Fintech

Locator: 45438INV.

From earlier this morning.

4. Apple banking. How fast did it grow? Think ApplePay.

• to achieve $10 billion: four months, Apple
• to achieve $6 billion: eight years -- repeat, years -- Monzo
• to achieve more then $10 billion: ten years -- repeat, years -- Starling
• Apple: world's biggest fintech disruptor.

Disruptor.

So whom is Apple disrupting? At the top: Visa and Mastercard.

Although perhaps not, simply because Apple Pay simply use's one credit cards -- simply "sitting" / linked on the iPhone.

But let's take a look at the top fintech companies, global: 17 companies ranked, most of which are either based in San Francisco or non-US:

• #17 - #11: Root (a car insurance company); Carta; Paytm (India); SoFi ($8.6 billion; San Francisco); Wise (one of Europe's larrgest and most popular); Brex ($12.3 billion; San Francisco); Plaid ($13.4 billion; San Francisco); 
• #10 - #6: Chime ($25 billion; San Francisco); Robinhood (online discount broker for the younger set); Revolut (crypto; UK, EU); NuBank (Latin America); Klarna (Swedish)
• #5: Square (my hunch: at risk of being swallowed up)
• #4: Coinbase: crypto
• #3: Adyen: $71 billion; Dutch;
• #2: Stripe: $95 billion; founded by Irish siblings; UK; Nigeria -- brilliant
• #1: Ant Financial: $170 billion; largest by far; affiliated with China's Alibaba Group

Largest ten in the US, Forbes:

• Stripe: $50 billion
• Chime: $25 billon
• Ripple: $15 billion
• Blockchain.com: $14 billion
• Plaid: $13.4 billion
• OpenSea: $13.3 billion
• Brex: $12.3 billion
• GoodLeap: $12 billion
• Bolt: $11 billion
• Alchemy: $10.2 billion

As noted earlier, Apple, Inc, sits at $10 billion and growing fast.

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Local Forecast

Some forecasters have Thursday / Friday at 110°F.

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Salad

My go-to lunch on hot summer days: Caprese salad. I can fix a salad in less than five minutes. The "task" that takes the longest: taking the cork out of a new bottle of wine.

We keep fresh basil in the refrigerator, along with fresh mozzarella. Big tomato beefs on the counter, every day.

Five minutes. Three minutes if the wine is already opened.

California red blend, Witching Hour, Livermore and Ripon, California: flavors of dark cherry, blueberries, vanilla, and mocha. None of which I taste -- tastes just like any other red blend. I will test a second glass.