Weekly Roundup

GameStop FTX Partnership: On Wednesday, GameStop announced a partnership with crypto exchange FTX US to increase its presence in the space. The video game retailer will start selling FTX gift cards at some of its stores as part of the partnership. This announcement follows the Gamestop digital wallet launch earlier this year.

Crypto Registration: On Thursday, the SEC announced that companies that help facilitate transactions in the crypto market should now register with the U.S. SEC just like other market intermediaries. Chairman Gensler noted that intermediaries in the crypto market provide a range of functions regulated by the SEC, including operating as an exchange, broker dealer, clearing agent, and custodian – and should be registered accordingly.

SEC Filing Fee: This month, the SEC must decide on a new filing fee under its market data modernization efforts. It’s been about 2.5 years since the SEC proposed ideas for a better system for US market data distribution.

Nexo Pro: On Wednesday, crypto platform Nexo launched Nexo Pro, the first global trading platform to offer retail clients access to institutional-grade aggregated liquidity, with no minimum funding requirements and at near zero cost.

Fee-Free Trading: In the run-up to and aftermath of Ethereum’s merge upgrade, Bitcoin and Binance are expanding fee-free trading to include Ethereum. Binance’s move may represent the beginning of a fee-free trading wave among the large centralized crypto exchanges.

Retail Traders Waning: Apart from meme stocks, retail traders’ impact on the broad market is declining and their ability to move markets is being offset by bearish institutional investors taking cues from the Federal Reserve. Retail trading made up 17.5% of the overall volumes in the second quarter of 2022, down from a peak of 24% in the first quarter of 2021.

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

  • Adam Neumann, WeWork founder, plans to use crypto within the digital wallet of his new startup, Flow. Flow, which recently raised $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz, is a residential real estate company. It is one of his two new startups – the other, Flowcarbon, uses blockchain technology to track carbon credits.

  • Michael Barr, Fed Governor, whose title of vice chair for supervision gives him broad powers over the nation’s banks, gave his first policy speech since his Senate confirmation. In his speech, he pushed for action on stablecoins, climate change preparations, and the safety and fairness of the finance industry.