The PSD2 saga in Norway continues this week with Cicero Consulting stating that PSD2 is a necessary evil for many banks and that the error lies in how the legislation is designed and enforced. They conclude that they don’t think the fintechs will get what they want before the Financial Supervisory Authority in Norway takes action. Both clarifies and enforces the regulations that have been made. I think we now have reached peak PSD2-news-fatigue. Let’s hope something actionable happens soon!

Why do many Neobanks feel more like lifestyle brands than banks or tech companies? As we’ve written a lot about before, cards are the only physical manifestation of these banks, even though they are no longer needed in Norway. I haven’t paid with a physical card for almost a year now. So why do these modern banks go through the hassle of producing and shipping physical cards? The answer is signaling. It’s also the same reason why the credit card number has moved from the front to the card’s back. It makes it easier to share on social media. Julian Lehr points out that it weirdly enough seems like all the neobanks are focusing on the same target audience instead of differentiating their signaling messages. He suggests that they could increase their total addressable market by doing brand collaborations. Think N26 x Manchester United. An interesting idea for sure!

Speaking of banking on status, Cash App by Square just launched an apparel collection, proving that Julian Lehr is onto something.

Vipps is throwing out Nets in favor of Adyen to handle card payments for Vipps online. Adyen has, in a relatively few years, gone from being a smaller Fintech-company from the Netherlands to being a European competitor to Stripe. But because the company is an engine that does not have an interface for end customers, Adyen is still unknown to most people outside the Fintech world. 

As we usually see when the Bitcoin-prices surge, news related to crypto-currencies also increase:

However, the most interesting Crypto-find this week is the card manufacturer Ford, which is thinking about how smart traffic control systems can financially reward drivers in exchange for minor inconveniences.

What is most interesting about this idea from Ford is how smart infrastructure could enable new forms of automated transactions with smart contracts and cryptocurrency.

Last week we wrote a lot about Stripe and their two new features, Treasury and Capital. Not Boring by Packy McCormick did a relatively deep dive on Stripe in August and named them as the Internet’s most undervalued company. Last week he wrote a follow-up covering the API-first ecosystem where Stripe and Twilio are in the forefront.

The newsletter is taking two weeks off, charging our batteries. While we’re sitting around the Christmas tree, opening presents, we’ll contemplate the economics of these trees in our living rooms. Did you know that it takes around 8-10 years for a tree to evolve to proper living room size? Or that the industry is a case study in supply and demand: In the 90s, farmers planted too many trees resulting in rock-bottom prices ten years later? 

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Marius Hauken, partner Stacc X

Fun fact of the week: Did you know that AirPods make as much money as Spotify, Twitter, Snap, and Shopify combined. 🤯