Australian Fintech and Startups
Treasury released their proposed changes to the CDR rules, allowing data to be shared with a wider range of providers (similar to NPP sponsorship model). Link
New Fintech: “Zogo” - a quiz app that teaches Gen Z about personal finance. The experience is gamified, rewarding progress with gift cards. This is so brilliant on so many levels - increase in financial literacy, connecting with a younger generation all wrapped in a great UX. I’d love to see more of these apps come out, and can see it being a popular product offering among the ‘Finfluencer’ age. Link
Digital bank ‘Alex’ received its Banking license. Link
More tokens can now be bought and sold on the Revolut Australia platform. Link
Airwallex shrugs off questions on their governance. Link
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Big Tech
Wise, formerly Transferwise (dropped the transfer as they diversified their product suite) listed on the LSE, boasting a valuation of $11bn. Link
The Pentagon killed a $10bn project to move the Department of Defense to the cloud. Goodbye a ten year project, three years in. Ouch. Link
Crypto & Defi
May or may not be a permanent segment. I don’t have an interest in buying and selling risky crypto assets a la going to the moon - but I think DeFi movement heralds a fascinating proposition for the future of financial services, and we can thank crypto for the rise of it.
1 billion dollars was spent on crypto-linked Visa cards in the first half of this year. Link
Credit: RaceCapital
Fantastic resource: DeFi infrastructure 101. Link
DeFi investor platform ‘Zerion’ raises $8.2m Series A. Link
Potpourri
The surface of Mars if 71% of its surface was covered with water. Link
You can hide Mount Everest in the deepest part of the ocean, and the peak would still be underwater by ~1.2kms. Link
Jimmy’s Notes
Apologies for the broken links in the previous edition. One was a dodgy copy paste job and the other was a permalink that moved. Try them again: On BTC and currency bubbles. Link // Fintech Connect Podcast by Basiq (I’ve been working on this for the last few weeks - it’s great fun).
The above views are those of mine and not my employer, or Gladys Berejiklian
Trivia
(a) When was the population of Sydney estimated to have reached 1 million? Was it 1925, 1945, or 1965?
(b) World soccer is divided into continental federations. What’s the only country who’s men’s team has been a champion of two continents? Also, name those two continents.
(c) Name the literary classic in super abridged format. “Marooned boys are terrible at everything except killing each other.”
(d) Is the Ebola virus named after Dr Shomari Ebola who discovered it, the Ebola river where there was an outbreak, or does it mean death in Swahili?
***
Trivia Answers
(a) 1924.
(b) Australia - Oceania and Asia.
(c) Lord of the Flies. Cracking book.
(d) the Ebola river.