Online Dating: EI Weekend 3515
A whole new arena of electronic platform Exchange Invest has never tracked: we’re pooling our ignorance of online dating, after a fashion.
Exchange Invest is a unique information resource combining the day’s stories in a newsletter for investors in exchanges/financial markets infrastructure.
Exchange Invest was founded by former exchange CEO and author of the first bestselling book of fintech (“Capital Market Revolution!” FT 1999) Patrick Young. Monday through Friday our daily paid subscriber email discusses the business of bourses of all kinds across the world.
On this day in 1909, the earliest Women’s Day observance was held in New York. It was organized by the Socialist Party of America in remembrance of the 1908 strike of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
NASDAQ SPONSORED SEGMENT
SPONSORED BY:
James E. Oliff — An Appreciation
PLY: A true Capital Market Revolutionary of the first order, former CME Deputy Chairman James E. Oliff, my long-time friend, a co-conspirator in advancing / demutualising and enhancing markets technologically, has passed away after a long period with cancer. I can’t quite emote just how good a man Jim was but I have endeavoured in the tribute above to explain why I feel he is a figure market historians will forget at their peril.
This article is free and available to the public at large. You are welcome to share that specific Exchange Invest link* with anyone you wish who may be interested in reading a little more about Jim’s rich legacy as a great man and a fabulous advocate for markets.
On behalf of myself and the Exchange Invest team, our condolences to Jim’s wife Margo and his large, and much loved family.
MACRO THOUGHTS
I’m not sure there is accurate level 1, 2, 3 data but even if they are slightly awry, headline stats gathered by our researchers are fascinating for the whole arena of online dating.. A platform environment with central matching of which Exchange Invest has had no direct experience.
In the USA, the dating app market made $6.18 billion revenue in 2024 of which $3.5 billion came from Match Group. There are over 350 million users worldwide with 25 million paying for premium features (that’s slightly more people than Taiwan and Sri Lanka, slightly fewer than North Korea, Syria and Mali.
Apparently Tinder generates some 75 million matches a day which is equivalent to Nasdaq stock exchange trades February 10-12, 2026 to pick a couple of days at random, (59.5 million to 71.4 million). QV CME Group Posts Record January Volume at 29.6 Million Daily Contracts (CME). Of course CME retains the advantage of those high margin CCP fees given that the online dating entities fundamentally embody the opposite to being the central counterparty to each relationship emerging from platform matches. As it were. Tinder is thus, unlike conventional exchanges, working on an “all you can match” basis (like the original Aquis exchange model). It’s another fascinating example of how much data electronic platforms can create at scale - and of course the absolute messaging traffic which goes into creating each match is of a higher order still.
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM: NEXT TUESDAY
"Predicting The Future of Market Tech"
Guest: Dan Davis
March 3rd, 2026
1200 EST, 1700 UK, 1800 CET
EP3 by Connamara Technologies had a landmark year in 2025 and a hot start to 2026, delivering to and signing on a series of new customers. Chief Revenue Officer, Dan Davis, joins IPO-VID to discuss current trends in exchange technology and the exciting new clients joining the EP3 stable.
Prior to joining Connamara Tech, Dan was a director of a B2B SaaS company, and prior to that, helped PIMCO grow its then-new office in Austin, Texas.
IN BIGWORLD
The Feb 14 data is in from RoyalFloraHolland, the world’s biggest exchange for flowers (which you may recall PLY had the pleasure of visiting with an AFM delegation a few years ago).
The 2026 St Valentines season saw healthy growth (PLY was not trading the underlying this year) with some 464 million flowers traded (2025: 452 million) Almost a third of total floral volume, was, perhaps unsurprisingly, roses with 150 million traded (2025: 144 million).
Apparently, tulips and chrysanthemums also traded significant volumes.
Parish Notes
Click here for our tribute post to Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
BITCARNAGE
Gemini Splashdown?
Things look worrying for a platform already in cost cutting mode as Winklevoss’ Gemini Risks A Hard Landing After The Crypto Rout (Bloomberg) / Gemini Cuts More Staff As Crypto Firm’s Valuation Plunges 82% (PYMNTS).
The bigger factor here is not the size/scope/scale, maybe even survival, in the future of Gemini, the clear lesson is that if Gemini has these problems then thousands of other crypto early stage pre profit / perhaps pre revenue, crypto/digital entities are in the same mess.
If you enjoyed this excerpt, you may be interested to know that you can read Bitcarnage every day in Exchange Invest.
PLY: Market Movers On Fintech TV
Catch me on Market Movers On Fintech TV every Monday at 0920 AM for the latest insights in finance, technology, impact investing, and market trends. Fintech TV is on the web (Fintech.TV), in a multitude of airports across the USA and other channels.
EXCHANGE INVEST WEEKLY PODCAST
NCDEX Looks Forward,
Titanic Sightings?
Another ASX Red Alert,
And New York’s Perfect Uptime White Out.
OF INTEREST
As always, a review of interesting reading to provoke thoughts and consideration… Not sure we agree with much of it….but it’s thought-provoking!
The History of Online Dating (1993 to 2026)
Dating News
PLY: Gosh who knew? Apparently Match.com launched in 1995 — three years before Google — pioneering a new way to meet people.
When Dating Went Digital
Bloomberg Original
PLY: Gosh and apparently the origins of online dating was in the 1960s with IBM-powered, questionnaire-based, computer matchmaking (Operation Match) while pioneering Match.com (1995) and eHarmony (2000) led to contemporary, AI-driven platforms like Tinder and Bumble.
Prediction Markets Heat Up On Valentine’s Day As People Place Bets On Love
AOL
PLY: Presumably, Elizabeth Warren will be trying to regulate this within her ongoing pogrom against prediction markets…
The pyramid of Dating Apps looks roughly like this (public traded entities only):
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM: NOW ONLINE!
“Tech Money: A Guide to the New Game of Technology Investing”
Guest: Igor Pejic
February 24th, 2026
1200 EST, 1700 UK, 1800 CET
Award winning author and finance professional Igor Pejic specializes in the intersection of technology and money.
Pejic is the author of Blockchain Babel and Big Tech in Finance, a finalist in the McKinsey Bracken Bower PrizeWe will be discussing his latest book Tech Money uncovers the new rules of investing in the technology age and teaches investors and executives how to benefit from them.
IPO-VID LIVESTREAM PODCAST
PLY sat down with Troy Kane, former President of MIAX Futures and now President & COO of InPlay Global, Inc., to discuss the creation of what aims to be the world’s first regulated marketplace for trading equity securities based on sports performance. From derivatives expertise to financial innovation, the conversation examines how market structure thinking is being applied to an entirely new arena.
Catch up now and stay ahead in the world of markets!
FINANCE BOOK OF THE WEEK
“Blockchain Babel: The Crypto Craze and the Challenge to Business” by Igor Pejic is the ultimate guide to blockchain, the most disruptive technology to have entered the finance industry in recent years.
Get the book here.
*Paid link, as an Amazon Associate, Exchange Invest earns from qualifying purchases.
Suggestions welcome if you would like to nominate a book for us to cover!
Our next Book of the week will be unveiled Saturday in the EI Weekend Edition.
& don’t forget if you want all the news on the bourse business sent daily to your Inbox subscribe to Exchange Invest — via Exchange Invest.com — it’s only $499 per annum to join “The Exchange of Information.
LAST WORD
The future continues in the water cooler of the bourse business.
…If you want to stay abreast of the world of exchanges then please Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter — free 7-day trial.
Or Subscribe to our Weekend Edition — it’s free.
You can also check out the “Reflections From Young’s Pyramid”, it illustrates the relative value of exchanges around the world.
Or the “ICE Cost of Borrowing 2020–2022” An Interest Rate Comparison, which illustrates the end of the funny money era of QE and how interest rates have already had a major lurch up from their previous region of zero to, even negative, levels.
At the least can you like this article, or leave us a comment, we welcome your feedback.
If you enjoy our multimedia, then please Like / Subscribe to our video channel: IPO-VID In Patrick’s Opinion.