April 20, 2025 @ 10:53 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

AI is not only powering online shopping; it’s also making it easier than ever for Americans to buy counterfeits. According to The Counterfeit Buyer Teardown, a study of US counterfeit e-commerce, 28% of consumers who bought knock-off products online say they used AI tools to… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 9:52 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Swift announced the launch of an enhanced solution for managing payment investigations that could save the financial industry millions and significantly reduce the time it takes to “identify and resolve issues when international payments are delayed.” Financial institutions spend more than $1.6 billion each year… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 9:11 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Pakistan will host its first-ever Digital Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Forum in Islamabad on April 29-30, a historic initiative by the Government of Pakistan and the Digital Cooperation Organization (DCO). Supported by the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the two-day event aims to attract international… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 9:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital identity is transforming how individuals interact with online systems, offering a secure, reusable way to verify who they are. According to a Juniper Research whitepaper, digital identity is defined as a digital representation of an entity, encompassing identifying data, events, or assurance signals. In… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 8:01 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Supreme Court of India dismissed a petition filed by 54 victims of the WazirX hack on April 16, 2025, seeking action against the crypto exchange and its associates. The decision underscores the persistent regulatory ambiguity surrounding cryptocurrencies in India, leaving victims of the $235… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 7:19 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Another milestone for tokenized real-world assets, gold-backed assets surging, a Canadian Solana ETF approval, and increased acceptance of cryptocurrency payments are among the DeFi topics that caught the experts’ attention this week. Tokenized RWAs cross $20B threshold “The tokenized RWA market crossing $20 billion in… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 7:11 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

1Fort, an AI platform for business insurance, has raised $7.5 million in an oversubscribed funding round led by Bonfire Ventures. The round also included Draper Associates (Tim Draper); Karim Atiyeh, the founder of Ramp; and participation from all existing VCs: Village Global, Operator Partners, 8-Bit Capital, Character VC and Company Ventures. This latest round brings the 1Fort total funding to $10… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 7:09 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Spreedly, an open payments platform, and FlexFactor, a payment recovery platform, are partnering to help merchants recover lost sales. With more than $500 billion in sales lost each year due to false declines, this new collaboration aims to empower merchants to turn declines into revenue, enhancing shopping cart… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Dubizzle Group, the MENA region’s digital marketplace group, announces today the acquisition of Property Monitor, a real-estate market intelligence platform in the UAE. The acquisition of Property Monitor reinforces Dubizzle Group’s leadership in real estate classifieds and technology “through a portfolio of brands, including Bayut… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Veriff, a global identity verification platform, has seen verification volumes grow by 335% in the past year. The company continues to report more than “80% year-over-year profitable revenue growth, as businesses across industries battle sophisticated online fraud.” To support this global market demand, Veriff appointed… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Crayhill Capital Management LP, a $3 billion alternative asset management firm specializing in asset-based finance, announced the close of Crayhill Principal Strategies Fund III with approximately “$1.31 billion of capital commitments, including $162 million of committed co-investment capacity, exceeding its $1 billion target.” The flagship… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:27 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Charles Schwab Corp. is set to make a leap into the cryptocurrency market. During a recent earnings call, CEO Rick Wurster announced a plan to introduce spot crypto trading for the firm’s clients within the next 12 months. This move signals a step forward for… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:26 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Alto, a platform that enables individuals to invest in alternative assets through retirement funds, is announcing a partnership with InvestX, a North American asset manager that provides accredited investors access to select late-stage growth pre-IPO companies. This collaboration will allow Alto investors to “explore exclusive… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:18 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Castlelake L.P., a global alternative investment manager with 20 years of experience investing in asset-based private markets, announced that it has entered into an agreement with Invictus Capital Partners, an alternative asset manager that specializes in residential credit, “to invest in up to $2 billion… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 6:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The cryptocurrency market has been rocked yet again by the dramatic crash of Mantra’s $OM token, which plummeted over 90% in a single hour on April 14, 2025, wiping out approximately $6 billion in market capitalization. This unprecedented event has understandably sparked widespread scrutiny, with… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 3:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ethereum and Cosmos, two major blockchain networks, are inching closer to seamless integration, which is a development that could redefine decentralized ecosystems, according to an update from CertiK. According to a recent CertiK research report, efforts to merge these protocols—through EVM-compatible chains, consensus-layer swaps, and… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 2:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has exposed a $4.3 million scam targeting Canadian investors. The operation, dubbed “Operation Avalanche,” revealed a sophisticated scheme orchestrated by overseas crime groups using a tactic known as “approval phishing.” This fraudulent method reportedly tricked 89 unsuspecting victims into… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 12:16 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Zain Fintech, the financial services arm of Zain Group, launched its “Bede” Digital Wallet in Sudan, enabling customers to carry out financial transactions via mobile phones without a traditional bank account or card. The platform, designed for both basic feature and smart phones, offers services… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 11:09 am By Michael Wong  |  

Yiren Digital Ltd, an artificial intelligence (AI)‑powered platform providing financial and lifestyle services in China, said it formed a strategic joint venture with PT Pinjaman Kemakmuran Rakyat (klikUMKM) and PT Artha Digital Investama, part of the Artha Graha Network (AG Network), to deliver AI‑driven financial… Read More

April 20, 2025 @ 7:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Pathlight Capital LP announced it is serving as the Administrative Agent on a $210,000,000 senior secured credit facility for Spring Venture Group, LLC (SVG), one of the omnichannel distributors of Medicare Advantage, and Medicare Supplement distributors. As part of the facility, Pathlight underwrote and “provided a… Read More