Your Daily FinTech Podcast - May 20th, 2022

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS Klarna is looking to tap investors for more cash in a move that would reduce its valuation by about a third. The Swedish fintech company, which was valued at $46 billion last June, would be worth about $30 billion under its latest plans. JUST IN: Plaid is expanding beyond its core product of account linking — its first major expansion since its 2013 inception. The move comes two weeks after payments giant Stripe announced it was encroaching on Plaid’s territory with a new product of its own. ALSO: Chinese billionaire Jack Ma-led Alibaba and Ant Financials have sold their 43.32 percent stake in Paytm E-Commerce back to the company for just around $5.6 million. In its last round of funding in 2020, the company was valued at $3 billion. FURTHERMORE, Apple users can now request and send money from their Apple Cash card directly through the Wallet app with the launch of iOS 15.5. WHAT ABOUT CRYPTO? Quontic has opened an outpost in the metaverse, "to connect with customers, offer education, and eventually - as the virtual world evolves - offer banking services". Crypto investors in Germany won’t pay tax on sales of digital assets such as bitcoin and ether — as long as they’re held for more than one year.