British shoppers plan to spend just four per cent less per person compared to last year, despite rising cost pressures, as the lure of festive bargains means retailers are forecast a busy end to 2022.

New research from Barclaycard Payments, which processes £1 in every £3 spent on credit and debit cards in the UK, shows that the average shopper intends to buy £229 worth of items in the post-Christmas sales period, a reduction of £18 compared to 2021’s figures.

Astar Network, the smart contract platform for multichain, has been awarded the Product of the Year at the 4th annual Blockchain Award by the Japan Blockchain Association. Astar Network’s founder and CEO Sota Watanabe bagged the Person of the Year award for the second consecutive year at the same event.

Digital wallets design insights

After a funding round spearheaded by Lightspeed and Silver Lake, Web3 developer platform Alchemy announced its valuation has nearly tripled to $10.2 billion.  The $200 million round included Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, Pantera Capital, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

Dubai-based buy-now-pay-later Tabby received $150 million in debt financing from two US companies, one of the largest GCC FinTech start-up credit lines. 

The financing from New York-based Atalaya Capital Management and existing investor Partners for Growth (PFG) “fortifies Tabby's balance sheet and supports its continuous growth in transaction volumes and product expansion,” the business said on Wednesday.

Hosam Arab, CEO and co-founder of Tabby:

On November 11, 2022, prominent cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its U.S. counterpart FTX.US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Former founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on Dec. 12 and extradited to the U.S. to face eight criminal accusations, including wire fraud and conspiracy to deceive investors. 

On November 11, 2022, prominent cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its U.S. counterpart FTX.US filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Former founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on Dec. 12 and extradited to the U.S. to face eight criminal accusations, including wire fraud and conspiracy to deceive investors. 

Ramp recently announced it raised $750 million in funding at an $8.1 billion valuation.

In an effort to continue its expansion in Africa, the Association of Governance, Risk and Compliance (AGRC), alongside its training partners the London Governance and Compliance Academy (LGCA) and BeyondComply, has penned an agreement with RegTech Africa, an emergent global digital tech media platform with a niche focus on regulatory technology innovations in Africa and around the world, to deliver its Level 3 Certificates in AML, KYC/CDD, ESG Principles & Standards, Compliance, Corporate Governance and Sanctions Compliance to professionals in the region.

MoneyGram International, Inc. (the "Company"), a global leader in the evolution of digital P2P payments, today provided an update on its previously announced agreement to be acquired by funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC ("MDP"), which was approved with over 99% of shareholder votes cast in favour of the merger in May of this year.