D2C E-commerce Brands Struggle as Life with COVID19 Returns to Normal

Direct to consumer brands, which once were looked at as the future of commerce, are currently going down hard. Brands like Warby Parker, FIGS, Allbirds, Stitch Fix, Etsy, and Peloton are seeing their share prices decline massively. These companies seemed to have everything going for them, with promises of low overheads, global customer bases, and no middlemen, and yet their share prices have gone down by 60% in the past six months, and in some cases even more.

While their products are beloved and the brands well regarded in terms of quality, the confidence of investors has waned. This is mainly due to a combination of factors that has rocked the D2C industry as a whole. Due to the issues that the pandemic brought to supply channels, shipping costs have soared significantly. This coupled with higher Facebook ad prices, worse ad measurement, and smaller than expected audiences has dealt an almost crippling blow to the market.

On top of that, an analysis of public D2C companies with market caps of $800 million or more, made by Big Technology, found that almost all of them are struggling with shrinking margins and revenue, runaway losses, or a combination of them. In 2022, these companies have lost billions in market cap in a year that was already difficult for industries to begin with.

But out of all these, the rising Facebook ad prices seem to have been the most damaging factor. From the start, D2C companies have used social media and mainly Facebook as an affordable source for advertising. This was necessary for them due to their lack of physical spaces where a customer could walk in, using these ads to lure them to their virtual spaces instead.

At the time they went public, these companies had very limited brand awareness. Warby Parker, for instance, only had 13% brand awareness when it went public. Through Facebook, D2C companies could reach thousands of customers for just a few dollars.

But that’s not the case anymore. Rising demand has caused ad prices to triple within the past two years. Where reaching 1,000 customers could have cost around $6 in the past, the price could be as much as $18 now.

As previously mentioned, issues with the supply chain driving the rising cost of shipping is another critical problem. Due to the pandemic, the cost of importing containers from China increased dramatically, as much as 10 times in some cases. Given that these brands rely on shipping and imports for their operations, they have struggled to make up for that increased cost in their operations.

And yet another less mentioned but still important problem is the changes made to Apple’s iOS privacy settings and policies. iOS 14 privacy changes affected the ability of D2C brands to measure how well their social media ads are working, with internal metrics being off by as much as 40 to 50%. This severely limits how the companies can optimize their social media campaigns, which reduces their effectiveness. Coupled with the increased ad prices, they are paying more for less.

But D2C brands are not looking at this situation with crossed arms. Many companies, including Allbirds, have reached out to their investors to specify their plans to deal with these problems.

Allbirds specifically has shifted to grow its wholesale operations, opening three dozen physical stores, expanding its product categories, making new products, and establishing new partnerships. Tim Brown, Co-CEO and co-founder of the company, revealed to investors that their collaboration with Adidas saw them sell 90% of their inventory in three days. This shift to more physical selling has clearly worked, with retail channel sales going up by 129%. However, investors remain concerned given the current market.

Allbirds referred to “external headwinds” several times during their investor call and expressed that they would remain to apply a cautious outlook for 2022 until they could ascertain how these elements would play out.

While the brands have tried to work their way out, the numbers are not looking great. Allbirds, Warby Parker, Peloton, and Wayfair have posted significant losses or margin contraction over the last year. To give a concrete example, Wayfair went from $173 net income in 2020 to losing $78 million in 2021’s third quarter. In the same quarter, Warby Parker lost $91 million, though that’s in part due to stock compensation.

With interest rates rising, investors are warier of these companies. Furthermore, they have started to ask whether their valuations might be overblown, given that the market for their products doesn’t seem to be as large as projected. This has been reflected in the stock prices of these companies, with companies going down at least 19%. Some, like Allbirds and Warby Parker, have gone down significantly more with 64% and 40% decreases respectively.

And yet, the D2C space is not dead, far from it. Big brands like Nike are positioning their portfolios to take more advantage of these spaces. Furthermore, the rising prices of Facebook ads could be counteracted by moving to other platforms such as TikTok. And yet, seeing these public valuations in the billions contrast with such stark realities is not easy. Only time will tell how the D2C market fares.

Cash Vs. Credit Card Usage Statistics 2022

For the longest time, cash has been the reigning and most popular payment method for people all over the world, but this is rapidly changing. The adoption of cashless societies and virtual forms of payment is going up, an evolution that has probably been sped up by our experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic.

While cash is still fairly popular in the U.S., it’s quickly losing ground to debit cards and even credit cards. And there are a lot of interesting conclusions we can draw from the data surrounding the usage of these payment methods.

In this article, we’ll go over the statistics for credit, debit, and cash payments and general use, as well as discuss what we can glean from these numbers.

Credit Card Vs. Cash: Which Is More Popular?

Normally, cash reigns above all when it comes to popular forms of payment, but this is quickly changing. For the first time since the Diary of Consumer Payment Choice started to report in 2016, credit card payments surpassed cash payments during the year 2020. Cash payments went down 7% from 26% to 19% between 2019 and 2020, a decline which can most likely be attributed to the pandemic.

Credit card payments, on the other hand, rose from 24% to 27% of all payments within the same time period.

However, the most used form of payment was actually debit cards, with 28% of all payments made using this medium. Debit cards accounted for 10 of the 35 payments made on average every month.

It’s important to note that these numbers were affected by the pandemic in more ways than one. Not only was cash far more complicated to use during this time, but also only shopping rose due to the social distancing and isolation measures, and the number of payments made overall decreased.

Statistics for Credit, Debit, and Cash Payment Usage

Here’s some data regarding the use of debit cards, credit cards, cash, and their preference:

In general, 80% prefer to pay with cards over cash.
76% of all Americans have at least one card, and the average credit card holder has at least 3.
The average transaction with cash is $22, and without cash, it’s $112.
The average transaction with credit cards was $57.
Debit cards are used for 67% of card payments, and 28% of all payments.
Cash is more frequently used in low-income households, with 47% of all transactions being made with cash in households with less than $25,000 a year.
The total value of money spent went up from $4,236 to $4,760 in 2020.
Only 10% of people use only cash, but at least 88% of consumers use cash occasionally.
The average person held $74 in cash in their pockets, wallet, or purse during 2020 (up $20 from 2019)
The average person uses 3 to 4 payment methods each month, with more than 90% of households using more than one payment method.
52% of all active credit cards carried a balance during 2021, and as of the fourth quarter of that year credit card debt was standing at $856 billion.
Card payments are going up in frequency and quantity
In-person payments decreased by 7% from 87% to 80% between 2019 to 2020, while not-in-person payments went up from 13% to 20%.
Only 72% of people surveyed reported making an in-person payment within 3 days of the survey, down from 91% in 2019.
ATM withdrawals are going down in number, but the amount withdrawn each time is increasing.
45% of people prefer to store their card information online for future purchases.
38% of card users mentioned the reason they prefer cards is their convenience of use when compared to cash. However, 51% of them said that the high-interest rates of credit cards are a significant drawback.
Overall, people aged 65 and older account for the highest amount of cash usage, with 26% of them making their payments in cash. By contrast, people aged 25 to 34 only make 11% of their payments in cash.

What the Data Tell Us

There’s a lot we can infer and learn from the statistics seen in these reports. For starters, the pandemic has significantly changed our relationship with money and the way we make our payments

While in-person and cash payments have historically been preferred, virtual payments and payments made with cards went up significantly during 2020. However, given that this was the result of strict social distancing and isolation measures driven by efforts to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, it remains to be seen if this will result in long-term change.

But even if that hadn’t been the case, the truth is that cash has been going down in recent years in favor of debit card and credit card payments.

Cash was behind debit and credit cards for all age groups except those aged 65 and older, with younger generations preferring to use debit cards.

In general, debit cards seem to be replacing physical cash as the preferred form of payment. According to the report, people that prefer cash used their debit cards as backup twice as much as they used their credit cards.

Cash in general seems to be preferred for smaller transactions, with the majority of payments under $10 being in cash. For payments between $10 and $100, credit cards and debit cards make up about 60% of the payment share.

And while the number of payments went down overall, their average transaction size increased significantly. The average person spent $326 during October of 2020 in non-bill payments, up from $265 in 2019.

Final Thoughts

Credit card and debit card spending is going up, and cash is on its way down. This is not surprising given the recent economic turmoil, the challenges presented by the pandemic, and the increased popularity of online shopping.

However, it remains to be seen if the changes will stick, as one of the main factors for the switch in popularity from cash and in-person payments to cards and virtual payments was the pandemic.

Terra LUNA Crash – A Nightmare for Crypto Investors

Why Terra LUNA is going Down?

Will Terra LUNA Recover?

These are the two most common questions people are talking about in the crypto community. It’s not the first time that a cryptocurrency has crashed so badly. But Luna’s case is a bit different.

Luna Was Supposed to Be a Fundamentally Strong Project

Crypto is an unregulated market where the risks of scams are too high. Over the years, many inexperienced investors have lost millions of dollars by investing in different crypto projects without knowing any details.

Luna, on the other hand, had a community of experienced investors who invest their money after some research. A week ago LUNA was ranked among the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap. But now, it has collapsed and it’s not even worth a penny anymore.

The investors have lost billions of dollars within a few days and some anecdotal reports of self-harm are reported because people had invested their life savings in this project. Some people claim that it was an organized scam planned over a long time while others believe that the company itself got scammed by a group of people.

How did Terra Luna Work?

Terra introduced the concept of algorithmic stablecoins where the value of a coin is kept constant through another crypto token and smart contracts. TerraUSD (UST) was the stablecoin of Terra that was pegged at $1. The value of UST was maintained by burning LUNA tokens.

Other stablecoins like USDT, BUSD, and DAI are backed by physical assets that can be used as collateral. But UST was a more decentralized solution as it was backed by another cryptocurrency called LUNA.

The price of UST was pegged at $1. So, the arbitrageurs helped with maintaining the value. The arbitrageurs used to buy the UST tokens whenever its price dropped below $1. And they used to convert their UST tokens into LUNA tokens whenever the UST’s price raised above $1.

So, if the UST’s price is at $1, the arbitrageur needs to burn $100 worth of LUNA tokens to mint 100 UST tokens but if the UST’s price is at $0.98, the arbitrageur can get 100 UST tokens by burning $98 worth of LUNA tokens. And they can convert the UST into LUNA once the UST’s price is at $1.

Thus, they can generate a $2 profit from this trade. And the profit may increase depending on the size of the trade. Similarly, the arbitrageurs could mint LUNA tokens by burning UST if the UST’s price is above $1.

We invite you to read our detailed guide about Terra LUNA if you need more information about how Terra Luna Worked.

How Terra Luna Became Popular?

Introducing an algorithmic stablecoin was a major reason why Terra became popular. It enabled users to transfer funds globally with a very reasonable fee. It worked as a bridge between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies allowing users to buy/sell cryptocurrencies smoothly.

Furthermore, it was the second most popular smart contract building platform after Ethereum. The users could generate smart contracts on this platform by burning Luna Tokens. Similarly, the developers could build apps and other tokens on this network.

Why did Terra LUNA Token Crash?

UST had a total market cap of $15-16 billion before it all began. At the beginning of the week, around $2 billion worth of UST tokens were unstaked from the network and they were immediately sold in the market due to which the UST was depegged and its price dropped $0.90-$0.91 cent.

The arbitrageurs started taking advantage of the opportunity by converting their UST tokens into Luna to generate some profits. It ultimately created panic leading to a mass selling of UST tokens. The problem is that the users could only burn $100 million worth of UST for Luna tokens per day.

So, the holders started exchanging UST for other stablecoins because there wasn’t any other solution. The company started selling its reserve of Bitcoin to stabilize the UST token but it couldn’t support the sell-off. The Luna token holders also panicked when they saw such a huge decline in the price of the stablecoin.

The organization also minted a huge amount of LUNA tokens to protect the value of their Stablecoin (UST). But it didn’t work and created a gap between supply and demand due to which the price of LUNA token declined even further. And the Luna token that was trading at $85 at the beginning of the week is not even worth a penny anymore.

Who Caused the Terra LUNA Token Crash?

Some people claim that a group of people intentionally played this trick to manipulate the price of Bitcoin. Terra organization had a huge amount of Bitcoin reserves that they intended to use to stabilize the UST token. The manipulators knew that the organization will sell its Bitcoin reserves to tackle the huge sell-off. But these are just claims and there isn’t any solid evidence.

However, it’s one of the major reasons why Bitcoin’s price declined during this week.

When will LUNA Recover?

Do Kwon, the founder of Terra Foundation, has announced that they’re working on fixing this issue and they’ve requested the holders to be patient. But the miners have agreed upon halting the operations of the Terra network to prevent the governance attacks. The withdrawal requests are also stopped by several exchanges to handle this situation.

According to the current situation, the Luna token may take some time to recover.

Conclusion

LUNA token was one of the top 10 cryptocurrencies almost a week ago but it’s not even worth a penny anymore. It was best known for its algorithmic stablecoin UST (TerraUSD). But the stablecoin has also lost its value in the current situation. The Terra Organization is trying to resolve the problem. So, many investors are still hopeful that it may recover over time.

But at the same time, it’s quite alarming for those who have invested in other crypto projects.

US Credit Card Usage and Credit Card Debt Statistics in 2022

Credit cards are designed to get us to spend as much as we want. With an easy “swipe now, worry later” approach, your credit card debt can easily get out of hand if you don’t keep track of your spending. And apparently, that’s what happened to the American people in these last few years.

In 2022, the total credit card debt of Americans is humongous, but what is the full picture?

In this article, we’ll go over the credit card statistics for debt, usage, and more for the last two quarters of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. We’ll take a look at how much is owed, how many accounts carry a balance, and other interesting credit card debt statistics.

How Much Credit Card Debt Is Owed by Americans?

According to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the total balance for credit card debt ascended to $856 billion in the final quarter of 2021. That’s a stunning number on its own, but its impact is made more apparent when compared to the third quarter, where the debt was at $804 billion. That means that in the span of about 3 months, credit card debt rose by $52 billion.

That’s the largest increase seen between quarters in the entire 22-year history of the report, as well as the third quarter in a row that the debt has increased. Overall, 2021 saw the largest increase in nominal debt since 2007.

The results are not unsurprising considering this comes a year after the pandemic, but they are still worrying. However, the debt is actually lower than its historical highest point, which was $927 billion during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Given the recent economic downturn, it’s likely that the first quarter of 2022 sees even higher numbers.

How Many Accounts Carry a Balance?

52% of all active credit card accounts carried a balance during the third quarter of 2021, according to a report from the American Bankers Association. If we take a look at all accounts, active or not, the number falls to 40% for the same time period. 36% of the active accounts didn’t carry a balance, and 24% were considered dormant.

The data paints a troublesome scenario. With credit cards, the goal is to pay the balance in full every month to avoid the high-interest rates and fees. However, understandably not everyone is able to do so every time.

Still, the fact that more than half of the active accounts are currently failing to meet that goal means that most people are currently unable to pay their bills in full. And with credit cards, that just means creating a cycle of debt that only deepens due to the interest rates.

And yet, only a tiny fraction of all the credit cards have delinquent balances of at least 30 days. Only 1.62% of all accounts have balances that are at least 30 days old. That’s slightly higher than the number seen in April of 2021, when it was just 1.54%. While the percentage increase, numbers are still lower than they have ever been since the reporting started, and far off from the 7% seen during 2009.

What’s the Average Interest Rate?

For the first quarter of 2022, the average APR of all credit cards was 14.56%, which was slightly higher than the 14.51% seen during the fourth quarter of 2021. For credit cards that accrued interest, the average APR was 16.17% during 2022, which was lower than the 17.13% and 16.44 seen during the third and fourth quarters of 2021.

The 17.13% average seen during Q3 2021 was the second-highest average reported by the Federal Reserve since 1994.

However, for new credit card offers the APR is a lot higher, sitting at 19.68% on average. Credit card offerings currently have a variable APR range of 16.11% to 23.25%, depending on several factors such as your credit and account standing. Given the announcement from the Federal Reserve of a rise in interest rates, expect your credit card’s APR to rise in the coming months.

How Is the Credit Card Usage Divided Among Lenders?

According to data gathered by Nilson Report in 2022, the volume of all purchases made during 2021 with credit cards from the top seven lenders was divided in the following way:

Chase Bank: $950 billion
American Express: $868 billion
Citi Bank: $483 billion
Capital One Bank: $455 billion
Bank of America: $414 billion
Discover: $182 billion
U.S. Bank: $166 billion

The total purchase volume generated by them was $3.517 trillion, up 25.6% from the previous year.

Interesting Credit Card Debt Statistics

There are a lot of interesting numbers to see in the latest reports from the Federal Reserve and Credit Card lenders. Here are some statistics on credit card use in the United States:

The average American has 3 credit cards, and 83% of all adults have at least one card.
There are 531.540 million credit cards in the U.S.
When divided by race, the amount of adults that have credit cards is 87% for White Americans, 92% for Asian Americans, 72% for African Americans, and 76% for Hispanic Americans
The baby boomer generation has the highest average number of cards at 5, while Gen Z has the lowest at 1.7.
People with incomes lower than $100,000 are more likely to carry a balance from month to month.
The average debt is $8,590 per household as of the fourth quarter of 2021.
The average minimum payment due for the average credit card monthly bill is $110.50.
The average debt of Americans within the 90^th to 100^th annual income percentile was $12,600
Credit card debt was the most common type of debt during 2019, with more than 45% of families reporting debt after their last payment.
The use of credit cards for payments increased from 24% to 27% between 2019 and 2020.
Alaska has the highest overall credit card balances, which are 30.9% higher than the average, while Iowa has the lowest balances at 17% lower than average.
Gen Z is reported to be turned down twice as much as any other generation when applying for their first credit card twice, with 27% saying they were rejected upon application.

Final Thoughts

While lower than its 2019 historical record, credit card debt is still overall at a very high point. On top of that, more than half of the Americans with active cards are currently unable to pay off their full balances each month.

Given the hikes in interest rates and the general economic situation we are experiencing, these numbers are likely to increase. However, there is a silver lining. In general, delinquency is at one of its lowest points since credit card debt reporting started.

Apple Announced Tap to Pay on iPhone

Apple has recently announced its plans to launch the all-new ‘Tap to Pay’ feature on the iPhone platform. The revolutionary ‘Tap to Pay’ feature for iPhone will be helpful in turning the device into a contactless terminal for accepting payments.

As per the reports of Apple, during the later part of year, the merchants in the United States will be capable of accepting Apple Pay along with other contactless forms of payments. This feature will include Google Pay acceptance as well. All such contactless payments will be accepted with the help of iPhone and a third-party partner iOS app.

Understanding the ‘Tap to Pay’ Feature

The Tap to Pay feature will be enabled for relatively recent iPhone models like iPhone XS and later. Tap to Pay on iPhone devices will be made available to app developers and payment platforms to integrate into iOS apps as a leading payment option. For instance, Stripe will be one of the first payment platforms that will offer Tap to Pay on iOS devices to its customers with the help of the all-new Shopify app. Apple adds that additional payment applications and platforms will also follow at a later point in the year.

Once the functionality of Tap to Pay has been launched, merchants will be capable of unlocking the capability of contactless payment acceptance with supporting iOS applications. During the checkout process, merchants will ask customers to hold their Apple Watch or iPhone near the iPhone of the merchant. The payment will then be completed in a secure fashion with the help of the NFC technology. The best part is that there is no requirement for any additional hardware to accept contactless payments.

Apple also revealed that with the Tap to Pay on iPhone, payment data for customers remains protected throughout. All transactions in the process are made with the help of secure encryption.

Apple and Tap to Pay Feature

The tech giant revealed that Apple Pay has already been accepted by over 90 percent of retailers across the United States. As such, the all-new capability of the Tap to Pay feature by Apple will enable customers to experience seamless check-out processes. Tap to Pay on iPhone will also be rolling out on subsequent locations of the Apple Store in the United States at a later date in 2022. Apple plans of working closely with app developers and payment platforms to release the Tap to Pay solution on iPhone to merchants across the country. Tap to Pay by Apple will work in collaboration with contactless debit cards and credit cards from different payment networks – including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express.

Jennifer Bailey, Vice President at Apple for Apple Pay & Apple Wallet, said in a statement that as more consumers continue tapping to make payments with credit cards and digital wallets, the feature of Tap to Pay on iPhone will offer businesses a private, easy, and secure way to accept contactless payments. It will also help the customer experience with the overall convenience, security, and power of the iPhone. Apple adds that Tap to Pay feature will be made available only to participating payment platforms. It will also be available for app developers and partners in the upcoming iOS software beta.

Understanding the Working of Apple Tap to Pay

Apple Tap to Pay will enable users to make use of mobile phones as secure payment terminals. It is believed that the acquisition of the startup Mobeewave is the foundation for the all-new technology.

The feature will support payments from Apple Pay, contactless debit & credit cards, and subsequent digital wallets. Previously businesses that accepted contactless payments on iPhone were expected to use third-party hardware like Square Reader dongle.

Currently, the feature of Tap to Pay on iPhone will be limited to merchants and businesses that would like to accept contactless payments with the help of supported iOS apps on iPhone XS and later models. Apple has stated that all merchants will require iPhones to accept as well as process payments.

Businesses Supporting Tap to Pay on iPhone

Stripe announced that it will be the first company to offer the Tap to Pay functionality on iPhone to business customers. It will also include the Shopify POS or Point of Sale app during spring 2022.

In April 2022, Adyen, a leading Dutch payment processing firm, was also added to the compatible list. Additional payment apps and platforms will be following in the coming year as per the reports from Apple. Apple Stores in the United States will also be rolling out the feature very soon.

Tap to Pay by Apple will be introduced in the United States later on in the 2022. It will be an exclusive feature to the US at launch. There has been no announcement made regarding any other country. While the feature of Tap to Pay is not available for immediate use, the supporting API will be made available in iOS 15.4 to enable the feature on the iPhone XS models and later.

Robinhood Adds Support for Four New Crypto Assets Including Shiba Inu

Robinhood has had a massive effect on the crypto market. This financial service company’s recent wallet release is going have a potentially profound impact on the ramp up of the market. In August of last year, Robinhood reported that 62% of their revenue was being driven out of Doge Coin. This is amazing since crypto made up 50% of the revenue which was transaction based in the second quarter. This was a jump up from 17% in the first quarter.

Robinhood Expands Crypto Features on Trading App

Robinhood’s investment into new tokens was partly due to the expansion of the crypto trading capabilities of their application. The four coins that Robinhood invested in include Solana (SOL), Compound (COMP), Polygon (MATIC) and Shiba Inu (SHIB).

COMP

Compound is a protocol that uses an algorithm to run interest rates autonomously. Developers created this protocol so that people had access to an open source financial application. Compound allows users to deposit their digital assets into a lending pool and then earn interest out of the deposit they have lent. In this, holders of the crypto asset can take a vote to change the protocol. This Ethereum-based governance token stands at a supply of 10 million.

MATIC

This is a decentralized block chain that operates as a side layer to Ethereum and leverage from Ethereum’s security. MATIC is a native token of the Polygon network, and processes multiple thousand transactions on its blockchain.

SOLANA

This is another proof of stake blockchian that is created to enable many Crypto-based functions. It has no total supply and it is integral to many DApps, exchanges, protocols and projects in the crypto space. It leads in the top five charts in terms of market cap, making it one of the most popular alt coin.

SHIB

Shiba Inu is an ethereum based coin that resides on its blockchain. It was launched as a meme coin following the popularity of Doge Coin in August 2020. The creator of this project remains anonymous and the current founders claim that it was just an experiment for decentralized community building. After gaining popularity and acknowledgment by celebrities, Shiba Inu is starting to make collaborations to form new use cases.

After the announcements of the investment, each of the coins saw a significant jump in valuation. Now, users of Robinhood can easily purchase the coins on the application. This is going to be very interesting. However, many people are confused over the timing of their listing.

Users also do not need a crypto wallet to purchase SHIB tokens on the Robinhood app. This listing was very random and not many people had anticipated it. There was no buildup before any of these investments had been made and the sudden purchase has many people guessing.

Moreover, the company is utilizing the lightning network to conduct Bitcoin Transactions, and this goes back to scenarios that were announced at Bitcoin 2022. Many things are starting to revolve around payment transactions and the platforms that could potentially be employed on.

Robinhood came in and layered in the lightning network built on top of Bitcoin. By doing so, it has become a part of the tech companies that use the lightning network. As they go into the wallet aspect on the use of Bitcoin, it will lean into a good future towards where Robinhood is going.

RobinHood’s Future

Experts are also hinting Robinhood to becoming a much more active crypto currency exchange. They are seeing the future and movement of the asset classes, along with a yound economy around Robinhood. This is why it is very possible if the acquisition of tokens will drift towards this platform.

On another aspect, Robinhood’s crypto wallet opened up to a total of two million people. Several people in the crypto pit were able to get their hands on the wallet so that they could move the tokens fairly quickly. The biggest challenges of getting into the exchanges and being able to move outside and do some of the complex trades is usually the settlement timeframe between the bank and the exchange.

In this instance, having Robinhood as a fiat on ramp has been very helpful for many traders that are starting to utilize robinhood with the new application and aspect of the wallet. Opening up to 2 million users was therefore an interesting move by the company.

Interesting and Noticeable Features

Robinhood’s pricing is in many cases much better on some of the tokens. Users are able to get a better position on this platform than some of the other major platforms. Something to watch here is that Bitcoin is a recurring investment and this starts to push the aspect of where robinhood may be going in terms of a crypto exchange.

The one downside of this is the platforms lack of NFT capacity. Another big play for the platform would include them rolling out NFT wallet for the users. In a poll, users were most bullish about Shiba Inu amongst the four tokens that Robinhood invested in. As soon as they announced SHIB investment, there was a big movement of about 22% in its price.

Shiba Inu Price News

The Robinhood listing is acting as the catalyst for making the price of this coin rise. As Robinhood enabled SHIB purchases, the Etherum whales are starting to gobble up as many Shibs as possible. They have increased their activity in accumulating this coin. Two whales are leading this collection, and these purchases are making it difficult for small investors to gauge the market.

Final Words

Robinhood’s jump towards the Crypto assets only goes to show that mainstream payment systems are slowly started to adopt alternative methods of financing. Not only that, it also shows the rapid acceptance of digitized transactions. Shiba Inu and the four coins may be the start to a complete transformation towards crypto assets for Robinhood.

Will Stripe IPO in 2022? What You Need to Know About a Stripe IPO

Stripe announced that they are going to go public with their IPO in 2022. Stripe is a payment processing platform that powers technology startups as well as giant companies such as Shopify, Uber and Amazon. Over a million websites globally are using this payment gateway. This company was founded by two Irish brothers, and today, leads the payment gateway sector, with massive potential for growth.

It is worth noting that the pandemic has accelerated online businesses, and this has paved the way for a newfound demand on online payment systems. The way people interact with each other, the way they shop, and the way they exchange information in money has gone through a drastic change. Online and digital payments are now important part of your reality. Stripe offers payment processing software to many companies around the world.

Stripe’s Brief Background

Stripe’s founders are two Irish brothers named John and Patrick Collinson. They wanted to revolutionize how digital payments worked. Both were interested in coding from a very young age. When they were just teenagers, they developed an inventory tracking app for Ebay sellers. In addition, they also developed an Iphone application that worked as an offline Wikipedia.

The developed and launch of these applications gave the brothers the opportunity to keep bumping into the same problems pertaining receiving payment from customers. They did not turn to PayPal when they were presented with this problem because they believed it was a part of the problem.

PayPal acts as an intermediary between the person making the payment and the company, and then you have a pay a tidy sum for the service. This money can be very expensive, and although PayPal is expensive, they are also popular because it makes payments easier. Therefore, people do not mind putting up with the hefty fees.

The alternative to PayPal was the use of banks, which offered a very clunky and inconvenient option for the internet companies. In 2010, John and Patrick dropped out of college and launched stripe with the help of Y combinator. One of the distinctive aspects of stripe was that the payment solution was only made of seven lines of code for the person that wanted to include it to their software package.

These seven lines of code enabled businesses to use its system for the goal of processing payments from anyone. For the time period, this was a revolutionary idea and the two brothers started marketing this solution to different businesses so that everyone can integrate a unique way of doing business online. After a year of tweaking the product, the brothers decided to contact PayPal founders.

They pitched their idea of transforming the method of digital payments. They wanted to make it easier for businesses and customers to connect. Their idea also enabled companies to integrate software efficiently and quickly, without the know-how of advanced coding methods. This was a very revolutionary idea at the time, and so the PayPal owner funded two million dollars to the company.

Stripe’s Rise

After the PayPal funding, Stripe starting its meteoric rise and over the next decade, the company grew immensely. Today, the company processes over billions of dollars of payments every year for companies worldwide. It has even signed deals with huge businesses. One of the main reasons for its growth is the ease of use.

People that do not have advanced coding knowledge can use this payment system and with a click of a button, people can install it to their websites and platform, and then the software will handle the complicated processes in the background. Stripe’s transaction fees are way cheaper than PayPal, and the product is free to use. Not to mention, Stripe is also highly adaptable.

Stripe IPO Set to Launch

The excitement for Stripes IPO started in August of last year, where it announced that it will not be private for very long. Stripe filed its intention to IPO in July 2021. Currently valued at over $95 billion, its IPO will be one of the highest paid startup launches into the stock market in the US, even ahead of Elon Musk’s Space X.

Due to this extremely high valuation, many experts speculate that it’s rumored IPO could reach historically high numbers. Can Stripe achieve a record breaking valuation and deal size? No one can accurately predict because the IPO market is different today than it ever was.

It is also worth noting that most of the shares purchased during a popular IPO are usually in the hands of institutional investors that make it difficult for small retail investors to get involved. That being said, times have also changed and many companies allow small investors to get into pre-IPO investing opportunities.

Stripe is exciting to many investors, but small retailers may also turn their heads away from it. This is because payment processing is not exactly the most popular choice of investments for many. There is no denying that Stripe is a payment solution that is more transparent, adaptable, cost-effective, and streamlined.

Payment processing needs a significant overhaul with the technology that is available today, and cheaper and easier payments are a necessity. This is why there is a good chance that Stripe will continue to make headway in the space. People should keep an eye out for the Stripe IPO and any other news related to the launch.

Final Thoughts

With the fears of inflation, supply chain crises, and the overall volatility and unpredictability of the US economy, the IPO market has come to standstill. Companies are starting to rethink their listing, and anticipation for the new unicorn has dried out thanks to the current market situation. Therefore, it is questionable whether the IPO launch will be arriving anytime soon.

CFPB Urged to Implement Regulation of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)

Recently, CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) issued a sequence of orders to different companies delivering BNPL or Buy Now Pay Later credit. The orders for collecting information on the benefits and risks of the rapidly-growing loans have been extended to Zip, Affirm, PayPal, Klarna, and Afterpay. The CFPB looks into actions like data harvesting and regulatory arbitrage in the consumer credit market that continues changing with the rapid technology.

Rohit Chopra, Director at CFPB, explains that BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) serves as an all-new version of the traditional layaway plan. However, with the more modern system, consumers are able to receive the products immediately. He added that CFPB had given orders to Zip, PayPal, Klarna, and Afterpay to deliver information so that it can be reported to the public detailing risks and industry practices.

Understanding BNPL Credit

BNPL or Buy Now, Pay Later Credit is a type of deferred payment solution that usually allows consumers to divide a particular purchase into small-sized installments, usually less than 4. It is mostly associated with a down payment of around 25% that is collected during checkout. The application process is simple and efficient for the consumer. It usually involves relatively minimal information from the end customers. Furthermore, the product is available with no interest in most cases.

Lenders have regarded BNPL as a safer alternative to managing credit card debt. It is also known for its propensity to deliver services to consumers with subprime or scant credit histories.

Merchants continue adopting revolutionary BNPL programs. They are also willing to pay around 3-6 percent of the total purchase cost to the respective companies. These fees are typically regarded as similar to credit card interchange fees. Offsetting the cost is the fact that consumers tend to purchase more with the help of BNPL. The overall use of BNPL has increased during the global pandemic. It also spiked during the holiday season.

More Americans and other global consumers continue taking advantage of this trend. The most recent Cyber Monday and Black Friday shopping weekend in 2021 witnessed impressive growth with respect to BNPL. The massive growth has grabbed the attention of a number of investors, including major venture capital money. Leading tech companies are also making an entrance into the arena.

CFPB’s Implementation of BNPL

CFPB is responsible for monitoring consumer financial markets. At the same time, it enables the agency to ask the respective market players to deliver information regarding the monitoring process. The CFPB expects to publish aggregated findings on deeper insights obtained from the inquiry. The ongoing orders aim at highlighting the range of the respective consumer credit products along with the underlying business practices.

The Bureau is specifically concerned about the following aspects:

Regulatory Arbitrage: Some BNPL organizations might not be efficiently evaluating what specific consumer protection laws will apply to the respective products. For instance, some BNPL products do not offer specific disclosures as required by some laws. The BNPL application might appear similar to a standard checkout process with the help of a credit card. However, protections applying to different credit cards might not apply to BNPL products.

Most BNPL agencies do not offer access to dispute resolution or proper protections for other forms of credit, including credit cards. Eventually, based on what specific rules the lenders tend to follow, different policies and late fees will apply.

Accumulation of Debt: Traditional layaway installment loans were typically utilized for the major big purchase. However, in the modern era, consumers can easily become ongoing users of BNPL services to ensure day-to-day discretionary shopping. It is especially true when they download the easy-to-use applications or go ahead with installing the web browser plugins.

When a consumer has multiple purchases on different schedules with different companies, it is difficult to maintain track of when payments will be scheduled. Furthermore, when there is not enough money in the bank account of the customer, it could eventually lead to charges by both the BNPL provider and the consumer’s bank. Due to the overall ease of getting loans, consumers will spend more than expected.

Data Harvesting: BNPL lenders depict access to relevant payment histories of the customers. Some lenders use the collected data to design closed-loop shopping applications with partner merchants. It helps in pushing particular products and brands. It is mostly geared toward fresh, younger audiences.

As competitive parties continue putting pressure on merchant discounts, lenders will be expected to come across more sources of revenue towards maintaining profitability and growth. The Bureau expects to better understand the underlying processes around the concepts of behavioral targeting, data collection, data monetization, and potential risks they might create for the customers.

The BNPL product has witnessed immense growth across the globe. A number of other nations in the world are also observing the technology closely. As a part of the ongoing inquiry, the Bureau continues working with its esteemed international partners, including Germany, the UK, Australia, and Sweden -especially the Financial Conduct Authority. The Bureau also aims at coordinating with the remaining Federal Reserve system along with its state partners.

As per a recent survey, it has been observed that around 40 percent of BNPL consumers revealed that they use BNPL credits for ensuring purchases that would otherwise have not accommodated their budget. More recent studies have revealed that consumers who ended up over-drafting the respective accounts were at least 2 times more likely to have bought BNPL services.

As per the recommendations of the group, the Bureau is expected to ensure:

Applying relevant credit card protections of the TILA or Truth in Lending Act
Issuing a larger participant rule to ensure that the BNPL market remains under the supervision of CFPB
Preventing or taking action against deceptive, unfair, or abusive practices or acts while ensuring compliance with fair lending laws

It is crucial for the CFPB to ensure BNPL lending platforms, especially BNPL credit, are handled in a way that is fair and beneficial to consumers, as well as within the parameters of existing laws regarding credit.

Square Changed Its Corporate Name to Block

Square has recently announced changing its name to Block. Through its all-new corporate name, Square aims at combining existing services. Some of the services include Tidal, CashApp, Square, and TBD. As a brand, Square will continue representing the seller business of Block.

Evolution of Square -from Payment Processing to Blockchain Technology

In 2009 Jack Dorsey, then also the CEO of Twitter, introduced Square for one purpose. It was aimed at allowing sellers to accept credit card payments with the help of smartphones. Since its inception, Square has gained traction across multiple industry domains.

Expanding its offerings for financial services, Square had launched Cash App. It was previously referred to as Square Cash. It was launched in 2013. Cash App serves to be a mobile application along with a digital wallet solution that has claims of more than 70 million users in 2020.

In 2021, Square went ahead with acquiring a major ownership stake in Tidal, the famous music streaming service by Jay-Z. The brand also made the announcement of launching TBD, an open platform that helps in the creation of a decentralized exchange platform for Bitcoin.

Why is Square Changing Its Name to Block?

In a recent press release, Jack Dorsey made the statement that Block serves to be an all-new name. However, the entire purpose of economic empowerment with Block remains the same as that of Square. Irrespective of how the company aims at growing or changing, it will continue building tools to increase the overall access to the entire economy.

As per the reports of Square, its all-new name will have several meanings. In some ways, the name can be associated with the overall concept of the development of neighborhood blocks, building blocks, and the respective communities and local businesses. All of these aspects come together at block-based parties featuring abundant music. On the other hand, Square has mentioned an association to blockchain or specific sections of code.

With the given fact, the chances are that the given name change will predict something related to cryptocurrency. Blockchain is regarded as the foundation of cryptocurrency. Dorsey supports the concept significantly. In addition to launching TBD, Dorsey had also previously made the announcement of launching a Bitcoin-based hard wallet. Moreover, you can also expect a mining rig to work now.

Development of a Wider World with Block

Just like Facebook had named itself to Meta recently, the name change of Square will not be affecting its user base. However, it will indeed mark the direction of the group for the respective future developments and the type of projects it will be working on in the future.

Throughout several years, Square has been successful in fulfilling visions to reach further than others in the initial stage of conception. Due to this, the name change of Square to Block will help in reflecting a wider world in which it will make a difference.

Additional Advancements

Earlier this year, Afterpay agreed to merge with Square. The Cash brand is also expected to allow teenagers between 13 and 17 years to open accounts with the help of parental oversight. At the same time, Tidal is preparing itself for a major shift toward the context of direct artist royalty payments this year.

The NYSE sticker for Block will remain the same as SQ. The company has also made it clear that there will be no organizational changes taking place at the given moment. Until now, Square used to serve as one of the largest winners of 2020. It is due to the digital shift of consumers in terms of payments. Shares of the company have been down by around 2 percent. It is because investors continue rotating away from high-growth technology names.

Unique Role of Square in the Future of Payments

As COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the overall move of online commerce, Block (Square) played a role in the domain of physical commerce. Google Pay and Apple Pay are mostly linked to a Mastercard or Visa card. With the help of its seller solutions, enabling both online businesses and brick-and-mortar retailers to accept payments, Square has established direct links with the end customers and SMEs. Therefore, it may be possible in the future to allow fully digital payments with the help of the all-new digital payment rails. At some point in the future, there may no longer be a requirement to use the incumbent intermediaries of MasterCard and Visa. In that scenario, Square or Block would integrate with the respective card systems while at the same time, also offer access to decentralized options.

This is where the all-new TBD concept comes into play. It allows individuals at the dedicated point of sale to pay for products with the help of digital assets. There is no requirement of going through a separate legacy system that obtains additional payment in the form of intermediary. It will not be limited to the physical world. It will also include finance and investment.

TBD will also continue embracing blockchain analytics to identify bad actors while promoting this as a leading alternative to traditional anti-money laundering (AML) processes. It is a significant issue on its own. It is because compliance and AML deliver a disproportionate impact on the underbanked and unbanked. Recently on 30^th June 2020, Square went ahead with changing its reporting and operating segments. Previously, the company had reported itself as a single entity. Currently, it has become two segments for reporting, Square and Cash App. The two segments feature the primary ecosystems of the service providers. Block (Square) also offers services through Tidal along with some blockchain and Bitcoin initiatives.

Blockchain.com Has Launched Asset Management Service and Reveals DeFi Product Plans

Blockchain.com – a crypto technology company known for raising the series D funding, has come up with its asset management service and brand known as BCAM. Initially, the company had been successful in raising an all-new round of funding. It has eventually valued its company at $14billion.

The all-new service BCAM will be catering to institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals, and family offices. The asset management service by Blockchain.com has been presented in partnership with Altis Partners. It is a leading investment firm that helps with the management of futures portfolios. As Blockchain.com continues powering BCAM, Altis helps in providing investment management services.

Blockchain.com Asset Management Service: An Insight into BCAM

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BCAM by Blockchain.com has come up with a dedicated strategy of tracking the price of Bitcoin against the dollar. Another leading strategy that the solution leverages for ensuring asset management is focusing on the reduction of volatility in connection with the investment of Bitcoin. It is achieved by providing “algorithm-based risk-managed exposure” to the existing currency.

BCAM is also committed to launching another product for managing exposure into decentralized finance coins. It will be linked to applications that allow people to lend, trade, and borrow without any intermediary. It was revealed by Charlie McGarraugh -the Chief Strategy Officer at the organization.

Blockchain.com has now doubled down on the overall institutional business by launching its all-new service BCAM. McGarraugh added that like everything else, you will not know it all unless you try crypto. However, just like everything with crypto, it is assumed that the company is rising to new heights. It is indeed a big opportunity.

Recently, Blockchain.com purchased the over-the-counter trading & execution business of Altonomy in March. Since then, the company has managed to garner a number of institutional clients. The company boasts around $8 billion in loan originations along with $15 billion in lifetime trading volume linked to the respective institutions.

Blockchain.com and Its Rising Popularity

Recently, Blockchain.com has also been successful in raising total round funding. This funding has catapulted the company into the ranks of the most valuable companies of the crypto industry. The funding has been forwarded by Lightspeed Venture Partners. It features significant participation from the side of Baillie Gifford & Co.

The firm Blockchain.com was founded in 2011. It is guided forward by Peer Smith -the Chief Executive Officer. Currently, the company boasts the presence of around 37 million verified users along with 82 million wallets that have been created and over $1 trillion in transactions made.

BCAM Targeting Affluent Customers

Launched recently, the all-new service will be responsible for serving high-net-worth customers, family offices, and institutional investors.

The crypto firm with its headquarters in London is known to offer access to a wide range of services. It includes custody and trading. The leading asset management solution by Blockchain.com aims at working on different strategies, including:

Tracking the price of Bitcoin against the US Dollar
Offering Bitcoin Smart Beta -risk-managed exposure based on algorithms, for reducing volatility during investments in Bitcoin

In addition to this, BCAM will also go ahead with launching a product for managing exposure to DeFi (Decentralized Finance) coins like Decentraland (MANA), Aave, Uniswap, and so more.

Institutional Demand for Increase in Active Crypto Fund

With the ever-increasing institutional demand for active and managed digital asset investments, BCAM aims at combining the conventional financial markets with the all-new world of crypto to meet the increasing demands.

Recently, Abra – a wealth management platform focused on crypto, has launched its asset management component – Abra Capital Management. The service enables clients to assess around 5 actively managed funds with ample exposure to multiple digital assets -including Tether (a stablecoin) and Ethereum.

Blockchain.com Plans at Attracting Crypto Whales for Seeking Bitcoin Millionaires

Blockchain.com is much more than an exchange platform. At the start of 2022, the first Blockchain.com exchange hosted Walmart Manager -Tom Horton in the band. The financial services and cryptocurrency exchange company is experiencing a boom.

The digital wallet and cryptocurrency exchange company has handled almost a third of the network transactions for Bitcoin since the time of 2012. Moreover, the bulk of all transactions is being processed with the help of wallets of Blockchain.com has occurred over last 2 years. These numbers are not reflected in what is being sold and bought on our exchange, but instead on the real utilization of crypto. It helps in instantly sending immense value around the world as quickly as sending an email. The milestone serves to be a great message that the crypto industry is not just for going on the exchange and buying & selling. The experts believe that crypto will help in driving a digital financial system.

About Blockchain.com

Blockchain.com is a dedicated platform offering a way to purchase, hold, and utilize cryptocurrency. It helps in creating a financial system for the internet to empower anyone in the world to control the overall money. More than 50 million customers have signed up for using the platform of Blockchain.com. It is a quick and easy way to purchase Bitcoin while trading crypto, sending, receiving, securing, and borrowing digital currencies.

The Blockchain.com explorer is regarded as one of the most trafficked websites across the globe to analyze what is happening in the crypto markets. The Blockchain.com exchange helps in supporting a faster trading experience.