Opinion

October 11, 2018 @ 10:24 am By JD Alois  |  

Templum, a regulated alternative trading system (ATS) that is operating in the security token space, has submitted written testimony to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The document arrives just in advance of the widely anticipated Senate Hearing that will see Dr…. Read More

October 10, 2018 @ 11:23 pm By Pedro Anderson  |  

When a new technology emerges, the word ‘disrupt’ is utilized to highlight the wonderful features to be developed and promises to be fulfilled. Since blockchain technology gained popularity in the last decade, the term blockchain has been linked to the term ‘disrupt’ almost as a… Read More

October 10, 2018 @ 7:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

Dr. Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom, has posted his prepared testimony in advance of the Senate Banking Committee Hearing scheduled to take place tomorrow (October 11, 2018). As one may expect, Roubini has not held back one iota. His testimony is entitled; “Crypto is the… Read More

October 10, 2018 @ 5:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is meeting this week in beautiful Bali. The discussion includes routine topics such as economic forecasts for growth, challenges and opportunities. There is, of course, a trade skirmish that may turn into a trade war which may create bigger problems… Read More

October 10, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

PeerIQ is out with their Q3 securitization tracker for online lending and the report is quite strong. According to PeerIQ, domestic economic growth is solid and the US consumer is healthy. Marketplace lending securitizations totaled $3.5 billion this quarter representing the 5th highest level ever… Read More

October 6, 2018 @ 7:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the online capital formation world witnessed a tectonic shift in the investment crowdfunding industry. Circle, a fast emerging crypto focused company, acquired leading US based investment crowdfunding platform SeedInvest. CI has been assured that CEO Ryan Feit will remain at the helm, along with his… Read More

October 5, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Eliot Bencuya  |  

A house in the suburbs, career tenure and pension with the same employer, and a portfolio of stocks and bonds for retirement. Every baby boomer’s vision of the American dream. Until it wasn’t. The nest eggs of today’s retirees have been rocked by a seemingly… Read More

October 5, 2018 @ 8:56 am By JD Alois  |  

This week N26, a Germany based digital bank, announced it has set up shop in the United Kingdom. N26 already provides banking services in 17 European markets including France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and more. The launch of the challenger bank has long been expected but… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 10:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

This is an interesting perspective courtesy of CBInsights. A very unscientific Twitter poll by CBInsights, asks the question if you had a $10 million to invest would you put it in crypto or Cannabis? Well, perhaps if you had asked the same question at this… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 10:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

For quite some time now, the European Commission has been discussing creating a pan-European approach to investment crowdfunding. This policy move absolutely makes sense and clearly aligns with the Fintech Action Plan and Capital Markets Union. In many ways, creating a single law for all… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 8:33 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A writer and analyst for Morningstar believes that, based on a comprehensive assessment, Bitcoin, “does not and will not challenge gold as a safe-haven asset class.” He follows that claim with a tip to buy Goldcorp stock. In a short article written for the large research and investment… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 4:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

On September 28th, WSJ.com published an article on cryptocurrency entitled “How Dirty Money Disappears into the Black Hole of Cryptocurrency.” Authors Justin Scheck and Shane Shifflett slammed crypto exchange Shapeshift as complicit in illicit trades deemed to be attempts to launder money with with crypto. Yesterday, Erik Voorhees,… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 12:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Bitcoin Foundation has submitted an opposition letter to the French Parliament Special Commission which is currently reviewing the PACTE legislation that is ostensibly designed to empower initial coin offerings (ICOs) in France. The Bitcoin Foundation “strongly opposes” an amendment apparently submitted on Friday, September… Read More

October 2, 2018 @ 7:42 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Since Mr & Mrs Smith, a global luxury travel business, launched its equity crowdfunding campaign through Crowdcube in September, the business has been the first offering to top €5 million. At this writing, Mr & Mrs Smith has secured over £5,817,124 — overfunding by 581%–… Read More

October 1, 2018 @ 9:46 pm By Onki Kwan  |  

On September 27, 2018, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk for committing securities fraud because of some tweets he published on August 7, 2018. A mere two days later, September 29, 2018, Musk settled with the SEC. As part of their settlement agreement,… Read More

September 30, 2018 @ 9:00 pm By Steven McClurg and Katie Talati  |  

As the crypto markets have evolved rapidly during the last year and institutional investors (like Arca Funds) have begun to invest, fitting into the existing financial services framework has proven difficult. The primary debate around legacy intermediary systems and how they relate to real money… Read More

September 30, 2018 @ 11:22 am By JD Alois  |  

“…when companies and corporate insiders make statements, they must act responsibly, including endeavoring to ensure the statements are not false or misleading and do not omit information a reasonable investor would consider important in making an investment decision.” – Jay Clayton, Chairman of the SEC… Read More

September 27, 2018 @ 1:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Ronald Kleverlaan is a well known thought leader in the European Fintech sector. He is Director of the European Centre for Alternative Finance (ECAF) at Utrecht University in the Netherlands -a joint initiative of the University Utrecht School of Economics, CrowdfundingHub, and the Sustainable Finance Lab. ECAF… Read More

September 26, 2018 @ 6:00 am By Nick Bhargava  |  

In March of this year, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4263, better known as the Regulation A+ Improvement Act. The bill passed with bipartisan support, being co-sponsored by two Democrats: Representatives Sinema and Gottheimer, alongside two Republicans: Representatives Stivers and Hollingsworth. Signing this bill… Read More

September 24, 2018 @ 1:04 pm By Aubrey Hansen  |  

Scientific discovery is borne out of observing things that happen, say a hypothesis, and forming theories around the resultant data. This is how we come to understand our world and the various reactions which occur within it. An explosion in data collection has broadened the… Read More