Weekly Roundup

Fintech Startup Market
It was reported that fintech startup market reached record levels of venture capital fundraising in Q1 of 2021.

SPAC Crackdown
The SEC issued accounting guidance that would classify SPAC warrants as liabilities instead of equity instruments, coolingretail investor interest.

ESG Investing
The National Association of Plan Advisors cited a study that ESG investing has reached critical mass, and that Natixis found that 77% of professional fund selectors and 75% of institutional investors now consider ESG factors an integral part of sound investing.

Artificial Intelligence
It was reported that AI is to play a major role in the credit card and payment industry.

Crypto ETFs
It was reported that fintech firm Hopeful WisdomTree, a Bitcoin ETF, listed an Ethereum ETP in Germany and Switzerland.

Copyright and Source Code
The Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against remote testing company Proctorio regarding a source codecopyright claim regarding a student at Miami University.

In the Mix: This Week’s Top FinTech Thought Leader

  • Gary Gensler, continued to fill in nominees for different divisions of the SEC. His enforcement division chief, Alex Oh, stepped down following pressure from Progressive Democrats regarding a former client’s involvement in a human rights abuse case.
  • Chris Brummer, Professor at Georgetown, hosted his Crypto Beat podcast on subjects including the “crypto custody” and the“fintech jobs market in fintech.”
  • Flori Marquez, founder of BlockFi, was featured as a “woman in fintech” following her transition from traditional Fintech at Bond into the ecosystem of crypto lending.