July 16, 2019 @ 9:48 am By JD Alois  |  

US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin held a press conference yesterday in advance of Capitol Hill hearings this week addressing concerns surrounding Facebook’s stablecoin Lira. Mnuchin cautioned the audience that Facebook, and any other crypto creator, must adhere to the high standards of KYC and… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Lending Express has changed its name to Become. In a blog post, the Fintech said the rebranding was made to represent a shift as the company wants to “become bigger and better — to become more.” Lending Express’s primary goal has been to help business… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 8:19 am By JD Alois  |  

Raisin, a Germany-based Fintech that has rapidly grown in popularity across the continent, has received a €25 million from Goldman Sachs. Raisin announced its intent to cross the Atlantic this past May and enter the US market. Raisin is a Fintech that enables savers to… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 8:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Backed by JP Morgan and Sequoia, Near has just raised $100 million in new financing from PE firm Greater Pacific Capital. Near is a company that uses AI to make “real-world data actionable.” The company claims to have the “largest data set of people’s behavior… Read More

July 16, 2019 @ 7:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Hydrogen car company Riversimple has raised £811,818 topping its £750,000 goal on Seedrs. The vehicle manufacturer is selling a 1.36% equity stake at a pre-money valuation of £58,933,056. As of today, 649 investors have backed the round. This is the company’s third crowdfunding round on… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 11:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

New rules for the Fintech industry in Mexico have been released. These updated rules from Condusef are said to focus on transparency and best practices. The rules impact crowdfunding and cryptocurrency, according to a report in BNAmericas. Referencing a report from Moody’s, the write up… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 10:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer Bitcoin platform Paxful has sent over a note about the first 6 months of 2019. According to the P2P service, the average monthly volume in USD for the first half of 2019 was $65 Million. This amount is almost double the volume… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 4:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

During the past few days a draft House Resolution has been circulating with the title, ‘‘Keep Big Tech Out Of Finance Act.’’ As it is a draft bill, the legislation may never get beyond being run up the flagpole to capture feedback from a wider… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 3:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Securities crowdfunding has been touted as the future of capital formation on this site and the pages of many other newspapers. The traditional venture capital industry has effectively fueled innovative young firms for decades but, too frequently, smaller investors are being cut out of the… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 1:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dr. Heath P. Tarbert was sworn in today as the 14th Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) replacing J. Christopher Giancarlo. Tarbert was nominated by President Trump for a term expiring on April 13, 2024. Tarbert picks up the baton from Giancarlo, a… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 12:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past May, Figure Technologies, closed on $1 billion in asset-based financing custodied on the Provenance Blockchain, Inc. (PBI) – a ledger technology Figure built in house. Figure Technologies is SoFi founder Mike Cagney’s latest Fintech venture. Provenance is a protocol created to originate, finance,… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

In a letter to shareholders published in advance of an upcoming earnings report, Overstock CEO and blockchain advocate Patrick Byrne defended his vision of “tokenization” and digital assets which he believes are the “killer app of the blockchain revolution.” Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) subsidiary tZero is looking… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitt Digital Inc., a portfolio company of Overstock’s (NASDAQ:OSTK) Medici Ventures, has become the first company to successfully complete the regulatory sandbox by the Central Bank of Barbados and the Financial Services Commission. Medici Ventures invested $4 million in Bitt in early 2016. The investment… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 7:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Fintech trueDigital says it will launch a fully regulated cryptocurrency derivatives exchange as part of an acquisition. Subject to CFTC approval, trueDigital will gain the Designated Contract Market (DCM) and Swaps Execution Facility (SEF) registrations held by trueEX LLC. Once trueDigital holds these registrations, the… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 7:38 am By JD Alois  |  

Demica, a working capital Fintech, has announced an alliance with Bank of Montreal (BMO) to provide supply chain finance solutions for their clients. The partnership with BMO is the first with a bank in North America. BMO is the 8th largest bank, by assets, in… Read More

July 15, 2019 @ 7:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Challenger bank Tandem Bank has been recognized as “Best Credit Card Provider” and “Innovation of the Year” at the Consumer Credit Awards, according to a release. The Consumer Credit Awards are run by Smart Money People. Tandem CEO Ricky Knox said the Consumer Credit Awards… Read More

July 14, 2019 @ 1:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Digital banking and online lending is a huge portion of the future of finance. The days of brick and mortar dominance is slowly drifting away as the next generation of consumers prefer banking on their iPhone or Android smartphone. Last week, Deutsche Bank announced a… Read More

July 14, 2019 @ 9:02 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month as previously reported, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed a ban on the sale of both derivatives and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) based on “certain types of cryptoassets.” The announcement of the proposed ban kicked off a consultation, embedded below, for feedback… Read More

July 13, 2019 @ 5:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

This is an interesting iteration of online capital formation. FarmTogether is a new investment platform that has developed a new model for farmland ownership and investment while reducing barriers for access to capital and liquidity for farmers. While I know little about farming, I know… Read More

July 13, 2019 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin Norway has shut down all operations according to its website and posts on Facebook. Bitcoin Norway is a cryptocurrency exchange that claims to have served over 25,000 Norwegians since 2013. Last week, via Twitter, the exchange said they are dealing with extraordinary problems: Hei… Read More