Featured Headlines

March 27, 2022 @ 7:17 pm By Adam Putz, PhD,  |  

The blistering pace of venture capital deployment has emerged as one of the more salient investment themes from the pandemic. As Fred Wilson, partner at Union Square Ventures, observes, “It is tempting to mourn the loss of careful and considered investing but from where I… Read More

March 26, 2022 @ 3:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Technology Association (FTA) has submitted a comment letter in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) review into Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platforms. The FTA represents several BNPL providers including Afterpay, Figure, Klarna, Sezzle, and Zip. Last  December several Democrat Senators… Read More

March 25, 2022 @ 9:47 am By JD Alois  |  

  The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has issued a statement outlining its recommendations regarding the pursuit of Open Banking. The statement follows a consultation that was initiated in the spring of 2021. The CMA said its recommendations will guide a future entity that… Read More

March 24, 2022 @ 6:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month, the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee held a virtual meeting to discuss the definition of an Accredited Investor. For anyone viewing the meeting, it was clear that Committee members would like to make it easier for individuals to qualify as Accredited,… Read More

March 23, 2022 @ 9:36 am By JD Alois  |  

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the largest company in the world by market cap, has acquired UK open banking firm Credit Kudos, according to multiple reports. Credit Kudos was apparently purchased for $150 million after putting itself up for sale earlier this year. While neither Credit Kudos nor… Read More

March 22, 2022 @ 1:22 pm By Jamie Finn  |  

One of the biggest challenges founders and CEOs of startups face is funding: courting angels and VCs, pitch decks, travel, and meetings, getting ghosted, negotiating and swallowing unreasonable terms, eroding control–all at the expense of actually running and growing the business. When you hear the… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 7:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Branch, a workforce payments platform, had announced a Series C round totaling $75 million. As covered, the investment round, led by Addition, includes contributions from global growth equity investor General Atlantic along with existing investors Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures, and Indeed, among others. Branch aims… Read More

March 21, 2022 @ 3:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, it was reported that the government of Ukraine has created its own website to accept crypto donations. The site was built in partnership with FTX, Kuna, and everstake. The Ukraine government has now received over $60 million in crypto donations. Today, Merkle Science is… Read More

March 20, 2022 @ 9:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with William Anderson, VP of Engineering at Voice, who explained why multichain platforms ensure accessibility and connectivity across the NFT ecosystem. Voice, the NFT platform for creators (which had started off as somewhat of a blockchain or DLT-powered social media platform but… Read More

March 18, 2022 @ 8:00 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Brian Reisbeck, the newly appointed Chief Compliance Officer at Coinme, a cryptocurrency cash exchange in the United States. Brian Reisbeck has joined Coinme as CCO and will help lead the firm’s compliance program and guide the organization in “maintaining regulatory… Read More

March 16, 2022 @ 9:25 am By JD Alois  |  

BNP Paribas Securitizaties Services, part of BNP Paribas the bank – the largest bank in France and one of the largest banks in the world, has issued a statement explaining their point of view as to how blockchain (or distributed ledger technology – DLT) and… Read More

March 15, 2022 @ 11:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the White House issued an Executive Order on digital assets that outline an approach to regulating the emerging industry. While many details remain to be disclosed, and multiple agencies will be involved in building a regulatory strategy, the crypto industry was relieved that… Read More

March 14, 2022 @ 3:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, of the European Parliament,  adopted its “negotiating position on crypto assets. According to a statement by the EU parliament its goal is to “boost users’ confidence and support the development of digital services and alternative payment instruments.”… Read More

March 14, 2022 @ 11:24 am By JD Alois  |  

David Marcus was previously the head of Facebook / Meta’s (NASDAQ:FB) initiative to create a non-sovereign global digital currency. First branded as Libra, and then as Diem, the digital currency launched with much fanfare but eventually sputtered – largely due to global regulatory pushback that made… Read More

March 14, 2022 @ 8:30 am By Omar Faridi  |  

André Ferraz. CEO at Incognia, a “privacy-first” innovator in location technology, enabling “frictionless” zero-factor authentication for mobile. recently commented on why location spoofing is critical for crypto companies amid sanctions on Russia. He talked about why it is important to keep track of users’ activities… Read More

March 12, 2022 @ 6:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

The definition of an Accredited Investor determines who may participate in Regulation D (Reg D) private placement offerings. This is an enormous market at over $1 trillion in annual investments and the most popular path for an early-stage firm to raise needed growth capital.  The… Read More

March 11, 2022 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

In the United States, securities or investment crowdfunding was legalized under the JOBS Act of 2012. This bi-partisan legislation was in recognition of changes in technology as well as an understanding of the need to better facilitate capital formation for early-stage firms. Effectively, there are… Read More

March 10, 2022 @ 8:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Mikkel Velin, Co-CEO, YouLend, which works with digital commerce platforms (inc. eBay and Shopify) in order to offer merchants access to fast and reliable funding. During a discussion with CI,  YouLend‘s management noted that the UK government’s Help to Grow scheme… Read More

March 10, 2022 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

Estateguru, an online investment platform matching SMEs in need of capital with individual investors, will lunch a fund targeting institutional investors in a move that should significantly scale the firm’s operations. Importantly, the European Investment Fund (EIF) has committed to be an anchor investor in… Read More

March 9, 2022 @ 4:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bitcoin is rebounding today jumping by over 8% since the early hours of the morning. Industry followers believe that the White House’s Executive Order addressing digital assets has helped to fuel the rise of Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies. Earlier this week it was… Read More