Featured Headlines

March 6, 2017 @ 10:20 am By Amy Wan  |  

It seems that at least once a week nowadays, I get a call asking whether an initial coin offering (ICO) is regulated at all, and the question came to a head at a recent Legal Hackers LA discussion on smart contracts by Daniel Rice. The… Read More

March 6, 2017 @ 6:42 am By JD Alois  |  

Trillion Fund, a peer to peer lending and crowdfunding platform that also offers white label services is up for sale. The company announced today that it was putting all assets on the auction block. Trillion Fund initially launched as a renewable energy investment platform but… Read More

March 5, 2017 @ 6:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

Standards Australia has published a roadmap for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) commonly called Blockchain. Dr. Bronwyn Evans, CEO of Standards Australia, said that Blockchain has the potential to support efficient and secure real-time transactions across a number of sectors, including financial services. She described Australia as… Read More

March 5, 2017 @ 9:00 am By Niels Turfboer  |  

As an industry, fintech has grown to the point that we can now start analysing its development. Many commentators have divided Fintech’s lifespan into ‘waves’. The first wave is centred around disruption, the second around collaboration, and the third wave – although more disputed –… Read More

March 5, 2017 @ 8:37 am By JD Alois  |  

Dubai-based Beehive has become the first peer to peer lending platform to be authorised and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) Beehive reports that the new regulation is a first for the region and may catalyze sector growth of the Fintech industry. Beehive said… Read More

March 3, 2017 @ 1:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under the auspices of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA), published a white paper on Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) earlier this week. The report, written by Vladimir Ivanov and Anzhela Knyazeva, is basically a point in time… Read More

March 2, 2017 @ 7:09 pm By Xu Gao  |  

CBRC Releases “Guideline” to Regulate Funds Custody of Online Lending Platforms On February 23rd, the China Banking Regulatory Commission（CBRC)released new guidelines to regulate funds custody of online lending platforms. According to the guidelines, online lending platforms and banks must follow the regulation to restructure their funds… Read More

March 1, 2017 @ 5:00 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

  Last November, six months after the new equity crowdfunding regulations (Title III) went into effect, Indiegogo teamed up with MicroVentures to launch its equity crowdfunding platform to campaigns on the platform that have successfully secured $1 million in funding. Indiegogo’s platform allows both accredited and non-accredited investors to invest in startups and… Read More

February 28, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By Gillian Roche-Saunders  |  

This morning every P2P platform received a Dear CEO letter from the FCA, stating that platforms should not facilitate loans to a party who lends those monies onwards, unless that party is authorised for accepting deposits.  The issue here is really with the underlying lenders… Read More

February 27, 2017 @ 4:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Oracle is one of the largest software and services company in the world. Only second to Microsoft, Oracle has grown and pushed into a multitude of verticals and businesses. Today much of Oracle’s business has to do with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software – massive… Read More

February 27, 2017 @ 2:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Prosper Marketplace, one of the leading online lenders in the US, has signed an agreement with a group of institutional investors to purchase up to $5 billion in loans over the next 24 months. The agreement alleviates a challenging situation that has been endured by… Read More

February 26, 2017 @ 2:58 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

YieldStreet is an online marketplace for a diverse array of asset-backed investments. The platform was founded by CEO Milind Mehere who previously launched Yodle; President Michael Weisz, who was formerly a Vice President of a New York City-based hedge fund; and Dennis Shields, Chairman of YieldStreet,… Read More

February 26, 2017 @ 1:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

“Tiko 3D: Another crowdfunding fail, as backers money goes down the drain.” Tiko 3D is the second most-funded 3D printer on Kickstarter ever —the first being M3D who launched the Micro consumer 3D printer back in 2014.  M3D raised $3.4 million on Kickstarter from over 11,800… Read More

February 25, 2017 @ 2:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

KPMG published their quarterly Fintech report last week. The Pulse of Fintech Q4 2016, shares both quarterly and full year numbers for global Fintech investment. According to the report, investments and mergers value dropped from $46.7 billion in 2015 to $24.7 billion in 2016. KPMG… Read More

February 25, 2017 @ 7:00 am By Jessica Pham  |  

Two-day conference Startup Grind earlier this week set in Redwood City, California at the Fox Theater boasted “5,000 founders and investors, more than 40 keynote and fireside sessions, and over 50 exhibiting startups”.  The ability to pull back from all of the pitches and decipher key messages… Read More

February 23, 2017 @ 9:21 pm By Jessica Pham  |  

Crowdfund Insider had the opportunity to interview the co-founder of Canadian real estate crowdfunding platform, RealStarter. Jean-Sébastien Drolet is a Université Laval graduate who is leveraging his legal training in his work in the real estate market, along with co-founder and programmer Do Nguyen and real estate… Read More

February 22, 2017 @ 9:28 pm By Therese Torris  |  

The French Crowdfunding Association (Financement Participatif France) released today the 3rd edition of its annual industry Barometer. For the first time, the data was compiled by auditing and consulting firm KPMG, which lends to the Barometer additional weight. The association was represented, among other board… Read More

February 22, 2017 @ 9:56 am By Xu Gao  |  

Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission Joins R3 Blockchain Consortium The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced it had joined the R3 blockchain consortium. Through this partnership, SFC will test applications of blockchain on record and settlement of securities and futures trading with the… Read More

February 21, 2017 @ 8:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Sara Hanks is well known in the alternative finance/crowdfunding space. Hanks is CEO and founder of CrowdCheck –  a due diligence, disclosure and compliance services for online capital formation. She is a Board member of CFIRA and is the current Chair of the SEC’s… Read More

February 20, 2017 @ 2:20 pm By Therese Torris  |  

At the onset of the marketplace lending market, lending to businesses was equated with lending to small and very small businesses: businesses at the low end of the small and medium-size enterprise (SME) market who were borrowing on average under €100,000.  However, as the alternative lending… Read More