Robinhood to Launch in UK After Two Failed Attempts

Hi NoRamp Community,

As a reminder, NoRamp Daily has a new structure and broader focus. We’re featuring 5 pieces of daily news, spanning across fintech, payments, and blockchain.

Daily News:

1) RARI Foundation Launches Testnet for RARI Chain on Arbitrum

2) Horizon Launches Sequence Builder to Make Crypto Game Dev Easier

3) SoFi Shutters Crypto Trading Following Fed Regulation

4) Paysend Raises $65 Million and Teams With TelevisaUnivision

5) Robinhood to Launch in UK After Two Failed Attempts

RARI Foundation Launches Testnet for RARI Chain on Arbitrum:

• The RARI Foundation, linked to the Rarible ecosystem, has launched the testnet for the RARI Chain on Arbitrum, a new blockchain designed as an NFT infrastructure solution with integrated royalties at the node level.

• The launch follows a significant increase in Rarible’s trading volume, leading to the platform's decision to only include marketplaces that support royalties, aligning with its commitment to royalty enforcement.

• The RARI Chain is supported by a partnership ecosystem including Arbitrum, LayerZero, and others, focusing on rewarding creators fairly and ensuring their earnings through royalty enforcement. This initiative is part of the RARI Foundation's role in representing the RARI DAO, governed by $RARI token holders.

Horizon Launches Sequence Builder to Make Crypto Game Dev Easier:

• Crypto development platform Sequence launches Builder, a comprehensive dashboard for game developers, aimed at simplifying the integration of blockchain elements like NFTs into video games.

• Builder offers features like importing NFT collections, adding crypto wallet connections, prepaying for transaction fees, and launching white-label NFT marketplaces, with future plans for NFT minting. It also provides easy wallet setup options and integrates with popular game engines like Unreal Engine and Unity.

• Sequence differentiates its product with a full-stack solution that includes a smart contract wallet and an indexer for organizing blockchain data, supporting connections to over 11 EVM blockchains, with potential future expansion based on developer demand.

SoFi Shutters Crypto Trading Following Fed Regulation:

• SoFi, an online banking and high-yield savings account provider, is discontinuing its cryptocurrency trading service, with customers notified via email to migrate their assets to Blockchain.com.

• This decision follows the Federal Reserve's stringent regulatory guidance for digital assets, making it challenging for SoFi to continue its crypto services as a bank holding company.

• SoFi customers must move their funds to Blockchain.com by Dec. 19, but regulatory restrictions in certain states like New York will compel some customers to sell their crypto holdings. Blockchain.com anticipates a significant migration from SoFi, following its recent $110 million funding round

Paysend Raises $65 Million and Teams With TelevisaUnivision:

• Paysend, a FinTech specializing in money transfers, has raised $65 million in new funding, following recent collaborations with Mastercard, Western Union, and Visa to enhance cross-border payment services.

• The U.K.-based company has also partnered with TelevisaUnivision, aiming to focus on the USA-Latin America money-transfer corridors, with plans to feature Paysend’s advertising on TelevisaUnivision’s network for the next three years.

• Paysend's partnerships are leveraging Visa Direct for real-time transactions and focusing on financial inclusion for unbanked and underserved customers, especially in cash-heavy economies.

Robinhood to Launch in UK After Two Failed Attempts:

• Robinhood, an online investment app, plans to launch in the U.K. in early 2024, offering 6,000 U.S. stocks and 24-hour trading, but initially excluding U.K. stocks, options, and derivatives.

• This marks Robinhood's third attempt at U.K. expansion, following a withdrawn 2019 launch due to increased U.S. demand during Covid and a failed acquisition of British crypto-trading app Ziglu.

• The launch will operate under a Financial Conduct Authority license, with customer cash protected by U.S. FDIC insurance, and plans to generate revenue through securities lending, margin lending, interest on uninvested cash, and its Robinhood Gold subscription, avoiding payment-for-order-flow which is banned in the U.K.

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