JD Alois

Future Fund Update: British Business Bank Publishes Report on COVID Program Designed to Help Early Stage Firms

The Future Fund was one of several programs designed by the UK government to backstop firms during the COVID crisis. Managed by the British Business Bank, the Future Fund was created to help early-stage ventures which frequently need ongoing cash injections to get to profitability…. Read More

LendingClub Reports EPS of $0.05, Declining Loan Originations

LendingClub (NYSE:LC), a digital bank with expertise in online lending, announced Q3 results today, reporting top line revenue of $200.8 million and net income of $5 million or EPS of $0.05. The top line number was a decline from $232.5 million in Q2 and when… Read More

Freemarket Approved by Cent

Freemarket has been approved by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Payment Institution. The UK-based Fintech provides B2B payments and currency exchange. Freemarket said the approval will help with its European expansion plans as it now has access to all EEA countries. Freemarket has… Read More

Squeeze Acquires UK Firm Youtility

US-based switching platform Squeeze has acquired UK-based Youtility, an embedded finance management firm working with banks and Fintechs. The terms of the acquisition were not revealed by the companies. Youtility’s tech platform is backed by some big firms, including Barclays, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Big… Read More

CFPB Reports Record High Fees and Interest Charged by Credit Card Companies in 2022

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has published its 6th report on the consumer credit card market, stating that consumers paid record-high fees and interest in 2022. Interest rates have been marching higher in the past months as the US Federal Reserve attempts to crush… Read More

Ledger to Enable Tokenization as a Service, Partners with Bitbond, Tokeny, more

Ledger, best known for its hardware digital wallets, is now offering tokenization services via its enterprise division or turning assets into digital assets. In a blog post, Legder said it was “unlocking institutional opportunities” as more firms look to leverage distributed ledger technology to issue… Read More

World Bank Digital Native Note Trades on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, First in EU

The Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) has listed the “first digital native security” or “digital native note (DNN)” to be admitted to trade in the European Union. As was reported earlier today, R3 worked with the World Bank to issue the security on its Corda blockchain…. Read More

Enterprise DLT Firm R3 Enables Digital Bond on Euroclear

R3, an enterprise-focused permissed blockchain provider, is reporting that its Corda technology has enabled the first digital bond issuance on Euroclear’s International Central Securities Depository (ICSD). The SSA, or “supranational, sovereign and agency bond,” was issued by the World Bank, with Citi (an investor in… Read More

Orbital Approved in Gibraltar as a Regulated Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Provider and Electronic Money Issuer

Orbital has received approval from the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) to operate as an Electronic Money Issuer (EMI) and a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Provider. Orbital has offices in London, Gibraltar, and Tallinn. Gibraltar has long been known as an enabler for digital asset… Read More

Seedrs Gains ECSPR Approval, Authorized in Ireland to Provide Investment Crowdfunding Across the EU

It was more a question of when. Today, Seedrs has issued a statement today that it has been approved under ECSPR – European Crowdfunding Services Provider regulation – to facilitate online capital formation across the EU. Owned by US-based Fintech Republic, Seedrs is already one… Read More

Bitcoin Tops $33,000 as Expectations Rise a BTC ETF is Coming Soon

Bitcoin has increased by over 18% today, now trading at over $33,000. Just yesterday, Bitcoin was trading under $30,000. Bitcoin has always been a volatile digital asset that gyrated quickly in price – sometimes without an apparent catalyst. The most popular crypto in the world… Read More

Silicon Valley Bank is Re-Animated, Announces New Digital Banking Services

Silicon Valley Bank became emblematic of the problems with the banking industry. As the US Federal Reserve increased benchmark rates at an unprecedented speed, SVB did not adjust rapidly enough and found a huge hole in its balance sheet. Debt securities have an inverse relationship… Read More

Digital Bank FV Bank to Offer Custody Money Market Accounts

FV Bank says it has launched custody money market accounts for qualified customers. FV Bank is a digital bank that is based in Puerto Rico and regulated by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF),  The bank is allowed to offer deposit-taking, custody,… Read More

Capital Markets Subcommittee Hearing to Address SEC Rulemaking and Concerns [u]

Update: The Subcommittee hearing has been postponed until a later date. Tomorrow, the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, part of the House Financial Services Committee, will hold a hearing entitled “Examining the SEC’s Agenda: Unintended Consequences for U.S. Capital Markets and Investors.”  According to the Hearing… Read More

Future Fund: UK Firms that Married Crowdfunding with Government Funds Have Performed Better – Report

The UK government launched various programs to support businesses during the difficult days of the COVID crisis. While there is plenty of rear-view commentary today, at that time, things looked pretty dire for the UK economy, and supporting businesses that were hammered during the lockdowns… Read More

Marqeta Updates Credit Card Platform

Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ), a credit card management service, has updated is platform with new tools and a “one-stop shop” for launching credit programs. Marqeta said that the new offerings provide a complete solution for embedded finance, and it is able to support any type of… Read More

Smart Lenders Partners with Oodles, a UK Financing Firm for High End Tech Products

Smart Lenders AM, a Paris-based investor in online loans, has announced a partnership with UK-based Ooodles, a financing firm for tech products. Erich Bonnet, Président of Smart Lenders, said that they are providing capital via their Lending Smart Fund 1, participating in the early financing… Read More

OurCrowd CEO Talks About Impact of War in Israel, Hopes for Expanding Abraham Accords

OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved spoke with the BBC to share his thoughts on the war in Israel and its impact on his business as well as his aspirations to expand upon the successful Abraham Accords. In 2020, a breakthrough was made in normalizing diplomatic and… Read More

Judgement Issued by Court in SEC Action Against Digital Asset Issuer Thor Technologies

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received a judgment in its enforcement action against Thor Technologies. In 2022, the SEC filed an enforcement action against Thor alleging an unregistered security offering as Thor had issued a “crypto asset security” and did not qualify for… Read More

ClearBank Selects Jonny Fry to Lead Digital Asset Innovation

Jonny Fry has been selected to lead ClearBank‘s digital asset strategy, according to the digital bank. ClearBank is a fully licensed bank that also offers its tech stack to other financial services firms. Fry was previously CEO of TeamBlockchain and publisher of Digital Bytes. The… Read More

Send this to a friend