Today is Tuesday (May 17), and it’s the biggest day for voting so far in 2022, with ballots being cast by Dems and GOP voters in Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania primaries. Plus, retail sales for April will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. And, on a totally different note, Congress is holding a public hearing on multiple mysterious reports of UFOs. Here’s what else should be on your radar this morning.
Tether Selloff. Investors pulled over $7 billion out of the world’s biggest stablecoin, sending more chills across the crypto investment community. Tether and USDC dropped below its USD $1 peg following the total collapse of terra, which broke its value and hasn’t recovered since May 9.
Klarna Expansion. BNPL service Klarna is expanding its partnership with URBN to offer interest-free Pay in 4 plans to Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People retail brands. The U.S. partnership builds on Klarna’s relationship with the companies in several European countries.
One-Click Nirvana. Payoneer CEO Scott Galit told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster that the new Payoneer Checkout acceptance functionality ranks among the biggest changes the company’s ever accomplished and could be one of the “defining megatrends of the digitalization of commerce.”
That ‘70s Algorithm. RSA, an algorithm from the late 1970s, is the public-key cryptosystem forming the cornerstone of secure data exchange that financial institutions (FIs) and related firms rely on, Jack Hidary, CEO of Sandbox AQ, told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster. The problem is that it represents a key vector of vulnerability that can ultimately be defeated by hackers.
ICYMI. The death of digital transformation was greatly exaggerated despite sprinkled data points in the media that seem to suggest tech is old news. FinTechs trading on the public markets are down 40%, Nasdaq hasn’t been so low since 2008, and PYMNTS CE 100 Index dropped 30% this year. But as the World According to COVID carries on since 2020, shifting in different ways according to geography, digital behaviors are staying the course regardless of the threat level.
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