Global

May 1, 2018 @ 1:04 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Chinese search behemoth Baidu Inc, (NASDAQ:BIDU) has nabbed a $1.9 billion investment from firms including TPG, the Carlyle Group, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. and Taikang Group, to ready itself to compete in the financial-services space, according to the WSJ. The transaction will reportedly value the unit at $4B,… Read More

May 1, 2018 @ 10:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Splash Wines is a US based direct to consumer wine marketing company. Last month, CI did a write up on the company and its Series A crowdfunding round on SeedInvest. Today, we are noting that Splash Wines is also raising capital on Crowdcube – one of the… Read More

May 1, 2018 @ 9:11 am By JD Alois  |  

A Discussion with Malta Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy, and Innovation – Silvio Schembri Malta has quickly emerged as a popular location to set up blockchain based businesses. Globally, some countries have banned crypto operations, others have created rules by enforcement while most continue… Read More

May 1, 2018 @ 8:06 am By JD Alois  |  

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has taken action to address misleading or deceptive conduct regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs). ASIC announced it was targeting the sale of digital tokens and is issuing inquiries to ICO issuers and their advisers where they identify conduct or… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 9:29 pm By JD Alois  |  

Late week, Bermuda advanced legislation to regulate cryptocurrency and initial coin offerings. The country, like some others, sees opportunity in creating a regulated environment that encourages crypto companies to establish operations and invest. Around the same time, Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 1:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Le Conseil d’etat announced this past week that French authorities have decided to dramatically drop the tax on cryptocurrency from 45% to 19%. While still considerable, this represents an important step by the French government in seeking to be more innovation friendly. The change in taxation was… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 12:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a report in Xinhua, eight people were arrested in Shanghai for an astounding Ponzi scheme that rivals the Ezubao fraud and the Madoff scandal. Allegedly, more than 60 billion yuan ( or US $9 billion) was stolen from investors by Shanlin Finance a peer… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 11:49 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Last week, IBM announced it has teamed up with jewelry companies Asahi Refining, Helzberg Diamonds, LeachGarner, Richline Group, and UL to launch a new global blockchain initiative called TrustChain. The initiative will be powered by the IBM Blockchain Platform and deliver through the IBM Cloud. According… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 11:07 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Hyperledger Project, a collaborative cross-industry effort created to advance blockchain technology, announced last week it welcomed thirteen new members from healthcare to finance. The newest members are Beijing Proinsight Technology, CAREiQ, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) Pte Ltd., Eden Partners, Ehave, Inc. (OTCQB: EHVVF), Equidato Technologies… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 9:05 am By JD Alois  |  

Stating that Cynopsis Solutions is already the largest provider of KYC services to blockchain and cryptocurrency based projects in Asia Pacific, the company has launched an initial coin offering (ICO) program via a subsidiary called traceto.io. This new entity seeks to expand its decentralized platform… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 5:21 am By JD Alois  |  

Innovate Finance has published a report addressing the UK Fintech sector and the need for qualified executives to staff this burgeoning sector of finance. The UK association that represents the Fintech industry states the failure to maintain a flexible immigration policy could hinder the UK and… Read More

April 30, 2018 @ 4:00 am By AdaPia d'Errico  |  

Zoe Adamovicz is the CEO and co-founder of Germany-based Neufund. Neufund is a blockchain-based equity fundraising platform specializing in Legaltech and Regtech. She and co-founder Marcin Rudolf are building more than a platform. They are building an ecosystem of smart contracts and a community of… Read More

April 29, 2018 @ 9:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair has announced the NSW Government is backing growth in the state’s emerging regulatory technology (Regtech) industry with a first event in Sydney this coming week (May 3 -4). Additionally, Blair said the Government was supporting The RegTech Association with… Read More

April 29, 2018 @ 10:22 am By JD Alois  |  

This crypto spoofing scam has become almost predictable as it happens all of the time. Crooks attempting to steal cryptocurrency will try and spoof Twitter accounts to make it look like a trusted, known individual or business is giving away ETH or BTC only to… Read More

April 28, 2018 @ 5:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, CB Insights published their quarterly report on global investment into Fintech and following the numbers from Q1 the authors are making a bullish prediction. They expect global Fintech investment to hit a new high during 2018. The first quarter of 2018 saw 323… Read More

April 28, 2018 @ 2:33 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Devoted “classic” Bitcoin network advocates claim they will soon be testing their brand confusion grievance against Roger Ver and Bitcoin Cash in court. Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) have been engaged in a highly contentious rivalry ever since Roger Ver and associates “forked” (or… Read More

April 27, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Malta’s cabinet has approved three bills to regulate cryptocurrency and blockchain industries within the country, including ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). The legislation will next be addressed in the Malta Parliament. ICOs are regarded by some as an innovative, efficient, disruptive and democratic means of funding… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 11:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

Carats.io is a newly launched big data for diamonds platform that is also launching a cryptocurrency.  The diamond industry today is a highly obfuscated market that includes questionable pricing that is difficult to decipher. Carats says it is introducing an algorithm that will compare daily… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 1:11 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Orthogonal, a holding company and ecosystem that unites the desire to make money with doing good for the planet and society, has surpassed its minimum crowdfunding goal on Wefunder.  With the confidence of over 177 investors, Orthogonal has raised over $149,105 and now has set its… Read More

April 26, 2018 @ 12:35 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Bloomberg is reporting today that a Chilean anti-monopoly court has ordered Chilean banks Estado de Chile and Itau Corpbanco to restore account services to the Buda cryptocurrency exchange, at least until a lawsuit brought against the banks by Buda is resolved in court. Crypto-trading services… Read More