In a historic move, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the green light for the listing and trading of several spot bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs), marking a significant shift in its stance towards digital assets. This decision comes after a prolonged period of hesitation and disapprovals under the leadership of former Chair Jay Clayton.

🚨BREAKING🚨

Bitcoin ETFs Likely Approved by the SEC

It certainly looks like the #Bitcoin ETF Approval order had hit the SEC website but the link is no longer working. That said, this document looks accurate to me.https://t.co/NhJueWNPJ0 pic.twitter.com/W0ipnlg3j1

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 10, 2024

The turning point for the SEC’s decision was a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The court criticized the Commission for failing to provide a satisfactory explanation for rejecting Grayscale’s proposed ETP*. This verdict led to the Commission reevaluating its position and ultimately approving the new ETP listings.

The SEC emphasizes that its approval is strictly limited to ETPs holding bitcoin and does not imply endorsement of bitcoin or any other crypto assets. The Commission remains clear that it is “merit neutral” and its primary focus is on ensuring investor protection and public interest under the guidelines of the Exchange Act and its regulations.

Today’s approval introduces stringent investor safeguards. Key measures include mandatory comprehensive disclosure for ETP sponsors, the requirement for these products to be listed on registered national securities exchanges, and the application of existing rules and standards of conduct in the purchase and sale of approved ETPs. This encompasses Regulation Best Interest for broker-dealers and a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act.

Furthermore, the SEC is concurrently reviewing registration statements for 10 spot bitcoin ETPs, aiming to level the playing field for issuers and foster fairness and competition in the market. This step echoes the Commission’s past experience in overseeing non-security commodity ETPs like precious metals, dating back to 2004.

Despite the approval, the Commission maintains a cautious stance, noting that bitcoin is predominantly a speculative and volatile asset associated with various illicit activities. It underscores that the approval of spot bitcoin ETP shares does not constitute an endorsement of bitcoin. Investors are advised to remain vigilant about the risks associated with bitcoin and crypto-related products.

The decision is a milestone in the evolving narrative of cryptocurrency regulation, reflecting the Commission’s commitment to adapting its approaches in the face of changing market dynamics while upholding its mandate to protect investors and the integrity of the securities markets.

AI generated image @ DeepInfra

The introduction of P2P payments is expected to enhance the functionality of X, creating new opportunities for commerce and showcasing the convenience of integrating multiple aspects of digital life into one place. This move positions X to compete with other established tech firms and financial services, including those like PayPal, which Elon Musk had a role in creating.

X’s focus on becoming an ‘everything app’ is not limited to P2P payments. The platform is also enhancing its user and advertising experience with the use of artificial intelligence (AI). This includes improvements in features like See Similar Posts and the introduction of See Dissimilar Posts, leveraging user activity to present content that aligns with or challenges their perspectives.

In addition to financial services, X continues to invest in creators and content partnerships, aiming to attract new users and fuel advertising efforts. The company emphasizes its commitment to being a major platform for influential and curious individuals worldwide, who use it to follow their passions and engage with various cultural events and movements.

Fintech valuations boomed in 2020 and 2021, but are now recovering amid a tightening of capital investment.

Augmentum, which backs UK challenger bank Monese, UK SME lender Iwoca and German technology rental platform Grover, said the value of its top 10 investments rose from £182m to £199m in the six months to the end of September.

Tim Levene, chief executive of Augmentum Fintech, said Augmentum had not invested in new start-ups during the period as the cost of investment was too high.

Augmentum increased its investment in Zopa, raising its stake from £30 million to £34 million,
and in Tide, from £36 million to £41 million. However, the value of its stake in Grover was reduced from £43 million to £41 million.

Augmentum’s Chairman, Levene, noted that the company refrained from making new investments in startups during the period due to elevated pricing.

He characterized 2023 as a “tale of two halves,” with the first half experiencing lower deal activity, but the second half witnessing an uptick with the emergence of higher-quality companies in the market.

Levene painted a cautiously upbeat picture moving forward but said that 2024 and 2025 could be “really strong vintages” for venture funds that get it right.

According to Reuters, the Israel-based company will not only make the cuts but also close some of its offices in Asia. The reason for this is a scandal involving a fake letter of credit used as collateral in a deal with an insurer.

The offices the company is expected to close are in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul, but it will retain employees in Tel Aviv, New York, London, Dubai and Bermuda.

“In order to solidify the foundation of the company and reassure the industry, leadership must return its focus to core services while reducing overall costs, including parting ways with some of our employees”, Vesttoo said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Vesttoo is currently conducting an internal and external analysis of the events leading up to the first fraudulent credential report. The size of the fintech company was 200 employees.

“These are painful, but important decisions that we must make at this time. Our focus remains on regaining our footing and emerging from this challenge stronger than before”, the company continued.

The scandal surrounding the fraud has changed and halted the company’s plans to raise about $200 million in late-stage funding that would have valued the firm at nearly $2 billion.

Finance and FinTech have always been open to modern technology and innovation. Therefore, programming for finance is an extremely important endeavor that requires developers to have an excellent understanding of the various programming languages in this field. Today, we have chosen to share with you which are the 10 best programming languages for finance and FinTech.

Finance and FinTech have always been open to modern technology and innovation. Therefore, programming for finance is an extremely important endeavor that requires developers to have an excellent understanding of the various programming languages in this field.

Today, we have chosen to share with you which are the top 10 best programming languages for finance and FinTech, as presented by Analytics Insight.

Top 10 Programming Languages in Finance and FinTech

Python
Python is a server-side language that has a wide range of applications to boast of. Whether it’s for simple scripting or advanced web applications, Python offers you it all. Python makes it easy for developers to use a variety of programming styles, including reflexive, functional, and more. It is considered one of the easiest and most marketable programming languages.

JavaScript
JavaScript is considered an ideal programming language if the goal is to create dynamic web elements such as animated graphics, interactive maps, etc. Since this language is widely used in website development, building web servers, developing games, etc., you know how big its scope is.

Golang (Go)
Go, as known to many, is a programming language developed by Google. In no time, Go has caught the attention of everyone in the world for its ability to handle multi-core and networked systems and huge codebases. It’s no wonder why Golang is one of the best programming languages for revenue and features.

Java
Another excellent programming language to learn for developing websites, applications and big data is Java. It is a general-purpose programming language with an object-oriented structure that is owned by Oracle Corporation.

C#
Its very ability to support the concepts of object-oriented programming is one of the main reasons for its growing popularity. Considered ideal for Windows, Android, and iOS apps, it’s no wonder that C# made the list of top 10 programming languages.

R
R is a programming language that is widely used for statistical data processing, including linear and nonlinear modeling, computation, testing, visualization, and analysis. Since its existence, it has opened doors to many possibilities.

C++
With features like data abstraction, polymorphism, inheritance, etc., you know for sure that C++ has everything you need for good earnings as well as opportunities in your programming career. This language is widely used in developing desktop applications, GUI applications, 3D games and building real-time mathematical solutions.

Swift
Although Swift is a relatively new language, it finds its place in the top 10 best programming languages for revenue and opportunity because of its speed, performance, and security. Additionally, Swift is an easy language to learn.

Kotlin
Kotlin is an open source programming language that is much in demand these days. Companies like Netflix, Pinterest, and Amazon Web Services use this language for its features like lambda function support, smart cast, null safety, and operator overloading.

Ruby
Ruby is much preferred by web developers as it has an easy to read and write syntax. One more point worth mentioning is that its object-oriented architecture supports procedural and functional programming notation.

It was a difficult period, but…

After ten years of monumental growth, fintech is experiencing its first more difficult period. Having already been hit by the tech downturn, layoffs, the cost-of-living crisis, and the looming recession, the news from the Wall Street Journal that fintech companies underperformed financials and tech stocks in 2022 makes for rather uncomfortable reading, which unfortunately wouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with it.

Vulnerability to high interest rates, the removal of pandemic catalysts and a focus on businesses that are profitable or have a clear path to profitability are some of the reasons for the poor performance of fintech stocks.

Fintech has already changed the business and personal finances of millions of people around the world. Alongside innovations that have improved legacy systems in banks, and B2B technologies that have increased security, privacy and risk for consumers, consider the millions of people with Revolut or Monzo cards in their wallets.

As well, we might consider the companies that have survived thanks to SME funding platforms, or for the merchants using digital payment devices. Fintech is having an even bigger impact in emerging markets through online money transfers, microloans and mobile payments.

According to experts, despite economic difficulties, fintech will continue to attract huge venture funding in 2023.

Fintech companies predispose healthier businesses

Now, more than ever, every dollar counts. Today, fintech companies can add tremendous value in improving companies’ financial back-office functions and run healthier businesses.

Crises create opportunities

More forecasts suggest that the current economic environment will make it difficult for fintech entrepreneurs to raise capital unless they can demonstrate attractiveness. At the same time, crises create opportunities. Entrepreneurs are using technology to help consumers pay their debts more efficiently, get faster mortgage approvals, and access BNPL’s services to manage their personal and/or business finances.
There’s always a chance for proper business

Although fintech stocks are down, there are still significant opportunities for successful businesses. The outliers and risks are those that can succeed in challenging economic conditions, those that create businesses designed for long-term growth and scale.

The company says trading is booming following fivefold annual growth through 2022 and the expansion of the business into three additional European markets: Norway, Finland and Germany.

According to Anyfin, customers save 50% on average loan costs using its platform.

The company plans an even bigger role for personal financial services with discounts to undercut traditional lenders. The key is likely to be in service delivery – no start-up wants to fall into the trap of negative media coverage of debt.

This Series C funding brings Anyfin’s total equity funding to $131 million, but that’s in addition to €500 million in debt facilities agreed to help Anyfin grow its loan book.

“With the current cost of living crisis putting increasing pressure on household finances, what we do is more valuable than ever for consumers, and this new capital will enable us to continue improving the scope and scale of our offering.”

Anyfin CEO and co-founder Mikael Hussain said.

He further said that the investment shows that the financial industry is undergoing a significant restructuring where the financial well-being of consumers is paramount.

With this capital, Anyfin will focus its internal resources on new product features, and aims to accelerate growth in its four operating markets.

Nexo Pro is a game-changer for the individual trader as it introduces sophisticated tools – such as the advanced TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price) orders used by large institutions – into the everyday trading stack of the non-technical user. In another industry-first, Nexo Pro combines its own order book with those of world-leading trading venues and market makers, to give users access to the broad market, both in a single user interface and via API.

Key features: 

• Efficient access to aggregated spot and futures liquidity from the 10+ biggest crypto trading venues, using a single account. Near-zero slippage of trade executions, both when buying and selling.
• Integration with all existing Nexo services (Earn, Spend, Borrow). Seamless transition from earning yield on cryptocurrencies to trading them, and vice-versa, with free and instant asset transfers.
• Limit and market orders as well as Take Profit and Stop Loss functionalities, with trailing, OCO, and Smart orders and many more to be added soon.
• Short and long margin* trading with up to 5x leverage on 90+ market pairs. ● Out-of-the-box strategies such as built-in TWAP orders and basis trading for enhanced alpha-generation.
• Perpetual futures contracts settled in USDT with the ability to open both long and short positions (incl. leverage) to place directional plays or hedge individual positions or entire portfolios.
• API gateways for advanced users – an additional interface to access deep liquidity.
• Reserves audited in real time, top-tier platform security, and $775M custodial insurance through partnerships with industry-leading custodians.

Nexo Pro is available globally in a single intuitive interface and through the REST & WebSocket APIs. Initially accessible on desktop, Nexo Pro will soon launch on mobile with a private beta of the Nexo Pro app.

“Nexo Pro is the result of a long exploration in the world of retail and institutional trading. We’ve tried and tested its underlying features – the best prices across 420 liquidity pools, the tightest bid/ask spread, near-zero slippage, automated TWAP and basis trading – as part of our institutional prime brokerage platform Nexo Prime. We are now passing this most advanced trading performance to our 5M+ customers at near zero cost and are set to revolutionize retail trading globally,” 

said Yasen Yankov, Nexo’s VP of Product Development.

“Nexo Pro is a gateway to professional-like trading for retail customers. We are the first platform to offer institutional-grade liquidity aggregation with this many venues as pure-play exchanges usually prefer to settle exclusively within their own order books. As a crypto lender, Nexo is able to source liquidity from 3,000 order books and guarantee our customers the best possible quote for their spot, margin, or futures trades, so they don’t have to go looking for it themselves. We expect Nexo Pro to quickly become the first choice for those striving to outperform the average trader, and do so in the most secure way,” 

said Kosta Kantchev, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Nexo.

With the launch of this advanced trading platform, Nexo – which now boasts over five million users – marks yet another milestone to solidify its position as the only 360-degree crypto super-app with wallet, lending, custody, and professional trading capabilities, among other verticals in its roadmap.

In the coming weeks, Nexo will introduce additional token utilities giving NEXO Token holders the ability to reduce trading fees and pay those using $NEXO. By building on top of its existing benefits (lower borrowing rates, higher savings yields, free withdrawals), the NEXO Token will combine the utilities of both exchange and lending tokens into a single asset, creating extraordinary value for holders. This upgrade will start a new chapter in the evolution of the token and set the stage for the next edition of Nexonomics, the company’s program aimed at driving value and utility for its native token.

So far in 2022, Nexo has launched the Nexo Card, a first-of-its-kind crypto-backed card in partnership with Mastercard and DiPocket; rolled out its institutional-grade trading and custody platform Nexo Prime; invested in over 50 early-stage web3 companies through Nexo Ventures. Looking ahead, Nexo will continue to expand its product lineup into new markets and uncharted, decentralized crypto territories.

*Margin and futures are subject to certain geographic limitations and eligibility criteria. 

Risk Disclosure and Important Information: The information provided in this release should not be regarded as investment or financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading combined with high market volatility may expose you to risk.

The company posted a blog post titled “Minecraft and NFTs” and acknowledged that some creators and companies have begun launching NFT projects associated with Minecraft world files and skin packs. The post also suggested Minecraft creators may use the game as a platform to create and sell collectible NFTs that players could earn through activities performed on a Minecraft server or as a reward for activities in the real world.

“To ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods,” Mojang wrote in the post.

“We will also be paying close attention to how blockchain technology evolves over time to ensure that the above principles are withheld and determine whether it will allow for more secure experiences or other practical and inclusive applications in gaming,” the company added. “However, we have no plans of implementing blockchain technology into Minecraft right now.”

The traditional game industry has begun to distance itself from NFTs over the past few months following backlash from players and a crashing crypto market. Sony last week said it would be launching a digital collectibles feature as part of a new PlayStation rewards program, but clarified emphatically that its collectibles were “definitely not NFTs.” Ubisoft, which became the first major game publisher to experiment with NFTs last fall, shut down its experiment after four months. Last October, Steam marketplace owner Valve said it would not permit any games using blockchain or NFT technology, though Fortnite creator Epic Games recently opened the door to such products on its PC game store.

Microsoft has not issued a strong opinion on the subject as it relates to its library of gaming properties before now. But Xbox chief and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer told Protocol last year he was “leery” of the “near-term kind of hysteria around NFTs” and the potential for scams, fraud and the pyramid scheme nature of the crypto market leading to consumers losing vast sums of real money very quickly. Spencer separately told Axios last fall that NFTs had the potential to be exploitative and that the market contained “a lot of things that probably are not things you want to have in your store.”

Mojang’s blog post expresses similar sentiments. “Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together,” the company wrote. “NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots. The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.”

The studio said it was also worried about fraud and that third-party NFT technology could result in a loss of assets for consumers, situations that “may end up costing players who buy them.

The Nexo Card is the first card in the world that allows users to spend without having to sell their digital assets. Nexo has teamed up with DiPocket, Nexo’s card issuer for the new offering in Europe, and Mastercard as the tech company and payment network, to offer various innovative features for the Nexo Card:

• Your Crypto Stays: The Nexo Card is linked to a Nexo-provided, crypto-backed credit line that starts and stays at 0% APR*. It allows cardholders to use their digital assets as collateral rather than selling them. The credit line is dynamic and can use multiple assets as collateral, including but not limited to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether.
• Zero Fees: The card requires no minimum repayments, monthly, or inactivity fees. There are no FX fees for up to €20,000 per month.
• 2% Crypto Rewards: Every Nexo Card transaction is equipped with instant crypto cashback, paid out in Bitcoin or in Nexo’s native NEXO Token. This means users not only can retain ownership of their digital assets, but they also earn up to 2% back in free cryptocurrency with each purchase, which becomes automatically available in their Nexo account.
• Seamless Access: Available both in virtual and physical form, the Nexo Card comes with direct Apple Pay and Google Pay integrations. Cardholders can add the Nexo Card to their preferred mobile wallet from the Nexo Wallet App with a few taps. Additional virtual cards come at no cost.

Thanks to the advanced infrastructure provided by DiPocket and Mastercard, the Nexo Card will be accepted by 92 million merchants worldwide where Mastercard is accepted, allowing investors to spend up to 90% of the fiat value of their crypto in seconds without selling any of it.

Antoni Trenchev, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Nexo, commented:

“Launching the Nexo Card in Europe in partnership with Mastercard and DiPocket is a big milestone for us and the latest proof of the immense synergy between the existing financial network and digital assets. This unique product will allow millions of people, first in Europe and then worldwide, to spend instantly without having to give up the potential of their cryptocurrencies, thus offering unprecedented everyday utility for the emerging asset class.”

Fedele Di Maggio, Co-founder and CEO at DiPocket, said:

“DiPocket is delighted to have been selected as the issuer of the Nexo Card, a truly innovative solution designed to fulfill the needs of millions of investors in digital assets. Our partnership in this project with Nexo and Mastercard is a distinctive example of how DiPocket’s embedded finance technology enables visionary companies to deliver value and convenience to their customers.”

Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s Head of Crypto and Blockchain Products and Partnerships, said:

“Mastercard believes that digital assets are revolutionizing the financial landscape and we are leading in innovation with programs like our partnership with Nexo to deliver people new and one-of-a-kind choices in how they pay and activate their crypto holdings. We’re excited to continue to innovate in payments by making digital assets more accessible across the ecosystem.”

Earlier this year, Nexo completed a partial roll-out of the Nexo Card in select European countries, targeting a focus group that collectively generated extraordinary interest and transaction volume, proving there is high demand for this financial product. In the coming stages of the Nexo Card’s development, the company is planning to add a debit-type card functionality and expand the offering internationally, among many other upgrades.