Opinion

November 20, 2017 @ 2:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

Jason Hsu is on a mission to turn Taiwan into a Fintech hub. This includes the development of a robust Initial Coin Offering market – in stark contrast to several Asian neighbors like China and South Korea,  two countries that banned all ICOs earlier this… Read More

November 19, 2017 @ 9:31 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month Crowdfund Insider posted a research report published by the Cleveland Federal Reserve that was highly critical of the peer to peer lending industry (marketplace lending) in the US. The report, authored by Yuliya Demyanyk at the Cleveland Federal Reserve, Elena Loutskina at the University… Read More

November 19, 2017 @ 12:00 pm By Lowell Putnam  |  

  On October 18, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a set of principles on consumer-authorized data sharing and aggregation intended to safeguard consumer interest as the data sharing market continues to develop in the US. As a financial data company providing account aggregation,… Read More

November 17, 2017 @ 4:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Cappassity CEO Kosta Popov, who is gearing up for the ARToken ICO, has published a blog post that hammers Parity for its tepid response following a hack that froze possibly $300 million in Ethereum. The hack was revealed in early November when it became known that… Read More

November 17, 2017 @ 9:57 am By JD Alois  |  

CoinList, a marriage between AngelList and Protocol Labs, has big plans for the future of early stage funding using digital tokens. Following the blowout success of Filecoin, an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that saw an astounding $200+ million raised, CoinList quickly regrouped and revamped its… Read More

November 17, 2017 @ 4:55 am By Erin Hobey  |  

Speakly, a tech-based language learning solution, has partnered with Seedrs for a €90,007 fund raise for 10.00% equity offered. The UK-based is pre-valued at €810,000. Successful angel-investor Sonny Aswani has backed Speakly. Co-founded by Ott Ojamets in 2012, Speakly aims to ignite a language learning revolution by bringing 21st century… Read More

November 16, 2017 @ 11:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has filed suit in federal court against Think Finance, a Fintech that leverages its technology to power online lending platforms. Think Finance provides software technology, analytics, loan servicing, and marketing services. The CFPB says the suit was filed for… Read More

November 15, 2017 @ 11:37 pm By Jor Law  |  

Despite the record success of many initial coin offerings (ICOs), raising capital for ICOs is a difficult process.  It is tempting to accept help anywhere one can get it, and there is no shortage of persons and companies clamoring to “find” or refer investors in… Read More

November 15, 2017 @ 4:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The House Financial Services Committee has approved HR 3299 or the “Protecting Consumers’ Access to Credit Act of 2017.” The bill “restores consistency” in lending laws across state boundaries. HR 3299 impacts the case of Midland Funding, LLC v. Madden – an ongoing law suit… Read More

November 14, 2017 @ 5:15 pm By Timothy Li  |  

I arrived in Dallas, Texas, the night before 2017’s Lend360. A conference catering to lenders, investors and vendors in the online lending space. It started out as OLA (Online Lenders Alliance) a number of years ago. Next year, Lend360 will take place in Chicago, one… Read More

November 14, 2017 @ 5:57 am By Craig Peterson  |  

All eyes are on the UK’s property market since the Bank of England announced its first increase in the base rate since July 2007.  The question on everyone’s lips: how will the market react? After a decade of historically low rates homeowners have become relaxed… Read More

November 13, 2017 @ 3:00 pm By Amy Wan  |  

On Friday, November 10, 2017, StartEngine, a Regulation Crowdfunding platform based in Los Angeles, California organized ICO 2.0 Summit, the first regulated ICO conference – or at least the first that I’ve seen. While there seem to be an explosion of ICO and Blockchain-related conferences… Read More

November 12, 2017 @ 3:00 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

Man Proposes and God Disposes On November 8, at an Annual  New York City gathering of securities professionals, SEC Chair Jay Clayton went off script – and in doing so provided what is likely to be the clearest guidance we can expect to receive from… Read More

November 10, 2017 @ 4:52 pm By Barry James  |  

  The future is arriving a lot sooner than almost anyone thought as, fuelled by billions in ICO cash, the blockchain revolution moves ten times faster than the internet revolution ever did: Gibraltar, their nimble regulator and Stock Exchange are providing an exemplar that may… Read More

November 10, 2017 @ 3:27 pm By JD Alois  |  

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika delivered a speech this week that has the traditional banking industry up in arms.  Noreika made the heretical statement that competition is good for the banking industry inciting the wrath of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA),… Read More

November 10, 2017 @ 5:00 am By Erin Hobey  |  

UK online investment platform SyndicateRoom has published The Due Diligence Guide for Investors, a document which aims to empower investors to make more informed choices when putting together their portfolio of early-stage investments. The guide, which has been created in collaboration with long-standing equity crowdfunding commentator Rob Murray… Read More

November 9, 2017 @ 4:38 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Reserve is out with a disconcerting report regarding the peer to peer lending or marketplace lending industry. According to the authors, Yuliya Demyanyk at the Cleveland Federal Reserve, Elena Loutskina at the University of Virginia, and Daniel Kolliner at the University of Maryland, peer… Read More

November 9, 2017 @ 3:29 pm By Amy Wan and Daniel Rice  |  

Well, here we are again. On November 6, Parity encountered yet another failure, and the result? Reportedly, some $150 to $300 million dollars worth of Ether (we are hearing conflicting reports as to how much ETH has been frozen) is locked down, and we’re hearing… Read More

November 8, 2017 @ 11:00 pm By Jor Law  |  

Initial coin offerings are all the craze, and for good reason.  According to CoinSchedule, over $3 billion has been raised in the first 10 months of October.  The Securities Exchange Commission released an investigative report concluding that DAO tokens were securities, and that scared people… Read More

November 8, 2017 @ 9:34 am By JD Alois  |  

  Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith Noreika delivered a speech today discussing the US banking industry. In the speech, Noreika makes an important point: US banks need more competition, not less. He also intimates that mixing commerce and banking can deliver benefits to consumers…. Read More