October 16, 2018 @ 3:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Silo, a company that was seed funded on investment platform OurCrowd, has launched their patented one-touch vacuum-sealing system on Kickstarter. Silo is seeking a minimum amount of $80,000 in orders. Silo is part of OurCrowd’s AI focused fund Cognitiv Ventures, Israel’s most active AI investor… Read More

October 16, 2018 @ 11:48 am By JD Alois  |  

Sense Education, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for student submissions, has been selected as the top Edtech Startup at South Summit’s 2018 enlightED competition. The company was said to be chosen from 600 of the world’s most promising Edtech firms receiving the “Best Technology Solution for… Read More

October 16, 2018 @ 10:20 am By JD Alois  |  

tZero, Overstock.com’s (NASDAQ:OSTK) blockchain based crypto platform, has distributed its own security token. tZero, a registered alternative trading system (ATS), closed a funding round in August with investors purchasing $134 million of preferred equity in the startup. The funding delivered unicorn status to a marketplace… Read More

October 16, 2018 @ 8:40 am By JD Alois  |  

Wadiz, the largest crowdfunding platform in South Korea, has shared a recent report on equity crowdfunding that indicates a growing marketplace. Online capital formation was first legalized in Korea in January 2016 by legislation that created amendments to the Capital Markets Act. Presently, there are… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 9:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fidelity, a nearly seventy year old financial firm with $7.2 trillion in assets under management, announced its entry into blockchain based finance today with the launch of Fidelity Digital Assets. The vision is to offer institutional quality trading in crypto while providing a superior level … Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 6:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fidelity Investments, perhaps best known for its ubiquitous mutual funds, is getting into crypto. Fidelity believes that distributed ledger technologies, aka blockchain, can enable entirely new business models, lead to the creation of frictionless capital markets and improve existing financial market infrastructure. Fidelity can envision… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 2:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

This just popped into the inbox and for US based online capital formation platforms – this will be a must view live stream. On Tuesday, October 23rd, The Heritage Foundation will be hosting a live presentation at their office in Washington, DC. The topic of… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 8:38 am By JD Alois  |  

Tech icon and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is diving further into the blockchain arena by co-founding EQUI Global – a firm that is described as a “global game changer” that will disrupt venture capital. Wozniak, or the Woz, is joining several high profile individuals including… Read More

October 15, 2018 @ 7:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has sent a “Dear CEO letter” to lenders of high-cost, short term credit, aka payday loans, admonishing these platforms for an increase in “complaints about affordable lending.” The complaints also reference problematic “chain of loans,” or stacking, that may… Read More

October 14, 2018 @ 8:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Later this month, Hong Kong will host their annual Fintech Week. This year’s event is being billed as the “world’s first” cross-border Fintech event. The multi-faceted conference will straddle Honk Kong and Shenzen – the relatively new metropolis that links Hong Kong to China’s mainland. Macao… Read More

October 14, 2018 @ 1:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

Gary Cohn, formerly the Chief Economic Advisor to President Trump and former President and COO of Goldman Sachs, has joined a blockchain startup, Spring Labs, as an advisor. Spring Labs is  building a “decentralized network for identity and credit” to provide a more secure and… Read More

October 14, 2018 @ 12:34 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dr. Nouriel Roubini, also known as “Dr. Doom,” has extended his crypto / blockchain bashing on Twitter during the past few days. Following a widely viewed Senate Banking Committee hearing where Dr. Roubini submitted a 37 page document that eviscerated the concept of cryptocurrency calling… Read More

October 13, 2018 @ 6:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Brad Sherman is well known for his anti-crypto perspective having attacked digital currencies during Congressional hearings. Modulus CEO Richard Gardner recently challenged Representative’s Sherman opinion pointing to a statement emanating out of Kenya. Bitange Ndemo, Chairman of the Taskforce on Distributed Ledgers and Artificial Intelligence… Read More

October 13, 2018 @ 6:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

Prime Trust, a “blockchain driven trust company” is providing solutions to custody cryptocurrency while also providing various compliance solutions including US security exemptions. This week, Prime Trust announced that it is adding support for Stellar. The company can already custody all ERC 20 tokens including ST-20…. Read More

October 12, 2018 @ 3:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Jason Calacanis is offering live crowdfunding once again – this time during LAUCH Scale in San Francisco this week. Calacanis partnered with investment crowdfunding platform SeedInvest to help match investors to the early stage firms. The event took place yesterday (Thursday, October 11, 2018) with… Read More

October 12, 2018 @ 8:54 am By JD Alois  |  

Dow Jones VentureSource is out with their quarterly report on VC activity for Q3 of 2018. According to their numbers, European VC fundraising increased during Q3 but investment in European companies “showed a notable decline in deal flow activity and investment levels.” The report states… Read More

October 12, 2018 @ 7:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Chilango prominently issued a mini-bond on Crowdcube several years back. The “Burrito Bond, as it was called, raised £2.16 million from 748 smaller investors. The mini-bond, the first of its kind, was a perk incentivized security. For investors that purchased £10,000 or more of the… Read More

October 11, 2018 @ 8:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

This morning, well known economist Dr. Nouriel Roubini and Peter Van Valkenburg, Director of Research at Coin Center testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The topic of discussion was cryptocurrency and the emerging blockchain technology. Roubini attacked and Van… Read More

October 11, 2018 @ 3:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Brad Sherman has been one of the most outspoken critics of the crypto / blockchain sector. Granted, many elected officials are sitting on the fence as to what, if anything, they should legislate to facilitate, or curtail, the emerging crypto sector. Just this week,… Read More

October 11, 2018 @ 12:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against an initial coin offering (ICO) that falsely claimed to be approved by the SEC. The enforcement action was filed against Blockvest LLC and company founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III. Additionally, the SEC obtained an emergency… Read More