Featured Headlines

December 17, 2017 @ 3:26 pm By Rae Steinback  |  

We’ve been hearing a lot of talk about chatbots lately. Some of these conversations are about the ways that companies are having success with chatbots, but others are about brands that have failed to implement them properly. What is A Chatbot? A chatbot is a… Read More

December 16, 2017 @ 3:05 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Supply Chain Finance Platform Daokoudai.com Secures ¥100 million Investment led by BCCF On December 13th, online supply chain finance platform Daokoudai.com announced it had receive a ¥100 million A-round funding led by Beijing Cultural Center Fund (BCCF). SinarMas from Indonesia and Zhen Ru Investment Management… Read More

December 15, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By Barry James  |  

Appearing on the BBC’s news flagship Newsnight the head of the UK’s regulator, the  FCA’s  Andrew Bailey, has drawn mainstream attention to Bitcoin and the world of cryptocurrencies while admitting that they have yet to understand what he called an ‘odd commodity’. While  the BBC’s… Read More

December 15, 2017 @ 10:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Initial Coin Offerings are fat targets for attorneys representing disgruntled investors. Tezos is the most prominent example of an ICO gone bad due to the very public internal infighting, the fact that creators attempted to describe investments as donations and the hundreds of millions of… Read More

December 15, 2017 @ 7:44 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a feedback statement on distributed ledger technology (DLT) or Blockchain.  The document comes following an earlier discussion paper published in April designed to commence a dialogue between interested parties and the regulator. The FCA has now responded to received… Read More

December 14, 2017 @ 6:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Republic, a Reg CF crowdfunding platform, listed its first Initial Coin Offering (ICO) this past week. Republic Crypto offered the security in conjunction with CoinList that is hosting the offer for accredited investors under Reg D (506c). Both CoinList and Republic are the creation of… Read More

December 13, 2017 @ 10:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

Launched in 2015, Fundnel is a Singapore based investment marketplace that provides unique access to early stage companies for individual investors previously cut out of the pre-IPO equation. Operated by a group of young, highly sophisticated executives, Fundnel is doing equity crowdfunding right and sets… Read More

December 12, 2017 @ 6:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Shmuel Hauser, the Chairman of the Israel Securities Authority, published a statement today addressing Fintech, Bitcoin and Initial Coin Offerings, in an extended comment on regulations and the changing financial landscape. Hauser stated; “From a regulator perspective, we want make sure that Fintech will not… Read More

December 11, 2017 @ 3:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has shut down an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as conducting an unregistered securities offering. This is the first time the SEC has has halted an ICO where there were no allegations of fraud representing a new shift in approach… Read More

December 11, 2017 @ 11:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

EquityZen, a New York-based Fintech firm that operates a secondary marketplace for company-approved transactions in pre-IPO stock, has a mission: to improve the way startup employees are paid by unlocking the value of their equity compensation in a way that benefits all key players, including the… Read More

December 10, 2017 @ 11:23 am By JD Alois  |  

This past week saw a bit of reversal in South Korea’s stance on Initial Coin Offerings (ICO). In September, it was reported that Korea had decided to totally ban ICOs following a similar approach by China. But during a presentation at the National Assembly by… Read More

December 9, 2017 @ 10:05 am By Xu Gao  |  

Tsinghua PBCSF Releases China’s First Fintech Enterprise Database at the 4th World Internet Conference (Wuzhen Summit) The Fourth World Internet Conference (Wuzhen Summit), themed as “Developing Digital Economy for Openness and Shared Benefits — Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace“, was successfully concluded… Read More

December 8, 2017 @ 8:01 am By JD Alois  |  

FinTech Australia, the advocacy group for Australia’s burgeoning Fintech industry, has given its seal of approval following the Australian Parliament’s passage of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) legislation.  According to Fintech leaders, the governmental approach regarding cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, will position Australia as a world leader… Read More

December 7, 2017 @ 7:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), the leading global research institute for all things Fintech, has published its fourth annual survey on UK alternative finance. According to the report, entitled Entrenching Innovation: The 4th UK Alternative Finance Industry Report, the sector of emerging financial… Read More

December 7, 2017 @ 9:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Another day, another record for the worlds most popular cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has been hurdling along toppling records in thousand dollar leaps. We last reported, two days ago, that Bitcoin had topped $12,000. In hindsight, that report (and amount) seems premature as Bitcoin seems rather determined… Read More

December 6, 2017 @ 4:06 pm By Amy Wan  |  

In the early days of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), basically for much of this year, one of the keys of a successful ICO raise was ability to snag a crypto-influencer onto one’s advisory board – or to get them to be an early investor in… Read More

December 6, 2017 @ 11:16 am By JD Alois  |  

The Bitcoin Foundation has been working diligently to mitigate language of pending legislation, “The Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act of 2017″ (S.1241), in the US Senate that would define anyone issuing, redeeming or cashing Bitcoin as a financial institution. Think about what that… Read More

December 5, 2017 @ 4:04 pm By Howard Marks  |  

It is clear that the SEC is going to do an enforcement action against a number of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and the people who are selling utility tokens to investors for Bitcoin or Ether cryptocurrencies. Most ICOs are conducted by companies that have not… Read More

December 4, 2017 @ 2:53 pm By Barry James  |  

It was recently reported that the former chief economist of the World Bank wants Bitcoin banned, saying “Bitcoin is successful only because of its potential for circumvention, lack of oversight” You missed something crucial. Because of the ‘McKinsey’ factor. The operative rules (laws of nature from… Read More

December 4, 2017 @ 11:16 am By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin will accomplish a milestone hurdle this month as it begins to trade BTC futures and options thus legitimizing the cryptocurrency. While some naysayers continue to cast dispersion on digital currencies in general each step that Bitcoin takes into the world of traditional finance means… Read More