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VOICE ARCHIVE

Alex Johnson

@alexh_johnson
21 posts
2026-02-25
PayPal had the opportunity to build Apple Pay before Apple, Affirm before Affirm, Cash App before Block, and Stripe before (or at least in parallel with) Stripe. And now Stripe may acquire PayPal. Talk about fumbling the bag.
2026-02-25 View on X
Bloomberg

Sources: Stripe, which is privately held, has expressed preliminary interest in a potential PayPal acquisition or buying its assets; PYPL closed up 6.7%

Payment processing firm Stripe Inc. is considering an acquisition of all or parts of PayPal Holdings Inc., according to people familiar with the matter.

2026-02-18
100% this. This is not about states rights or arguments over what is and isn't a commodity. This is a fight over revenue generated from a socially harmful activity. Some states want to protect their citizens from that activity (and forgo the revenue). Some states want to allow
2026-02-18 View on X
Wall Street Journal

A Las Vegas federal appeals court rejects Kalshi's emergency bid for an administrative stay on Nevada's push to block the platform, a major setback for Kalshi

A federal appeals court rejected Kalshi's bid, setting the stage for Nevada's civil-enforcement proceedings

100% this. This is not about states rights or arguments over what is and isn't a commodity. This is a fight over revenue generated from a socially harmful activity. Some states want to protect their citizens from that activity (and forgo the revenue). Some states want to allow
2026-02-18 View on X
Axios

CFTC Chair Mike Selig says the commission will file friend-of-the-court briefs to defend its exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets amid state lawsuits

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is launching a legal campaign to defend its regulatory turf on prediction markets …

2026-02-17
100% this. This is not about states rights or arguments over what is and isn't a commodity. This is a fight over revenue generated from a socially harmful activity. Some states want to protect their citizens from that activity (and forgo the revenue). Some states want to allow
2026-02-17 View on X
Axios

CFTC Chair Mike Selig says the commission will file friend-of-the-court briefs to defend its exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets amid state lawsuits

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is launching a legal campaign to defend its regulatory turf on prediction markets …

2025-07-30
The framing of this tweet is very smart and rather amusing. It's almost like how you'd talk to someone during an intervention. “We're worried. This isn't like you. You're hurting the people around you.”
2025-07-30 View on X
Financial Times

A US trade group for 30+ fintechs and aggregators says JPMorgan's plan to charge for data access could cost some firms 60% to over 100% of their annual revenue

Start-ups say having to pay for consumer's financial information would run them out of business

2025-07-05
It seems to me that tokenized private stock “investing” is going to create a significant adverse selection problem. The private companies that investors should want to invest in (OpenAI, SpaceX, Stripe, etc.) don't need or want it (see OpenAI's tweet below) and will likely take [image]
2025-07-05 View on X
Bloomberg

As companies like SpaceX, Stripe, and OpenAI stay private longer, tokenized stocks on blockchains offer a way for the public to access lucrative private markets

Matt Levine / Bloomberg :

2025-04-02
Holy cow. I knew Coinbase had a sweet deal on USDC, but this is nuts. No wonder Armstrong wants to be allowed to kick back some of the $ as interest to users. With this arrangement in place, I'd want to drive as much growth of USDC as possible.
2025-04-02 View on X
CNBC

Circle files for a US IPO, with plans to list on the NYSE under CRCL; Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, is reportedly seeking a $4B to $5B valuation

Circle, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, has filed for an initial public offering and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

2024-11-28
FFS. None of this is correct. The CFPB is the most pro-competition federal banking regulator. Relative to its treatment of incumbents, it's a friend to “little tech”. To the extent that debanking is a real thing, the CFPB has nothing to do with it. And it doesn't happen to
2024-11-28 View on X
Business Insider

On Joe Rogan's podcast, Marc Andreessen criticizes the “raw administrative power” of US agencies like the CFPB, SEC, and FTC, talks Elon Musk and DOGE, and more

- Marc Andreessen discussed Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency on Joe Rogan's podcast.

2023-05-20
Not terribly surprising. https://twitter.com/...
2023-05-20 View on X
Financial Times

Sources: top shareholder SoftBank demanded compensation from Revolut after UK regulators told the startup to simplify its ownership to obtain a banking license

Minister to meet payment group's bosses amid fears UK's biggest tech group will leave the country

2023-05-02
Averages out to a bit more than $4,000 per account, but I'd be curious to learn how many accounts are just rolling over their credit card reward balances and how many are linking their bank accounts and moving in new $. https://www.forbes.com/...
2023-05-02 View on X
Forbes

Sources: Apple's high yield savings account offering a 4.15% annual return brought in nearly $400M in deposits on launch day and ~$990M over its first four days

Emily Mason / Forbes :

2022-11-24
Don't you normally do this type of announcement *after* you find someone to replace you? https://techcrunch.com/...
2022-11-24 View on X
TechCrunch

All three founders of online trading service Pipe are stepping down as the company looks for a “veteran” CEO; Pipe raised $250M at a $2B valuation in May 2021

Setting the scene  —  The co-founders of revenue-based financing … Nancy Dahlberg / Refresh Miami : Pipe co-founders step down and search for ‘veteran’ CEO is launched Jeff Kauflin...

2022-09-13
Apple is collaborating with the federal government on research and development of digital ID credentials and reaping the resulting IP. 👀👀👀 https://twitter.com/...
2022-09-13 View on X
Fintech Business Weekly

How Apple's Cooperative R&D Agreement on digital IDs with the TSA in March 2019 could disadvantage its rivals in developing mobile identity credentials

Jason Mikula / Fintech Business Weekly :

2022-06-01
This is some great analysis on Varo, a neobank I've been curious about for a while. Stat that blew me away: the average balance in a Varo customer's account was just $83.24 in Q1 2022. https://twitter.com/...
2022-06-01 View on X
Fintech Business Weekly

Q1 2022 filings: Varo, the first US neobank to receive a bank charter, had $263M equity, an $84M burn rate, and 98% of its income came from interchange and fees

2022-05-18
Plaid vs. Stripe https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
2022-05-18 View on X
Protocol

Plaid announces two products for Automated Clearing House transfers, including identify verification, putting it in direct competition with Stripe

Plaid is moving into identity verification in a crucial expansion beyond its roots connecting banks and fintechs — a move that could put …

2022-02-17
The full interview is a worth a read because it (along with other insider opinions, like those of gamers and game designers on play-to-earn) provide a perspective on the risks of trying to fix something that we already love by giving it more money. https://www.platformer.news/ ...
2022-02-17 View on X
Platformer

Q&A with longtime Wikipedia contributor Molly White about her website “Web3 is going just great”, why Web3 won't create new Wikipedia-style projects, and more

they are familiar with the challenges that community governance and decentralization can bring.” @molly0xFFF, brilliantly https://www.platformer.news/ ...

2022-01-10
Watching Jack and a16z beef about web3 is entertaining, but this is what you should actually be paying attention to. I learned a ton from this post. https://twitter.com/...
2022-01-10 View on X
r/ethereum on Reddit

Ethereum co-founder responds: “the properly authenticated decentralized blockchain world is coming”, but is slowed by “limited technical resources and funding”

I've been thinking about Matt Mullenweg's response to Brian Armstrong's response … Rick Webb / Webb Chatham Report : Good morning. Hello. How are you? #562 Cooper Midroni / Future ...

Watching Jack and a16z beef about web3 is entertaining, but this is what you should actually be paying attention to. I learned a ton from this post. https://twitter.com/...
2022-01-10 View on X
Moxie Marlinspike

How Web3 apps and wallets inevitably depend on centralized services like OpenSea, Infura, and Alchemy, which don't even provide authenticated responses

2021-10-02
Wow. Google is scrapping Google Plex, its checking account product that it was launching in partnership with a bunch of different banks (including Citi). I have two immediate reactions... https://www.wsj.com/...
2021-10-02 View on X
Wall Street Journal

Google scraps plans for mobile-first bank accounts service Plex; sources say the move follows April departure of a Google Pay exec who championed the project

Tech giant had partnered with Citigroup and other banks on ‘Plex’ accounts that would sync with Google Pay

2.) The project was killed for bad reasons. According to the WSJ, the executive championing Plex left the company and the new executive in charge was afraid that Plex was too competitive with banks (which I think Citi and the other partner banks would disagree with). https://twitter.com/...
2021-10-02 View on X
Wall Street Journal

Google scraps plans for mobile-first bank accounts service Plex; sources say the move follows April departure of a Google Pay exec who championed the project

Tech giant had partnered with Citigroup and other banks on ‘Plex’ accounts that would sync with Google Pay

2021-08-02
Square: - Has an ecosystem of integrated merchants - Has a consumer banking app with 70m customers - Lends to merchants (and is experimenting with small $ consumer lending) - Has done BNPL through its merchants before - Has a bank charter Why are they doing this? https://twitter.com/...
2021-08-02 View on X
Reuters

Square says it's buying Australia-based buy now, pay later service Afterpay for $29B in an all-stock deal, paying a 30% premium on Afterpay's last closing

U.S. fintech company Square Inc (SQ.N) said on Monday it had agreed to purchase Australian buy now/pay later giant Afterpay Ltd …