Featured Headlines

January 22, 2018 @ 7:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton delivered a speech today to the Securities Regulation Institute. While covering several topics, Chair Clayton hit upon the hot subject of initial coin offerings (ICO) and the swirling regulatory environment delivering a stern rebuke to market… Read More

January 21, 2018 @ 8:02 pm By AdaPia d'Errico  |  

As Oprah Winfrey put it during her acceptance speech at the Golden Globes on January 7th, 2018. The reverberations of her words have re-ignited, for anyone who thought it was a just a trend, the importance of #metoo, the industry-agnostic movement. Actually, it is all-encompassing… Read More

January 20, 2018 @ 6:58 pm By Xu Gao  |  

China’s first online centralized personal credit database is on the way Earlier this month, People’s Bank of China formally accepted the license application of Baihang Credit Investigation Ltd. Led by the National Internet Finance Association of China, Baihang will be China’s first online centralized personal… Read More

January 19, 2018 @ 8:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The CFTC Division of Enforcement Virtual Currency Task Force has been rather busy. Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has shared two enforcement actions filed against Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency related fraud cases. The first was against the Entrepreneurs Headquarters Limited, the second was filed against Defendants Patrick… Read More

January 18, 2018 @ 9:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

  There are several people in the online lending industry, inclusive of marketplace and balance sheet lending, that truly know just about everything going on in this evolving sector of finance. Ram Ahluwalia, CEO and co-founder of PeerIQ is one of these persons. His company… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 1:30 am By Timothy Li  |  

Last year, I boldly predicted 10 Fintech movements that will take place as Earth makes another perfect rotation around our Sun. It’s always fun to look back and see how wrong I was, so let’s stump the chump! Here are my original predictions. Let’s score… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The announcement by Kodak that it would be jumping into the cryptocurrency space with its own initial coin offering and KODAKCoin rattled all of corporate America. If a fallen star like Kodak could do it, then why not them? In a way, Kodak validates the… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 9:39 am By Therese Torris  |  

Lendix’s historical investors are renewing their trust in the Paris-based European SME marketplace lender. The European Investment Bank Group (EIB), CNP Assurances, Eiffel IM, Groupama, Zencap AM, Matmut and Decaux Frères Investissements are among the first investors joining to finance Lendix’s latest investment vehicle to… Read More

January 15, 2018 @ 4:39 pm By Jason Best & Sherwood Neiss  |  

Recently, my company crafted a report for the US Securities and Exchange Commission that summarizes progress on Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012, also referred to Regulation Crowdfunding or Reg CF. This newest securities exemption was added to the options that smaller companies… Read More

January 14, 2018 @ 8:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Bank Indonesia has issued a statement affirming that using Bitcoin, and any other cryptocurrency, is not allowed in Indonesia. Bank Indonesia has previously issued proclamations sharing their stance on digital currencies – most recently in December when the bank said usage would be banned in… Read More

January 13, 2018 @ 6:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Renren Calls an End to its ICO Project It was reported that Renren has closed its RRCoin ICO project after a talk with China’s regulatory authorities. Among the 1 billion RRCoins that were planned to issue, 40% would have beeen allocated to private equity, 25%… Read More

January 12, 2018 @ 5:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Open Banking is kind of a nebulous term. Unless you are very engaged with the UK financial sector it probably means little to you. Yet the concept of Open Banking will have profound ramifications for consumers and businesses in both the UK and Europe. In… Read More

January 11, 2018 @ 5:21 pm By Joshua Klayman  |  

With thanks to Greg Murphy of Outlier Ventures for his contribution to this article. Now that 2018 is well underway, traditional debt and equity capital providers would be wise to re-examine many of their familiar forms of contracts to identify new risks – and realize… Read More

January 11, 2018 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) announced yesterday it had approved the licensing of the first seven “crowd-sourced funding” platforms. Due to a recent change in Australia’s security regulations, these investment crowdfunding platforms may allow businesses to raise up to $5 million – all… Read More

January 11, 2018 @ 12:25 am By Charles Kaufman  |  

Some may have missed a distinctive feature of the recently filed class action lawsuit against Bitcoin mining company Giga Watt, Inc.: it is not a fraud suit. It is a suit for rescission (return of invested funds, with interest) based on the company’s having failed… Read More

January 9, 2018 @ 10:30 pm By David M. Adlerstein and Joshua Ashley Klayman  |  

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” – Ansel Adams The past year has witnessed a flurry of remarkable “initial coin offerings,” or ICOs.  The pending KODAKCoin digital token sale jointly announced by Kodak and WENN… Read More

January 9, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kodak, a company that became a punchline in recent years due to its epic inability to quickly adapt to digital photography that crushed its analog film based world, is going crypto. Kodak has announced a partnership with Wenn Digital to launch a digital currency and… Read More

January 8, 2018 @ 9:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

SeedInvest is one of the most selective investment crowdfunding platforms in the US. Launched in 2012 by Ryan Feit and James Han when the JOBS Act of 2012 was signed into law, the two founders most likely had no idea how long it would take… Read More

January 8, 2018 @ 8:33 am By JD Alois  |  

As we reported this past weekend, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is rumored to be discussing a power cut for Bitcoin miners. Now there is a document circulating on the internet that indicates China wants to shut down Bitcoin mining altogether. While the complete… Read More

January 7, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By Pawee Jenweeranon  |  

An initial coin offering (ICO) is an alternative to the traditional models of start-up and other companies to raise capital. In Thailand, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the Thai SEC) recently expressed their view on ICOs indicating they realize the potential of ICOs to satisfy… Read More