General News

July 9, 2019 @ 3:54 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) recently announced it has welcomed its new non-executive Board for the period 2019-2021. The organization revealed that after the 4th ECN CrowdCamp: Exploring Blockchain for Alternative Finance, the ECN General Assembly of members convened in Berlin to explore strategic options for… Read More

July 9, 2019 @ 2:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crypto advocate and iconoclast John McAfee is offering his knowledge and skill set to the country of Cuba if the country decides to pursue its own cryptocurrency. As was reported this past week, Cuba is apparently reviewing a bespoke crypto. According to Cuban Economy Minister… Read More

July 8, 2019 @ 11:39 am By JD Alois  |  

In a paper entitled “Fintech: the Experience So Far,” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that, while there are regional differences, “countries were broadly embracing the opportunities of Fintech to boost economic growth and inclusion.” The pursuit of Fintech innovation is being balanced with the… Read More

July 5, 2019 @ 9:09 am By JD Alois  |  

PayU, Naspers’ payments firm, is expanding into Southeast Asia through the acquisition of a majority stake in Red Dot Payment (RDP), a Singapore-based online payment Fintech. RDP currently serves more than 500 merchants in 22 countries. RDP supports global and local alternate payment methods such… Read More

July 3, 2019 @ 5:16 am By Cali Haan  |  

A judge in the state of New York has sentenced Blake Kantor (also known as “Bill Gordon”), 44, to 86 months’ (~7 years’) imprisonment and three years’ supervised release for defrauding 700 people in a binary options and cryptocurrency scheme. Kantor pleaded guilty to charges… Read More

June 28, 2019 @ 8:39 am By Cali Haan  |  

Etienne Goosse, director general of the European Payments Council (EPC), has told Reuters that Facebook’s new cryptographic payments program, Libra, is forcing banks in the Eurozone to rapidly develop an instant payments network for banks in the zone. The EPCs goal is to help harmonize… Read More

June 28, 2019 @ 3:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Capital Markets Malaysia, an affiliate of the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC), hosted an event to generate greater awareness of capital raising and investment opportunities in the Malaysian capital market. The target audience was micro, small-and-medium enterprises (MSMEs); and entrepreneurs. The half-day forum focused on how… Read More

June 27, 2019 @ 1:16 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has scheduled its second Fintech conference: Fintech Forward 2019. The event is scheduled to take place at CFTC HQ on October 24, 2019 – during DC Fintech Week. Additionally, the CFTC has launched “LabCFTC Accelerator,” a component of LabCFTC…. Read More

June 27, 2019 @ 1:03 pm By Karsten Wenzlaff  |  

The European Council has concluded its negotiations on the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regime, after discussing for more than a year how to facilitate more cross-border Crowdfunding, especially for equity-based and lending-based Crowdfunding. The European Council “defines the EU’s overall political direction and priorities.” The… Read More

June 27, 2019 @ 10:09 am By JD Alois  |  

Clause Announces $5.5 Million Series A Round Galaxy Digital and DocuSign have joined to back a $5.5 million Series A round in smart contract cloud firm “Clause.” Existing investors BN Capital at Lerer Hippeau, and Seedcamp participated. Several new investors participated including Raptor Group, Galaxy… Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 9:29 am By JD Alois  |  

The Association of Online Investment Platforms (AOIP) has published a series of policy recommendations encouraging Congress to act and improve the online capital formation marketplace by fixing existing flaws in crowdfunding rules. The AOIP is a newer advocacy group formed in the last year. The… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 10:19 am By JD Alois  |  

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and Funding London CEO, Maggie Rodriguez-Piza, have announced the appointment of three new directors to the Funding London Board. Funding London was launched in 2004 to provide venture capital and debt capital to SMEs, on behalf of the Mayor… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 12:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

Later this week the V20 conference will take place alongside the bi-annual G20 event being hosted in Japan. The G20 is, of course, the global powwow of 19 leading nations plus the EU. While mostly a lot of hobnobbing and back-room policy wrangling, while in… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Tomorrow (June 25) SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce will be speaking about the “SEC, Entrepreneurship, Fintech and the Economy.” The event is open to the public but it will be live-streamed on the Heritage Foundation’s website for free. Peirce is well known for her thoughtful approach… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 4:01 am By JD Alois  |  

MarketInvoice, a Fintech in the invoice financing sector, has published their “MarketInvoice Business Insights survey” based on responses from 1,000 business owners of UK Ltd companies between 31st May and 5th June 2019. According to their results, the lack of finance options is considered to… Read More

June 23, 2019 @ 9:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Reg CF, the crowdfunding exemption that allows issuers to raise up to $1.07 million online, has topped the $200 million mark, according to StartEngine – a crowdfunding platform that tracks the exemption’s progress. In May, according to the report, issuers raised $5.7 million pushing the… Read More

June 23, 2019 @ 11:36 am By JD Alois  |  

LawCloud, formerly doing business as iDisclose, issued a not last week addressing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Report on Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF). The report is a point in time snapshot of sector progress for the smallest sector of online capital formation. In brief,… Read More

June 22, 2019 @ 11:04 am By JD Alois  |  

Hedera Hashgraph, one of several aspiring iterations of blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, designed to address existing shortcomings in DLT 1.0, has paid for a full-page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal mocking Facebook. Last week, Facebook officially launched “Libra” its spin on crypto. The… Read More

June 18, 2019 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) launched its long-anticipated cryptocurrency today with an onslaught of documents, commentary and punditry feedback. Two new websites were revealed each affiliated with a different aspect of their new crypto-ecosystem. First there is the Libra stablecoin, a global currency “backed by a collection of… Read More

June 18, 2019 @ 2:30 am By JD Alois  |  

In partnership with the NSW Government, Sydney Launch Festival opens this week to give NSW startups a chance to pitch their startups t to a global audience and learn from the world’s top startup founders and investors. Launch Festival is the creation of Jason Calacanis…. Read More