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Grown up
Digital card-issuer and processor Marqeta reportedly has filed paperwork with the SEC for an IPO supported by Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The 10-year-old Oakland, Calif.-based firm, rumored in the summer of 2020 to be exploring an IPO, hopes to complete its IPO as early as April,
Uber and Afterpay in recent months chose Marqeta for processing virtual debit card payouts. Marqeta raised $150 million in May 2020, doubling its valuation to more than $4 billion.
Wrong number
A federal judge has ruled Citigroup cannot recoup $500 million as part of a lump sum it mistakenly wired to lenders of cosmetics giant Revlon in August 2020.
After a six-day trial in December, Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said in a 101-page ruling that wire transfers like Citi's made in error are not subject to revocation, Finextra reports.
Citi intended to send only a $7.8 million interest payment via wire transfer, but an employee error triggered a lump payment toward a nearly $900 million loan, which wasn’t due until 2023. Citi said the lenders should have known it was a mistake and it plans to appeal the ruling. The judge has temporarily blocked the recipients from using the $500 million in question pending Citi’s appeal.
Crypto rail
The first payment rail enabling merchants to accept Diem payments, the Facebook-spearheaded cryptocurrency project formerly known as Libra, has been approved for when Diem goes live.
First Digital Asset Group created a secure wallet and infrastructure with New York-based blockchain security service startup Fireblocks so banks can easily add Diem as an optional payment method for participating merchants, the companies said in a press release.
First Digital, launched in 2017, has developed a platform to connect merchants, acquirers and payment service providers for acceptance of central bank-controlled digital currencies (CBDCs) and stable coins. Fireblocks, also established in 2017, supports a platform to move, store and issue digital assets.
Brake service
U.K. challenger bank Monzo is leading a campaign for Britain’s government to require all banks to easily enable customer account controls to block payments to gambling sites, after a surge in gambling debts during the pandemic.
Most of the U.K.’s major banks already offer some form of payments-blocking service, but about 40% of U.K. customers lack a specific switch to block all gambling,
Monzo also asks that gambling firms disclose their account details on a central registry, making it easier for financial firms to block specific accounts designated for gambling. Monzo has gathered support for the initiative from academics and researchers at the National Health Service.
From the web
REUTERS | Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Bitcoin’s charge to a record north of $50,000 isn’t sustainable unless the cryptocurrency’s price swings cool down quickly, JPMorgan analysts said in a note.
REUTERS | Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Salesforce.com Inc and Slack Technologies Inc have received requests for additional information from the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice related to their $27.7 billion merger, regulatory filings showed on Tuesday.
COINDESK | Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Cryptocurrencies are now accepted as a form of payment at the KIKLABB free trade zone in Mina Rashid, Dubai.
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