Investment Platforms and Marketplaces

August 3, 2020 @ 11:13 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector continues to experience significant growth, as the total value locked in its markets has surpassed $4 billion, according to DeFi Pulse data. DeFi markets leverage blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT), crypto-assets, and smart contracts (automated business logic), in order… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 10:51 am By JD Alois  |  

RateSetter, a leading UK based peer to peer lender, has been acquired by Metro Bank. The purchase of RateSetter has long been anticipated as the P2P lender messaged earlier that it was exploring “strategic options” – a euphemism for a sale. In June, there were… Read More

August 3, 2020 @ 7:20 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firm Become, an online lending platform for SMEs, notes that digital or e-commerce has been accelerated by about 4-6 years due to COVID-19 which has led to permanent changes in consumer behavior. Individuals and business owners are increasingly using all-digital services, instead of visiting… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 11:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

October, a leading European online lender, reveals that it was definitely not “idle” during the month of July 2020, despite the challenges created by the global COVID-19 outbreak and the resulting economic uncertainty. October claims that July 2020 was a record month, during which 55… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 9:56 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Uphold, a U.S.-based digital finance platform, announced last week global customers can buy a Universal Gold (UPXAU), which is a physical-gold backed token issued by the Universal Protocol Alliance and backed by the Government of Western Australia. UPXAU is free to hold, government-backed, and spendable… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 9:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Laura Whateley, a real money management correspondent at Zopa, a Fintech lender and digital bank, notes that at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it wasn’t really clear how our finances would be affected, and that might still be the case for many individuals and… Read More

August 2, 2020 @ 9:39 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Property crowdfunding platform CapitalRise has raised more than £1.9 million through its latest equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs, which is set to close later this week. The funding round was launched last month, originally seeking £1 million. The initiative made its debut just a little… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 3:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Abundance, which claims to be the UK’s first crowdfunding platform that allows people to earn money by investing in UK renewable energy projects, is asking low-risk investors to look into community municipal investments or CMIs provided through its platform as an alternative to National Savings… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 12:12 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Mintos, a global loan marketplace, has reported had a record year for new investors and platform lending.  Mintos has operations across Europe as well as Africa, Asia and the Americas. The peer to peer (P2P) lender revealed that it financed €2.8 billion in loans via… Read More

August 1, 2020 @ 11:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

San Francisco based crypto exchange Coinbase says it plans to provide support for all assets that meet its technical standards and guidelines, which adhere to applicable laws and regulations. Coinbase notes that eventually, it expects its clients, throughout the world, to have access to at… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 10:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

CoinShares, a crypto-asset management company that provides financial products and services for professional investors, revealed on July 29, 2020 that it has joined the Liquid Network, a sidechain-based settlement network developed by Blockstream. The Liquid Network aims to offer asset issuance capabilities, faster settlement times… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

  CoinList, a top primary digital asset issuance platform, has announced the launch of CoinList Pro – a full-stack crypto exchange designed to challenge established incumbents. While CoinList commenced basic digital asset trading earlier this year, CoinList Pro is described as a fully-featured crypto spot… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 10:47 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Funding Circle (LSE: FCH), an SME lender that facilitates loans in both the US and parts of Europe, recently noted that as the Coronavirus-related lockdown measures are eased, many businesses in the United Kingdom are preparing to open up again. However, even for businesses that… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 10:30 am By JD Alois  |  

OurCrowd is one of the largest investment crowdfunding platforms in the world. Based in Israel but investing globally, OurCrowd reports over $1.5 billion in committed capital and a growing number of institutional investors. Since platform launch, OurCrowd has had over 35 exits including high profile… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 9:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) reported results this morning that “represent discipline and a lot of hard work” according to the company. The company said that new customers tripled year over year as many new customers found them during Q2 – boosted by the COVID lockdown. The company… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 9:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Peer to peer Bitcoin marketplace, Paxful claims that there’s now a growing interest in the use of P2P Bitcoin (BTC) trading platforms in Russia. According to a release shared with Crowdfund Insider, many Russians have been turning to cash and BTC during these times of… Read More

July 30, 2020 @ 8:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

JustUs, a UK-based peer to peer (P2P) lender, is planning to introduce its Small Business Interruption Loan Service (SBILS) by the end of next month and has asked the UK government to also take part in the program by lending alongside the crowd. The SBILS… Read More

July 29, 2020 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The developers of Injective Protocol, a “decentralized” derivatives exchange, have acquired $2.6 million through a seed funding round that was led by Pantera Capital. Injective Protocol has been incubated by Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange. Injective’s developers have also acquired investments from Axia8… Read More

July 29, 2020 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

tZERO CEO Saum Noursalehi has published an update on progress pertaining to the digital security platform. tZERO is part of Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK), a company that has recently experienced a solid increase in its share price since the beginning of the year. Overstock is scheduled to… Read More

July 29, 2020 @ 1:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ireland-based Linked Finance, a peer to peer (P2P) lender, has asked the Irish government to extend the nation’s €2 billion (appr. $2.35 billion) credit guarantee scheme to P2P and non-banking lending platforms. The UK has introduced the COVID-19 loan scheme, however, Ireland’s alternative lending solution… Read More