August 23, 2017 @ 7:24 am By Swati Chataverdi  |  

Imagine if the going rate for your iPad 2 was $100 trillion. Apart from costing five times the GDP of the United States, such a device would be almost impossible to manufacture in a sustainable manner. In the 1940s, however, the technology needed to power… Read More

August 21, 2017 @ 8:00 am By Jor Law  |  

So you were ready to do an initial coin offering (ICO), and then the Securities Exchange Commission released an investigative report concluding that DAO tokens were securities.  Seasoned securities attorneys have always known that token sales could implicate securities laws if the tokens were treated… Read More

August 20, 2017 @ 10:01 am By Martin Graham  |  

Narrowly looking only at a company’s published financial accounts when investing in it could prove to be a costly mistake. Every company is also about people, and every company is only as good as the people who embody its mission. Quantitative assessment of a company… Read More

August 18, 2017 @ 9:49 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month the Office of Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) fired off a counter salvo in the legal battle regarding the OCC Fintech Charter. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) launched an attack against the OCC this past spring. Many Fintech industry participants… Read More

August 17, 2017 @ 11:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

Singapore has worked hard to gain, and retain, the crown of Asian Fintech Hub and you can guarantee it won’t give it up without a fight. There are several countries that are in the race. Recently both Australia and Hong Kong have staked a claim… Read More

August 16, 2017 @ 2:31 pm By Amy Pearl  |  

  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead, Anthropologist This quote is often used to nudge small groups of activists into increased optimism. To remind us that sweeping… Read More

August 14, 2017 @ 1:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The regulatory environment continues to evolve for investment crowdfunding. While many people may have heard of the various federal exemptions that allow non-public companies to sell securities online (Reg D 506c, Reg A+ and Reg CF) most people are probably unaware of the fact that… Read More

August 13, 2017 @ 9:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

  This one has been out there for a couple of weeks but it is simply too good to pass up. Fred Wilson co-founder of Union Square Ventures who is kind of a VC rock star having backed some of the biggest tech names around…. Read More

August 10, 2017 @ 10:00 pm By AdaPia d'Errico  |  

Real estate investing is on the rise again. Online real estate investing is quickly becoming the preferred method of investing for many people. Forbes reported earlier this year that real estate crowdfunding was a $3.5 billion industry in 2016, up from $1 billion in 2014…. Read More

August 9, 2017 @ 3:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month PwC and the Crowdfunding Center partnered on a report regarding women and crowdfunding. Referencing data collected by the Crowdfunding Center that analyzed 450,000 rewards based crowdfunding campaigns, the document entitled “Women Unbound: Crowdfunding – Unleashing Female Entrepreneurial Potential,” showed that women-led campaigns reached their… Read More

August 8, 2017 @ 12:42 pm By Timothy Li  |  

Familiar Faces This is the second year that I travelled to China for the LangDi FinTech Conference in Shanghai. What a difference a year makes? Last year, the conference had a massive showing of over 1,300 attendees. This year, the conference nearly doubled to 2,400… Read More

August 5, 2017 @ 7:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

  The digitization of finance is upon us. Fintech is rapidly changing all aspects of the financial services sector but different countries are adapting at different paces – regulation is largely why. Jackson Mueller, writing for the Milken Institute, hosted several roundtables earlier this year… Read More

August 3, 2017 @ 9:56 am By JD Alois  |  

In the financial services sector clear and transparent regulation is vital to a healthy marketplace. There is no financial services firm that will take issue with this statement. Yet regulation that balances on the tightrope of an efficient market and investor protection is quite hard…. Read More

August 2, 2017 @ 12:47 pm By Dara Albright  |  

It was the summer of 1995. Hootie and the Blowfish were on tour and Brad Pitt was People Magazine’s sexiest man alive. It was a time when salads were big and shirts were puffy. Microsoft released Windows 95, fueling a revolution that helped shape the… Read More

August 1, 2017 @ 1:00 pm By Jonathan Nieh  |  

  Disclaimer: Although I am a securities attorney, I am not your securities attorney, so the following is in no way legal advice. If you are thinking about doing an ICO or token sale, I highly recommend talking to and hiring your own attorney. If you’ve been… Read More

July 31, 2017 @ 11:53 am By Jason Best & Sherwood Neiss  |  

Regulation Crowdfunding is a little over a year old and the data indicates that it is a revenue and income generator for companies and a jobs engine for the economy. The law requires companies that complete successful campaigns to file an Annual Report with the… Read More

July 29, 2017 @ 6:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

Tim Draper, a well known Venture Capitalist who is very active in Fintech, posted an open letter last week addressed the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the recent comments on regulating Initial Coin Offerings. The letter was published in conjunction of the launch of the… Read More

July 27, 2017 @ 3:00 pm By Patrick A. Reardon  |  

  The decline in the number of public companies in the United States and the decline in the number of initial public offerings (IPOs) that occur each year are widely decried. It is irony that many who bemoan these changes are the very persons who… Read More

July 25, 2017 @ 7:03 pm By Amy Wan  |  

My Facebook Messenger was blowing up this afternoon. “OMG Have you seen this?” “What does this mean?” “Can you explain what this says in stupid people talk?” They were all referring to today’s SEC  announcement on ICOs. So, I’ll take 15 minutes from what was… Read More

July 25, 2017 @ 5:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an investigate report on the fast growing Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market that will squelch the ICO market, at least in the US. The report, embedded below, was specifically directed at the DAO or Decentralized Autonomous Organization that… Read More