January 26, 2021 @ 3:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a federal civil enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging Jeremy Spence of New York, alleging fraud for operating a Ponzi scheme involving digital assets such as Bitcoin and… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Birchal, the leading investment crowdfunding platform in Australia, has published a report on the entire sector of online capital formation as well as platform performance. The report tracks progress in the Australian “crowd-sourced funding” (CSF) industry (investment crowdfunding) via data aggregated by Birchal. The information… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

Shares in Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) jumped higher in early morning trading following the announcement that Medici Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock that focuses on emerging blockchain technology, will be migrated to a new “fund” structure managed by VC Pelion Venture Partners. As reported yesterday, Medici,… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 9:27 am By JD Alois  |  

SIA, a subsidiary of CDP Equity – a holding company of Cassa depositi e prestiti Group that is a digital payments provider and tech-solution for financial services, has signed an agreement with WizKey to launch a platform available to banks, funds, and financial operators to negotiate… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 10:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dr. Janet Yellen was unanimously voted out of committee the Senate Finance Committee on January 22nd and approved by the Senate today in a vote of 84 for the nomination and 15 against (and one not voting). In being approved, Yellen became the first female… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 4:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) has migrated Medici Ventures to a limited partnership while enlisting Pelion Venture Partners to act as the general partner of the fund. Medici oversees a number of blockchain-focused ventures including tZero. Overstock will be a limited partner in the fund. Shares in Overstock… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 3:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

StartEngine, a leading investment crowdfunding platform, has filed another Form 1-A indicating its intent to list a Reg A+ offering labeled StartEngine Loans Fund I LLC. The loan fund is described in the offering circular as follows: “StartEngine Loan Fund I LLC’s mission is to… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 3:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month, Wefunder, a leading securities crowdfunding platform, distributed a tweet highlighting Q4 performance in the Reg CF crowdfunding sector. According to the numbers generated by Kingscrowd, Wefunder dominated this sector of online capital formation. Now crowdfunding encompasses other exemptions, including Reg A+ and… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 1:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

The [William M. (Mac) Thornberry] National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (HR 6395) was signed into law at the beginning of this month. While the title of the law is pretty accurate as the bulk of the legislation addresses defense issues, buried within… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 10:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Grayscale, the creators of multiple publicly traded crypto funds, has committed $1 million to Coin Center – the well-known crypto non-profit and advocacy group. Additionally, Grayscale said it would top up this amount with another $1 million in matching funds through February 2021. The matching… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Melio, founded by CEO Matan Bar, CTO Ilan Atias, and COO Ziv Paz, has raised $110 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. Melio allows businesses to digitally pay their invoices for free using a bank transfer or debit cards.  The funding round was led… Read More

January 23, 2021 @ 4:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) is distributing a letter sent to the Biden Administration asking the new President to “pause on the further expansion and deregulation of the private offering marketplace.” This includes exemptions created by the JOBS Act – a bill signed… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission has posted the agenda for the meeting of the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee. According to a release, the Committee’s morning session will feature representatives from exchanges and platforms who will share some of the trends and dynamics they… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 2:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, Dr. Janet Yellen, former Chair of the US Federal Reserve and soon to be the Secretary of the Treasury, testified at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee in regards to her nomination. In advance of the hearing, Dr. Yellen submitted an… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 12:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP) an Italian investment bank founded in 1850 in Turin that is largely owned by the Italian government, has decided to invest in digital lender October’s SME fund. According to a statement by CDP, the bank has committed €20 million… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 11:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Ronald Klein distributed a Presidential Action by President Joe Biden that is poised to impact recent improvements to security crowdfunding including the Reg CF and Reg A+ exemption. Entitled Regulatory Freeze Pending Review, President Biden has… Read More

January 21, 2021 @ 9:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Victory Park has returned once again to the SPAC realm seeking another Fintech acquire. According to an S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Victory Park is seeking $225 million in the initial public offering of VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings II. VPC II is… Read More

January 21, 2021 @ 8:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) announced Q4 earnings this week that beat analyst expectations. The midwestern bank also announced a substantial share buyback that should please its shareholders. But perhaps more interesting was the fact that Key discussed its digital bank Laurel Road and expectations to expand the… Read More

January 21, 2021 @ 3:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

President Joe Biden has selected Commissioner Allison Herren Lee as acting Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Commissioner Lee will lead the SEC until Gary Gensler is approved by the US Senate. Upon being selected, Acting Chair Lee issued the following statement: “It’s… Read More

January 21, 2021 @ 11:43 am By JD Alois  |  

Leading investment crowdfunding platform StartEngine has filed a Form 1-A indicating its intent to offer the StartEngine Collectibles Fund. According to the filing, the Reg A+ offering will be split between two types of collectibles including wine and music. The document reveals that if fully… Read More