FinTech Futures: Top five stories of the week – 9 June 2023
Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.
US SEC sues crypto firms Binance and Coinbase
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against cryptocurrency heavyweights Binance and Coinbase this week amid an apparent crackdown on crypto.
SEC sues Binance and Coinbase
The regulator has filed 13 charges against Binance Holdings, which operates the largest crypto asset trading platform in the world – Binance.com – along with US-based affiliate BAM Trading Services (which together with Binance operates the crypto asset trading platform Binance.US) and Binance’s founder Changpeng Zhao.
Separately, Coinbase has also been charged by the SEC for allegedly “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency” and for “failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program”.
In a blog post, Binance says it is “disappointed” in the move and intends to “defend our platform vigorously”, while Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted: “Instead of publishing a clear rule book, the SEC has taken a regulation by enforcement approach that is harming America. So if we need to avail ourselves of the courts to get clarity, so be it.”
Marqeta closes Australia office in bid to cut costs
Global card issuing platform Marqeta has closed its office in Australia as part of operational expense cuts.
A spokesperson for Marqeta says the company will instead by servicing its Australian customers, which include buy now, pay later (BNPL) firms Afterpay and Zip, out of its US headquarters in Oakland, California.
“All existing Marqeta customers in Australia will continue to be supported from our US office. This doesn’t impact their business,” the spokesperson says.
The spokesperson adds that “all recently signed customers that are currently being onboarded will be supported” and the company will “continue to support our global customers who want to expand into Australia”.
Thunes closes Series C funding round, secures more than $60m in total
Thunes CEO Peter De Caluwe
Singapore-based business-to-business (B2B) payment infrastructure firm Thunes has raised a total of more than $60 million in its Series C funding round.
The Series C was led by UK hedge fund Marshall Wace, which contributed $30 million to the round, as revealed back in March. San Francisco-based Bessemer Venture Partners and new Southeast Asian private equity firm 01Fintech have provided the rest of the cash.
Speaking on the funding announcement, Thunes CEO Peter De Caluwe says the paytech will use the new cash injection to “further scale our capabilities, launch new solutions, open new segments and make the network even more robust, resilient and efficient”.
He adds the firm will also look to “deepen our presence in strategic markets, including China, Latin America and the Middle East”.
Paytech Medius to acquire expense management firm Expensya
Medius, a provider of accounts payable (AP) automation solutions, is to acquire expense management software company Expensya for an undisclosed sum. Medius says the acquisition is “one of the largest in the MENA region”.
Medius says the acquisition of Expensya will complement its strengths in areas such as autonomous AP, payments, procurement, sourcing, contracts and supplier onboarding.
The two firms also complement each other geographically. For example, Expensya has developed an employee spend management solution in France, which will enable Medius to capitalise on the French e-invoicing mandate.
“Together, we can offer CFOs solutions that can help them transform finance while empowering their teams,” says Jim Lucier, CEO of Medius.
He adds that both companies “share the ambition to transform the spend management category using the power of automation and artificial intelligence (AI)”.
Cross-border payments start-up Keeta launches with $17m funding
Keeta, a new cross-border payments platform, has officially opened its doors for business with $17 million in funding from investors, including ex-CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt.
The Keeta team
“Powered by a highly scalable proprietary ledger technology, capable of processing more than 50 million transactions per second, and a network of interconnected real-time payment rails, Keeta’s platform dramatically reduces the time and fees typically associated with international money transfers,” the start-up claims.
“Whereas current cross-border payments can cost upwards of 5% of the amount transferred and take nearly a week to process, Keeta empowers customers to send these payments instantly at a fraction of the price.”
The paytech promises cross-border transactions for 50-70% less than the cost of traditional options.
