Global

January 17, 2022 @ 11:36 am By JD Alois  |  

SaveLend Group has announced the hiring of Olle Asplund as Chief Product Officer as part of an expansion plan. According to SaveLend, Asplund will focus on business development, strategically as well as operationally. Starting in April, He will also be in charge of structuring new… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 10:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Redefine, an Israel-based blockchain security startup, has raised an $11 million seed round for its “crypto firewall.” Redefine previously raised a pre-seed round of $3 million in June of last year led by More VC and Accomplice Blockchain. This new round, which included the early… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 10:29 am By JD Alois  |  

Towards the end of 2021, Amazon UK distributed an email to its customers stating it would stop accepting Visa cards for purchases beginning January 19, 2022. Today, it is being widely reported that Amazon has backed away from that decision. According to AP, Amazon has… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 9:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Ontology, the project that aims to bring trust, privacy, and security to Web 3.0 via decentralized identity and data solutions, recently announced the opening of a new European office in Berlin, Germany. As mentioned in an update shared with CI, Ontology’s move reflects its alignment… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 8:54 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Croatian P2P lender Robo.cash notes that 20% of peer-to-peer investors have a job in the IT & Digital industries. At the same time, the share of customers “with minimal income has decreased to make way for ‘richer’ investors with bigger average earnings,” the management at… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 8:52 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The term “gray market” might conjure up images of “nefarious” actors exchanging cash in “shadowy alleys,” the team at American Fintech Ripple writes in a blog post. In reality, however, gray markets have become an “unfortunate necessity” for those entities that may lack the financial… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 3:39 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Beth Kurteson, MD at digital assets firm Gemini, notes that the company is committed to tapping into the future of financial, creative, and “personal freedom” via crypto. Beth writes in a blog post that central to that effort is the work they do “to support… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 2:34 am By Omar Faridi  |  

TaxScouts, which claims to be on a mission to make sorting taxes “affordable and effortless,” has raised 165% (£1,652,047) of its £1,000,000 target from 597 investors (at the time of writing) via Crowdcube with 24 days left in the firm’s crowdfunding campaign. TaxScouts reveals that… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 1:46 am By Omar Faridi  |  

In December 2021, online lender Bondora reports having a “stable” month in terms of investments, despite declines from November. As noted in an update from Bondora, €16,511,772 was invested “across the platform—an 18.6% drop from November.” This is, however, the third-highest amount invested in 2021,… Read More

January 17, 2022 @ 12:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European SME lender October reveals that 2021 was an “intense year” for their platform. October notes that not only was it their best lending year so far on record, with more initiatives financed than the past 3 years combined, but also “the one of multiple… Read More

January 16, 2022 @ 2:19 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

Many Brits’ holidays will cost far more than necessary given the lack of knowledge around foreign exchange (FX) charges and international transaction costs, according to research by Opinium that was commissioned by bank challenger Tally. Four out of seven (57 per cent) people don’t know banks… Read More

January 16, 2022 @ 2:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Open Banking is four years old now, however, the team at TrueLayer asks “who’s using it, how is it benefitting consumers and what’s next?” TrueLayer writes in a blog post that the updated Payment Services Directive (PSD2) came into force “on 13 January 2018, introducing… Read More

January 16, 2022 @ 12:40 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Fintech Wales Foundry, the flagship accelerator program by Fintech Wales, recently announced the nine Fintech startups “accepted into its 2022 Accelerator.” As noted in the update, the 12-week, no equity program, titled The Foundry: Validate Raise & Scale, is reportedly “the only accelerator of… Read More

January 15, 2022 @ 4:15 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital asset platform CoinList notes that they’re pleased to confirm that the  registrations for the Stader token sale are currently open. Stader offers smart contract infrastructure for staking, “helping users stake their assets conveniently and safely through its platform by building key… Read More

January 15, 2022 @ 4:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech platform Airwallex has announced its official launch in Singapore, following its grant of a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and “a beta launch in November last year.” Singapore businesses are now able to benefit from Airwallex’s suite… Read More

January 15, 2022 @ 12:07 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Paysend, the card-to-card pioneer and international payments platform, has announced the appointment of Jairo Riveros, as MD of the United States and Latin America, “effective 01 January, 2022.” Paysend has maintained an active presence in the US since September 2020 and “helps American residents securely… Read More

January 14, 2022 @ 4:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at digital assets firm Kraken notes that if 2020 was the year of the bull, 2021 was the year that “crypto went mainstream.” During the past year, they claim to have “witnessed leaps in adoption, infrastructure, regulation, and policy — not to mention… Read More

January 14, 2022 @ 1:45 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at UK’s Blend Network, a specialist development finance lender, notes that they’ve recently been quite vocal about why development finance lenders “need to show more commitment towards Net Zero and sustainable house building.” Blend Network has explained why and how specialist lenders like… Read More

January 14, 2022 @ 1:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has successfully tested wholesale CBCD [central bank digital currency] settlement in a partnership with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and SIX (parent of the Swiss Stock Exchange). The test was completed during Q4 2021. The project utilized SDX, the… Read More

January 14, 2022 @ 1:22 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

European lender Mintos writes in an extensive update that the Internet connections in Kazakhstan has now been restored, and the restrictions on international payments “were lifted.” The team at Mintos also mentioned that they’ve received proof of payment from all their lending firms from Kazakhstan…. Read More