Global

January 3, 2019 @ 6:11 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Third time’s proving to be a charm for UK fintech platform CityFALCON.  Having secured £566,488 in 2017 during its second Seedrs round, UK fintech CityFALCON quickly surpassed its initial £150,000 funding target during its third Seedrs’ run in November. The platform has increased the amount of… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 2:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

Online lender iwoca is now connected to both Barclays and HSBC under Open Banking rules, according to a note from the company. iwoca claims to be the first ever business lender to connect with any of the UK’s nine largest banks under Open Banking when… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 12:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A Happy New Year, indeed. Paragon Coin (PRG), the crypto token of a “cannabis on blockchain” project sanctioned in November by the SEC, pumped 6800% overnight on New Year’s Eve on the Russian crypto exchange Yobit. When PRG holders woke up in the new year,… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 11:06 am By Timothy Li  |  

As we head into a market correction, 2019 and beyond will be very interesting for the evolving Fintech industry. This sector of finance saw significant M&A activity and massive fundraising during the 2nd half of 2018 and I predict that we will see more of… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 7:18 am By Cali Haan  |  

A freedom-of-information request filed by The Sunday Telegraph shows that four-fifths of 49 companies investigated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) resulted in warnings about those companies being issued to the public. A total of 67 investigations into crypto operations have been launched by the FCA. 18 investigations are… Read More

January 1, 2019 @ 8:02 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Happy New Year, Crowdfund Insiders! 2018 was a great year for Small Robots Company. The UK-based agri-tech startup won £565K Innovate UK funding — one of the largest awards given in 2018, signed up 20 farm businesses and received £90K in pre-sales on its services. As… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Iran’s Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Task Force, Javad Javidnia, has warned Iranian’s to stay away from the Telegram messaging app’s new crypto token, “Gram,” Tehran Times (TT) reports. According to a TT paraphrase, Javidnia has told the public that: “…any cooperation with Telegram messaging app(‘s)…launch (of)… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 7:00 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

As the year comes to a close, let’s get the scoop on Cryptocurrency predictions for 2019! Crowdfund Insider reached out to the Fintech and crypto community for its thoughts on how the sector will change during the next year. What disruptions, innovations, regulation, and partnerships can… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 11:28 am By Cali Haan  |  

Russia is one of the most crypto (currency)-enthused regions in the world, and mining cryptocurrencies not just a big city, male phenomenon there, BBC reports. In the Siberian city of Irkutsk, even “grandmothers” are getting in on the action. “I want some money that I’ve… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 10:25 am By JD Alois  |  

In a blog post, UK crowdfunding platform Seedrs shared that it has now topped £500 million in investment crowdfunding. The money has been raised for 720 deals that have been successfully funded since the platform launched. Seedrs co-founder and Executive Chairman Jeff Lynn stated: “It’s… Read More

December 31, 2018 @ 9:55 am By Cali Haan  |  

Reporters at The Wall Street Journal have identified 513 cryptocurrency projects using plagiarized language, listing false “team members” and promising outsize returns to lure investors. Reporters used automated key-word search tools and human scrutiny to to trawl 3300 crypto white papers for evidence of misconduct. All… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The European Commission (EC) recently announced a European investment plan designed to boost access to capital to Spanish SMEs and “midcap investment projects.” The plan is for the European Investment Bank Group and BBVA to provide €360 million for these smaller businesses. A €60 million “synthetic… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 10:51 am By Cali Haan  |  

Owners of a peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading app called Paxful says Africans are conducting 17 000 bitcoin trades per day using the service, and that the majority of the trades involve exchanging bitcoins for gift cards from Amazon and iTunes, according to a recent blog post… Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 10:33 am By JD Alois  |  

As part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU), updated rules for securitization will commence on January 1st, 2019 in the European Union (EU). The new “harmonized” rules are designed to streamline the process of financial services firms to leverage securitization to boost access to capital…. Read More

December 30, 2018 @ 9:45 am By Cali Haan  |  

A Taiwanese businessperson named Yang has been accused of stealing NT$ 100 million (about $3 million USD) in electricity from landlords at 17 locations where he was running surreptitious cryptocurrency mines across the country’s capital city of Taipei, Yahoo Taiwan reports. The man, who may… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Xu Gao  |  

Another Fintech Incubation Center Officially Begins Operation in Guangdong Province On December 20th, the Fintech incubation center (hereinafter referred to as “incubation center”) of Guangdong Financial High-tech Zone was officially put into operation, which will provide office space, policy guidance, project financing supports for Fintech… Read More

December 29, 2018 @ 9:05 am By Cali Haan  |  

Craig Wright, an Australian businessperson and Bitcoin enthusiast who claims to be the elusive inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has lost a bid to have a lawsuit filed against him in Florida courts dismissed. The suit claims that Wright absconded with between 300 000 and… Read More

December 28, 2018 @ 11:33 am By JD Alois  |  

Netherlands based crypto firm Libereum has acquired the Spanish football club Elche CF, according to a note from the company. Libereum said the purchase was conditioned on a bank guarantee of € 4.3 million as a 1st downpayment.  Libereum believes there is the potential for Elche CF to return to… Read More

December 28, 2018 @ 10:54 am By Therese Torris  |  

Ever since the Brexit, France has aimed to establish itself as the Continental European alternative to the London Fintech hub. The goal is ambitious. France is home to many a worldwide leading financial institution such as global Nr. 1 insurer AXA and Nr 1 non-Chinese… Read More

December 27, 2018 @ 5:02 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The importance of storing one’s cryptocurrency safely was highlighted in South Korea this week when a court there decided that Korean crypto exchange Bithumb is not liable for customer funds hacked from an account there, Han Kyung reports. According to the outlet, an investor with… Read More