Finance

Crowdfunding website Kickstarter wants to move its entire platform over to a new infrastructure based on blockchain technology.
The proposal is all part of a buzzy new movement in tech known as “Web3,” which aims to create a decentralized version of the internet.
Kickstarter and Discord, the online chat app, want to make moves into Web3. But outcry from their users has given them a reality check.

Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images

When Kickstarter unveiled its ambition to develop a blockchain-based crowdfunding system, the company characterized the move as a way to push creators closer to their audiences.
“Backers should be able to easily discover and participate more deeply in projects, better control their data, and have more robust tools to assess the trustworthiness and viability of a project,” Kickstarter said in a blog post earlier this month.

The reaction from users was hardly the sort of response Kickstarter had been hoping for.
A tweet by the company announcing the news was met with immediate backlash from Kickstarter customers who threatened to abandon the service, citing concerns with the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin and other digital currencies require huge amounts of electricity for processing transactions and minting new units of currency. For its part, Kickstarter said it would use Celo, a “carbon-negative” crypto payments platform, for the initiative.
Kickstarter envisions the new crowdfunding mechanism as a “decentralized” protocol that would make it easier for people to raise funds for projects, even outside of its own platform. The eventual aim is to move its entire website over to the new infrastructure.

‘Web3’

Kickstarter’s proposal is all part of a buzzy new movement in the technology world known as Web 3.0, or “Web3.”

Web3 proponents argue that today’s online platforms are too centralized and controlled by a handful of large internet companies, like Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Facebook parent company Meta.
Like the “metaverse” touted by Meta, Microsoft and others, Web3 is still a hazy concept.
Most proponents describe it as a decentralized version of the internet based on blockchain, the technology behind many major cryptocurrencies. You can think of the blockchain like a ledger of transactions that’s constantly being updated by multiple computers around the world.
It’s attracted lots of interest — and money — from venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz and big tech names like Twitter and Stripe. Several conversations on Twitter about the trend are from people with NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, as their profile pictures.

Kickstarter isn’t the first to experience backlash over a corporate move into the world of Web3.
Discord, the online chat app, recently teased some features that would let users connect their crypto wallets with their account. The tool, shown in a tweet by CEO Jason Citron, was met with swift backlash.
Some users raised concern over the potential for scams and money laundering in cryptocurrencies and NFTs, while others slammed the vast amount of energy required to process transactions on the blockchain.
“We have no current plans to ship this internal concept,” Citron said in response.
“For now we’re focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud. Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale. More soon.”

What it means

Large companies and investors with deep pockets are raving about Web3. But there’s a disconnect between how tech and finance industry professionals view crypto and the perception of the technology from the general public.
With crypto, the primary use case among consumers continues to be speculative trading. And there is still a huge education gap. According to the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority, 69% of people under the age of 40 don’t realize crypto isn’t a regulated product.
“There’s clearly a goldrush…leading to speculative investment,” David Chaum, an American computer scientist and digital cash pioneer, told CNBC by email.
Chaum is best known for inventing a system of untraceable electronic cash in the 1980s called e-cash. He added: “General skepticism about ‘crypto’ and digital currency has existed for as long as I can remember — long before bitcoin.”
Several major companies, including Tesla, PayPal and Meta, have taken the plunge into crypto lately.
Such moves have helped drive the price of bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies higher this year, with investors betting on their potential to reach mainstream acceptance.
But if Kickstarter and Discord’s attempts to move into the market show anything, it’s that this goal is still a long way off from becoming a reality.

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The SEC announced Friday that JPMorgan Securities admitted to bookkeeping failures and agreed to pay $125 million to settle the charges.
Another regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, fined the bank $75 million.
The SEC said JPMorgan acknowledged that, from at least January 2018 to November 2020, its employees used personal devices to send texts, WhatsApp messages and emails about company business.
Even the managers and senior personnel responsible for compliance used their personal devices to communicate sensitive business matters, the SEC said.

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

JPMorgan Chase is paying $200 million in fines to two U.S. banking regulators to settle charges that its Wall Street division allowed employees to use WhatsApp and other platforms to circumvent federal record-keeping laws.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday that JPMorgan Securities agreed to pay $125 million after admitting to “widespread” record-keeping failures in recent years. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also said Friday that it had fined the bank $75 million for allowing unapproved communications since at least 2015.

SEC officials who spoke to reporters Thursday evening said JPMorgan’s failure to preserve those offline conversations violated federal securities law and left the regulator blind to exchanges between the bank and its clients.
Federal law requires financial firms to keep meticulous records of electronic messages between brokers and clients so regulators can make sure those firms aren’t skirting anti-fraud or antitrust laws.
The move is the latest sign of an ongoing battle between regulators, banks and employees over the use of personal devices. Policing the use of unofficial channels became even more pressing when most of Wall Street went remote during the coronavirus pandemic. Regulators in New York and London have ratcheted up enforcement of record-keeping rules recently as traders migrated to encrypted messaging platforms including WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram.
While phone conversations and messages on official company devices and software platforms are preserved, it’s much harder for bank compliance departments to surveil communications on third-party apps.
That workaround picked up in popularity after two of the industry’s biggest trading scandals of the past decade, involving manipulation of Libor and foreign exchange markets, hinged on incriminating messages preserved in chatrooms, resulting in multibillion-dollar fines for banks.

Traders at JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and other firms have been dismissed or placed on leave for infractions tied to the practice. But the SEC order revealed how pervasive it is.

At JPMorgan, the practice of going offline to communicate was firm-wide, and even the managers and senior personnel responsible for compliance used their personal devices to communicate sensitive business matters, the SEC said.
The investigation at JPMorgan is ongoing, and the SEC has launched similar probes at firms across the financial universe. JPMorgan ordered its traders, bankers and financial advisors to preserve work-related messages on personal devices earlier this year, Bloomberg reported in June. Messages included content on a wide range of discussions, including investment strategies, client meetings and market observations, the SEC officials said.
JPMorgan declined to comment beyond a regulatory disclosure that acknowledged settlements with the two agencies.
On top of the fine, JPMorgan agreed to hire a compliance consultant to review the bank’s policies and training, the SEC said. The bank had already begun upgrades to employees’ software to improve compliance, the SEC said.
“As technology changes, it’s even more important that registrants ensure that their communications are appropriately recorded and are not conducted outside of official channels in order to avoid market oversight,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a press release.
In stressing the importance of diligent record-keeping, Gensler recalled the 2013 foreign exchange scandal, when traders at several leading banks used private chat rooms with names including “The Cartel” to conspire to fix currency rates to maximize profits.
Five of the world’s largest banks, including JPMorgan, ultimately agreed to pay more than $5 billion in combined penalties and plead guilty to resolve the investigation.
“Books-and-records obligations help the SEC conduct its important examinations and enforcement work,” Gensler added. “They build trust in our system.”
While SEC officials said the $125 million penalty is its largest record-keeping fine to date, the bigger threat to JPMorgan may be reputational. By going after JPMorgan, the world’s biggest Wall Street firm by total revenue, the SEC has put the industry on notice.

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The announcement caps a banner week for Gensler, who on Wednesday issued a raft of proposals aimed at securing money market funds and limiting executives’ ability to trade their own companies’ equity.
Taken together, the proposals and enforcement action suggest the Biden appointee is sprinting to draft and enact one of the most ambitious policy agendas in decades.
Many investors see him as the leader the SEC needs to develop expansive cryptocurrency regulation, safeguards around special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, standardized climate disclosures for public firms, and rules governing online brokerage marketing and the “gamification” of securities trading.
The enforcement action also marks a major milestone for SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal, who has for months warned that tougher enforcement was on the horizon.
Restoring the public’s trust in Wall Street will require “robust enforcement of laws and rules concerning required disclosures, misuse of nonpublic information, violation of record-keeping obligations, and obfuscation of evidence from the SEC or other government agencies,” he said in October.
In addition to his focus on Wall Street’s bookkeeping, Grewal is also working on ways the SEC can prevent misconduct from happening in the first place, what he refers to as “prophylactic” measures.
Specifically, Grewal has said he plans to be aggressive about requiring guilty firms — JPMorgan, in this case — to confess their infractions publicly.
“Recordkeeping requirements are core to the Commission’s enforcement and examination programs and when firms fail to comply with them, as JPMorgan did, they directly undermine our ability to protect investors and preserve market integrity,” Grewal said in a statement Friday.

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An entry sign to the Johnson & Johnson campus shows their logo in Irvine, California on August 28, 2019.
Mark Ralston | AFP | Getty Images

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading.
Johnson & Johnson — Shares of Johnson & Johnson fell 2.7% after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for Covid-19 over the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Thursday. The CDC confirmed 54 cases of people developing blood clots and showing low blood platelet levels after the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Moderna shares gained 4.5%. Pfizer lost 2.9%, however, after it said it would amend its study with BioNTech of its Covid-19 vaccine in children between 6 months and under 5 years of age.

Cerner — The health-care information company’s stock jumped 12.9% following new that it’s in talks about a potential sale to Oracle. The deal could be worth $30 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shares of Oracle fell 6.4%.
FedEx — Shares of the shipping company jumped 4.9% after quarterly earnings and revenue results topped expectations and it announced a $5 billion buyback. FedEx also reinstated its original 2022 EPS forecast.
General Motors — GM lost 5.5% following news that Dan Ammann, CEO of its San Francisco area-based self-driving car company Cruise, has left the company. Cruise founder Kyle Vogt will be interim CEO.
Rivian Automotive — Electric vehicle maker Rivian saw shares fell 10.2% after reporting its first quarterly results as a public company and cut its 2021 vehicle production target, expecting to fall “a few hundred vehicles short” of its 1,200 vehicle target.
Darden Restaurants — Shares of the restaurant company slid 4.9% after CEO Gene Lee announced plans to retire on May 29. The Olive Garden parent earned $1.48 per share during the second quarter on $2.27 billion in revenue. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.43 per share on $2.23 billion in revenue, according to Refinitiv.

Winnebago — The camper added 0.8% after reporting a sizeable beat on the bottom line for its fiscal first quarter. Winnebago earned $3.51 per share, compared with FactSet’s consensus estimate of $2.34 and revenue that also came in above analysts’ forecasts.
Banks — Financial stocks were among the biggest laggards Friday as bond yields fell amid heightened fears about the omicron variant. Wells Fargo fell 4.6%. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley lost 3.9$ and 3.1%, respectively. JPMorgan lost 2.2%.
Eli Lilly — Shares of the pharmaceutical company fell 4.1% after competitor Biogen’s drug for Alzheimer’s Disease received a negative opinion from European health regulators. Eli Lilly began the application process for approval of its own Alzheimer’s drug in the U.S. in October and is expecting a regulatory decision next year. Goldman Sachs also initiated Eli Lilly stock as neutral with a $236 target, implying 15% downside.
 — CNBC’s Yun Li and Pippa Stevens contributed reporting.

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Omicron, the new and highly contagious Covid-19 variant, is spreading rapidly.
Rising caseloads are causing restaurants and Broadway shows to close temporarily in New York. The dynamic may soon occur elsewhere.
Workers who lose significant hours (or their jobs) may qualify for unemployment benefits. Rules are complex and vary by state — and some may seem counterintuitive.

Pedestrians stand in line at a Covid-19 mobile testing site at Columbus Circle in New York, on Dec. 5, 2021.
Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Covid cases are spiking in some parts of the U.S., and the highly contagious omicron variant is expected to fuel another virus wave headed into winter.
In New York, some restaurants and Broadway performances closed temporarily this week. The positivity rate in the city doubled to 7.8% over three days, from Dec. 9 to 12.

Restaurants outside New York have had to shut their doors, too.
That same dynamic may soon affect a broader swath of Americans. Omicron is more contagious than the delta variant, and cases are doubling roughly every two days.

Workers who lose hours or their jobs may be wondering: Am I eligible for unemployment benefits?
For many, the answer is yes.
However, the U.S. unemployment system has ample nuances and complex rules, meaning the situation will vary by state and individual circumstance.

And some groups of workers who’d qualified for aid earlier in the pandemic may find that assistance is no longer available. Temporary federal programs that expanded the jobless safety net expired on Labor Day. Sick people who miss work or self-employed individuals who lose ample earnings, for example, are likely out of luck.

“It’s ultimately going to be up to the state workforce agency to determine if someone’s eligible,” said Michele Evermore, a senior policy advisor for unemployment insurance at the U.S. Labor Department.
The bottom line: Workers should apply if they think they may qualify, Evermore said. She advised workers be careful how they report data on their application. (One common and costly mistake, for example: reporting no earnings for the week since payday hasn’t yet come.)
Here’s what to know.

Partial benefits

Unemployment benefits are available in instances beyond a layoff; workers who lose significant hours may qualify, too.
Typically, workers need to lose at least half their weekly work to qualify in most states, according to Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. So, a restaurant worker who loses two of four work shifts due to a temporary Covid shutdown may qualify.  

These “partial” unemployment benefits are a portion of the full amount triggered by an outright job loss.
Rules around partial benefits (including amount and eligibility) vary by state.

Eligibility rules

There are many factors that influence your eligibility for benefits. Two primary determinants: earnings history and whether you have collected benefits during the past year.
Receiving state unemployment insurance starts a “benefit year.” This is a 52-week cycle during which you can collect a set amount of weekly benefits.
States determine the weekly amount based on your earnings history, typically over the last four or five full quarters of work.

Workers can generally get up to 26 total weeks of benefits during their benefit year; they can collect that total in fits and starts over multiple rounds of layoffs. (Amount and duration vary widely by state.)
For example, let’s say a worker collected $250 a week for 13 weeks over the spring and summer of 2021. This person can likely claim $250 a week for another 13 weeks if they lose their job heading into winter.
Someone who collected benefits earlier in the pandemic may have a harder time qualifying in the near future. They may have exhausted their maximum 26-week allotment and may need to wait until the clock resets to a new benefit year.
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Even if a year has passed, they may not have earned enough since their last layoff to qualify for more assistance.
“The real question will be, did they work long enough when things opened back up?” Stettner said.
One exception may be “extended benefit” programs, additional weeks of benefits that become available during periods of high joblessness. Extended benefits were only available in four states (Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Mexico) as of Nov. 27, according to the Labor Department.
In some states, unemployed workers must also be searching for full-time work (and not a part-time job) to be eligible for benefits.

Omicron exposure

Some workers may need to stay home due to a Covid exposure or if they’re sick — and may lose pay as a result.
Workers who need to quarantine because they came in close contact with a person who tests positive may qualify for benefits, Evermore said. States may consider this person “able and available to work,” a key component of eligibility.

Perhaps counterintuitively, that likely wouldn’t be the case for someone who tests positive for Covid and can’t work, Evermore said.
“Unemployment insurance was never intended to be paid sick leave,” Evermore said. Workers may be able to get a paid-leave benefit from their employer or via a state program, she added.

Self-employed and gig workers

This wasn’t the case earlier in the pandemic. Congress had expanded the pool of workers eligible for unemployment benefits via the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, part of the CARES Act lawmakers passed in March 2020.
The PUA program offered federal benefits to those who missed work for a host of Covid-related reasons (contracting the virus or caring for a sick individual, for example). It also paid gig workers, the self-employed, independent contractors, freelancers and others who don’t generally qualify for state benefits.
That program lapsed on Labor Day, meaning many of these groups may no longer qualify. Some state labor agencies may determine gig workers and independent contractors to be eligible if they meet certain employment requirements, however, Evermore said.

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“I go into next year feeling [like] the baseline outlook is a very good one. Therefore, actually raising interest rates would be a sign of a positive development in terms of where we are in the economic cycle,” said New York Federal Reserve President John Williams.
His comments came after the Fed signaled earlier this week that it sees as many as three rate hikes in 2022.
The central bank also said this week it would aggressively dial back its bond-buying program.

The Federal Reserve raising interest rates next year would signal the central bank feels good about the country’s economic recovery, New York Fed President John Williams said Friday.
“I go into next year feeling [like] the baseline outlook is a very good one. Therefore, actually raising interest rates would be a sign of a positive development in terms of where we are in the economic cycle,” Williams said in an interview with CNBC’s Steve Liesman on “Squawk Box.”

“I’m pretty optimistic that we’re seeing really strong improvements in the labor market. You’re seeing the unemployment rate come down quickly,” Williams added.
His comments came after the Fed signaled earlier this week that it sees as many as three rate hikes in 2022. The Fed cut rates to near-zero levels in March 2020 as part of its efforts to support the economy at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank also said this week it would aggressively dial back its bond-buying program.
That rate forecast comes during an increase in U.S. inflation.
The consumer price index — which tracks the price of everything from cars to food to rent — surged 6.8% in November on a year-over-year basis. That marks its fastest acceleration since 1982. The producer price index — another inflation measure that tracks wholesale prices — increased last month by 9.6%, its fastest pace on record.
“We’re very focused on inflation; it is obviously too high right now,” Williams said. “We want to make sure inflation comes back down to our 2% longer-run goal.”

However, Williams noted that the Fed doesn’t need to further speed up the tapering of its asset purchase program to temper the recent inflation surge.
On Wednesday, the Fed announced it will be buying $60 billion in bonds per month starting in January. That’s half of what it was buying prior to November. It also puts the Fed on track to wrap up its program by March.
“I don’t see that there’s any real benefit to try to speed it up further,” Williams said. “We like to do things in a way that’s very carefully studied, very carefully communicated … without creating disruption in markets.”

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking information from Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal and Zip on the risks and benefits of their products.
“Buy now, pay later” services let shoppers defer payment for items, typically over a period of monthly installments and with no interest attached.
Affirm’s shares closed down by 11% Thursday, while Australian companies Afterpay, Zip and Sezzle on Friday dropped 8%, 6% and 10%, respectively.

An Afterpay logo is seen displayed on a smartphone.
Igor Golovniov | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Shares of several “buy now, pay later” firms sank sharply after the U.S. consumer watchdog opened an investigation into the sector.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said Thursday it was seeking information from Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal and Zip on the risks and benefits of their products.

BNPL services let shoppers defer payment for items, typically over a period of monthly installments and with no interest attached — though some do charge hefty late payment fees.
The CFPB said it was especially concerned by the ability for consumers to quickly accumulate debt through BNPL plans, as well as a lack of sufficient regulatory disclosures and the harvesting of data.
Multiple BNPL companies saw their stock price tumble following the announcement. U.S.-based Affirm’s shares closed down by 11% Thursday, while Australian companies Afterpay, Zip and Sezzle on Friday dropped 8%, 6% and 10%, respectively.
Investors flocked to BNPL stocks last year after the growth of the sector was supercharged by the coronavirus pandemic.
A shift in consumer habits toward e-commerce and flexible loans, coupled with huge government stimulus packages, heavily benefited companies like Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay.

This, in turn, has led to major tech companies like PayPal and Block jumping into BNPL, hoping to capitalize on the growth of the industry.
PayPal launched its own BNPL offering late last year, while Block, the company formerly known as Square, recently announced a $29 billion deal to snap up Afterpay.
But the tide has been turning in 2021. Afterpay shares have plunged over 30% since the start of the year, while Zip is down 25%. Sezzle’s stock price has more than halved in value year-to-date. Affirm, which debuted at the start of the year, is one of the few BNPL firms still in the green.
Market players have been alarmed at mounting losses from firms in the sector.
Zip’s pre-tax loss ballooned to 724 million Australian dollars ($518 million) in its 2021 financial year, up from 20.6 million Australian dollars a year earlier. Afterpay lost 194 million Aussie dollars in its full-year results, compared to 26.8 million in 2020.
Meanwhile, analysts have warned regulation could be a major headwind for the space going forward. Christopher Brendler, analyst at D.A. Davidson, told CNBC in September that a regulatory response “could slow the growth” of the BNPL sector.
In the U.K., the government is planning to introduce regulation of BNPL. Firms in the nascent industry would come under the supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates financial services firms in the country.
Britain’s Treasury Department is consulting with BNPL firms and other stakeholders to inform its plans. The consultation will close on Jan. 6, 2022.

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:
Darden Restaurants (DRI) – The parent of Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and other restaurant chains beat estimates by 5 cents with quarterly earnings of $1.48 per share and revenue that also topped forecasts. Same-restaurant sales jumped 34.4%, higher than the 32.6% consensus estimate compiled by StreetAccount, and Darden issued an upbeat forecast. Separately, Darden announced that CEO Eugene Lee will retire in May 2022, to be replaced by current President and Chief Operating Officer Ricardo Cardenas. Darden fell 5% in the premarket.

Winnebago (WGO) – The recreational vehicle maker added 3.4% in premarket trading after a sizable bottom-line beat for its fiscal first quarter. Winnebago earned $3.51 per share, compared with the consensus estimate of $2.26 and revenue that also came in above analyst forecasts.
FedEx (FDX) – The delivery service’s shares rallied 5.9% in the premarket after beating estimates on the top and bottom lines for its latest quarter. FedEx earned an adjusted $4.83 per share, beating the $4.28 consensus estimate, with higher shipping rates helping to make up for increased expenses.
Rivian (RIVN) – The electric vehicle maker lost $1.23 billion for the third quarter stemming from expenses to begin production of its electric pickup truck. It was Rivian’s first quarterly report since going public, and revenue was $1 million from its first deliveries. The stock tumbled 7.9% in premarket trading.
Bottomline Technologies (EPAY) – Bottomline shares soared 15.1% in the premarket after the fintech company agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for $57 per share in cash, or $2.6 billion.
Cerner (CERN) – The healthcare information-technology company’s stock soared 18.9% in premarket trading after the Wall Street Journal reported that Oracle (ORCL) was in talks to buy Cerner in a potential $30 billion deal. Oracle fell 4.6%.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) – J&J shares fell 2.1% in the premarket after the CDC recommended that adults receive the Pfizer (PFE) or Moderna (MRNA) Covid-19 vaccines rather than the J&J shot. The CDC cited new data showing higher levels of a blood clotting condition than previously thought, although that condition remains rare.
Affirm Holdings (AFRM) – The “buy now pay later” company’s stock fell 2.3% in the premarket after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it was launching an inquiry into firms that offer such plans.
Novavax (NVAX) – The drug maker’s stock rose 1.3% in premarket action on a Financial Times report that the European Medicines Agency may approve its Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use as early as next week.
U.S. Steel (X) – The steel maker’s stock slid 4.4% in the premarket after the company issued lower-than-expected current-quarter guidance, with higher expenses and cautious customer buying patterns offsetting improved steel pricing.
Steelcase (SCS) – The office furniture maker reported lower-than-expected profit and revenue for the third quarter, with Steelcase saying its results have been impacted by supply chain issues and higher costs. Steelcase fell 4.4% in premarket trading.

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Checkout.com, a $15 billion payments start-up based in Britain, has hired Meta executive Meron Colbeci as its chief product officer.
Colbeci was most recently head of consumer product management at Novi, Meta’s cryptocurrency unit.
His departure from Meta is the latest in a string of high-profile exits at the company.

Checkout.com has hired Meta executive Meron Colbeci as its new chief product officer.
Checkout.com

LONDON — Checkout.com, a $15 billion payments start-up based in Britain, has hired Meta executive Meron Colbeci as its chief product officer.
Colbeci joined Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, in 2018 as director of product management to help develop its Novi cryptocurrency wallet and other payment initiatives.

He was most recently Novi’s head of consumer product management, working closely with the division’s outgoing chief, David Marcus. Marcus announced his decision to quit Meta’s blockchain unit last month.
“David is an icon and a financial services visionary,” Colbeci told CNBC via email “I learned a lot from him in our time together and consider him a mentor and a friend, but I was attracted to what Checkout.com had to offer and the company’s vision for the future of payments.”
Meta announced Colbeci’s departure internally last week and he started working for Checkout.com this week. He says he learned about Checkout.com while Novi was a customer of the payment processor.
“I was inspired by its focus on building customer-first technologies that help democratize access to the digital economy,” Colbeci said, adding Checkout.com’s focus on new areas like digital currencies also drew him in.
Colbeci will initially join Checkout.com from its office in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, but he plans to relocate somewhere in Europe over the next year.

Founded in 2012 by college dropout-turned-fintech entrepreneur Guillaume Pousaz, Checkout.com processes digital payments for companies ranging from Sony to Klarna. It competes with the likes of PayPal, Block, Stripe and Adyen.
Checkout.com is one of Europe’s biggest privately-held fintech firms, with a valuation of $15 billion. The London-headquartered company has raised a total of $830 million from investors to date.
It has been on a hiring spree this year, going from 1,000 employees at the start of 2021 to a 1,600-strong global headcount today. Among those hires were a series of new C-suite executives in tech, finance and marketing.

In addition to its main European market, Checkout.com also does business in the Middle East and Asia, and has been expanding into the United States.
This year has been a record one for European start-ups, which are on track to raise over $120 billion in venture capital funding, according to a report from London-based tech investors Atomico.

Talent exodus

Colbeci’s departure from Meta is the latest in a string of high-profile exits at the company.
Marcus, who also co-created Meta’s Diem digital currency project, is set to leave by the end of 2021. Morgan Beller, another co-founder, left last year.
Meta has struggled to get its crypto initiative off the ground amid intense scrutiny from regulators, who worry it could disrupt the financial system and lead to criminal activity such as money laundering.
Diem, a proposed stablecoin backed by a consortium of firms including Meta, was initially envisioned as a single token underpinned by a basket of sovereign currencies. 
Originally known as libra, the digital coin has since been watered down significantly, with the group overseeing it now only planning to release a version tied to the value of the U.S. dollar.
Checkout.com joined the Meta-backed Diem Association last year, following a spate of withdrawals from major members like PayPal, Visa and Mastercard.
Novi, Meta’s crypto wallet, was recently released as a pilot with a handful of users in the U.S. and Guatemala. It is using a lesser-known stablecoin called paxos rather than diem.
Unlike most cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are intentionally designed to prevent volatility, with most tracking the price of government-backed currencies like the dollar.

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