Opinion

Editorial opinions and perspective on Fintech.

Honeycomb Credit CEO & Co-Founder George Cook Discusses Rust Belt Crowdfinancing Buzz, Launching & More…

Honeycomb Credit, a two year old Pittsburgh-based fintech platform, aims to enable growing businesses loans to be underwritten by its customers at reasonable rates and terms. Honeycomb Credit reportedly offers investors (customers of a certain business) an 8-14% return on their investment over a 36-60… Read More

On Being Open and Honest With Regulators: The Gladius Network Cease & Desist Order and the SEC’s Map for ICO Remediation

For the third time since November 2018, on February 20, 2019, the SEC issued a cease and desist order relating to an initial coin offering (ICO) which set forth the steps for remediation of an unregistered securities offering, this time for Gladius Network, LLC (the… Read More

Medtech Start-up VoCare Boutique Crowdfunds $1.1 Million on Own Website

VoCare is raising capital for the launch of a new Medtech device, the Vitals360; a smartphone-sized diagnostic device for the Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) and Point-of-Care verticals. Current investors include AGS Capital and SAW Capital and tax credits are available to Indiana investors via the… Read More

Tide Foundation Co-Founders Yuval Hertzog & Issac Elnekave Address Privacy Profitability, Marketplaces and Mass Blockchain Adoption

Tide Foundation just launched a data marketplace aimed at making privacy profitable. Tide’s blockchain protocol seeks to address costly GDPR compliance, compensation and data accuracy issues to drive a new consensual data economy. “While we all deserve a human right to privacy, we’re witnessing the disastrous results of… Read More

Must Read: American Bar Association Publishes Extensive Review of US Regulatory Environment for Crypto, Digital Assets

The American Bar Association (ABA) has published an extensive treatise on the US regulatory environment pertaining to cryptocurrency and other digital assets. In brief, the 353 white paper is a must-read review of current law and treatment by regulatory authorities such as the Securities and… Read More

Chatter: Lyft Wanted to Use Reg CF to Get Shares to Drivers but Crowdfunding Exemption was Just Too Tough

Lyft is in the midst of preparing an initial public offering (IPO). This IPO is one of the most anticipated public offerings of the year. The ride-share platform is not only testament to the entrepreneurship of its founders and the creativity and risk-taking intrinsic to… Read More

New Zealand Mosque Shooter’s Manifesto Highlights Uncomfortable Links Between Crypto and the Far Right

The man accused of killing 50 people at a New Zealand mosque and hospitalizing dozens more, including a 2-year-old child, claims in his lengthy “manifesto” that he made money from Bitconnect, a now-collapsed cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that ripped off participants for billions of dollars. In… Read More

CipherTrace CEO: “It is a constant challenge to keep pace with crypto crimes and scams”

CipherTrace is a cryptocurrency cyber assurance and compliance firm that has recently formed some interesting partnerships. In February, CipherTrace was backed by $15 million in venture funding to help fulfill its mission on crypto security. In January, CipherTrace published a report on the global cryptocurrency… Read More

Report Shows Bitcoin is Grossly Energy Consumptive. But is Proof-of-Stake Relevant for Bitcoin?

Alex de Vries, Digiconomist.net founder and a blockchain specialist at PwC’s Experience Centre since 2015, has produced an important report on the Bitcoin network’s extreme energy consumption and waste production, which far exceed that generated by regular banking. De Vries conclusion that Bitcoin should “follow… Read More

Puerto Rico Financial Commissioner George Joyner: “There’s a space for virtual assets that won’t go away”

George Joyner has Puerto Rico in his blood. The Commissioner of the Office of Financial Institutions is a veteran player who has spent his whole career in the fast-growing banking and, latterly, FinTech industry in the US territory of Puerto Rico, with the exception of… Read More

Malaysia Proposes Healthier ICO Framework That Also Shows Signs of Naivete

Citing a “growing interest” amongst the public in “blockchain-based digital assets,” the Malaysia Securities Commission has issued a proposed regulatory framework for the issuance of ICO’s (initial coin offerings) and is asking for the public’s feedback. The proposal actually contains many cogent suggestions that improve… Read More

Equity Crowdfunding: Inside Advice from Six Entrepreneurs Who’ve Done It

We interviewed several entrepreneurs who ran successful Reg CF campaigns – as well as two equity crowdfunding platforms – to break down the ins and outs of running a campaign. The bottom line? According to our review, you’re off base if you think equity crowdfunding… Read More

North American Securities Administrators Association Worries About Fintech and State Regulatory Relevance

Last week, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) issued their legislative agenda for the 116th Congress. Buried within their priorities were the Association’s concerns pertaining to emerging Fintech services. Fintech has the capacity to provide better services for both consumers and businesses – typically… Read More

Companisto Successfully Closes INVEST Campaign & Plans New Dimension of Startup Financing

Companisto, the largest German crowdfunding platform, successfully closed its INVEST grant self-funding round over the weekend. 520 investors rallied and raised €4,833,195 during the campaign. Crowdfund Insider reached out to the Companisto regarding the raise: “We think our financing round and Ameria’s financing round are a… Read More

How Fintech Should Help to Close the Gender Gap in Business Lending

The number of women-owned businesses has been steadily increasing globally. Despite this, accessing finance to start or grow their business remains a struggle for many women. A study by the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Kansas City found that women are less likely… Read More

The Best Secure Mobile Messaging Apps 2019 Not Called Facebook Messenger

Internet messaging services are big business today, with some of the biggest names in tech involved, but for most people, the dream is a secure, fully encrypted service that will keep users information completely safe. That dream isn’t shared by various governments and those tasked… Read More

Time to Settle on Cryptocurrency; It’s About to Get Really Boring

On heels of many tumultuous months in the space, dare I say even a few scary months in the crypto space, I’m looking forward to what should be a superbly boring rest of 2019. Whether it’s traditional financial market leaders buying into the space, a… Read More

Ontario Securities Commission Posts New Members of Fintech Advisory Committee

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has posted the new members of the regulator’s Fintech Advisory Committee (FAC). The FAC ostensibly advises the OSC on developments in the Fintech space while providing perspective on challenges facing emerging fintech firms. While there remains some overlap from last… Read More

Disclosure Sandbox: CFPB Updates Sandbox Concept. Not Just for Fintech…

Last September, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a statement on their proposed regulatory sandbox – a concept trailblazed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and since embraced by multiple regulators around the world. At the time of the earlier announcement, the CFPB… Read More

David Weild: The Collapse of the Small IPO is Undermining Entrepreneurship, Tokenization May Help Fix the Problem

Last week Crowdfund Insider attended the KoreSummit in Miami – a security token focused event. The opening presentation was delivered by David Weild, a former Vice Chairman of NASDAQ and now CEO of his own firm Weild & Co. Weild, a staunch proponent of the… Read More

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