Week in Digital Wealth

Russia & Ukraine market impact updates, and Ukraine asks exchanges to bar and sabotage Russian user accounts on the heels of officially legalizing the trade of crypto in the country this week.

TWIDW 2/22/22: Russia & Ukraine updates, the SEC takes a tougher stance on crypto with the CFTC, and…why aren’t you spending your Bitcoin? Intel makes headway into the crypto mining space, CBDC action in Wyoming, Securitize speeds up the convergence of the stock market and blockchain with a recent acquisition,

This week we cover much-awaited CPI index data, Russia/Ukraine tensions and effects on crypto markets, EU turmoil and more crypto bans, with blockchain providing new uses cases for tracking down criminals. More growing pains for Binance, what increased volatility means for fintech M&A in 2022. Silicon Valley execs are leaving for Web3, Crypto is headed to Uber, and a shakeout looming for smaller, for-profit mining groups.

This week, Digital Wealth News is pleased to introduce a new writer for "The Week in Digital Wealth" - Greg Bilecki. We've found Greg to be a talented writer on other projects and we're thrilled to have him take over this column for us, with his unique perspective on all things fintech and digital wealth the world over. Welcome Greg!

Apple is in growth mode and is eyeing merchant payments in addition to the metaverse. Consumers are spending and saving money even in the face of the pandemic. Walmart’s fintech arm has joined the race for a financial super app. JPMorgan made a fintech splash in Greece.

he Fed meets this week, and the markets will be looking for signs about the anticipated tightening of monetary policy. Goldman Sachs says to prepare for at least four rate hikes in 2022. Fintech stocks and bitcoin are far from their peaks as investors flee risk for now. Despite the market storm, one banking fintech could be ready to dip its toe into the publicly traded waters. Google has made a key hire in hopes of improving its standing in the digital payments space. 

Earnings season is underway, and banks are obsessed with their chief rivals — fintechs. VCs can’t get enough of fintechs either, but in a good way as funding levels continue to rise. Meanwhile, neither cryptocurrencies nor fintech stocks have been able to win over investors so far in 2022, except for one meme coin. Amazon and Visa have found a way to coexist in the U.K. 

Discussions between the U.S. and Moscow could lead to sanctions on Russia targeting the financial and tech sectors. Meanwhile, the CEO of a major tech company has decided if you can’t beat them, join them in fintech.

Fintech CEOs must be keeping their New Year resolutions close to the vest. Nevertheless, we still rounded up the latest happenings across the industry, including how banks are responding to the spread of the omicron variant.

Inflation might be in the air, but that hasn’t stopped American consumers from shopping online and at physical stores this holiday season in a rush to beat the supply chain blues. BNPL has come into its own in 2021.  Mastercard and Visa both have their sights set on digital payments. Credit unions want more control over their crypto holdings. And billionaire tech entrepreneur Jack Dorsey is stirring the pot in the VC community.