Issue #371 - Metaverse Makes People Scratch Their Heads July 7th, 2022

Even if China took severe measures against the crypto space, limitations don’t involve NFTs – as long as they comply with national regulations: considered more as an expression of cultural creativity, NFTs – or digital collectibles – are the next big thing for Chinese tech giants. That’s why top tech companies issued a “self-disciplined development proposal”: even if not legally binding, it could force the government to clarify the regulatory framework concerning NFTs. Companies use private blockchains to develop collectibles: people can pay for them only using yuan, and trading is discouraged.

Misha Osipov, founder of the fintech firm Nova Credit, addresses an interesting topic: fintech-focused migrations. The country chosen by fintech enthusiasts is the UK: despite Brexit, the government seems to want to get back to “pre-Covid immigration levels.” The UK is not only the place where entrepreneurs find new fintech companies but also the place where you can develop fintech-related skills.

David M. Brear and Kate Moody are joined by Andrea de Gottardo (Kroo) and Jessica Cath (Fintrail) to discuss some of the hottest fintech news – among which is the banking license of Kroo, the UK-based fintech firm, and the recent legal problems faced by Credit Suisse.

For all those who own a business, the Metaverse could be your next destination. The digital world is the choice of an ever-increasing number of companies – independently of their size – to set up the digital version of their firms. Despite this, go ahead to know what the ex-CEO of Google said about the Metaverse.

Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, forces us to consider our level of knowledge about one of the hottest topics in the fintech space: the Metaverse. During the Aspen Ideas Festival, Schmidt admitted that despite the marketing efforts of tech giants to focus on the Metaverse – the reference to the choice of Facebook is evident – there isn’t a general agreement on what the Metaverse really is. His words are confirmed by a survey conducted by Axios, which reveals that most Americans are not sure what the Metaverse is.

By analyzing venture capital firms’ choices, Ryan Browne identifies some hot fintech investments and projects that currently don’t attract investors. The focus is on businesses and the facilitation of payments.

Warba Bank is the first company in the MENA region to enter the Metaverse. The bank chose Decentraland and Sandbox to join the digital world.

Maybe not everyone will agree, but Daniel Lanyon brings some interesting arguments to prove that fintech wouldn’t be the same without the iPhone. An interesting point of view, mainly because it addresses Apple, a company that has become every day more a fintech company.

Today, any business that wants to be competitive needs to interact with fintech somehow, and that’s just the natural result of innovation.

Fintech has been the hottest sector during the pandemic, but now that the whole global economy is volatile and uncertain, fintech firms are suffering the blow. Despite this, recent studies show that fintech is resilient, thanks to innovation and its capability to address people’s needs even during hard times.