Photo: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby's
Visa wants in on the NFT craze. So do scammers.

Hello and welcome to Protocol | Fintech! This Tuesday: A mixed bag for NFTs, Cathie Wood on starting Ark Invest and the high price of free stocks.
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NFTs continue to take the art world by storm, but the blockchain-based digital creations are getting mixed reviews on the business side of things.
The industry got a huge and somewhat surprising endorsement when Visa announced that it just bought one.
But the 63-year-old payments company's purchase of CryptoPunk #7610 for $150,000 was quickly overshadowed by reports of dubious practices and outright scams in the NFT world.
"We're jumping in feet first." That's Visa's game plan with NFTs, Cuy Sheffield, the company's head of crypto, said as the CryptoPunk purchase was announced.
But what if it's fake? That's certainly possible, though one hopes Visa did its due diligence. NFTs "have a dark side," with scammers and hackers becoming increasingly active, a Wall Street Journal report said.
Corporate approbation and fiscal manipulation come hand in hand. Legitimate operators like Visa and digital fraudsters are pursuing NFTs for the same reason: There's a lot of heat in the space right now. If NFTs weren't worth enough to draw scammers, would anyone else be interested?"
— Benjamin Pimentel
Over the last two years, many retailers have seen the benefit of investing in new, flexible payments. Despite the low-hanging fruit this opportunity presents, our research shows 60% of ecommerce merchants globally do not feel they receive enough payment insight to allow them to innovate their models. So how can businesses turn their ships around before it's too late?
Klarna losses jump. Credit losses also spiked as the Swedish "buy now, pay later" firm expanded to new markets.
What fintech company (besides your own) have you been most impressed with this past year?
I love what both Rally and Masterworks are doing in the private investments market. Rally is making investing "fun" by letting folks invest in differentiated alternative investments like antique cars, collectible toys and even the original Mario Bros! Masterworks is now making it easier for the average person to invest in Art (an uncorrelated asset class btw!). Both companies are working on really cool ideas that could really shake up the way people can invest in the future. I am definitely rooting for them.
What fintech trend is most troubling for you?
Free stock giveaways to get people to engage on fintech apps. In my opinion, this form of incentive really engenders the wrong thinking and approach to investing especially since many of these stocks are penny stocks. There are risks associated with investing and this form of gamification really desensitizes people to those risks.
What's been your biggest professional blunder and how did it help you?
Why did it take me so long to move over to fintech?! I started my career in traditional investment management with stops along the way at both conventional asset management companies and hedge funds. Going into my 30s, I had the singular focus to launch my own hedge fund, while still also managing monies for other hedge fund managers. Somewhere along the way, I realized I felt like something was missing and that I wanted to do something more "meaningful." That feeling led me to found Q.ai.
Over the last two years, many retailers have seen the benefit of investing in new, flexible payments. Despite the low-hanging fruit this opportunity presents, our research shows 60% of ecommerce merchants globally do not feel they receive enough payment insight to allow them to innovate their models. So how can businesses turn their ships around before it's too late?
That's the record amount of U.S. Treasuries bought by banks in the second quarter as consumers borrow less.
Thanks for reading — see you Tuesday.
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