General News

October 10, 2019 @ 3:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a wide-ranging speech at The World Federation of Exchanges General, Jacqueline Loh, Deputy Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) addressed the advent of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) in the utilization of regulated securities and exchanges. Singapore is a noted Fintech Hub… Read More

October 10, 2019 @ 11:20 am By JD Alois  |  

BlockTank LA, a “Shark Tank” style pitch contest, has announced six of the judges and four companies that will participate in the contest. BlockTank LA t is part of a private and public partnership between the LA-based VC firm, Goren Holm Ventures (GHV), the City… Read More

October 10, 2019 @ 7:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Approximately half, or 50%, of young consumers in the UK would consider opening an account with a different bank to receive a better online banking experience, according to a report by software firm Mulesoft. The tech company investigated bank account holders’ attitudes and preferences related… Read More

October 10, 2019 @ 2:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of England (BoE) is set to become the first global regulator to perform stress tests on its systems against various “climate pathways,” BoE Governor Mark Carney stated. Carney, whose comments came during the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) summit, held in… Read More

October 9, 2019 @ 9:39 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has created a crypto asset fund in order to receive, hold and distribute donations in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).  The aim of the crypto project is to promote the development of open-source protocols for children throughout the world,… Read More

October 9, 2019 @ 2:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

South Korean mobile payments app CHAI and BGF Retail, which manages CU, Korea’s largest convenience store chain with around 13,500 locations, are developing a blockchain-based platform for conducting offline payments.  The nation’s consumers will be able to make payments by scanning and completing transactions with… Read More

October 8, 2019 @ 10:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially closed comments on its concept release regarding regulatory harmonization of securities offerings exemptions on September 24, 2019. But as in past cases, comments have continued to trickle in and we would not be surprised if more follow. That… Read More

October 8, 2019 @ 10:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Decentralized applications’ (dApps) overall transaction volume and user activity dropped significantly during the third quarter of this year, according to a Dapp.com report shared with CrowdFund Insider. Dapp.com, an analytics platform for dApps created on Ethereum (ETH), EOS, Tron, Steem, TomoChain, IOST, and Blockstack, published… Read More

October 8, 2019 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

In the US, crowdfunding under Reg D (506c) requires proof that the investor is “accredited.” To be accredited, an individual must earn over $200,000 a year or have a net worth of $1 million or more (minus their primary residence). While the rule is widely… Read More

October 6, 2019 @ 3:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

More than 100 Fintech companies have applied to participate in the UK’s Open Up 2020 Challenge. The firms will be competing to tap into the evolving open banking economy and a chance to win a £1.5 million prize fund. Managed by Nesta Challenges through a… Read More

October 6, 2019 @ 3:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Alaa Mohammed Allawi, a former interpreter for the US military forces, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for selling fentanyl, which resulted in the death of a US marine. Allawi, who previously worked as an Iraqi US interpreter, will be serving his sentence… Read More

October 5, 2019 @ 5:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

San Francisco-based Omni, a marketplace that lets users rent products from nearby stores, has been forced to deal with layoffs, according to sources familiar with the matter. As reported by TechCrunch, the company has laid off seven employees from its operations team. Omni is also… Read More

October 5, 2019 @ 10:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT), a Bentonville, Arkansas headquartered multinational retail corporation, is partnering with tech giant IBM, in order to use blockchain technology to monitor its shrimp supply chains. Walmart will be using distributed ledger technology (DLT) to track Indian-sourced shrimp delivered to several Sam’s Club… Read More

October 4, 2019 @ 10:31 am By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will host Fintech Forward 2019: Exploring the Unwritten Future. This will be the CFTC’s second annual Fintech conference where regulators and the public may interact and engage in the hot topics of innovations in financial services. Fintech Forward will… Read More

October 3, 2019 @ 4:57 pm By Timothy Li  |  

Initial Thoughts Every year, thousands of finance professionals from banks, credit unions, specialty financing companies and Fintech companies converge at Lend360. It’s an annual pilgrimage where decision-makers in the financing sector come together to learn from each other and plan ahead for the new year…. Read More

October 3, 2019 @ 10:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The global digital banking market is expected to grow by $2 billion, with a compounded growth rate of 4%. The retail banking sector is projected to expand by more than 4.1%, according to a recent study. As noted in a release, the retail banking industry… Read More

October 3, 2019 @ 7:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The developers of Facebook’s Libra stablecoin have unveiled a new roadmap that outlines the main steps leading to the project’s mainnet launch. The announcement, published on October 2, reveals several important updates for the crypto project’s developers and for those who are running the Libra… Read More

September 28, 2019 @ 3:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

IOVLabs, the parent company behind RSK’s open-source Bitcoin smart contract network, announced on September 27 its acquisition of Taringa, a Spanish-language social media network. IOVLabs has reportedly set aside $5 million in assets for developing products for Taringa, according to a release. The company’s management… Read More

September 28, 2019 @ 9:06 am By JD Alois  |  

eToro, a crypto/traditional investment platform, has partnered with Goren Holm Ventures (GHV) to provide access to education on adoption of cryptoassets and has also become the title sponsor of GHV’s  West Coast blockchain investment conference, CIS. Earlier this year, eToro launched its trading platform in… Read More

September 27, 2019 @ 12:56 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking public comment on proposed changes to Exchange Act Rule 15c2-11. The amended rule seeks to, “provide greater transparency to the investing public by requiring that information about the issuer and the security be current and publicly available… Read More