General News

September 27, 2019 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Fraud takes place daily in the financial services industry. Crowdfund Insider reads about it every single day. It is just a fact of life. There will always be a miscreant somewhere looking to separate good money from good people. That is why the industry must… Read More

September 27, 2019 @ 9:20 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Global innovation platform Plug and Play announced on Thursday the 130 startups selected to participate in their Winter 2019 batches. According to the accelerator, the selected startups will participate in one of the following programs: Enterprise 2.0, Health, Insurtech, Internet of Things, Mobility, Real Estate & Construction, or Travel & Hospitality. Speaking… Read More

September 27, 2019 @ 12:31 am By JD Alois  |  

Small businesses are in urgent need of more government support if no-deal Brexit lands on October 321st, according to research from the UK Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). The clock is ticking and the UK still does not have a deal in hand. Meanwhile, it is… Read More

September 26, 2019 @ 6:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Facebook’s stablecoin project Libra might solve some of the problems in the global payments industry, however, it could also create other types of issues that would have to be addressed by regulators, according to Benoit Coeure, a member of the executive board at the European… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), at Cambridge Judge Business School, is out with the Asean Fintech Ecosystem Benchmarking Study published in partnership with the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and FinTechSpace in Taiwan. CCAF is the leading research institute covering the global alternative… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 8:20 am By JD Alois  |  

Following recent $6.2 million funding round, “KNØX” has announced the launch of a digital asset custody service and insurance coverage for the assets. KNØX seeks to provide the service to institutional clients, such as asset managers, as securities and other assets migrate to the digital… Read More

September 24, 2019 @ 3:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Palo Alto-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Vianai has raised $50 million through its seed round. Launched by former SAP executive Vishal Sikka, Vianai aims to transform the current machine learning (ML) industry. The company was introduced at the Oracle Open World, where Sikka was one… Read More

September 23, 2019 @ 7:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Association of Online Investment Platforms (AOIP) visited both House and Senate staffers last week, along with a meeting at the US Department of Treasury. The goal of the trip was to review the status of current crowdfunding exemptions and what must be done to… Read More

September 23, 2019 @ 9:47 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Blockchain Transparency Institute (BTI) has published its updated market surveillance report which revealed that US-based digital asset exchange Kraken and Coinbase are among the cleanest trading platforms in the crypto industry. On September 19, the BTI released its 5th market report that examines and… Read More

September 22, 2019 @ 9:50 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Facebook has acquired Servicefriend, a Tel Aviv-based company that provides artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled customer service bots for messaging. The acquisition has been made as the social media giant prepares to launch its stablecoin project Libra next year. According to Techcrunch, the news was initially reported… Read More

September 22, 2019 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The  is launching a blockchain-enabled pilot project that verifies the authenticity of diplomas within seconds, instead of taking several days when using the traditional system. Harald Rotter, the university’s CIO, told CNN Money in a recent interview that the degree verification software “could be necessary… Read More

September 20, 2019 @ 11:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

India has slashed its corporate tax rates in order to encourage companies to make investments and help grow the nation’s struggling economy. Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted that the base corporate tax rate would be reduced from 30% to 22%.  Shortly after the announcement,… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 10:04 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Overstock’s (NASDAQ:OSTK) recently departed founder and CEO, Patrick Byrne, sold his entire 13% stake in the company for $90 million USD in the past three days, MarketWatch reports. Byrne left Overstock in August after disclosing in a company news release and in interviews that he’d… Read More

September 19, 2019 @ 9:15 am By JD Alois  |  

The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has published its 2nd Global Enterprise Blockchain Benchmarking Study. CCAF is the leading Fintech research in the world. The Centre has published multiple reports on the global alternative finance market which are frequently referenced by policymakers and industry… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 11:33 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed civil charges against a “long-time” Florida securities lawyer accused of aiding and abetting”  an alleged $322 million USD securities fraud. Criminal charges were laid simultaneously September 17th against Attorney Jan Douglas Atlas, 74 of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 10:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

North Carolina-based blockchain development firm Kaleido, a part of ConsenSys’ venture studio, has reportedly become the first to integrate cryptocurrency privacy company QEDIT’s zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) solution. Founded in 2016, Tel Aviv-headquartered QEDIT’s management noted (on September 15) that their partnership with Kaleido will allow… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 9:59 am By Cali Haan  |  

The US Army’s Contracting Command (ACC) division in New Jersey took proposals this summer from providers of cloud-based blockchain forensics services. Blockchain forensics is a relatively new field that involves creating tools for the monitoring, tracing, and scraping of data from cryptocurrency networks like Bitcoin… Read More

September 18, 2019 @ 7:58 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Ping An Insurance Group announced on Wednesday its Ping An Global Voyager Fund is leading an investment of $15 Million in Riverain Technologies, which is a provider of clinical artificial intelligence software used to efficiently detect lung disease at its earliest stages. According to Ping… Read More

September 17, 2019 @ 8:12 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Former CFTC Chair  J. Christopher Giancarlo has joined the Chamber of Digital Commerce’s Board of Advisors. The Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC) bills itself as, “the world’s first and largest trade organization for the blockchain and digital asset community.” It is headquartered in Washington, DC…. Read More

September 16, 2019 @ 11:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Reg CF [Regulation Crowdfunding], the smallest of the three crowdfunding exemptions created by the bi-partisan JOBS Act of 2012, became officially actionable in May of 2016. In that time, hundreds of issuers have raised money on FINRA regulated “funding portals” taking advantage of the internet… Read More