El Salvador has become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, with President Nayib Bukele touting its use for its potential to help Salvadorans living abroad to send remittances back home.
Swedish payments firm Klarna has raised $639 million from a group of investors led by SoftBank's (9984.T) Vision Fund II, lifting its valuation to about $46 billion - higher than several of the region's major banks.
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Marqeta logo is seen on a smartphone in front of displayed stock graph in this illustration picture taken June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Shares of Marqeta Inc (MQ.O), which provides payments services to customers including Uber Technologies Inc (UBER.N) and DoorDashInc, rose more than 20% in their Nasdaq debut, giving the firm a market capitalization of over $17.2 billion.
The financial technology startup s stock opened at $32.50 on Wednesday, compared with its initial public offering (IPO) price of $27 per share. Marqeta s IPO was priced well above its target price range of $20 to $24 per share.
The Oakland, California-based company sold 45.45 million shares in its IPO, raising about $1.2 billion. It had previously been backed by investors including Uber, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Visa Inc (V.N).
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said on Wednesday that he has instructed state-owned geothermal electric firm LaGeo to develop a plan to offer bitcoin mining facilities using renewable energy from the country's volcanoes.