June 25, 2019 @ 10:09 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Patrick Gaulthier, vice president of Amazon Pay told attendees at Fortune’s Brainstorm Finance 2019 event earlier this month that retail giant has no immediate plans to involve itself with Facebook’s Libra coin venture or start an Amazon crypto. “It’s fresh, it’s speculative,” he said regarding Libra…. Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 5:48 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Deciwatt, a UK-based company that creates renewable energy products that allow users to make light and power, has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs and has already passed its £400,000 funding target. The funding round has also attracted nearly 200 investors and is offering… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 5:45 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two computer programmers in Israel, brothers Eli and Assaf Gigi, have been arrested in Jerusalem and accused of operating a sprawling phishing scam that helped them steal 120 000 bitcoins from the Bitfinex trading platform in 2016. According to Israeli crime reporting site Posta, “They… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 3:17 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based tech platform Pavegen is set to close its latest equity crowdfunding round on Crowdcube with nearly £1.9 million in funding. The campaign was launched last month and quickly secured its £950,000 funding target, Prior to launching the funding initiative, Pavegen raised £513,000, which is represented… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 2:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Varo Money, one of a handful of US-based digital challenger banks seeking to receive a bank charter from the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), is shutting down its consumer lending division, according to a reliable source. Multiple employees are said to be looking… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 2:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

While it is a fact we all need bank-like services it is also true we do not necessarily need a traditional bank. The digitization of finance has liberated the masses from paper driven, brick and mortar operations to the bank of the iPhone (or Android… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 12:51 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based digital banking platform Starling Bank announced on Tuesday it has formed a new partnership with Direct Line Group to allow current account customers to apply for home insurance directly through Starling’s in-app marketplace. According to Starling, the partnership will enable customers to securely connect… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 12:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has posted a deck on GFin or the Global Financial Innovation Network. Hong Kong has emerged as a leading Fintech hub having embraced innovation in financial services. GFiN was launched by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) a bit… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 12:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

LedgerX, a crypto trading platform that specializes in physically-settled digital currency derivatives, has been approved by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a designated contract market (DCM). DCMs are exchanges that may list for trading futures or option contracts based on all types of commodities and… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 11:29 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Open, an India-based neobank platform, announced on Tuesday it secured $30 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by Tiger Global with participation from Tanglin Venture Partners Advisors and existing investors 3one4 Capital, Speedinvest,  BetterCapital AngelList Syndicate. Founded in 2016, Open claims to… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and Funding London CEO, Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, have announced the appointment of three new directors to the Funding London Board. Funding London was launched in 2004 to provide venture capital and debt capital to SMEs, on behalf of the Mayor… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 10:11 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

MX, a data platform for banks, credit unions, and fintechs, announced on Tuesday it secured $100 million through its latest investment round, which was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from new investors H.I.G. Growth Partners, Point72 Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners, and Cross… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 9:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, Crowdfund Insider previewed Freetrade’s crowdfunding round on Crowdcube. Today, the offer is live and out of private mode so we wanted to provide an update. As it stands now, Freetrade has easily topped its low-end hurdle of £1 million as it seeks to raise… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 8:56 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

UK-based challenger bank Monzo announced on Monday it secured £113 million through its latest investment, led by Y Combinator Continuity and Latitude. The round of funding reportedly brings the platform’s valuation to £2 billion.  The news about Monzo’s latest investment round comes just six months after the… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 8:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lender and digital bank Zopa is out with note highlighting the fact that consumers too frequently do not receive the interest rate they expect when applying for a loan. In fact, Zopa states that an astounding two-thirds of loan applicants are offered… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 7:20 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Chinese fintech Pintec Technology Holdings Limited (PINTEC) announced on Tuesday it has formed a new partnership Bank of Ganzhou to establish a new fintech research and development center.  PINTEC reported that through the partnership, it and Bank of Ganzhou will jointly establish a fintech research… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 2:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

Banking technologists Martin Walker, Keith Pritchard and Professor David L Yermack debated the promise and realities of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies on a panel that opened the most recent Mapping the Financial Frontier Conference. The conference was held at Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta,… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 1:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

Reserve Bank of Australia chief Philip Lowe told participants in a Q&A session June 20th that he does not expect Facebook’s new Libra cryptocurrency network to be fully implemented any time soon. “There’s a lot of water under the bridge before Facebook’s proposal becomes something… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 9:27 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Last week’s announcement of “Libra,” Facebook’s move into creating a cryptocurrency payments infrastructure to underpin its social network, was met with considerable fanfare and may have induced a rally in the price of Bitcoins. But several pundits on Yahoo have noted that so far, banks… Read More