Global

May 3, 2020 @ 3:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Over 150 different Ethereum (ETH) projects have acquired almost $25 million in total grant funding to date. The Ethereum Foundation, a Switzerland-based non-profit entity supporting the ongoing development of Ethereum, is the largest donor. The foundation has allocated more than $21 million (of the total… Read More

May 3, 2020 @ 2:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Finablr (LON:FIN), a global platform for payments and foreign exchange solutions that was planning to secure $200 million (last year) in order to prepare to list on the London Stock Exchange, has reportedly uncovered a “hidden” debt pile of £1.3 billion ($1.625 billion). Finablr’s company… Read More

May 3, 2020 @ 11:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

ISignthis (ASX:ISX), a Melbourne-based provider of remote AML/CFT KYC-enhanced due diligence identity proofing, has reportedly lost its initial legal battle with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) over the suspension of its company shares. The suspension was announced following an order from the federal court which… Read More

May 3, 2020 @ 8:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has dramatically affected cash transactions in the United Kingdom, as ATM withdrawals dropped by 60% during the lockdown period. Approximately 75% of UK residents confirmed that they’re not handling physical currency notes nearly as much as they were before the ongoing… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 10:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Users of Compound, a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending solution, are now able to issue loans and borrow Tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin, following a recent poll of the protocol’s governance token holders. There were 797,981.28 votes that were cast in support of the proposal to… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 9:31 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Block.one, a Cayman Islands-registered software company that developed EOS, one of the largest blockchain-based platforms for building decentralized applications (dApps), has been working on a new social media platform, called Voice. Voice has been developed using the EOS protocol and it aims to reward content… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 8:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A new survey performed by Childly, a South Korean digital asset wallet developer, has revealed that two-thirds, or 66%, of respondents, support the idea of taxing cryptocurrency transactions. The poll of over 5,750 digital currency users, based in different countries throughout the world,  found that… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 5:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

A recent study published by VC firm, MMC Ventures, reveals that the United Kingdom’s blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT)-focused companies are increasingly turning to traditional fundraising options and strategies. The study confirmed that the initial coin offerings (ICO) model for securing capital has become… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 4:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Tencent Holdings Ltd., a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company whose subsidiaries offer various Internet-related products and services, has acquired a 5% stake, valued at about A$390 million (appr. $250.38 million), in Melbourne-based “buy-now-pay-later” firm, Afterpay. Tencent’s management confirmed that they built up their stake during… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 2:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today the Irish government outlined additional plans to help support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. During a special Cabinet meeting, a series of measures to further support small, medium, and larger businesses were revealed. The new initiatives included: a €10,000 restart grant for… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 12:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital bank Monzo has made more personnel changes, as it continues to strengthen its executive team. Sujata Bhatia, a former SVP and general manager, Europe at Global Merchant Services at American Express, will be serving as Monzo’s new chief operating officer. Bhatia will be replacing… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 12:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Yapily, an established enterprise connectivity platform, has confirmed that it will be teaming up with Fintech firm Ordo, in order to launch a new payments service. The payments platform was officially launched last month. It allows users to issue invoices in a  simple, quick… Read More

May 2, 2020 @ 10:28 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), the reserve bank of Hungary, has released its very first Fintech and Digitalization Report, which looks into the state of financial technology adoption and the level of digitalization across the nation’s banking ecosystem. The report revealed that there are at least… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 7:30 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The legislative assembly of the Cayman Islands has introduced five new pieces of legislation that may be used to regulate local firms dealing in cryptocurrencies. The proposed rules have mainly been created to monitor the operations of digital asset exchanges. The Virtual Asset Service Provider… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 2:58 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Uruguay-based dLocal, a Fintech firm focused on facilitating international transactions, has reportedly added Google Pay as one of its local payment options. As mentioned on dLocal’s official website: “dLocal [aims] to close the payments innovation gap that exists between developed countries and emerging economies. We… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 1:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

France has been recognized as quickly crafting a digital asset friendly regulatory environment while some other jurisdictions struggled to move. The concept of digital securities and non-security crypto assets found support from policymakers and a law was enacted to create a structure for initial coin… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 1:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

European trade repository REGIS-TR, which is a joint initiative established by the Clearstream (Deutsche Börse Group) and Iberclear (BME Group), will partner with Sensiple, a company offering regulatory technology (Regtech) for making repurchase agreements and facilitating secure lending. Through the partnership, REGIS-TR and Sensiple plan… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 12:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Innovate Finance, the top Fintech advocacy group in the UK, has appointed Mike Carter as Head of Platform Lending to lead 36H Group. “I’m delighted to be appointed to this new role to promote the platform lending sector. To date, the sector has delivered steady… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 11:48 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Amsterdam-based banking challenger Finom, which aims to serve entrepreneurs and SMEs, has secured €6.5 million in seed funding through an investment round led by Target Global. General Catalyst, FJlabs, the Raisin founders Frank Freund, Tamaz Georgadze, and Michael Stephan also took part in Finom’s funding… Read More

May 1, 2020 @ 10:33 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Spain-based Banco Santander (Santander Group), a multinational commercial bank and financial services company, announced this week it has completed its purchase of a 50.1% stake in Ebury, a UK-based Fintech firm that offers corporate banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that trade internationally,… Read More