Opinion

August 13, 2023 @ 10:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed an enforcement action against Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) back in June. Among other allegations, the SEC claims that Coinbase is operating as an unregistered securities exchange. The SEC targeted Coinbase even though it had clearly approved the firm to become… Read More

August 13, 2023 @ 9:36 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Monite, the API-first embedded finance company that helps B2B platforms capitalize on hassle-free finance automation for their clients, recently fortified its commitment to become an industry standard by appointing three Fintech professionals. Dan Osburn, a VP of product pivotal to Marqeta’s growth from a $20M… Read More

August 12, 2023 @ 12:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

This week the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a settlement in its enforcement action against Bittrex as well as a foreign affiliate. Bittrex agreed to a total penalty of $24 million. As part of the settlement, Bittrex neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations,… Read More

August 10, 2023 @ 6:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

As the crypto-sphere knows, last month Ripple/XRP received a partial victory against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a court decision that determined that people who bought XRP could not reasonably expect Ripple to act to increase the price of XRP and the sales… Read More

August 10, 2023 @ 10:58 am By JD Alois  |  

There has been a lot of discussion about the US Dollar remaining the top reserve currency around the world. Having the dollar be the big dog in the realm of fiat brings a lot of benefits to the US and must be a leading policy… Read More

August 9, 2023 @ 5:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

StartEngine, one of the largest securities crowdfunding platforms in the US, says the first secondary transaction has taken place on its marketplace. StartEngine said in an email: “Since launching Marketplace a little over three weeks ago, we’ve received a little over 300 offers to buy… Read More

August 8, 2023 @ 11:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The last couple of months have been anything but “dull” for the digital asset industry – enforcement actions, regulatory proposals, the first ever SPBD approval and, of course, the landmark Ripple decision, the team at tZERO recently noted. tZERO Group, Inc., which claims to be… Read More

August 8, 2023 @ 8:55 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Jeremy Allaire, Co-founder & CEO of Circle, a Fintech that’s focused on stablecoins and other services supporting the blockchain and crypto sector, says that despite the hype that they’re all about the US, the firm “estimates that 70% of USDC adoption is non-US, and some… Read More

August 7, 2023 @ 12:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, CrowdStreet endured several difficult days as a report in WSJ.com was highly critical of the real estate investment platform, claiming that $63 million of investor funds had “gone missing.” The claim was due to a securities offering on CrowdStreet by an issuer that… Read More

August 5, 2023 @ 2:06 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Luis Ocegueda, Engineering Lead at Trust Wallet, which claims to be the world’s most trusted and secure crypto wallet with 60 million+ downloads. It’s worth noting that, earlier this year, Trust Wallet did experience certain security issues, leading to a considerable… Read More

August 3, 2023 @ 9:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Peter Barcak, Founder & CEO of credolab, which claims to be today’s largest developer of bank-grade digital scorecards and data enrichment solutions based on behavioral metadata. The company leverages privacy-consented and anonymous smartphone and online metadata to provide lenders, risk officers,… Read More

August 1, 2023 @ 2:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Association of Online Investment Platforms (AOIP) has sent a letter to Congress asking policymakers to move forward legislation that aims to support access to capital for smaller firms and entrepreneurs. The AOIP was created to advocate on behalf of online capital formation for private… Read More

July 31, 2023 @ 8:15 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Christian Niedermueller, CEO of Blocktrade, has commented on the evolving European crypto landscape during a recent interview with CI and shared his experience leading Blocktrade through this turbulent period in the industry. For context, Blocktrade is a gamified asset marketplace that raised 5.6 million EUR… Read More

July 29, 2023 @ 10:07 am By Omar Faridi  |  

As a follow-up to the recent webinar Envestnet hosted with open banking experts around the world, we caught up with Lisa Novier, Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance at Envestnet Data and Analytics. Envestnet claims it has been at the forefront of open banking adoption… Read More

July 28, 2023 @ 10:25 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Craig Salm, Chief Legal Officer at Grayscale, notes that as we all await a decision from the DC Circuit in their lawsuit to convert GBTC to a spot bitcoin ETF, the firm’s legal team at Davis Polk submitted a comment letter “to GBTC’s pending 19b-4… Read More

July 26, 2023 @ 8:43 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Travis Everett, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of National Merchants Association (NMA), has shared key insights with Crowdfund Insider on FedNow, the new instant payments and transfer service offered by the US Federal Reserve. The new service became operational this past week, with 35 financial… Read More

July 24, 2023 @ 10:42 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published final guidance on the new Consumer Duty initiative last year. Firms are expected to implement the requirements by the end of this month. Consumer Duty sets a “standard of care” for financial services firms in retail markets aiming… Read More

July 20, 2023 @ 1:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

Nigel Farage, a political leader in the UK who was a staunch supporter of Brexit, recently had his account canceled by Coutts, part of Natwest – ostensibly because his balance went below their minimum threshold. Following the loss of his account, Farage lambasted the bank… Read More

July 20, 2023 @ 1:37 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech firm Ripple considers the recent court ruling (in the case Ripple v. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ) to be a “landmark victory” for the company and the entire crypto industry. As noted in a blog post, the recent ruling finds that XRP… Read More

July 20, 2023 @ 8:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Kushki, a Paytech connecting LatAm to digital payments and helping Latin American businesses reduce the costs and complexity of digital transactions, has shared key insights with Crowdfund Insider. Kushki focuses on improving acceptance rates and reducing fraud. The company points out that it has been… Read More