Featured Headlines

February 4, 2021 @ 5:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is taking some heat from various politicians as fingers look for somewhere to point blame. Social Democrat Scholz, along with his deputy Joerg Kukies continue to deny responsibility for the collapse of Wirecard AG (WDI.F), a Fintech that was once… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 4:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube and Seedrs are in the midst of a review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding the proposed merger between the two early-stage funding platforms. The proposed merger was revealed in October of 2020. At that time, Seedrs CEO Jeff Kelinsky stated: “We… Read More

February 3, 2021 @ 11:50 am By JD Alois  |  

Last month, the Luxembourg parliament approved legislation that enables securities to be issued and managed using distributed ledger technology or blockchain. According to CMS Luxembourg the law: Modernizes the Luxembourg law of 6 April 2013 on dematerialized securities (the “2013 Law”) by inserting a definition… Read More

February 2, 2021 @ 4:00 pm By Lee A. Schneider  |  

  Let me start with a confession: I am not smart enough to be a tax lawyer, certainly not a US tax lawyer.  The intricacies of the US tax code defy my brain’s attempts to systematize a coherent taxonomy.  The tax code is too complex… Read More

February 2, 2021 @ 3:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, loandDepot filed an updated S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission as it bumped up its share price to $21 for a forthcoming initial public offering (IPO) that may raise a gross amount of over $362 million. According to the document, loanDepot is offering… Read More

February 2, 2021 @ 10:20 am By Xu Gao  |  

The Fintech Committee of the People’s Bank of China Announces Key Tasks in 2021 At the end of January 2021, the People’s Bank of China Fintech Committee meeting was held in Beijing. The meeting summarized the work in 2020 and announced key tasks in 2021…. Read More

February 1, 2021 @ 1:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Robinhood has raised $3.4 billion in capital from Ribbit Capital, CONIQ Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Index Ventures, and NEA. The additional funding is a solid sign of commitment by investors as Robinhood struggles in light of heightened volatility of shares like Gamestop driven by Reddit… Read More

February 1, 2021 @ 8:49 am By JD Alois  |  

LendingClub (NYSE:LC) has completed the acquisition of Radius Bancorp, according to a public release. Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub, issued the following statement: “This is a historic day for LendingClub and a true watershed moment for the industry. The move to digital-first banking is accelerating,… Read More

February 1, 2021 @ 8:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Dr. Amrit Kumar, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Zilliqa, an enterprise-grade blockchain development platform. Many of the more popular iterations of blockchain are not sufficiently robust to handle the high transaction rates needed today – not to mention what businesses… Read More

January 29, 2021 @ 2:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Last week it was reported that KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) is planning to introduce a version of its digital banking platform to serve the needs of healthcare workers. The new digital bank solution may be rolled out on March 30, 2021, which is National Doctors’ Day. The… Read More

January 28, 2021 @ 9:47 am By JD Alois  |  

Robinhood, a top investment platform for the next generation, has restricted trading certain shares of firms that have been targeted by trading forums on Reddit. Members of certain forums like Wallstreetbets, with 4.5 million members, have targeted listed firms that are highly shorted by hedge… Read More

January 28, 2021 @ 8:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

This month (January 2021) has already been huge in terms of Fintech fundraising, with notably 13 mega-rounds valued at $100 million (or more) having been completed to start off the new year. These companies have acquired approximately $2.746 billion in capital. This figure does not… Read More

January 27, 2021 @ 1:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has long been the leading voice advocating on behalf of investment crowdfunding platforms across Europe. The member-driven group has been at the forefront of engaging with policymakers at the European Commission – an initiative that finally paid off when new… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Birchal, the leading investment crowdfunding platform in Australia, has published a report on the entire sector of online capital formation as well as platform performance. The report tracks progress in the Australian “crowd-sourced funding” (CSF) industry (investment crowdfunding) via data aggregated by Birchal. The information… Read More

January 26, 2021 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

Shares in Overstock (NASDAQ:OSTK) jumped higher in early morning trading following the announcement that Medici Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Overstock that focuses on emerging blockchain technology, will be migrated to a new “fund” structure managed by VC Pelion Venture Partners. As reported yesterday, Medici,… Read More

January 25, 2021 @ 10:43 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The blockchain and digital assets space is well-positioned for even more growth and adoption in 2021 by mainstream consumers and institutions. The COVID-19 outbreak has dramatically accelerated the shift towards all-digital platforms and services because it’s no longer considered safe to visit physical business locations…. Read More

January 24, 2021 @ 9:38 am By Xu Gao  |  

Meituan to Close its Mutual Aid Platform On January 15th, China’s leading on-demand food delivery platform Meituan announced that it would close its mutual aid platform at the end of this month. Meituan launched this program in June 2019, providing a basic health plan covering… Read More

January 22, 2021 @ 11:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Ronald Klein distributed a Presidential Action by President Joe Biden that is poised to impact recent improvements to security crowdfunding including the Reg CF and Reg A+ exemption. Entitled Regulatory Freeze Pending Review, President Biden has… Read More

January 20, 2021 @ 6:02 pm By Lee A. Schneider  |  

As with most years, I started 2020 with a sense of optimism, looking forward to another productive year at work and doing the Appetite for Disruption podcast with my co-host Troy Paredes. In fact, he and I wrote an article discussing 2019 that focused more… Read More

January 19, 2021 @ 2:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, Christine Lagarde, the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) commented on the need to regulate Bitcoin on a global level last week during a virtual event hosted by Reuters. Speaking at the Reuters Next conference, Lagarde pointed to the “funny business” affiliated… Read More