Back in black

Today, we’ve got the deets on:

• Tech majors doubling down on BNPL
• What’s behind the Bitcoin rally

Dear Garage reader, 

“Buy now, pay later”, or BNPL, was one of the hottest things in fintech only a year or two ago. Now, you would be hard pressed to find any players that have raised significant cash or gained a spike in users.

Much of what fuelled BNPL players – big consumer incentives and an influx of cheap money – is gone now. Yet, some of the region’s largest e-commerce companies are doubling down on BNPL services.

GoTo plans to ramp up its consumer lending business, it said during the release of its Q4 earnings, which saw it finally hit a key profitability target and announce a share buyback.

The company is also preparing to launch a BNPL service in Indonesia with TikTok Shop, which already offers the service in Malaysia. Shopee, too, plans to attract younger customers by expanding its offerings to more users and merchants.

So BNPL isn’t dead, after all. Marketplace operators’ push into it, even as pure-play providers are collapsing, may signal that this product is most effective when part of a larger ecosystem of diversified services.

Something else that’s back and thriving more than ever? Crypto. It wasn’t that long ago that the industry was riddled with fraud, failure and fear. Now, the price of Bitcoin has gained nearly 150 per cent in the last year.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has been rallying due to institutional demand. This was sparked by US regulators’ approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The industry remains volatile, though, and market watchers have recently warned of a retreat from these ETFs. On the other hand, venture capitalists are racing back into crypto and raising funds to back more projects. Can’t say anyone’s surprised.

Just one more thing before we go: the Garage newsletter will end its run at the end of April. Thank you for being part of our journey and supporting our work.

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That’s all for this week. Thank you for reading, and have a great week!

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