Opinion

June 21, 2021 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

Late last month, the House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing addressing the topic of capital formation and the state of the US initial public offering market. While several witnesses focused on the rapid rise of SPACs, one witness pointed to the precipitous decline… Read More

June 21, 2021 @ 9:26 am By Omar Faridi  |  

BBVA Switzerland has opened its Bitcoin trading service to all private banking customers. After six months of in-house testing with a certain group of users, BBVA Switzerland has decided to make its first digital asset trading and custody service accessible to all its private banking… Read More

June 18, 2021 @ 4:30 pm By Gustavo Ruiz  |  

With the growing knowledge and adoption of digital banking, many consumers are still learning about the capabilities of contactless payments due to new perceptions of value, security, and availability, creating an ongoing challenge for merchants. Consumers are seeking out simplicity and instantaneous opportunities more than… Read More

June 18, 2021 @ 11:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday it was reported that Nutmeg, a digital investment manager operating in the UK, had been acquired by JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM). The Fintech had already partnered with the bank and JPM apparently decided to utilize Nutmeg’s tech as a step to launch a digital-only bank,… Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 12:11 pm By Chris Sloan  |  

In December 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint in a New York federal court against Ripple Labs, Inc. and two of its executives alleging that Ripple had sold $1.3 billion in XRP cryptocurrency tokens in a series of unregistered securities offerings…. Read More

June 17, 2021 @ 12:29 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Frank Rotman, who claims to be a 27+ year Fintech veteran and the Co-founder of QED Investors, notes that small businesses are quite important to our communities. Rotman points out that minority-owned small businesses do not have equal access to capital and the appropriate tools…. Read More

June 15, 2021 @ 10:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The US investment crowdfunding industry received a boost this year as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adjusted the securities exemptions that platforms and issuers utilize to raise growth capital online. Along with other improvements, key changes include the adjustment of Reg CF (Regulation Crowdfunding)… Read More

June 14, 2021 @ 12:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Following the revelation of the regulatory agenda for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the leadership of Chair Gary Gensler, two Commissioners have issued a statement criticizing the list of rules and regulations the Commission is expected to tackle in the coming months. Additionally,… Read More

June 13, 2021 @ 7:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has outlined its regulatory agenda for the coming months and at the top of the list are exempt securities that include Reg D and perhaps other exemptions such as Reg CF and Reg A+. Of note, is that the… Read More

June 10, 2021 @ 7:10 am By JD Alois  |  

Last year, the European Union agreed upon pan-European crowdfunding rules designed to harmonize the environment for online securities offerings across all member states. Currently, each member state handles online capital formation in a different manner, regulated by national authorities thus undermining the potential for cross-border… Read More

June 9, 2021 @ 7:30 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

While people like free stuff, what they like better is easy money, and the traditional IPO process is essentially that for a privileged few, venture capitalist Bill Gurley said in a recent blog post. Gurley makes a compelling argument for direct listings over IPOs in… Read More

June 9, 2021 @ 11:20 am By Omar Faridi  |  

During the past year, Latvia and Israel have experienced a significant surge in Fintech interest, according to a recent analysis published by the Fintech News Network. Google Trends data for the period between April 2020 and April 2021 reveals that online search queries for Fintech… Read More

June 8, 2021 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

While the tactics may change, the goal of fraudsters in financial services remains the same: Separating hard-working individuals and corporations from their money. The emergence of the internet, and digital financial services, has created a new vector in the fight with criminals and those that… Read More

June 8, 2021 @ 8:53 am By JD Alois  |  

The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack caused incredible disruptions to the US economy costing businesses and consumers millions of dollars in lost productivity. As the price of gas rose, and people queued up at stations waiting on the dwindling supply due to the malfeasance, the perpetrators,… Read More

June 6, 2021 @ 8:49 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

El Salvador is reportedly looking to become the first nation in the world to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender. El Salvador’s government might introduce legislation that could potentially make it the first country to adopt BTC as legal tender, along with the US dollar…. Read More

June 4, 2021 @ 5:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, an official announcement was issued by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kyrsten Sinema regarding the launch of the US Senate Financial Innovation Caucus. Senators John Hickenlooper, Tim Scott, Marsha Blackburn, Mike Braun, and Bill Cassidy, also joined the Caucus in a show of bipartisan… Read More

June 4, 2021 @ 2:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The rise of the “meme stocks” has been a fascinating adventure with the combination of ubiquitous technology and the ability to drive trading by retail investors in a way that has never been experienced before. While a certain amount of manipulation of markets has always… Read More

June 3, 2021 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month it was widely reported that Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, was under investigation by US authorities. Both the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were said to be scrutinizing the activity of the digital marketplace…. Read More

May 29, 2021 @ 2:52 pm By Martin Cheek  |  

In an effort to mitigate the effects of Covid-related shutdowns, the US government poured trillions of dollars into relief programs, offering loans to businesses in need and sending checks to people whose income qualified them for aid. However, without adequate controls in place, there was… Read More

May 28, 2021 @ 1:10 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Yann Murciano, CEO at UK-based Blend Network, an online peer to peer (P2P) lender. Murciano talked extensively about the “unbundling” of banking and FinTech, and how now we are witnessing the “rebundling” of banking and FinTech again. He pointed out that… Read More