General News

July 13, 2018 @ 4:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A study of the Twitter activity of 2,390 ICOs (initial coin offerings) has found that, four months after completing their initial token sales (ICOs), only 44.2% of crypto firms are still in business. [clickToTweet tweet=”Four months after completing their initial token sales, only 44.2% of… Read More

July 13, 2018 @ 1:40 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Pirate Bay, an illegal website that indexes stolen digital files is trying out a new revenue model so it can chuck those pesky ads. The file pirates first announced plans to engage 20-30% of visitors’ CPU power to mine cryptocurrency Monero last fall in a… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 5:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this year, the Deloitte Center for Financial Services (DCFS) and LendIt Fintech joined together to publish a survey on online lending and the current state of the ecosystem. The numbers were highlighted this past April during the LendIt Fintech conference but Deloitte has recently shared… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

FinTech Hive at DIFC, a fintech accelerator that was established by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), announced on Wednesday that more than 300 applications were submitted for the program’s 2018 edition. The accelerator began accepting application in May. As previously reported, FinTech Hive was… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 8:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CFG) announced earlier this week the launch of Citizens Access, a nationwide, direct-to-consumer digital bank. According to the banking brand, this new online platform offers compelling deposit products to serve an increasing number of digitally-savvy customers who value the unique benefits… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 7:28 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Ahoy! Last time we heard from Plutus the app and debit card platform has secured $1 million in a crowdsale in 2016 (before the crowdsale craze) with the intent of creating a streamlined payment system using blockchain. Now, nearly two year later, the fintech platform named for… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 6:52 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Who are you? LendInvest, a UK marketplace platform for mortgages, and Onfido, an identity verification provider, have partnered to streamline LendInvest’s digital application process for its Buy-to-Let (BTL) product to determine identity. In November 2017, LendInvest launched its first BTL product with a digital application process; the… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 2:05 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The American Libertarian Party has passed a resolution requesting that President Trump pardon Ross Ulbricht, a 34-year-old Texas native serving a double-life sentence plus forty years for criminal activities related to running the illicit Dark Net marketplace Silk Road. The resolution passed at the party’s national convention,… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 11:08 am By JD Alois  |  

As turmoil swirls within the UK government regarding Brexit approach and Brussels ponders its next step, at least one report has a positive spin on the UK economy. OFX, a payments platform, has shared data that claims UK SMEs are pretty positive in the face… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 8:05 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Software firm New Frontier Group (NFG) announced last week it has partnered with SaaS banking engine Mambu to extend its digital banking offering. According to NFG, the cloud-based model leverages its opti-channel digital banking solution, powered by Mambu’s SaaS banking engine, to create a fully online… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 7:26 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fintech Europe, Plug and Play’s newest platform, based out of Frankfurt, Germany, announced on Tuesday the nine startups selected for its first batch. The platform, which has Deutsche Bank and TechQuartier as the founding partners, aims to create a multi-corporate fintech program, running two 12-week accelerator… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 3:47 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) announced the approval of the first two trial financial technology licenses to Manafa Capital and Scopeer. According to the organization, these trial licenses will qualify the two companies to provide crowd-funding service in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…. Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 7:41 am By Erin Hobey  |  

iwoca, a European alternative small business lender, has reached profitability in the first half of 2018 amid a doubling of revenue over three successive years. Since launching in 2012, iwoca has reported lent £500M to 20,000 businesses. To meet soaring demand from its small and micro… Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 7:32 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Launched in the UK 19 months ago, online property finance marketplace CapitalRise seeks to enable individual and corporate investors to provide finance for Prime Central London property developers with a minimum investment of just £1,000, earning returns of 8-12% per annum through its Innovative Finance ISA…. Read More

July 10, 2018 @ 7:07 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Venture capital firm Hack VC is in the midst of its bi-annual event, hack.summit(), a gathering and hackathon of some of the world’s key technical leaders in blockchain. Now live and held virtually until 11 July 2018, this year’s hack.summit() theme is blockchain, with headline speakers… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 3:20 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

On Monday, U.S. fintech startup Strands announced it is teaming up with Mastercard to provide issuing banks with an integrated platform of digital cash management and commercial payment tools that is specifically designed to benefit small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). According to Strands, the Strands Business Financial… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 12:10 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Finnish fintech Mash has reportedly joined Luxembourg House of Financial Technology Hub (LHoFT)  as the hubs first innovation partner. The duo reported that this new partnership will allow Mash to complement its innovation and growth strategy as it seeks to “build its business across Europe.” Mash claims… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 10:43 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Fintech unicorn, TransferWise, launched its money transfer services in Hong Kong last week. This news comes just a few weeks after the company launched the services in Argentina. As previously reported, TransferWise converts that money at a better rate and pays the transfer out using local pools… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 10:21 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced last week it has teamed up with Italian bank, Banca Carige, to launch launched Dock, a $500 million U.S. joint venture, to bring innovative technologies including AI, big data, analytics and cognitive tools to improve the competitiveness of Carige’s more than 500 branches and… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 9:28 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Moneybox, a UK-based savings and investment app, successfully secured £14 million through its Series B funding round, which was led by Fidelity International’s proprietary investment arm, Eight Roads, with participation from existing investors Oxford Capital Partners and Samos Investments. Founded in 2015, Moneybox states its… Read More