The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit Thursday to stop Visa's (NYSE: V) $5.3 billion acquisition of fintech firm Plaid, arguing it violates antitrust laws and would eliminate competition in the online debit market. The lawsuit claims Visa is a "monopolist" in online debit transactions and alleges its proposed acquisition violates Section 2 of the Sherman Act and Section 7 of the Clayton Act.
Visa currently boats a 70% market share of all online debit transactions, and Plaid provides technological infrastructure for platforms like Coinbase and PayPal's (NASDAQ: PYPL) Venmo. While the antitrust lawsuit acknowledges Plaid's technology does not directly compete with Visa, DOJ noted Plaid's online debit service could evolve into a significant competitor to Visa and Mastercard (NYSE: MA). Plaid did not comment on the news, but a Visa spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the lawsuit is "legally flawed and contradicted by the facts" and argued an acquisition would benefit consumers.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
The "Central Bank Governors' Club," including institutions from the Central Asia, the Black Sea region and the Balkans, said Friday the coronavirus pandemic has spurred growth to e-commerce and digital settlement technologies, like national digital currencies. Governors of 26 central banks met in Russia to discuss the pandemic and its financial ramifications, and they noted COVID-19 is one of the reasons financial regulators are increasingly considering the creation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The group said central banks should assess the impact a CBDC would have on monetary policy and financial stability, as well as develop procedures to "avoid and mitigate cyber risks." The group also argued the economic crisis of COVID-19 will have "far-reaching global implications," including a higher sovereign debt burden and "financial vulnerability" in the world economy.
Ripple Labs set up a new regional base in Dubai, as reported by the Emirate News Agency on Saturday. The blockchain payments firm's new Middle East and North Africa (MENA) headquarters will be located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), a financial hub with over 2,400 firms and its own independent judicial system and regulatory framework. Navin Gupta, managing director for South Asia and MENA at Ripple, said: "Ripple already has a significant client base in the MENA region and the opportunity to co-locate with our customers made DIFC a natural choice." He added the office will help strengthen Ripple's ties with more financial institutions in the region. The announcement comes as the manager of the Ripple (XRP) token is considering a move away from San Francisco, after CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently argued an unfavorable US regulatory regime for the means countries including the UK, Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates are being seen as potential alternative headquarters.
Crypto prices surged to $443.7 billion this week, mirroring the US stock market's election-related climb. For the majors, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Chainlink (LINK), and Cardano (ADA) all soared double-digits. In the top 100, the biggest losers were CyberVein (CVT), down 14%, ABBC Coin (ABBC), down 14%, and Crypto.com Coin (CRO), down 13%. The biggest gainers were Aave (AAVE), up a whopping 74%, HedgeTrade (HEDG), up 60%, and yearn.finance (YFI), up 47%. Next week traders will watch for a continuation.
The author owns a small amount of BTC.