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☆ FDIC unveils rule forcing banks to keep fintech customer data in aftermath of Synapse debacle
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-17 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on Tuesday proposed a new rule forcing banks to keep detailed records for customers of fintech apps after the failure of tech firm Synapse resulted in thousands of Americans being locked out of their accounts. That's what happened in the Synapse collapse, which impacted more than 100,000 users of fintech apps including Yotta and Juno. Customers with funds in these "for benefit of" accounts have been unable to access their money since May. Keeping better records would allow the FDIC to quickly pay depositors in the event of a bank failure by helping to satisfy conditions needed for "pass-through insurance," FDIC officials said Tuesday in a briefing. While FDIC insurance doesn't get paid out in the event the fintech provider fails, like in the Synapse situation, enhanced records would help a bankruptcy court determine who is owed what, the officials added.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FDIC, Federal Register, Bank, JPMorgan Chase

☆ Your Online Lender May Not Be a Bank. Here’s How to Keep Your Money Safe.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If it looks like a bank, advertises like a bank and accepts money like a bank — it still might not be a bank. That is the lesson being meted out in painful fashion to tens of thousands of depositors who entrusted their savings to online-only lenders. But to the surprise of many depositors, these companies merely collect money and funnel it through intermediaries to banks. Because Synapse was not a bank, the F.D.I.C. insurance did not automatically apply, and now nearly $100 million of deposits have been frozen or lost.

Organizations: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Synapse Financial Locations: U.S

☆ Banks in Synapse mess make progress toward releasing deposits of stranded fintech customers
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

There may be relief for the thousands of Americans whose savings have been locked in frozen fintech accounts for the past two months. Banks involved in the mess caused by the collapse of fintech intermediary Synapse have made progress piecing together account information for stranded customers that could result in a release of funds in a matter of weeks, according to a person briefed on the matter. The development comes as regulators, including the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, pressure the banks involved to release funds after media and lawmakers have heightened awareness of the debacle. Beginning in May, more than 100,000 customers of fintech apps like Yotta, Juno and Copper have been locked out of their accounts. "We're strongly encouraging Evolve to do whatever it can to help make money available to those depositors," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the Senate banking committee Tuesday.

Persons: Banks, We're, Jerome Powell, Scot Lenoir, Jelena McWilliams, Sankaet Pathak Organizations: Staff, Evolve Bank & Trust, Bank, Synapse, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Evolve Locations: California

☆ What Happens When Your Bank Isn’t Really a Bank and Your Money Disappears?
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-09 | by ( Rob Copeland | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For close to a century, putting your savings into a federally insured bank has been a sure thing: If the institution fails, up to $250,000 of your money will be protected. The promise of bank insurance — a tenet of U.S. consumer protection since the Great Depression — is now being tested by a crisis swirling around online-only lenders with hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits between them. Most depositors have little clue where their money has gone, and whether they will get any of it back. It operated banking software for fast-growing online lenders with names like Juno, Yieldstreet and Yotta. Their slick websites advertise insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that pledges to pay back lost funds.

Persons: you’ve Organizations: Synapse Technology, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, U.S . Locations: U.S

☆ How thousands of Americans got caught in fintech’s false promise and lost access to bank accounts
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-02 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Craft had her wages deposited directly into a Yotta account and used the startup's debit card to pay for all her expenses. CNBC reached out to fintech customers whose lives have been upended by the Synapse debacle. Instead of spending years and millions of dollars trying to acquire or become banks, startups got quick access to essential services they needed to offer. They account for 60% of all new fintech account openings, according to data provider Curinos. The FDIC's exact language about whether fintech customers are eligible for coverage: "The short answer is: it depends."

Persons: Natasha Craft, Craft, fintech, Adam Moelis, Sankaet Pathak, Michele Alt, Scott Sanborn, Sanborn, LendingClub, she's, Rick Davies, Taylor Stitch, " Davies, He's, he's, Davies, hasn't Organizations: FedEx, CNBC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, Synapse, Indiana FedEx, Disney, Bank, Trust, JPMorgan Chase, Klaros, PayPal, Getty, Financial Technology Association, D.C, Block, Regulators, Federal Reserve, FDIC, Oakland, San, OCC Locations: Mishawaka , Indiana, Craft, Oakland , California, New York City, Santa Barbara , California, Maryland, Bristol , Connecticut, Seattle, Tennessee, Yotta, Boston, Washington, fintechs, Silicon, San Francisco

☆ Nearly $109 million in deposits held for fintech Yotta’s customers vanished in Synapse collapse, bank says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ledgers of the failed fintech middleman Synapse show that nearly all the deposits held for customers of the banking app Yotta went missing weeks ago, according to one of the lenders involved. A network of eight banks held $109 million in deposits for Yotta customers as of April 11, Evolve Bank & Trust said in a bankruptcy court letter filed late Thursday. About one month later, the ledger showed just $1.4 million in Yotta funds held at one of the banks, Evolve said. Yotta CEO and co-founder Adam Moelis said in response to this article that Synapse has said in court filings that Evolve held nearly all Yotta customers deposits. "According to the Synapse trial balance report provided on May 17, there are $112 million of customer funds held at Evolve," Moelis said.

Persons: Adam Moelis, Moelis Organizations: Evolve Bank, Trust, Evolve, Synapse, Federal Reserve, Fed Locations: Memphis , Tennessee

☆ Savings app CEO says 85,000 accounts locked in fintech meltdown: ‘We never imagined a scenario like this’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-01 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Instead, his company has inadvertently been a source of deep pain for thousands of customers who relied on Yotta accounts to receive paychecks, pay bills and save for emergencies. For the past three weeks, 85,000 Yotta customers with a combined $112 million in savings have been locked out of their accounts, Moelis told CNBC. Accounts at crypto firm Juno and at Copper, which offered savings accounts for families and teens, also have been frozen. Adam Moelis, Co-Founder at Yotta Savings. Representatives of the agencies have pointed to efforts they've made to encourage banks to manage the risks of using fintech partners.

Persons: Oscar Wong, Adam Moelis, Trust —, Moelis, Dave, We've, they've Organizations: Synapse, Bank, Trust, CNBC, Evolve Bank, Evolve, Mercury, Yotta Savings, Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Locations: Tennessee, Yotta, fintech

☆ Fintech nightmare: 'I have nearly $38,000 tied up' after Synapse bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The situation deteriorated in April after Synapse declared bankruptcy following the exodus of several key partners. That has left users of several fintech services stranded with no access to their funds, according to testimonials filed this week in a California bankruptcy court. One customer, a Maryland teacher named Chris Buckler, said in a May 21 filing that his funds at crypto app Juno were locked because of the Synapse bankruptcy. Synapse had contracts with 20 banks and 100 fintech companies, resulting in about 10 million end users, according to an April filing from founder and CEO Sankaet Pathak. The freeze-up of customer funds exposes the vulnerabilities in the banking as a service, or BAAS, partnership model and a possible blind spot for regulatory oversight.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Buckler, Buckler, Dave, Juno, Sankaet Pathak, Pathak, Joseph Dominguez, Dominguez, Jason Mikula, Mikula Organizations: Istock, Synapse, Evolve Bank & Trust, Mercury, CNBC, Evolve Bank, Trust, Regulators, FDIC, Federal Reserve Locations: California, Maryland, Joseph Dominguez of Sacramento , California, Silicon

☆ India's Yotta discusses its order of 16,000 Nvidia AI chips
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIndia's Yotta discusses its order of 16,000 Nvidia AI chipsDarshan Hiranandani, chairman and co-founder of the data center firm, explains what the chips can be used for.

Persons: Darshan Hiranandani

☆ Opinion | A Smart Way to Turn Gambling Into a Virtue
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Initially proposed to cope with debt from the Nine Years’ War (1689-97), the Million Adventure offered 100,000 tickets at £10 each. The Million Adventure was also a saving program, in that it paid ticket holders a £1 per year until 1710, or a 6.15 percent annual return. Harold Wilson, then the shadow chancellor of the Exchequer, called Premium Bonds a “squalid raffle,” but the British people rushed to buy them. Today about one in three Britons owns Premium Bonds. It has taken longer for prize-linked savings to catch on in the United States, but it’s happening.

Persons: we’re, Benjamin Franklin, Murphy, Harold Wilson, Truist’s Organizations: American Gaming Association, Sports, Britons, Bonds, InTouch Credit Union of, Yotta Technologies Locations: U.S, United Kingdom, British, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, United States, InTouch Credit Union of Plano , Texas

☆ Part of the secret to Austin's thriving clean-tech startup scene: mentorship
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Austin, Texas, is home to a number of clean-tech startups. Austin's clean-tech scene isn't only composed of household names. But why do so many clean tech companies call Austin home? That's poised to help clean-tech companies, according to recruiters, venture capitalists, and those who have shifted to working for green companies. Taylor, who's lived in Austin for 38 years, has been part of the Austin startup scene since 1991.

Persons: —, Rebecca Taylor, Taylor, Austin, HolonIQ, Teague Egan, Larry Fink, Egan, Elon Musk, There's, who's, It's Organizations: Service, Austin Technology, ATI, University of Texas, Motors, EV, Blackrock, Giga, Southwest Festival, Computing, Dell, Apple, Microsoft Locations: Austin, Texas, Washington, Tesla, California, Giga Texas, Round, Taylor

☆ Ex-Intel chief architect explores data center deals for AI startup in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, April 5 (Reuters) - Intel Corp's (INTC.O) former chief architect Raja Koduri is in talks with Hiranandani-backed data center operator Yotta for a deal for his generative artificial intelligence startup, which he said will have a big presence in India. Koduri, who has worked on nearly two dozen generations of computer graphics chip, plans to build local data centers to ease the access to massive computing power needed for generative AI tools. Generative AI refers to technology such as ChatGPT that can use prompts to whip up haikus, essays and images. The southern state of Karnataka and Telangana have been "very supportive", he said, adding that subsidies on electricity will be crucial as data centers are power guzzlers. He is also joining the board of AI chip startup Tenstorrent, led by veteran chip architect Jim Keller, who led the design of Tesla's (TSLA.O) self-driving chip in 2016.

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