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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
Decentralized finance company Ripple acquired Standard Custody & Trust Company, a firm that offers institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets.
The California-based company says the purchase not only underscores its commitment to regulatory compliance, but that it will also help bolster its existing product offerings.
Terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Blockchain and crypto solutions company Ripple announced its fourth acquisition today. The company bought Standard Custody & Trust Company for an undisclosed amount.
Ripple said the move serves two purposes. First, it underscores the company’s “commitment to regulatory compliance,” and second, it will enable Ripple to strengthen its existing offerings and add new products to its lineup. Specifically, the California-based company has its eye on Standard Custody’s limited purpose trust charter and its money transmitter licenses. Both will complement Ripple’s existing portfolio of regulatory licenses.
“Ripple and Standard Custody are dedicated to enabling enterprises to reap the benefits of blockchain across a host of financial use cases building institutional-grade solutions to tokenize, store, move, and exchange value. By expanding our licenses portfolio and making smart acquisitions, Ripple is well-positioned to take advantage of the current market opportunities and further strengthen our crypto infrastructure solutions,” said Ripple President Monica Long. “We will continue to leverage our strong financial standing to expand our product offerings, support new initiatives on the product roadmap and serve a broader segment of customers.”
Owned by blockchain infrastructure company PolySign, Standard Custody was founded to create an institutional-grade custody, escrow, and settlement platform for digital assets. “Together with Ripple, we will further innovate and extend our leadership position in providing crypto infrastructure,” said Standard Custody CEO Jack McDonald.
Amid an environment of increased scrutiny of decentralized finance tools and digital assets, Ripple is looking to conduct its operations in the most transparent, regulatory compliant way. The company and its subsidiaries have acquired a New York BitLicense, nearly 40 U.S. money transmitter licenses, a Major Payment Institution License from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a Virtual Asset Service Provider registration with the Central Bank of Ireland.
Ripple was founded in 2012 and offers tools for global money transfers, CBDCs, and digital assets. Last year, the company acquired digital asset management solutions company Metaco for $250 million. Additionally, Ripple has recently partnered with HSBC, BBVA, and Zodia Custody, and launched its payments offering in Africa. The company supports live commercial custody offerings in 20 regulatory jurisdictions, and facilitates payments to 70 countries worldwide.
We’re already well into the second month of 2024, and while funding has slowed down a bit, news in the decentralized finance world has picked up. Take a look at some of the top headlines in fintech and banking this week.
Digital Banking
Israel-based digital bank oneZerounveils its new GenAI-powered assistant, Ella.
Revolut has partnered with 1Global to offer telecom services to its users.
Starting this week, Revolut will offer eSIMs to customers in all five membership tiers.
Users in Revolut’s Ultra membership tier will benefit from 3GB of data they can use across international borders. Members in other tiers can pay to top up their data.
In an exclusive announcement with CNBC, global financial services innovator Revolut revealed it plans to begin offering telecom services in the U.K. The move, which is made possible via a partnership with 1Global, will make Revolut one of the only fintechs to offer telecom services.
Starting this week, Revolut will begin rolling out eSIMs, which are small, programmable chips embedded directly into a smartphone, tablet, or wearable device. While eSIMs serve the same purpose as a traditional, physical SIM card, the eSIM is permanently embedded into the device and cannot be removed or swapped out.
While the new eSIM service is available to Revolut members under any of the company’s five plans, customers that pay for the Ultra membership tier will receive 3GB of data they can use across the globe, with no roaming charges. The company launched the Ultra membership option last year. For $69.47 (£55) per month, users will benefit from a platinum-plated payment card and “top-of-the-line experiences” such as airport lounge access, up to 10% cashback on travel accommodations, and more.
Users that fall into the other four Revolut membership categories will receive the standard eSIM plan, which allows them to access the Revolut app at any time and top up their Revolut phone plan if they run out of data with their current provider. The company is offering its non-Ultra members 100MB of free data if they sign up before May 1.
Adding telecom services will bolster the company’s robust travel benefit offerings. Revolut’s Premium, Metal, and Ultra subscribers receive cashback on accommodations, global medical insurance, winter sports insurance, fee-free currency exchange, and more. Adding a benefit as essential as communication is a logical next step, and may convince the company’s Standard and Plus members to pay the extra money to level up their memberships.
The London-based company made it clear that the eSIM benefit is about more than just an added travel reward. As Revolut GM of Premium Products Tara Massoudi explained to CNBC, “Our ambition is very much to be the financial super app. This is really in that direction.”
Since the company was founded in 2015 it has received $1.7 billion in funding and has expanded to serve 35+ million personal customers and more than 500,000 business customers.
Interestingly, not many fintechs have made similar moves into the telecom space. India-based credit card fintech Zolve began offering eSIM and SIM services last August in packages ranging from $30 per month to $60 per month.
Finastra and Tesselate announced a partnership to facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization.
The two companies launched Tegula Trade Finance as a Service which enables banks to automate manual processes, increase efficiencies, and reduce processing times.
Finastra was formed in 2017 from a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H.
A partnership between Finastra and digital transformation consultancy Tesselate will facilitate faster and easier trade finance digitization courtesy of a new end-to-end pre-packaged service. Launched today, Tegula Trade Finance as a Service empowers banks in the U.S. to automate manual processes and adapt to emerging events with a faster time to market and value. Banks can also leverage Finastra FusionFabric.cloud to integrate fintech applications and take advantage of enabling technologies such as AI and the blockchain.
“Our combined service with Tesselate delivers the automation and intelligence needed to increase efficiencies and decrease processing times, risk, errors, and total cost of ownership,” Finastra Managing Director and Head of Enterprise Sales and Strategic Partnerships, Americas, Jim McMahon said. “Importantly, the all-in-one solution promotes interoperability of trade finance processes to reduce friction and complexity, while giving banks the agility to enhance existing or launch new services.”
The new offering is powered by Finastra Trade Innovation and Corporate Channels. Finastra Trade Innovation is an end-to-end solution that facilitates frictionless trade and supply chain finance via straight-through processing, digitization, and data analytics to support growth and agility. Corporate Channels is a digital banking platform that gives banks a unified portal for trade, cash, supply-chain finance, lending, and treasury services for corporates. These technologies, and easy integration, help make Tegula Trade Finance as a Service a tool banks can use in order to boost revenue, take advantage of new market opportunities, enhance security, and future-proof their business.
“By delivering our all-in-one joint solution as a highly secure managed service, banks do not need to invest in significant amounts of additional resources or take them away from their core business to pursue digitization,” Tesselate Chief Revenue Officer and Managing Partner Alexandre Arnoux said. “Banks can take a modular approach to implementation for better cost and resource control, and we provide the ongoing updates, enhancements, and new capabilities at speed.”
A digital transformation consultancy and integrator headquartered in Paris, France, Tesselate advises FIs on digital strategy and supports them in their digital transformation journeys. This includes helping them implement and integrate enabling technologies and software solutions from Tesselate’s partners to improve operational efficiency and support growth. Founded in 2010, the company last month announced a partnership with Swiss fintech MITech.
Formed via a merger between Finovate alum Misys and D+H in 2017, Finastra serves financial institutions of all sizes with a wide variety of solutions and services across lending, payments, treasury and capital markets, as well as universal banking. The company’s offerings help FIs develop and grow banking relationships via channels such as embedded finance and Banking as a Service. More than 8,000 institutions – including 45 of the top 50 banks in the world – use Finastra’s technology to support open banking and fuel collaboration.
Headquartered in London, Finastra began the year announcing an upgraded partnership with Allied Banking Corporation and a new collaboration with Vietnam-based LPBank. The company also announced last month that it has teamed up with data and AI company Databricks. The partnership will enable Finastra to further leverage its data and to deliver value-added solutions with Generative AI capabilities. Finastra has also used Databricks to set up a data platform, Secure Zone, for its developers. Simon Paris is Finastra’s CEO.
Payments, identities, and data security company Entrust confirmed that it has entered “exclusive discussions” to acquire identity verification technology company Onfido.
The acquisition will bring AI/ML-based biometric and document IDV technology to Entrust’s portfolio of identity solutions.
Both Entrust and Onfido are Finovate alums. Entrust has twice presented at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley. Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018.
Trusted payments, identities, and data security company Entrust may be on the verge of acquiring identity verification (IDV) technology company Onfido. Entrust confirmed this week that it has entered “exclusive discussions” on the potential deal.
The acquisition would add an AI/ML-based biometric and document IDV tech stack to Entrust’s current portfolio of identity solutions. Entrust would also be able to leverage biometric, phishing-resistant authentication for use in high-value transactions.
Entrust President and CEO Todd Wilkinson praised Onfido’s IDV team, capabilities, and tech stack, calling them “best-in-class.” Wilkinson also pointed to the evolution of fraud – driven by new AI capabilities – that have created new challenges for identity verification. “Deepfakes and synthetic identity are driving a global need for a powerful level of identity assurance that facilitates crucial digital journeys in banking, finance, government, travel, and more,” Wilkinson said. “Step-up authentication using biometric-based, AI-driven identity verification will be critical to ensuring security, privacy, and trust in these high-value digital-first interactions.”
Headquartered in London and founded in 2012, Onfido leverages machine learning, AI, and automation to offer a digital identity solution that creates trust at the point of onboarding and beyond. The company’s technology helps businesses acquire new customers and keep costs low, while remaining compliant with regard to both KYC and AML. Onfido made its Finovate debut at FinovateEurope in 2018 and returned to the Finovate stage months later for FinovateFall in New York.
Most recently, Onfido launched its Compliance Suite. The new offering, unveiled in late January, is an all-in-one identity verification solution that brings qualified electronic signature (QES) and One-time Password (OTP) to Onfido’s Real Identity Platform. The combination enables businesses to customize their onboarding workflows to meet local compliance obligations, increase customer conversions, and keep fraudsters at bay.
Entrust made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley 2015, and returned the following year to participate in FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016 (as “Entrust Datacard”). The company rebranded to “Entrust” in 2020, in a move that Wilkinson called “an evolution of our brand that honors our heritage as we look forward to our critical role in enabling companies to secure identity, payments, and data protection in a rapidly changing world.”
Today, Entrust has issued more than 20 billion payment cards, protects more than 100 million workforce and consumer identities, and encrypts and secures 24+ Swift messages daily. Founded in 1969 as DataCard Corporation, the company acquired Entrust in 2013, and Entrust Datacard was launched the following year.
Expense management innovator Fyle integrated with American Express this week.
The integration will enable U.S. Business and Corporate Card members to issue on-demand virtual cards linked to their physical cards.
Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall last year.
Expense management platform Fyle has announced an integration with American Express. The partnership will enable U.S. Business and Corporate Card members to issue on-demand virtual cards from the Fyle platform. The virtual cards feature built-in controls, as well as enhanced security. The integration was made possible by Fyle’s participation in the American Express Sync Commercial Partner Program.
The ability to issue unlimited virtual cards linked to existing physical cards provides a number of benefits. Among them are:
Card-specific controls including spending limits and expiration dates
Real-time transaction data and notifications via text message
Automated receipt collection to accelerate reconciliation via Fyle’s expense management platform
The integration will also provide payment flexibility. Companies can leverage virtual cards to pay suppliers and take advantage of their American Express billing cycle to manage cash flow until their card payment is due.
“We are teaming up with American Express to give our customers access to the control, enhanced security, and cash flow management that come with using an American Express virtual card, alongside the ability to automate receipt tracking, credit card reconciliation, and expense accounting with Fyle,” company founder and CEO Yashwanth Madhusudhan said. “The integration helps us provide an elevated user experience and more value to our customers.”
Founded in 2016, Fyle made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2023. At the conference, Madhusudan showed how Fyle’s technology brings a modern, “fintech-like” experience to bank-issued card programs.
This week’s Fintech Rundown features partnership and expansion news from a handful of Finovate alums, as well as some interesting fundings in the cryptocurrency and charitable giving space.
Embedded finance platform Liberis announced a partnership with identity risk management innovator Alloy.
The partnership will enable Liberis to leverage Alloy’s platform to add automated compliance verifications to the funding application process.
Alloy made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSilicon Valley 2016.
Embedded finance platform Liberis has teamed up with identity risk management innovator Alloy. Courtesy of the newly announced partnership, Liberis will leverage Alloy’s technology to integrate automated compliance verifications directly into the funding application process. The integration enables Liberis to accelerate its international growth and simplify the merchant experience.
“Alloy is designed to help businesses take control of fraud, credit, and compliance risk, while growing with the clearest picture of their customers,” Alloy CEO Tommy Nicholas said. “We’re confident that our partnership will help Liberis achieve its goal and provide its merchants with a seamless onboarding experience.”
LIberis will gain access and integrations to a global network of more than 190 data sources to streamline KYC, KYB, and AML operations and stop financial crime. The platform will also support the creation of custom, white-label onboarding experiences for partners.
“Alloy’s platform will allow us to enter new markets quickly, optimize our merchants’ fully digitized application for funding and scale to meet our partners’ demand, while also maintaining our high standards for compliance,” Liberis’ Chief Legal & Compliance Officer Alexis Alexander said. Alexander added that one main challenge with compliance checks is that they can increase friction during the onboarding process. To this end, Alloy’s identity risk solution automates and manages onboarding, fraud monitoring, and credit underwriting processes, reducing the amount of paperwork. For those businesses that need more extensive documentation, Liberis will provide a custom, white-label experience tailored to the needs of merchants and partners alike.
Founded in 2015 and headquartered in New York City, Alloy made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVrSiliconValley 2016. Today, more than 500 banks and fintechs have partnered with Alloy to manage identity risk at origination as well as throughout the customer lifecycle. Alloy processes millions of identity decisions daily for the world’s top banks and fintechs in 40 countries across North America, EMEA, Latin America, and APAC. The company has raised more than $207 million in funding from investors including Avid Ventures and Felicis.
Just a few days ago, Alloy issued its 2024 State of Fraud Benchmark Report. The report featured some good news on the fight against fraud. According to the 450+ financial industry fraud decision makers who responded to the firm’s survey, the number of reported fraud attacks has begun to “even out – and for some organizations, to decelerate.” Nevertheless, there were devils in the details, including the number of companies reporting an increase in attempted fraud attacks via consumer accounts (61% of companies) and as well as through business accounts (54% of companies).
“It’s encouraging to see companies getting fraud volume under control using the wide array of identity data and technology available on the market,” Nicholas said when the report was release in late January. “But fraud remains a critical problem because bad actors are always finding new tools – such as generative AI – to steal increasingly large amounts of money.” Indeed, Alloy’s report noted that 56% of respondents lost more than EUR 500,000 ($537,000) to fraud in the last 12 months. Over the same time period, a quarter of respondents had lost more than EUR 1 million ($1.7 million).
Authentication platform Privakey has launched its Single Sign-On (SSO) solution, Privakey SSO.
The new offering enables enterprises to leverage passwordless authentication and authorization.
Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Privakey made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York.
Passwordless authentication solution provider Privakeylaunched its Single Sign-On (SSO) solution last week. Designed for enterprises, Privakey SSO responds to the demand for passwordless authentication as cybercriminals leverage social engineering to take advantage of traditional password-based systems.
“Privakey SSO is designed for speed and simplicity in both implementation and user experience,” company CEO Charles Durkin explained. “Small and medium-sized businesses can have Privakey SSO up and running within hours. Large enterprises benefit from a single, highly secure passwordless gateway to authorized applications and services.”
The new offering leverages a strong cryptographic authenticator to incorporate biometric data, PIN, and passkey for both authentication and authorization. Users supply the biometric or PIN, and a device-based secure passkey provides an additional layer of security by verifying the user’s identity as initially registered. Privakey SSO removes the inconvenience of passwords and out-of-band codes. Businesses can deploy the technology as a standalone, company identity platform, or integrate it to enable passwordless login to enterprise identity solutions from companies ranging from Microsoft to Google to Okta.
“We’ve engineered our solution to be fast, easy to use, scalable, and robust, ready to help you eliminate passwords – the primary target of cybercriminals,” Durkin said. He added that the solution was “ideal” for a variety of verticals including financial services, ecommerce, and IT.
Privakey is currently inviting companies interested in its technology to participate in its Privakey SSO Free Beta Test. The beta testing period runs from January 30, 2024 to May 31, 2024.
Headquartered in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and founded in 2016, Privakey made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall 2017 in New York. At the conference, the company demoed its cloud-based, password-free alternative to identity authentication that is consistent, convenient, and secure.
Quavo Fraud & Disputes introduced new automated ACH capabilities to its dispute management platform.
Among the new features is a verbal attestation capability that eliminates the requirement of a digital or manual signature.
Quavo founder and CEO Joseph McLean will lead a conversation on modernizing fraud and dispute management on February 6th as part of the Finovate Webinar series.
Quavounveiled new automated ACH capabilities to its dispute management platform, QFD (Quavo Fraud & Disputes) this week. The enhancements make additions to the intake questionnaire, and add a new verbal attestation functionality for WSUD compliance.
Quavo Chief Technology Officer and co-founder David Chmielewski said that the enhancements will reduce friction. “For ACH, the process is cumbersome for consumers,” he explained, “with banks requiring physical or digital signage signatures.” Quavo’s solution to this challenge was innovative. “We poured over Nacha regulations and developed a verbal attestation solution where accountholders aren’t bothered by manual signature requirements,” Chmielewski said. “Quavo reimagined ACH requirements for the automated back-office operations needed to support account holders today and in the future. And this is only the beginning.”
This new release includes enhanced intake questionnaires as well as additional claim reasons to support back-office ACH investigations. The enhanced functionality also includes automated return capability which streamlines back office operations via straight-through processing on ACH disputes. The platform also now offers a new signer disclosure that allows verbal attestation during claim intake. To enable this capability, the platform prompts an agent to read a disclosure to the account holder, which satisfies Nacha’s WSUD requirement with a physical or digital signature.
Quavo’s first customer to go live with the enhanced ACH functionality has completed more than 12,000 automated returns and recovered $7.69 million in funds. This top 25 bank accomplished all of this without human intervention.
Quavo has raised $11 million in funding, according to Crunchbase. The company includes FINTOP Capital and JAM FINTOP among its investors. Founded in 2025, Quavo is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.
Join me February 6th for my conversation with Quavo Fraud & Disputes founder and CEO Joseph McLean on 4 Game-Changing Benefits of Modernizing Your Fraud and Dispute Management.
This week, U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) finedCity National $65 million in a civil money penalty. The OCC said the California-based bank “engaged in unsafe or unsound practices,” stating that it failed to establish effective risk management and internal controls. The bank also allegedly violated the bank secrecy act.
Additionally, the agency sent City National a cease-and-desist order that stipulates the bank must correct its actions to improve its strategic plan and operational risk management. Specifically, the OCC wants to see the bank improve its internal controls, compliance risk management, anti-money laundering and fair lending practices, and investment management operations.
This is not only bad news for City National, but also for banks across the U.S. That’s because, given last year’s banking crisis, regulators have had their ears a bit closer to the ground than usual and are more willing to strike fines on both banks and fintechs.
So what’s a bank to do in the midst of increased scrutiny? Here are eight actions to take to avoid a similar fate.
Strengthen third-party risk management
In the era of banking-as-a-service (BaaS), multiple aspects of banking leverage third parties, and for good reason. Using a third party fintech to boost security or a lending-as-a-service provider to offer a much-needed service for customers helps bankers focus on what they do best. However, banks must establish auditable processes for managing third-party risks and implement controls to mitigate risks associated with third-party relationships, especially those related to operational, compliance, and fraud risks. And this is not a set-it-and-forget-it action. Once the process is in place, banks need to routinely monitor third party relationships.
Enhance internal controls
Once you take a look at your processes with third parties, examine your own, in-house operations. Modernize and strengthen your internal controls to detect and prevent risk management and compliance issues. And don’t slip on conducting regular compliance audits to identify and correct any weaknesses.
Improve operational risk event reporting
After surveying both your internal and external processes, establish a risk reporting system that can quickly flag any irregularities. The reporting system should be transparent and efficient in order to allow for a quick response from the right party or parties involved. A fast turnaround will help mitigate risk.
Enhance fraud risk management
While internal slip-ups pose their own threat, fraudsters are an even bigger danger, as they can be difficult to predict and control. Make sure you have robust fraud risk management practices in place, including continuous monitoring and proactive measures to prevent fraud. Because fraudsters will strike wherever they find a vulnerability, you need to ensure your entire team is on board. Stay vigilant by conducting regular training exercises for all employees to help them recognize and respond to fraud.
Address discrimination concerns
Even if your organization hasn’t been accused of redlining, proactively create a structure around your fair lending practices. Having a well-documented process in-place will serve you well if you are ever flagged for potential unfair practices. And don’t get complacent. Review your lending practices on a regular basis to ensure fairness and compliance with anti-discrimination laws.
Strengthen your bank’s financial position
Save your reputation by establishing a process that continuously monitors and assesses your bank’s financial position. Quickly address any issues that may impact your banks’ stability. Have a plan in place in the event things go wrong. Establish a strategy to address losses, such as rising costs from lower deposits. The strategy should include proactive measures that will help maintain financial health.
Create a compliance-driven culture
Regulatory action is on the rise, not only in the U.S., but across the globe. Adhering to regulations requires compliance from all levels of the organization, so permeating your culture with compliance will help ensure everyone plays by the rules. And because compliance is dynamic, be sure to regularly review and update your policies to ensure they meet current standards.
Cooperate with regulators
Let’s face it, systems fail and everyone makes mistakes. In the event the regulators come knocking at your bank’s door, be cooperative. Fostering a positive relationship with regulatory bodies and keeping communication open can go a long way. Be proactive in remediating the issues and making the necessary corrections to avoid further enforcement.
This week in Tales from the Crypto we look at some traditional and alternative ways that investors are backing their favorite cryptocurrency companies, examine a new report explaining why the U.S. lags behind its peers when it comes to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and learn about U.S. Department of Justice charges – and a guilty plea- in a $1.9 billion dollar crypto pyramid scheme.
Swiss digital asset bank Sygnum scores new funding
Has crypto winter yielded to the year’s first crypto unicorn? Swiss crypto banking group Sygnumhas raised $40 million in strategic funding in a round led by Azimut Holdings. The round gives the firm a valuation of $900 million, not quite enough for a unicorn horn, but more than enough to raise not just eyebrows but new expectations at what might be in store for cryptocurrency businesses and the funds that invest in them.
The company will use the capital to fuel its expansion into new markets in both Europe and Asia. The investment will also accelerate development of Sygnum solutions such as its bank-to-bank platform, currently supporting crypto offerings from more than 15 banks and FIs around the world.
“Our core thesis has always been that Future has Heritage, and our strategy to build trust via regulation and good governance has guided us throughout all market cycles,” Sygnum co-founder and Group CEO Mathias Imbach said. He underscored the challenge of “closing a successful funding round” in the current financial environment, which fellow co-founder and CEO of the company’s Singapore office Gerald Goh called “a testament to Sygnum’s strong and unique position as a leading regulated financial institution in the global digital asset industry.”
Report: U.S. progress on CBDCs lagging other nations
But according to a new report, the future of any U.S.-created CBDC has plenty of issues – even without the antipathy of the once (and maybe future) U.S. president. According to a report from think tank Atlantic Council, the U.S. is falling behind other countries that are exploring or developing CBDCs. The Council claimed that the U.S. Federal Reserve has deployed “less than 20” people to work on research and development on CBDCs. By contrast, the Council said that the People’s Bank of China has more than 300 people working on their CBDC project. The effort in the U.K. was also praised compared to the U.S., with the Council favorably noting that the Bank of England had deployed a joint task force including both the Treasury and Parliament.
The Atlantic Council says that there is an innovation gap between the U.S. and other developed nations when it comes to CBDCs. The Council also criticized the relatively slow rollout of the U.S. interbank settlement system compared to similar systems in Europe that were deployed sooner. And while the Council accepts that there’s no reason to “disrupt the currency that underpins the global economy,” it still believes that the U.S. dollar needs to “innovate.”
PayPal invests $5 million stablecoin in Mesh
The Fed may not have much faith in crypto. But PayPal is putting $5 million worth of its own crypto to work in support of embedded crypto payments startup Mesh. PayPal announced that it has invested $5 million worth of its own U.S. dollar denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), in the company, which facilitates digital asset transfers and account aggregation.
This investment, announced this week, marks the first time PYUSD has been used as the funding instrument for an investment by PayPal Ventures. “The shift toward digital currencies requires a stable instrument that is both digitally native and easily connected to fiat currency like the U.S. dollar,” PayPal president and CEO Dan Schulman said last year when PYUSD was introduced. “Our commitment to responsible innovation and compliance, and our track record delivering new experiences to our customers, provides the foundation necessary to contribute to the growth of digital payments through PayPal USD.”
Founded in 2020, Mesh enables companies to integrate crypto payments and transfers directly into their existing platforms. The firm has more than 300 integrations with exchanges, digital wallets, and brokerages. This week’s funding follows a $22 million Series A funding round Mesh closed in September. Bam Azizi is co-founder and CEO.
DOJ announces charges, guilty plea in cryptocurrency fraud scheme
On the “Law & Order: Crypto Edition” front, the U.S. Department of Justice has levied criminal charges against two individuals – and accepted the guilty plea of a third – for their involvement in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme called HyperFund. The SEC charged two of the three individuals civilly for their role in what they allege to be a $1.89 billion cryptocurrency pyramid scheme.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron, called the amount of fraud “staggering.” Barron added “whether it’s cryptocurrency fraud, or any other financial frauds, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
The scheme ran from June 2020 through November 2022, alleges the Department of Justice. The scheme’s conspirators are alleged to have told investors that they would earn daily returns of between 0.5% and 1% until their initial investment doubled or tripled thanks in part to revenues from crypto mining operations. The DOJ alleges that HyperFund began blocking investors from withdrawing their money in July of 2021 and the scheme collapsed the following year.
According to the SEC, one of the conspirators who agreed to settle civil charges of violating securities laws against fraud, had received more than $3.7 million from the HyperFund platform and its investors. This individual is also the one who has already pled guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud. The maximum sentence for all three conspirators is five years in prison if convicted.
Odds and Ends
Former U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne joinedCoinbase’s advisory council.
Cryptocurrency platform Kraken introduced new Chief Operating and Product Officer Gilles BianRosa.
Reuters reported that FTX has abandoned the idea of relaunching its exchange and will instead pursue a liquidation with a goal of repaying customers in full.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared his thoughts on the present and future of cryptocurrencies in a blog post this week.
