Global

April 20, 2020 @ 2:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Authorities in Malaysia have arrested 14 Chinese citizens because of their alleged involvement in a Bitcoin-related scam, which reportedly targeted unsuspecting investors in their home country. Dzulkhairi Mukhatar, the assistant commander in Malaysia, confirmed that the men were taken into police custody on April… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 1:25 pm By JD Alois  |  

Fintech PrimaryBid has launched a call to action to empower “ordinary investors” to purchase shares in deeply discounted offerings. Earlier this month, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a series of measures aimed at assisting companies to raise new share capital in response to… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 12:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Venture Smart Asia, a company licensed by Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has introduced the territory’s first approved crypto asset fund with a target of $100 million under management during the first year of its launch. As reported by Bloomberg on April… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 12:39 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Rapyd, a global B2B Fintech as a Service provider, announced on Monday it is set to acquire Korta, an Iceland-based payment card service provider. Rapyd reported the acquisition provides Rapyd with online acquiring and point-of-sale (POS) capabilities as the company grows its worldwide footprint.  While… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 11:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lender Sourced Capital is out with a release claiming the UK property market could experience a double-digit rate of decline for property values.  A recovery may take up to 5 years, according to the report. The company says the once-hot market has… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 9:16 am By JD Alois  |  

In a widely anticipated move, HM Treasury announced a new package of bailout programs for early-stage ventures that did not qualify for programs initially set into place to support the COVID-19 battered economy. There have been profound concerns that younger, entrepreneurial firms that require ongoing… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 7:58 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Singapore’s tax authority, the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), confirmed that it will not be collecting taxes on airdropped cryptocurrency, provided that the recipients get them  for free. As noted in an income tax treatment guide, released on April 17, 2020, the IRAS clarified… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 7:35 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), the nation’s reserve bank which is also responsible for ensuring the growth and soundness of the Kingdom’s financial system, confirmed on April 19, 2020 that it will allow nine more Fintech firms to provide services through a regulatory sandbox… Read More

April 20, 2020 @ 1:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Lithuania-based Genome, a Fintech firm that provides a financial ecosystem to support individuals and businesses, will be helping companies process their e-commerce transactions. The Fintech company will be opening a business account for low-risk businesses that are currently using the Genome platform. It will also… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 10:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Previse, an established invoice financing platform, has secured $11 million in capital through an investment round led by Mastercard and Reefknot Investments. Existing investors Augmentum Fintech, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Hambro Perks also took part in the round. Established in 2016, Previse aims to address… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Crowdfunding Network (ECN), the group that represents online capital formation platforms across Europe as well as the UK, has recently completed a survey of member platforms and several non-member platforms seeking to gain insight as to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 6:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

TruNarrative, a solution for financial fraud detection, prevention, anti-money laundering (AML), know-your-customer (KYC), behavioral monitoring and identity verification, has teamed up with AccountScore, a London-based analytics firm offering actionable insights and analytics on banking processes. The partnership involves adding open banking capabilities to the TruNarrative… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 5:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

UK-based Sprout.ai, an insurance technology (Insurtech) firm previously called BlockClaim, has secured $2.5 million in capital through its second seed round, which was led by Amadeus Capital Partners. Existing investors Playfair Capital and Techstars also took part in Sprout’s latest investment round. The London-headquartered firm… Read More

April 19, 2020 @ 10:20 am By Xu Gao  |  

China Encourages Innovation of Exhibition Industry On April 13th, the General Office of the Ministry of Commerce issued a circular on work related to innovating exhibition service models and cultivating new momentum for the development of the exhibition industry. The circular proposes to support cross-city… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 8:23 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital banks or neobanks have now been around for several years. There are many challenger banks that aim to compete with and provide better financial services than traditional banks and institutions. Conducting transactions online has become more popular due to the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak…. Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 6:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Cryptocurrency firm Purse.io, which allowed users to purchase items via Amazon at reduced or special rates using Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), is reportedly planning to close down its operations. The San Francisco-based company confirmed on April 16, 2020 that it will shut down… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 4:48 pm By Marcie Terman  |  

The heady days of a booming token sales market driven by FOMO are long gone. Firms looking to raise money on the blockchain in 2020 are faced with a far more cautious investor base, and with good reason. A high percentage of early tokens failed—… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 4:16 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Leading digital currency exchange Binance is planning to launch an Ethereum (ETH) network compatible blockchain. The new distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform will use the exchange’s native BNB native token as a base currency. Referred to as “Binance Smart Chain” (BSC), the new DLT-enabled network… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 4:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Many Fintechs are actively engaged in supporter consumers and businesses in the battle to survive in an economy battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Simultaneously, some funding has dried up putting some startups at risk. This may include Fintechs. Yet one report expects that Fintechs may… Read More

April 18, 2020 @ 2:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which is considered the world’s largest and “most representative” business organization, has requested governments and reserve banks across the globe to nullify any rules or laws that prevent the use of paperless trading. The ICC said that authorities must… Read More