Global

March 31, 2020 @ 12:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

FundedByMe, a multi-national investment crowdfunding platform, recently announced it is re-launching its donation-based crowdfunding services in order to help small businesses during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The platform reported that in the suites of the financial crisis following the Coronavirus, many people, as well as… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 11:46 am By Karsten Wenzlaff and Ronald Kleverlaan  |  

The Crowdfunding industry is well aware of what economists call externalities – the fact that behavior of some people has an unintended impact on other people. Positive externalities can be observed on the Crowdfunding platforms every day due to the willingness of people to join… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 9:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Crypto exchange Binance is acquiring CoinMarketCap for up to $400 million, according to a report by the Block. People familiar with the pending transaction said the deal was due to CoinMarketCap’s ability to drive traffic and thus potentially boost utilization of Binance. CoinMarketCap was founded… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 9:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Digital asset marketplace Apifiny, a platform that seeks to enable institutional trading across multiple regulated exchanges, has announced that it will be launching GlobalX, an API platform. By using this new service, professional traders are said to be able to easily execute their strategies across… Read More

March 31, 2020 @ 8:08 am By Omar Faridi  |  

KIR, the national payments processor in Poland, has partnered with Cryptomathic in order to allow the country’s residents to sign documents electronically (and remotely), following the deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The eIDAS-certified remote qualified e-signature service (QES) allows Poland’s citizens and firms based in the… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 10:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Algorand (ALGO), a proof-of-stake (PoS)-based blockchain network, has released a global survey which will be used to compile information into a database. The survey will collect information on the current status, spread, and symptoms of the coronavirus (COVID-19). On March 27, 2020, Algorand’s developers noted… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 6:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

The COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing are forcing people to migrate to financial apps, according to a report by the deVere Group. In fact, the note from deVere claims that the use of financial Apps has jumped by a whopping 72% in a single week…. Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 5:53 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital bank 86 400 has confirmed that it has recently appointed two new business development managers in order to expand its presence in the mortgage broking sector. Hien Nguyen, a former FAST partnership manager, and Zac Harb, ME Bank’s key account manager, have reportedly joined… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 2:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Seedrs founder and Chairman Jeff Lynn has distributed his thoughts on the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK government’s approach to aid the struggling economy – more specifically for early-stage firms. Lynn dices the issue up between the Good, the Bad and… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

Kabbage, an online lender focusing on SMEs, is apparently temporarily laying off employees in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, a support center in Bangalore is said to be shuttering and executives are taking pay cuts as the Fintech struggles to adapt in a landscape… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Leading digital asset exchange Binance will be delisting all 25 of its FTX leveraged cryptocurrency tokens. The exchange operator wrote in a company blog post published on March 28, 2020: “Due to lack of understanding of how leveraged tokens work by many of our users,… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 12:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

CipherTrace, a cryptocurrency research and tracking platform that provides services to both the public and private sector, has distributed a note that it is meeting with Japanese financial regulators to review the relatively new FATF travel rules and its impact on “virtual asset service providers… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 11:46 am By JD Alois  |  

British activewear company 3Rd Rock has successfully topped its £300,000 funding target on Seedrs even with the COVID-19 induced hurdles. Of course, crowdfunding platforms are the perfect vehicle to raise growth capital as offerings are digital native and do not require in-person social interaction. As… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 11:25 am By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology (ie Fintech and Regtech) has re-opened a consultation in light of the ongoing Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Australian Parliament: “Since the committee finished its last round of public hearings in February, Australia’s… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 11:12 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

U.S. fintech Plaid recently announced it is now offering support to financial institutions in the Netherlands as well as opening a new office in Amsterdam. The company reported that the Netherlands is a hub for fintechs in Europe and is home to more than 400… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 9:26 am By JD Alois  |  

Global peer to peer lending platform Robo.cash has announced topping €150 million in loans funded. Robo.cash is a Croatia-based P2P platform with a buyback guarantee on certain investments operating within the European Union and Switzerland. The online lender is part of the holding company Robocash… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 8:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

A group of companies based in the Netherlands have introduced the “Tech against Corona” project. Firms taking part in the initiative will provide the latest technology and expertise to the Dutch government so that it may be used to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Tymlez,… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 8:01 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Yves Roesti, Sean Huang, Xuna Shao and Joshua Choy from Synpulse, a financial services consulting company, point out that most digital banks were launched without physical branch locations. What makes neobanks stand out from incumbents is their ability to leverage technology to differentiate their product… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 7:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Challenger bank Virgin Money is reportedly evaluating its plans to shut down its physical branch locations as lenders begin to increasingly focus on reducing the potentially negative impact of an economic downturn, resulting from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Hundreds of jobs, which had been created… Read More

March 30, 2020 @ 7:30 am By Andrés Abumohor  |  

Small businesses in emerging economies are notoriously underfinanced. Despite making up over 99.5% of the economy in Latin America, SMEs face a financing gap in the trillions of dollars. For example, up to 78% of small businesses in Argentina and 45% in Peru struggle to… Read More