July 15, 2018 @ 3:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Small businesses in the US, and just about every other country, are the life blood of the economy where they operate. This is a fact. Providing access to capital to smaller firms is thus a vital need to drive economic growth, create jobs, and enable… Read More

July 14, 2018 @ 4:29 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Toutiao Marches into the Fintech Market with Cash Loan Products China’s leading digital media platform Toutiao has long denied the potential of entering the financial markets. However, it is reported this week that a series of cash loan products have launched on Toutiao’s app without… Read More

July 13, 2018 @ 2:15 pm By Alessandro Lerro  |  

ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) have established themselves in the last year as an effective tool to finance technological start-ups, generally linked to the digital world: from January 2017 to May 2018 about 12 billion dollars were collected issuing tokens. As with more traditional equity offerings,… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Jor Law  |  

The flight to Barbados isn’t a short one.  I left home at 5am and didn’t get into Barbados until after midnight thanks to a minor delay caused by inclement weather surrounding Miami.  I heard that it’ll take roughly 35 hours for another person who’s coming… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 6:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) – the self regulatory organization (SRO) that oversees broker dealers and other financial firms – issued a “Regulatory Notice” on digital assets. Digital assets, as defined by FINRA, include just about anything associated with blockchain including digital assets that… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

A couple of months back during the Crypto Invest Summit in Los Angeles at a private dinner, I happened to find myself sitting next to Alan Safahi, CEO and founder of ZED Network based in Canada. I was intrigued about his blockchain based company and… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 10:02 am By JD Alois  |  

First, we had initial coin offerings (ICOs). Today, we have the first “initial convertible coin offering” (ICCO), according to Malta based blockchain firm Palladium.  The Palladium site says it is offering “banking designed for the crypto age as Palladium consolidates access to crypto & fiat… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 6:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published its 2018-2019 “Statement of Priorities” June 5th, but the document provides zero helpful guidance to Ontario companies trying to engage with cutting-edge blockchain-based financial technologies, says Toronto-based blockchain lawyer Amy ter Haar. The “OSC…Statement of Priorities for the Financial… Read More

July 8, 2018 @ 9:18 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Early-days monitor of the German crowdfunding market, Crowdfunding.de announced in its latest quarterly report that Germany passed the half billion-euro mark in cumulated in SME crowdfunding at the end of June 2018. The report monitors only equity crowdfunding and crowdlending on marketplaces open to German… Read More

July 7, 2018 @ 2:04 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China Launches a 100-billion-yuan technology investment fund: Chinese Version of the Vision Fund? On July 2, China Merchants Group, Beijing Asset Management Corporation SPF Group and London’s Centricus Corporation announced to launch a 100-billion-yuan investment fund – “China New Era Technology Fund.” The fund aims… Read More

July 6, 2018 @ 10:46 am By JD Alois  |  

  SIX, the operator of the Swiss Stock Exchange, has announced the launch of SIX Digital Exchange to trade digital assets. Zurich based SIX is controlled by an association of banks. SIX Group Ltd is an unlisted public limited company owned by around 130 domestic and… Read More

July 5, 2018 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Securitize is one of a handful of platforms positioning itself to facilitate the tokenization and trading of securities. This will be for funds, companies, and other asset classes. The turnkey platform wants to simplify the process of securities on blockchain from login to the lifetime of… Read More

July 4, 2018 @ 9:32 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Financial Conduct Authority announced the next cohort of firms to be accepted into its Fintech Sandbox program. Within this group is a good number of crypto / blockchain. One of these firms, 20|30, will commence test initial coin offerings that will be equity… Read More

July 3, 2018 @ 4:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

In recent years most Fintech Hub reports have pegged the UK, and more specifically London, at the top of the list when it comes to ranking Fintech centers of excellence. The UK has been widely lauded due to various characteristics but always included in these… Read More

July 2, 2018 @ 12:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a significant policy move by the UK government, the threshold for investment crowdfunding has been upped to €8 million thus matching the recent change by Germany which announced the same funding limit. This increase is due to a change in the Prospectus Directive. In the… Read More

July 2, 2018 @ 8:16 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Through a triad of recent releases/interviews, the SEC has further clarified how it views the offering and sale of crypto assets. These guidance materials provide some really good insight on the SEC’s thinking with respect to its treatment of crypto assets; including some bright line… Read More

June 30, 2018 @ 5:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Baihang Credit Rating Announces the First 15 Crew Members On June 28th, Baihang Credit Co., Ltd. announced its first crew members in Shenzhen. These 15 institutions are mainly Fintech and consumer finance companies, including Yirendai and PPDAI. According to the cooperation agreement, these 15 institutions… Read More

June 29, 2018 @ 4:49 pm By Therese Torris  |  

Today June 28, Belgium-based SME lending platform Look&Fin announced that it has partnered with credit insurer Atradius to offer a 100% guarantee on the capital lent to SMEs by its retail investors. The move is dramatically closing the gap between marketplace lending and bank lending…. Read More

June 29, 2018 @ 1:49 am By Therese Torris  |  

The German Crowdfunding Association announced today that the German parliament has approved the implementation of the European Prospectus regulation and, at the suggestion of the federal government, has decided to raise the upper limit of the prospectus exemption for crowdfunding issuance from the current €2.5… Read More

June 28, 2018 @ 6:22 pm By Dror Futter  |  

In June 14 comments before the “Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit: Crypto,” William Hinman, Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporate Finance, stated: ETHER is not a security Decentralization and means of promotion are key to determining whether a token is a security. A digital… Read More