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

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has talked up their innovation cred and support of Fintech for years. Under previous Chair Mary Jo White, the SEC held the very first Fintech Forum which saw both industry participants and policymakers engage with each other in collaborative… Read More

May 4, 2019 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Cryptosecurity firm Ciphertrace has published their Q1 report tallying scams, frauds, and other nefarious acts in the crypto sector and the first three months of 2019 were productive ones for the bad guys. According to Ciphertrace, during the first three months of 2019, $1.2 billion… Read More

May 4, 2019 @ 2:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

It appears that Canada’s financial services sector is making progress on incorporating blockchain tech for identity verification. SecureKey Technologies is out with a note saying their digital identity network, Verified.Me, is now available for use at TD, Scotiabank, RBC, Desjardins, and CIBC. SecureKey says that… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 3:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider reported earlier today that more rumblings on Facebook’s entrant into the cryptocurrency sector have emerged. In a WSJ report, it was disclosed that Facebook is expected to issue its own crypto dubbed FBCoin. The digital currency, most likely a stablecoin pegged to fiat,… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 2:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Eco-focused company Sapient has quickly closed their crowdfunding round on Republic. According to the campaign page, Sapient hit the Reg CF ceiling raising $1.07 million from 1917 retail investors.  As we understand it, Sapient raised the money without any Reg D participation. For issuers using… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 2:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Too much of a good thing? Perhaps. Crowdcube listed a crowdfunding offering for Freetrade on April 25, 2019. Soon after the offer went live, the Crowdcube site went down. According to a post by Crowdcube CTO Rich Pearce, Freetrade generated the highest number of investments… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last February, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) issued a statement on “virtual assets” recognizing the need to mitigate risk associated with money laundering and terrorist financing when it comes to cryptocurrency. The “draft interpretive note” regarding a segment on pending recommendations was open for… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 11:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital challenger bank Chime raised $200 million in funding earlier this year vaunting the upstart bank into Unicorn status. Chime is one of a growing number of digital banks that seek to challenge the hegemony of traditional banks and their brick and mortar legacies. Yesterday,… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 9:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday WSJ.com published a new report regarding Facebook’s push into crypto. The fact that Facebook has been kicking the tyres of blockchain and digital currency is no surprise as the social media platform has long been said to be heading down this path. What is… Read More

May 3, 2019 @ 8:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The US District Court Southern District of New York has greenlighted the lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency filed by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS). The legal battle is an ongoing attack by DFS to challenge OCC’s Fintech… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 4:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

TrustToken, a stablecoin issuer building a portfolio of fiat backed crypto, has commented on the Bitfinex and Tether news pertaining to the lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General alleging fraud. TrustToken threw shade at the targets of the lawsuit saying the news did… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 2:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past week CBInsights published their quarterly report on Fintech investment. As a sector, Fintech investment remains robust but there was a bit of a market shuffle when it came to deal volume. According to the report, during Q1 2019 Fintech deals were up slightly… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 12:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Vanbex,  a cryptocurrency and blockchain technology company, has filed a libel suit against a former contract consultant who reportedly worked briefly for the company. The lawsuit is part of an ongoing dispute that was brought into the public forum when an article in the Vancouver… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 10:48 am By JD Alois  |  

The Central Bank of Canada and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have jointly announced the successful “experiment” of cross border payments using blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). The two central banks claim this is the first test anywhere of its kind stating it has… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 9:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Many cryptocurrency exchanges are lightly regulated or simply not regulated at all. This has led to rampant claims of bogus trading volumes as some exchanges use wash trading or other ploys to boost volume and the appearance of relevance. The Blockchain Transparency Institute has been… Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 6:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

We have seen this one a lot. Issuers file a Form D with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and once it pops up on Edgar (the SEC’s document database) the entity or individual claims it has been “approved” by the SEC. That’s a bunch… Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 12:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

The crypto world is still regrouping from the reality that Bitfinex/Tether is being pursued by a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Stablecoin Tether, operated by the owners of Bitfinex, is a big part of the fraud allegations leveled by the state…. Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 10:11 am By JD Alois  |  

Stealth bank Dozens has closed their crowdfunding round on Seedrs having raised £3.815 million (about $5 million) at a pre-money valuation of £20 million. Dozens had sought a minimum raise of £3.5 million. According to a release, 2,156 investors from 42 different countries invested in… Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Contradicting an existing belief that Millennials don’t save money, digital-only bank Revolut has shared research indicating that more Millennials are saving money than ever before. Simultaneously, this generation remains deeply concerned about their financial future. Revolut says it surveyed their 18-38 year old customers in… Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 8:12 am By JD Alois  |  

Institutional cryptocurrency exchange LMAX Digital has been approved for a full Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) License by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC). LMAX was advised by the law firm Isolas in the licensing process. Receiving a DLT License from Gibraltar requires attestation of robust… Read More