March 20, 2019 @ 7:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Insurtech BriteCo has announced a $2 million seed round led by Brian Spaly, the founder of Trunk Club, and Jeff Taylor, the former chairman and CEO at Cole Taylor Bank. BriteCo is targeting the fine jewelry and watch market to provide insurance within minutes of… Read More

March 20, 2019 @ 6:48 am By JD Alois  |  

Curve is hiring country managers as it plans its expansion first in Europe and then other parts of the globe. Curve is a Fintech that enables users to combine all of their credit/debit cards into a single card and App. The company claims to be… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 10:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Online lender Prospa has reported that loan originations have surpassed $1 billion. Prospa has now delivered the loans to over 19,000 Australian and New Zealand small businesses. The Fintech has also shared its top-level financial numbers. For the year ended 31 December, 2018 loan originations… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 7:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

CipherTrace is a cryptocurrency cyber assurance and compliance firm that has recently formed some interesting partnerships. In February, CipherTrace was backed by $15 million in venture funding to help fulfill its mission on crypto security. In January, CipherTrace published a report on the global cryptocurrency… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 12:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

seriesOne Inc., a globally focused digital security issuance platform, is partnering with Polymath. The company says the goal is to simplify the complex challenges of creating and managing security tokens (blockchain-based digital securities). The new partnership seeks to enable the ability to issue security tokens… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 7:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Western Union (NYSE:WU), an old tech cross-border payment company has teamed up with Thunes (TransferTo Mobile Financial Services Ltd) to enable Western Union customers to send funds directly into mobile wallets around the world. Thunes connects diverse payment systems so unbanked or underbanked users gain access… Read More

March 19, 2019 @ 7:28 am By JD Alois  |  

Investment crowdfunding platform FundedByMe has added Stripe to its platform to more easily facilitate smaller transactions. The recently listed company said in a release: This to solve the complexity of the numerous smaller transactions in equity crowdfunding. During 2018 the smallest investment on the platform… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 10:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

InstaReM, a payments platform operating in over 50 countries, has closed on a USD $ 41 million Series C funding round led by Vertex Growth Fund, their first investment in Southeast Asia. James Lee, MD of Vertex Growth Fund, will be joining the Board of… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 4:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

The newly formed Association for Online Investment Platforms (AOIP) visited Washington, DC last week to discuss improvements for access to capital for small business and better opportunities for smaller investors. The trip was organized in partnership with the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBECouncil) –… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 2:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Verseon (AIM: VERS), a California based clinical stage pharma company, is issuing preferred shares. The company is using its own blockchain based subsidiary BlockRules to sell the securities in a security token offering (STO) that seeks to be “one of the first global offerings backed… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 10:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitbond, an online lending platform, has launched one of Germany’s first Security Token Offerings (STO). The Bitbond STO has published a BaFin approved Prospectus in conjunction with the offering representing an important step in the validation of the emerging digital asset ecosystem. The Bitbond STO… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) has reported financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2018. According to a release from the e-commerce/tech/blockchain firm, both top line revenue and profit declined for the quarter. Shares in Overstock dipped in pre-market trading. In a note to shareholders, CEO and… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 8:18 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer-to-peer property lender CrowdProperty has launched an equity crowdfunding offer on Seedrs. The campaign has quickly topped the minimum target of £600,000 for a 3.68% equity stake in the platform. CrowdProperty has a pre-money valuation of £15.7 million. In 2017, CrowdProperty listed a pre-Series A… Read More

March 18, 2019 @ 7:31 am By JD Alois  |  

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has issued a statement on “crypto-assets” indicating their concern that new financial products related to crypto have the potential to increase the risks to banks who engage in digital or crypto assets. The BCBS was established by central… Read More

March 17, 2019 @ 11:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recognizing that most startups fail, Switzerland-based crowdfunding platform Bloomio says they are boosting their diligence and addressing “the biases that accompany in-house assessments of profits,” for companies raising capital on their platform. Bloomio reports they are working with a panel of “external, experts across 13… Read More

March 17, 2019 @ 6:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has published guidelines on security tokens and post trade responsibilities. The issuance of these guiding principles are an important step in the utilization of the issuance and ongoing trading of blockchain based securities tokens or crypto assets. DTCC… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 11:23 am By JD Alois  |  

StartEngine, a leading full-stack crowdfunding platform is in the first full week of a self crowdfunding round using Reg A+. StartEngine previously raised $5 million in 2018 using Reg A+. The offer seeks up to $9,000,000 from the sale of Common Stock and $1,000,000 from… Read More

March 16, 2019 @ 11:01 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has published a consultation on a framework for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The SC is one of many financial regulators that are seeking to better understand digital assets while investigating potential regulatory environments to create an effective ecosystem. The SC… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 5:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

Canada has joined a growing group of financial regulators seeking input on creating a regulatory compliant ecosystem for trading digital assets. Posted this week, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the group that represents all of the provincial regulators, posted a consultation in partnership with the… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 12:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has scheduled a public forum focusing on distributed ledger technology (DLT or blockchain) and digital assets (or crypto assets). Topics will include initial coin offerings (ICOs), digital asset platforms, DLT innovations, and how these impact investors and the markets…. Read More