December 7, 2019 @ 9:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Property investment platform CrowdProperty has topped £20,000,000 in capital returned during 5 years of lending, according to an email from the company. CrowdProperty states that since platform launch, approximately £55 million has been lent which has helped to finance over £130 million of property and… Read More

December 7, 2019 @ 9:38 am By JD Alois  |  

October, a European marketplace lending platform for SMEs has signed the United Nation’s “Principles for Responsible Investing.” October claims to be one of the first online lenders to agree to the “UN PRI.” The UN PRI defines responsible investment as a “strategy and practice to… Read More

December 6, 2019 @ 11:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday in a blog post, Landbay founder and CEO John Goodall announced that his property crowdfunding platform will no longer serve as a peer to peer lender as institutional money has taken over. Landbay said that a UK bank will now handle the current retail… Read More

December 5, 2019 @ 6:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Banque of France will begin testing a Central Bank Digital Currency (or CBDC) in 2020, according to a report in Les Echos – the leading business publication of France. Quoting François Villeroy de Galhau, the Governor of the Banque of France, who was speaking… Read More

December 5, 2019 @ 9:25 am By JD Alois  |  

Neufund, a Berlin-based investment platform, has successfully closed the offering of e-mobility company, Greyp Bikes raising €1.4 million. Greyp, an eBike creator and a spinoff from Rimac Automobili, launched the security token offering in September. Greyp claims to be the “future of mobility” and the… Read More

December 5, 2019 @ 8:09 am By JD Alois  |  

New peer to peer lending rules come into effect on Monday, December 9th. The new rules were the result of a review by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The UK largely created the entire sector of peer to peer lending. One of the most… Read More

December 4, 2019 @ 8:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

“Banking partner for SMEs” Kapilendo is issuing its first blockchain-based digital bond. According to the Germany based crowdfunding platform, FR L’Osteria SE, a “gastronomy concept” is issuing a tokenized bond using blockchain tech. Kapilendo is a debt-based crowdfunding platform that caters to Mittelstand companies by… Read More

December 4, 2019 @ 12:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

We all know the story of Elizabeth Holmes and the demise of Theranos, a company that claimed to have created a device that could provide fast and efficient blood tests. Theranos ended being a company based on hubris, imagination, and vapor. It eventually collapsed being… Read More

December 4, 2019 @ 10:28 am By JD Alois  |  

A group of former Morgan Stanley executives is launching a crypto derivatives exchange in a move to rival the CME. Phemex, a trading platform that claims to be able to manage 300,000 TPS, is said to be on par with the technical capabilities of the… Read More

December 4, 2019 @ 8:33 am By JD Alois  |  

Following a trial of a biometric card announced in October, NatWest has announced an expansion of the program with its “biometric payment fob.” The bank is launching today a three-month national trial involving 250 customers. Users may make payments up to £100 without a bank card… Read More

December 3, 2019 @ 3:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Stone Ridge has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the NYDIG Bitcoin Strategy Fund. Stone Ridge currently manages around $15 billion of assets. The closed-end Fund is seeking to raise up to $25 million. According to the document, the… Read More

December 3, 2019 @ 1:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

Benoît Cœuré, the outgoing European Central Bank Executive Board Member – and an individual some thought was the best person to lead ECB before Christine Lagarde was selected, has delivered an interesting speech in Brussels lambasting the state of the European Union and the lack… Read More

December 3, 2019 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) along with three other federal agencies and in conjunction with the state bank regulators have issued a statement clarifying the legal status of hemp growth and production and the relevant requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act… Read More

December 3, 2019 @ 10:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lending platform Zopa raised £140 million, the company’s largest funding round since launch. According to a note from Zopa, the additional capital will enable Zopa’s banking entity to “fulfill its regulatory capital requirements.” This is key to removing its current restrictions on… Read More

December 3, 2019 @ 10:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Innovations in financial services continue to rapidly evolve. Some early leaders have dimmed as markets have changed while new approaches on Fintech have emerged. What is clear to all, the digitization of finance is occurring at a steady pace. Technology is best when it is… Read More

December 2, 2019 @ 8:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has appointed Kristina Littman as Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit, a specialized unit that focuses on protecting investors and markets from cyber-related misconduct. Littman succeeds Robert Cohen, who left the Commission in August 2019.  Cohen was… Read More

December 2, 2019 @ 8:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding platform Birchal will launch secondary trading of CSF securities in 2020, according to a note from the company. Birchal is a leading “crowd-sourced funding (CSF)” platform in Australia. The new marketplace, announced today, will be called Birchal Trade. There has been a good… Read More

December 2, 2019 @ 4:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Crypto Valley Association (CVA), a Switzerland based blockchain advocacy group, has published an “Asset Tokenization Paper” at the inaugural launch event for its Western Chapter today taking place at the EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. The CVA seeks to define the… Read More

December 2, 2019 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a significant review of the securities exemption ecosystem in June of this year. During the past few decades, the Commission, with some help from Congress, has updated and added to the many rules that regulate private securities offerings…. Read More

December 2, 2019 @ 1:45 am By JD Alois  |  

HubrisOne, an app that enables the purchasing and sales of crypto, is planning to raise capital on Seedrs. HubrisOne was started by founders who “understood the challenges customers globally were facing with traditional banks.” The company explains: “As early cryptocurrency investors, we battled against switching… Read More