Opinion

March 10, 2018 @ 1:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

As we reported last week, the European Commission has announced its intent to pursue a Fintech Action Plan designed to boost Fintech innovation across continental Europe. The recognition that enabling innovations in finance are of strategic importance. This is a vital step in keeping Europe… Read More

March 9, 2018 @ 10:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdfund Insider has been writing about big tech getting into banking and other financial services for a long time now. The disruption taking place within the financial services industry is profound and traditional finance is struggling to keep up with the revolutionary change. While many… Read More

March 9, 2018 @ 6:43 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Crowdfunding Association (UKCFA) has shared a brief comment regarding proposed rules released by the European Commission yesterday that are expected to be enacted. These updated rules are designed to streamline cross border crowdfunding offerings to the benefit of issuers, investors and platforms. By… Read More

March 8, 2018 @ 11:23 pm By JD Alois  |  

This past week, the National Crowdfunding and Fintech Association of Canada (NCFA) held its annual event in Toronto that saw over 500 participants join to discuss Fintech from around the world. FFCON18 Velocity covered the wide ranging spectrum of current topics in the realm of… Read More

March 7, 2018 @ 1:43 pm By Dixie L. Johnson, Brian R. Michael, Ehren Halse, Kyle Sheahen, and Matthew B. Hanson  |  

  For initial coin offering (ICOs or token offerings, SAFT, etc.) issuers, investors, token holders, and anyone else operating in the cryptocurrency market, the message of recent days is clear: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has shifted into high gear. News reports indicate that… Read More

March 6, 2018 @ 8:01 am By JD Alois  |  

NextSeed is one of a handful of FINRA approved Reg CF crowdfunding portals that is successfully providing access to growth capital for small businesses across the US. It is the only platform in operation that focuses solely on debt financing as most other platforms are… Read More

March 4, 2018 @ 6:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

    The very first initial coin offering (ICO) took place in June of 2013 when Mastercoin raised around $5 million in Bitcoin. That was the same year that Title II of the JOBS Act launched allowing general solicitation (SEC lingo for advertising) under Regulation… Read More

March 2, 2018 @ 5:41 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Milken Institute is out with a comprehensive report this week that drills down into existing legislative action by Congress that addresses the emerging Fintech industry. This is the first report of its kind and provides a solid perspective on what Congress has accomplished to… Read More

March 2, 2018 @ 12:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

As reported earlier today, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, delivered a speech today address the rise of cryptocurrencies and the future of money. In Carney’s opinion, cryptocurrencies are “failing as money.” He outlined his opinion why crypto, including Bitcoin, simply does… Read More

March 2, 2018 @ 8:48 am By JD Alois  |  

What is money? In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith defines money by the roles it plays in society, in particular, how well it serves as: –  A store of value with which to transfer purchasing power from today to some future time; –  A… Read More

March 1, 2018 @ 10:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

The French Crowdfunding Association (Financement Participatif or FPF) has asked the French authorities to increase the investment crowdfunding cap to €8 million. Today platforms may raise up to €2.5 million (a bit over USD$ 3million), a level that has been deemed far too low. When crowdfunding rules… Read More

March 1, 2018 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The fact the Securities and Exchange Commission has been issuing subpoenas to initial coin offering (ICOs) issuers has been rumored for quite some time. Recently, multiple publications, including Crowdfund Insider, revealed this fact. The SEC has been warning of this sort of activity for many months… Read More

February 28, 2018 @ 11:35 pm By JD Alois  |  

The environment for initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the US has changed dramatically in the past few months. In July of 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the DAO report that identified the token offering as a security indicating at least some of the… Read More

February 28, 2018 @ 9:08 am By JD Alois  |  

Towards the end of last year, Maksim Zaslavskiy was hit with several lawsuits regarding an inital coin offering (ICO) that was deemed an unregistered security by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) along with alleged acts of fraud. The SEC charged Zaslavskiy,  REcoin Group Foundation, DRC World, Diamond Reserve Club, … Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 3:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Switzerland has become known as a center of excellence for the cryptocurrency industry. In fact, many initial coin offerings (ICO) call Zug, Switzerland home – even if they are not really based there. The Swiss regulators (FINMA) have recognized the emergence of digital currencies as… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 1:38 pm By Erin Hobey  |  

Within a month of launching its de Vere Crypto cryptocurrency app and despite last week’s crypto crash, deVere Group has decided to add two new tokens to its crypto trading app. Users of deVere Crypto can now also store, transfer and exchange Ripple (XRP) and Dash (DASH), alongside… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 10:48 am By JD Alois  |  

As we reported yesterday, Circle has acquired cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex for $400 million. Not a small sum. But Poloniex has a small issue it must address soon. It is currently operating as an un-licensed securities exchange. Additional information regarding the acquisition surfaced yesterday that indicated… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 9:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Amazon is one of the most innovative and disruptive big tech companies today. Led by visionary Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s story starts from humble beginnings as a mere book seller. Today, Amazon is pointing its tech guns at many different industry. Sure, Amazon is the place… Read More

February 26, 2018 @ 9:32 am By Philip Liu  |  

Two months into 2018, it feels a little like the calm before a regulatory storm in terms of cryptocurrency regulation.  A series of pronouncements and announcements from the SEC toward the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 gave industry insiders more clarity on what… Read More

February 25, 2018 @ 5:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bank of America, one of the largest banks on the planet, published its 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this past week. The Annual Report for most publicly listed institutions is a routine event with few people digging into the document except for… Read More