Fintech meets crypto #11
Third wave of DeFi, India is finally okay with crypto and Apple enters Tap-on-Phone payment sector.
Hi 👋
As you’ve probably noticed (or not), the last “Fintech meets crypto” was in February. Now it’s April. So what happened? The war happened. Russia attacked Ukraine on Feb 24th, 2022, and Europe stopped.
I’m Polish, living in Poland. In the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I couldn’t focus on anything else other than monitoring the situation beyond our eastern border.
Fortunately, Moscow’s original plan failed. Completely. Russia didn’t take Kyiv in 2 days. Ukraine is fighting back. Let’s hope the war will come to an end soon and the geopolitical situation in Europe will normalize.
Anyway - I’m back. And I’m not going anywhere. The start of 2022 was pretty tough for the crypto space (and for fintech too). It seems that the level of excitement across the industry - clearly visible throughout 2021 - is somewhat smaller. The fintechs’ valuations decreased, and so did TVLs in the crypto space.
After hot and crazy 2021, this year seems a bit more… normal? However, the main direction hasn’t changed. Developers are still building new fintech x crypto solutions. Regulators are still writing regulations. And many countries are still dreaming of their national CBDCs becoming fully operational as soon as possible.
Welcome to “Fintech 🤝 crypto” - episode #11.
Let’s go! 🚀
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Happened recently 👀
Crypto coming to India with Digital Rupee and 30% Tax 🇮🇳
In short:
Digital rupee (CBDC) to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India, starting 2022-23.
Profits from trading in crypto and other virtual assets such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will be taxed at a flat 30% rate beginning in April this year.
My comments:
India had a hot-and-cold relationship with digital currencies. In 2018, it effectively banned crypto transactions, but the Supreme Court struck down the restriction in March 2020.
The decision to tax income from the transfer of virtual assets at 30% effectively greenlights crypto trades while making them prohibitively expensive.
India is planning to join the CBDC race and issue digital rupee in 2022/23. Currently, China is the leader in developing digital national currency. EU and USA are far behind. EU is going to propose a legislative framework for the digital euro in 2023. And the USA hasn’t defined the roadmap yet. However, last month, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that could lead to the US creating a digital currency in the next few years.
Apple introduces Tap to Pay on iPhone 📱
In short:
By the end of 2022 merchants in the US will be able to accept contactless payments on their iPhones without needing to connect their devices to a payment terminal or other additional hardware.
Dutch payments company - Adyen - teamed up with Apple to provide Tap to Pay on iPhone.
My comments:
Smart move by Apple. Until now, if you wanted to launch your own Software Point of Sale (SoftPOS), you could do that - but only on Android phones. iOS was not accessible for you. Even Visa and Mastercard launched their “Tap-on-Phone” solutions but only for Android phones.
Now Apple announced that it would be possible to have SoftPOS (Tap-on-Phone) solution on iPhones. But Apple will control it and will get a lot of $$$ in fees. And we are talking about a huge chunk of the payment market.
Galaxy S22 has a built-in cryptocurrency wallet 🤔
In short:
Samsung Galaxy S22 comes with a brand new Samsung Wallet that supports cryptocurrency transactions.
My comment:
It seems that Samsung is the first mobile manufacturer that wants to jump in with both feet into the crypto world. However, the rest of the pack is not far behind. Apple is looking into cryptocurrency and probably thinking about adding some sort of crypto support to Apple Wallet. Google has recently confirmed that they’ve been exploring crypto & blockchain potential too.
Sounds to me that 2023 could be the year of many crypto news in the mobile space.
Samsung’s news about S22 is certainly the kind of development that crypto enthusiasts will appreciate. Using the Samsung Wallet on Galaxy S22 to make crypto transactions could be a nice addition to the phone. Unfortunately, we don’t know how it works or which cryptocurrencies the Samsung Wallet will support. Let’s hope Samsung will reveal these details soon.
Great reads worth your time 📚
📕 The Third Wave of DeFi (by Ryan Rasmussen)
Will we see a new, third wave of adoption of DeFi in 2022? Can the challenges that have negatively impacted prices in the near term could be the catalysts that set in motion the next major wave for DeFi?
Interesting article about the future of DeFi and what three major trends in crypto can shape the third wave of DeFi adoption in 2022/23.
📗 The Crypto Backlash Is Booming (by Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic)
When some people are getting rich - others can get very angry. Web3 is no different.
📙 The Web3 & The Curse of Solutionism (by Jason Choi)
Great synthesis by Jason Choi on how not to build bullshit products in the crypto space. Especially relevant for new founders.
Gold Tweets 🏅
1. Great list of post-2016 crypto classics - articles, papers. If you are new to this space - this one is for you:
2. BTC settlement volume since 2015 (and comparison with Visa Payments Volume in %):
3. Ethereum, as of now, is the place to be if you are building a new DeFi app. Other chains are trying to catch up but right they are still behind ETH. Here is a great thread describing ETH's DeFi ecosystem:
4. One more thread on DeFi - this time focused on the lending protocols:
5. And three more tweets that are worth sharing:
That’s all for now 👋
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Stay curious,
/Pawel