March 21, 2025 @ 4:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), published by Z/Yen, was released yesterday, and New York City was in first place, as it has been for many years. London, a global finance hub, was in second place, but it was shown as closing the gap with NYC…. Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 11:47 am By JD Alois  |  

The US Department of Treasury has announced that it has removed the economic sanctions applied to Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer. Tornado Cash, a decentralized platform, enables users to cloak crypto activity to a certain degree. In 2222, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 10:41 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided to hold its benchmark rate steady at 4.5%. This follows the US Federal Reserve’s decision not to change its rates. The MPC voted 8 to 1, with one member preferring to cut rates by 25 basis… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 10:25 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dramatically changed its position regarding digital assets following the change in administration with President Donald Trump’s election. The Commission is now controlled by Republicans, who typically are more supportive of innovation and entrepreneurship. This includes financial services. Previously,… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has joined the ERC3643 Association – the advocate group for the ERC3643 token standard. ERC3643 was created by Tokeny, a leading digital security enabler based in Luxembourg. Luc Falempin, CEO of Tokeny, said that having “DTCC join the… Read More

March 21, 2025 @ 6:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The British Business Bank has committed up to £30 million to THENA Capital’s inaugural UK MedTech Fund. The fund reportedly has held its first close at £27 million with commitments from Firebird Collective, This Day Foundation, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, and other individuals. The fund… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 4:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Robinhood  (NASDAQ: HOOD) has announced a new business segment with the launch of a prediction markets hub. The new vertical is operated by Robinhood Derivatives. The hub will enable trading on contracts for what the upper bound of the target Fed funds rate may be… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 2:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a statement on Proof of Work (PoW), a characteristic of some digital assets – most prominently Bitcoin. Proof of Work is a way to validate and mint new crypto. At one time, Ethereum was PoW, but it… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 12:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Two financial fraud experts say the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, needs to address the growing issue of financial fraud during next week’s Spring Statement. Silvija Krupena, Director of the Financial Intelligence Unit at RedCompass Labs, and Jonathan Frost, Director of Global Advisory at… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 10:51 am By JD Alois  |  

A new platform called JikoNet aims to establish a network enabling institutions to settle high-volume transactions in real time while minimizing counterparty and liquidity risks. JikoNet leverages Jiko’s bank ledger for seamless USD transactions with instant T-bill trades and enables 24/7 real-time settlement for digital… Read More

March 20, 2025 @ 8:55 am By JD Alois  |  

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, will address Parliament next week with her economic plan, which she will present to policymakers. The Spring Statement is expected to include numerous policy changes aiming to boost economic growth while cutting government costs and associated red tape, which undermines… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 5:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Republic, the largest online capital formation platform in the world, has revealed a partnership with Hamilton Lane (Nasdaq: HLNE), which will add exposure to Private Equity (PE) on its marketplace. The “first-ever” infrastructure evergreen fund will now be available to US investors for an initial… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 12:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

The never-ending saga of new tech being used for good, as well as bad, continues. While enforcement agencies chase criminals for bad actions, the crooks keep upping their game making it difficult to stop the perpetrators. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has posted… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 12:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, will deliver the annual Spring Statement next week, with expectations of dramatic changes to the UK government’s economic policy. Reeves is anticipated to seek a balancing act of slashing government red tape and reducing government expenditures while adopting policies… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 10:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Folk2Folk, a peer-to-peer lender serving smaller businesses, has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, asking her to include IFISAs in the ISA discussion. IFISAs, or innovative finance individual savings accounts, aim to allow alternative investments in retirement accounts. An IFISA can also… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, has announced that the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) or UK Gilts, which leverages distributed ledger technology (DLT), will move forward. The Chancellor stated: “The UK is leading the way on digital innovation, and the creation of DIGIT will help to… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has met with a group of top Fintechs in advance of next week’s Spring Statement, according to a report from Sky News. This follows an announcement about the UK government’s new policy of slashing red tape and reducing regulatory… Read More

March 19, 2025 @ 9:23 am By JD Alois  |  

CrowdProperty, a real estate investment platform, says it has launched a new product that will help developers gain greater financial flexibility. The “accelerated funding solution” or REAL (Residential Expertise Accelerating Lending) seeks to help developers overcome the challenge of slow and complex property development finance… Read More

March 18, 2025 @ 12:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

While certain sectors of Fintech have dipped in interest when it comes to capital markets activity, payments continue to be a hot sector of Fintech. According to S&P Global Market  Intelligence, capital markets continue to support payments innovators as technology is changing the way we… Read More

March 18, 2025 @ 10:23 am By JD Alois  |  

Reflecting on its loan growth of 24% year over year, Grasshopper reports it is boosting its executive branch to support the demand. Grasshopper is a federally chartered digital bank that holds FDIC insurance for accounts. Launched in 2019, the bank serves both consumers and small… Read More