Opinion

June 30, 2019 @ 9:04 am By Aubrey Hansen   |  

Ethereum (ETH) is currently the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, and while it doesn’t benefit from Bitcoin’s ‘first starter’ advantage, in many ways, it’s actually a far more superior blockchain technology. The Ethereum network has a more complex and detailed developmental structure that allows… Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 10:44 am By JD Alois  |  

N26, a digital challenger bank based in Germany, expects to launch in the US in the coming weeks. A series D funding round announced in early 2019 was described as providing the war-chest necessary to launch, and compete, in the highly fragmented US banking marketplace…. Read More

June 26, 2019 @ 9:29 am By JD Alois  |  

The Association of Online Investment Platforms (AOIP) has published a series of policy recommendations encouraging Congress to act and improve the online capital formation marketplace by fixing existing flaws in crowdfunding rules. The AOIP is a newer advocacy group formed in the last year. The… Read More

June 25, 2019 @ 7:47 am By Barry James  |  

The world stands at a crucial juncture when new DNA will be created that will form and influence our civilizations for generations to come, determining what our future looks like. The world is now in a position to build global public infrastructure. Who owns this… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 12:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

Later this week the V20 conference will take place alongside the bi-annual G20 event being hosted in Japan. The G20 is, of course, the global powwow of 19 leading nations plus the EU. While mostly a lot of hobnobbing and back-room policy wrangling, while in… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 8:20 am By JD Alois  |  

The peer to peer lending market in China was at one time similar to the ridiculous ICO market. Full of big promises that ended up being empty commitments. Allegations of fraud in the P2P sector in China has been far larger than the ICO sector… Read More

June 24, 2019 @ 8:04 am By JD Alois  |  

A study published in the Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal by faculty at Florida Atlantic University College of Business and the University of Bergamo in Italy, says that investment crowdfunding has been good for young entrepreneurs but not so much for minority founders. While… Read More

June 21, 2019 @ 7:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is out with their “Guidance for a Risk-based Approach: Virtual Assets and Virtual Service Providers.” This guidance, which was widely expected to be released today, should be rubber-stamped at next week’s G20 meeting in Japan. The proposals included in… Read More

June 21, 2019 @ 7:15 am By JD Alois  |  

Facebook’s push into cryptocurrency has engendered an exceptional amount of debate and discussion. Some people think it is great. Others, not so much. It doesn’t help that Facebook is a company that has a penchant for abusing their user data while claiming transparency and actually… Read More

June 20, 2019 @ 5:00 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has published a statutory report on Regulation Crowdfunding commonly referenced as Reg CF. The mandated report must be forwarded to Congress three years after Reg CF rules became effective (May 2016). Reg CF is the smallest of three federal… Read More

June 20, 2019 @ 3:42 am By JD Alois  |  

It is inevitable that Facebook’s crypto Libra will come under intense scrutiny and a good amount of criticism. The stablecoin, which many people think is really a security token in disguise, has already taken heat from prominent US politicians. Expect public hearings in the House… Read More

June 19, 2019 @ 10:40 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Consultant group and “Big Four” accounting firm Deloitte has released its 2019 Global Blockchain Survey. The company has been conducting blockchain surveys since at least 2015. The current survey was conducted between February 8 and March 4, 2019 and a sample of 1,386 senior executives from… Read More

June 19, 2019 @ 10:50 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking comments on the current securities exemption structure. In a release yesterday, the SEC asked the public to provide feedback on “ways to simplify, harmonize, and improve the exempt offering framework to expand investment opportunities while maintaining appropriate investor… Read More

June 18, 2019 @ 5:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

Several US politicians have issued statements critical of Facebook’s new cryptocurrency – Libra. Officially announced today, Libra is first a payment platform but Facebook has much bigger ambitions with the crypto. Facebook views it as a step in the direction of redefining financial services. US… Read More

June 18, 2019 @ 9:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) launched its long-anticipated cryptocurrency today with an onslaught of documents, commentary and punditry feedback. Two new websites were revealed each affiliated with a different aspect of their new crypto-ecosystem. First there is the Libra stablecoin, a global currency “backed by a collection of… Read More

June 17, 2019 @ 10:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Alex Sobel, Labour and Cooperative MP for Northern English district of Leeds North West, has called Bitcoin, “…a right-wing nightmare which facilitates tax evasion, money laundering and environmental degradation.” He has also warned that, “…the Left has continuously failed to engage with questions of finance,… Read More

June 16, 2019 @ 5:00 pm By X.Y. Ng  |  

The Fintech space has seen significant investment growth in recent years. Out of 310 private companies valued at over US$1 billion globally, 10 percent are in the Fintech sector, according to CB Insights. Only two other sectors claim a larger share of the unicorn pie,… Read More

June 11, 2019 @ 4:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

It has been widely known that Kik was engaged in a cage match with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ever since Kik went public regarding a Wells Notice submitted by the SEC. A Wells Notice informs an entity they may be the target of… Read More

June 10, 2019 @ 4:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

France is moving forward to embrace blockchain technology and the issuance of digital assets. While security tokens will be regulated just like the securities they are, France has crafted a regulatory regime that supports the issuance of utility tokens. Last December, the French Government issued… Read More

June 10, 2019 @ 1:03 am By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated the regulatory regime managing the peer to peer lending industry. Overall, the P2P sector saw more rules that increased oversight including a cap on retail investment. Initial comments regarding the rules have been mixed with some… Read More