September 19, 2023 @ 8:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its initial report on potential discrimination at UK banks. The report follows the saga of Nigel Farage, a vocal political personality and former UKIP leader, who had his account shuttered at Coutts after management decided his values… Read More

September 18, 2023 @ 9:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fagura (Honeycomb in Romanian), a digital banking and alternative investment platform, has been approved to offer investment crowdfunding in the EU. Fagura is an Estonian Fintech that is said to be building a digital bank. The company has raised growth capital twice on Seedrs, totaling… Read More

September 18, 2023 @ 7:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

Emerging from stealth mode, Bastion says it has raised $25 million in seed funding. The company was founded by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) alums and, of course, a16z Crypto led the funding round that also received the backing of Autograph, Laser Digital Ventures, Not Boring Capital,… Read More

September 18, 2023 @ 12:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino says they are currently testing Bitcoin mining. Revealed in a Tweet, the Bitcoin Mining Platform Moria, is said to “facilitate seamless communication among components within the BTC mining ecosystem, enabling interactions through efficient, secure, and resilient methods that are resistant to… Read More

September 18, 2023 @ 9:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Grayscale says it has abandoned the rights to Ethereum Proof of Work (ETHPoW) tokens as it simply does not make sense. Ethereum migrated away from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake in a major transition for the second most popular crypto token. Ethereum Merge… Read More

September 18, 2023 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Mark Cuban, a noted entrepreneur and shark, had his crypto wallet hacked, according to multiple reports.  Cuban is said to have lost around $870,000 in value when the crooks pilfered his funds. Apparently, the damage could have been worse, but Cuban prevented a greater loss… Read More

September 15, 2023 @ 10:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Investor Advisory Committee will meet next week and will discuss two very important policy items that impact capital raising for private firms. The first panel discussion will review exempt securities offerings under Reg D. This exemption, only available to… Read More

September 15, 2023 @ 9:57 am By JD Alois  |  

The Japanese government will allow startups to raise capital selling crypto as opposed to shares in a company. This is according to a report posted on Nikkei today. Explaining that Japan is falling behind the rest of the world in the utilization of digital assets,… Read More

September 14, 2023 @ 4:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

European tokenization provider Tokeny has enabled ABN AMRO to issue a tokenized bond in an offering that is described as being the first Dutch ban to issue a green bond on a public blockchain. Tokeny shares that Vesteda raised €5 million while predicting the offering… Read More

September 14, 2023 @ 9:33 am By JD Alois  |  

European online investment platform EstateGuru says crowdfunding is back after booking two solid months of activity. According to the platform, investors committed €18.9 million to new projects during the months of July and August. At the same time, €30.4 million was returned to investors, including … Read More

September 14, 2023 @ 8:47 am By JD Alois  |  

N26, a leading European digital bank, has appointed a new General Manager for Italy and Southern Europe. According to a statement from the bank, Claudio Bedino will lead the charge in “one of the most important banks” for the Fintech. Bedino will step into the… Read More

September 13, 2023 @ 7:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an enforcement action against Stoner Cats and the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that were sold to the public. In total, Stoner Cats sold over $8 million in these NFTs which then were available for resale… Read More

September 13, 2023 @ 4:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC), has posted the agenda for its second meeting of 2023. SBCFAC will hold three separate panels, the first being a primer of the operations of the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance (CorpFin)…. Read More

September 13, 2023 @ 3:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Stoner Cats 2 LLC has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for pursuing an unregistered securities offering with the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This is the second enforcement action targeting an NFT issuer as it broadens its targets in the digital… Read More

September 13, 2023 @ 1:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

As CI has done from time to time, we have recently reviewed the number of FINRA-regulated Funding Portals – platforms offering crowdfunding services under the Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding) securities exemption – up to $5 million. Funding Portals were created by the JOBS Act of… Read More

September 12, 2023 @ 6:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Virtu, one of the most active firms in the payment for order flow sector, has been hit with an enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to the SEC’s allegations, Virtu allowed access to material, nonpublic information (MNPI) which could have been used… Read More

September 12, 2023 @ 3:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says it has settled charges against Yieldstreet, a top alternative investment platform mainly serving accredited investors. According to the SEC, Yieldstreet failed to disclose critical information pertaining to an asset-backed securities offering that totaled $14.5 million. Yieldstreet has settled… Read More

September 12, 2023 @ 2:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion has posted the witnesses on its forthcoming hearing on a digital dollar. Entitled the Digital Dollar Dilemma: The Implications of a Central Bank Digital Currency and Private Sector Alternatives, the hearing is paired… Read More

September 12, 2023 @ 12:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

Financial research factor S&P Global Market Intelligence has distributed a report on Fintech, pointing at real time payments as an opportunity that is experiencing choppy adoption depending on the jurisdiction. S&P says that the rollout of FedNow, the US government’s effort to power instant payments… Read More

September 12, 2023 @ 10:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Credit unions are at an all-time low, and big banks lending to small businesses has flatlined for more than a year, according to Biz2Credit and its periodic small business lending index. Big banks, those with $10 billion or more in assets, fell from 13.3% in… Read More