among the company’s offerings is a contactless, crypto-compatible debit card that enables customers to transact at the 54+ million locations where Visa is accepted. Wirex is also known for Cryptoback, a cryptocurrency rewards scheme that offers up to 1.5% back, paid in Bitcoin, to customers who use their Wirex card in-store.

The fintech industry will look back at 2020 as a year of change in many areas, including digital transformation, payments, and in-person services. However, one of the most impactful changes taking shape this year is the broader acceptance and usage of cryptocurrencies.

Part of the evidence here is the formation of partnerships between crypto companies such as Wirex and traditional incumbents such as Mastercard. Last month, the two struck a deal that allows Wirex to directly issue cards on Mastercard’s network.

Wirex has received $3.2 million in funding and became profitable earlier this year.

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The news that eBay is teaming up with LendingPoint to help finance small merchants on its platform is the latest example of how technology marketplaces are going the extra mile to look after the merchants who make their platforms possible.

“We are committed to empowering entrepreneurs to make their dreams a reality and we are continuing to partner with our sellers to provide them with the tools they need to thrive,” Vice President of Global Payments at eBay Alyssa Cutright said.

The new program is called eBay Seller Capital powered by LendingPoint, and will provide eBay sellers with access to installment loans with flexible terms of up to 48 months. Currently being run as a pilot effort, the program offers funding of up to $25,000, with no origination or early payback fees.

“LendingPoint’s purpose is to accelerate and democratize commerce,” LendingPoint CEO and co-founder Tom Burnside said. He called eBay sellers “some of the world’s most dynamic ecommerce players,” and both companies have noted that the partnership is a first step toward providing the platform’s merchants with more and better tools to manage and grow their businesses.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, and founded in 2014, LendingPoint began the year with news that it had closed on $246 million in securitizations. More recently, the company launched its Lending Operating System SDKn, which integrates into existing payment platforms to provide businesses with a consumer financing solution with a variety of fulfillment options ranging from virtual cards to money transfers.

The news from eBay comes a few weeks after InstaPay announced a new financing solution that provides third-party sellers on Amazon – who often wait up to two weeks to be paid by the platform – with a daily payment that helps them better manage their cash flow. Google removed commission fees for merchants enrolled in its Buy on Google program last month, and said it is opening up its platform to third party providers PayPal and Shopify.

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Super app Grab is becoming a lot more super. That’s because the Southeast Asia-based company that specializes in transportation, food delivery, and payment solutions is expanding into direct-to-consumer services.

Three new consumer-focused services are launching under Grab’s Thrive with Grab strategy. The new initiative builds off of the company’s merchant services strategy, Grow with Grab, that launched last year. In contrast, Thrive with Grab “aims to empower individuals to grow their personal wealth, manage their finances and protect what they value.”

At launch, Grab’s three consumer-focused services include a loan marketplace that aggregates loan offers from third party providers, a buy-now-pay-later payment offering with partner merchants, and AutoInvest, a micro-investment solution that allows users to invest small sums of money while spending in Grab’s ecosystem.

“As a leading fintech company in Southeast Asia, our ‘Thrive with Grab’ strategy will enable users to build their wealth, manage their finances, and protect what they value during this uncertain period,” said Grab Senior Managing Director Reuben Lai. “By offering innovative micro-transaction-based financial services, convenient financial management tools, and access to products from leading global financial institutions, we hope to unlock the tremendous potential in financial services in the region in ways that serve all Southeast Asians.”

The launch of the three new services is Grab’s second foray into the direct-to-consumer space. The company launched an insurance offering in April of last year and has since issued more than 13 million insurance policies.

Reuben said that the goal of the new launch is to “empower individuals and small businesses across the region to meet their diverse needs through financial services by delivering products and solutions that are accessible, transparent, and convenient.”

Grab raised $856 million in February and yesterday announced a $200 million round, bringing its total raised to over $10 billion and boosting its valuation to over $14 billion. Anthony Tan co-founded the company in 2012 with Tan Hooi Ling and now serves as CEO.

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