May 8, 2018 @ 9:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Kleros, a blockchain dispute resolution layer protocol, has been accepted into the Thomson Reuters Incubator program. Kleros says it enables both individuals and businesses to feel secure while conducting transactions online. This is accomplished by using smart contracts to reduce counterparty risk in a wide… Read More

May 8, 2018 @ 8:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Transferwise: Over $1 billion Deposited into borderless accounts in the product’s first year Fintech unicorn TransferWise has launched batch payments, a new feature that enables both international payroll and corporate payments to suppliers. Simultaneously, Transferwise announced that over $1 billion has been deposited into their… Read More

May 8, 2018 @ 8:43 am By JD Alois  |  

​ S​eedly​, a personal finance management platform, has been acquired by ​ShopBack​, a “lifestyle portal” that enables smarter purchase decisions. ​Both companies are based in Singapore. Cashback received an investment of USD $40 million in November 2017 and this is the first acquisition announcement since… Read More

May 8, 2018 @ 7:43 am By JD Alois  |  

FinTech Australia says their industry will benefit from the 2018-2019 Australian Budget but big news on Open Banking will wait for a future date. Stuart Stoyan, Chair of FinTech Australia, says he welcomes a number of funding measures outlined in the budget. These include: $44.6… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 4:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

CG Blockchain, Inc. has announced that its affiliate BCT Inc. has closed the public sale of its BCT utility token, raising over $31 million. The sale commenced on April 1st. BCT Inc. offers a suite of proprietary and third party application tools for hedge funds,… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 11:05 am By JD Alois  |  

The State of New York is may create a new regulatory hurdle, and associated cost, for online lenders. A bill (Senate Bill S8340) sitting in the New York State Senate now, will create a limited state charter for internet lending. Sponsored by New York State… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 10:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Speaking in Berlin this week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair J. Christoper Giancarlo addressed the Association of German Banks. His theme was the pressing need for regulatory harmonization. Today, across developed markets, varying financial regulations adds a significant cost to the financial services industry. Same… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 9:29 am By JD Alois  |  

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that it is working with a consortium of agencies to accelerate the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial services sector. MAS has always sought to keep Singapore at the forefront of Fintech innovation and encouraging… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 8:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Warren Buffet, the founder of Berkshire Hathaway and a legendary investor, is no fan of cryptocurrency. Speaking with CNBC this week during their annual shareholder meeting, Buffet told Becky Quick that bitcoin is “rat poison squared.” Not exactly a compliment. Buffet believes that “cryptocurrencies will come… Read More

May 7, 2018 @ 7:30 am By JD Alois  |  

In a letter to shareholders Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) founder and CEO Patrick Byrne announced a significant management shuffle of executives at both tZero and Overstock. The corporate change is described as intending to accelerate growth at tZero – overstock’s emerging initial coin offering platform for securities on… Read More

May 6, 2018 @ 10:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd is one of the largest crowdfunding platforms in the world and, perhaps, the largest early stage platform globally by now. The five year old firm has quickly gone from zero to nearly $1 billion in capital raised with the expectation to surpass the billion dollar… Read More

May 6, 2018 @ 9:09 am By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered by UK FCA Competition Director Mary Starks, the public official addressed the topics of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Regarding blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), Starks was more optimistic. Regarding cryptocurrencies, or “cryptoassets” as she labeled them, she was more circumspect…. Read More

May 5, 2018 @ 2:56 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, CI had the chance to speak to part of the team from Elevate (NYSE: ELVT) – an online lender that is servicing the non-prime market. As most people are aware, a prime borrower has a lot of options in the marketplace from both from traditional financial… Read More

May 5, 2018 @ 12:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an interim report on UK mortgage market. According to the FCA, Mortgage debt accounts for over 80% of total UK household liabilities – so this is a significant sector of finance that has a profound impact on individuals. While… Read More

May 4, 2018 @ 1:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Brian Quintenz commented on cryptocurrency enforcement actions this week. During a speech delivered to the FIA’s 40th Annual Law and Compliance Conference, Quintenz noted that the CFTC Crypto task force is coordinating with their counterparts at the Securities… Read More

May 3, 2018 @ 9:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Crypto Invest Summit (CIS) in Los Angeles this week, rebranded from previous “Crowd” events, was a standing room only conference this year. Organizers sold out of tickets in the last weeks as demand was high for the cryptocurrency / blockchain focused gathering. More than… Read More

May 3, 2018 @ 10:54 am By JD Alois  |  

As has been widely rumored, Goldman Sachs finally has outed itself regarding its cryptocurrency ambitions of launching a digital assets trading desk. NYT spoke to Goldman Sachs executive Rana Yared, who is helping set up the operations, who said that Bitcoin is not a fraud… Read More

May 3, 2018 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Small Business Policy held a Twitter chat on Tuesday entitled #SECcrowdfundchat. The lightly attended discussion was scheduled to help inform small businesses as to how they may legally raise growth capital. In the US today,… Read More

May 3, 2018 @ 8:28 am By JD Alois  |  

It has been widely reported that Telegram has decided against a public initial coin offering (ICO). This comes after Telegram raised over $1.7 billion in a “purchase agreement for cryptocurrency,” according to public documents. The first $850 million was raised by just 81 investors, as… Read More

May 2, 2018 @ 11:57 am By JD Alois  |  

Aperture’s PropertyCoin initial coin offering kicked off yesterday as the company seeks to marry blockchain and real estate backed investments. Property Coin is said to be the first opportunity to own a professionally managed real estate portfolio using Ethereum. Based in Los Angeles, Aperture is a real… Read More