January 24, 2020 @ 11:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority’s Executive Director of Strategy and Competition, Christopher Woolard, has been selected as the Interim Chief Executive of the FCA. HM Treasury announced the appointment today as current FCA Chief Executive Andrew Bailey has been tapped to take over the role of… Read More

January 24, 2020 @ 6:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube is the largest investment crowdfunding platform in the UK and the first platform to launch in the robust UK crowdfunding market – a market that in many ways leads the rest of the world. Founded in 2011, Crowdcube has helped to raise growth capital… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 9:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Funding Circle (LSE:FCH) posted an update on investor returns earlier today. Currently, the online lender offers two different investment opportunities for investors: Conservative or Balanced. The update effectively included no new news as projected rates remained the same as previously expected: Balanced: 4.5% to 6.5%… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 9:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

While we read all of the time as to how cash – dollars, pounds, euros, whatever, are becoming less and less popular, New York City, the financial center of the universe is banning stores from becoming no-cash operations. To quote the approved local law: “This… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 3:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Outspoken entrepreneur and CEO of Prime Trust Scott Purcell has shared his thoughts on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposal to modernize the current definition of an accredited investor. At the moment, an accredited investor in the US is measured by a wealth metric…. Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 2:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

AngelList, a platform that started as a VC hybrid platform for accredited investors but has since morphed into a broader startup community, has distributed an update on platform performance during 2019. According to AngelList, the platform currently has almost $1.8 billion in assets under management… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 9:11 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has reported two Estonian debt-based crowdfunding platforms to the relevant regulatory authorities in light of numerous complaints received by platform users. According to ECN,  Kuetzal and Envestio, both lending platforms, may be in trouble: “ECN has received a large number… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 8:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital asset primary issuance platform Tokeny has announced a new partnership with PwC. Tokeny is a Luxembourg based Fintech that enables companies, banks, funds, real estate assets and more to tokenize these securities using blockchain technology. Tokeny enables institutional grade, issuance, transfer and servicing management… Read More

January 23, 2020 @ 8:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital challenger bank Revolut has announced a new savings accounts for users in the UK market. The bank says the savings accounts will be available to Revolut Metal customers and earn a 1.35% interest rate on deposits – one of the higher rates of returns… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 10:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

Taiwanese Congressman and crypto advocate Jason Hsu delivered a speech on AML requirements at the EmTech Investment Meeting 2020 held at Davos this week.  Hsu is also the co-founder and APAC Spokesperson for the Global Blockchain Policy Council of Legislators. Hsu has been vocal on… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 10:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

CrowdStreet, a real estate crowdfunding platform catering to accredited investors, has circulated an email stating that distributions doubled in 2019 alongside the size of its community. Launched in 2014, Crowdstreet claims more than $972 million has been raised and, since platform launch $99+ million in… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 9:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

GreyP Bikes (an e-bike company), one of the first “equity token offerings” or ETO to complete a primary issuance on the Neufund platform distributed the digital securities to investors last week. The security offering began last October with a pre-sale followed by a public sale… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 10:05 am By JD Alois  |  

Sowefund, a France based investment crowdfunding platform, has purchased the assets of defunct platform SmartAngels, according to Sowefund’s website. SmartAngels ceased its crowdfunding activity at the end of 2018. The SmartAngels URL now redirects to Sowefunds with a “welcome” post for visitors: “The SmartAngels investment… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 9:28 am By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is introducing new rules regarding overdraft fees that impact consumers. The new rules expect to benefit 70% of the population as banks will now be required to charge a simple annual interest rate, without any additional fees or charges beginning… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 8:22 am By JD Alois  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has posted a deck on its investigation into Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDCs). Project LionRock is the CBDC blockchain from Hong Kong and Inthanon is from Thailand as the two partnered in the project. The HKMA said it developed… Read More

January 22, 2020 @ 7:48 am By JD Alois  |  

UK based Demica, a working capital Fintech, has closed on a $30 million Series C financing round led by Simcah Management LLC, according to a company release. Demica is a platform that targets multinational clients all over the world, across industries providing working capital facilities… Read More

January 21, 2020 @ 8:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Sergii “Sergey” Grybniak and his company Opporty International, Inc. for an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering. According to the SEC, Grybniak and his company raised $600,000 from around 200 investors during the sale of unregistered “digital asset… Read More

January 21, 2020 @ 12:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd, the leading global investment crowdfunding platform and Israel’s leading venture investor, is out with a note on some of its exits in advance of the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit taking place in February, Israel’s largest tech conference and the largest equity crowdfunding event in… Read More

January 21, 2020 @ 12:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Grayscale Investments has announced that the world’s largest digital currency asset manager Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has become an SEC reporting company following the approval of a filing with the SEC. Grayscale notes that this is the first-ever digital currency investment product to become a reporting… Read More

January 21, 2020 @ 8:59 am By JD Alois  |  

While investment crowdfunding rules initially were targeted at early-stage ventures in need of growth capita,l the new rules have fueled the rise of investment platforms for another asset class: real estate investment opportunities. Early-stage ventures, from seed rounds to later-stage venture rounds, tend to include… Read More