Opinion

December 13, 2022 @ 8:56 am By JD Alois  |  

Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, has issued a  statement on the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX. The statement was issued prior to the announcement of civil charges being filed by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures… Read More

December 9, 2022 @ 10:14 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Division of Corporate Finance, revealed a “sample” letter being sent to registered firms demanding heightened disclosure on crypto assets. The new request follows a series of bankruptcies and financial stress from firms in the digital asset industry. The… Read More

December 7, 2022 @ 8:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently caught up with Martin Dobelle, CEO at Engage Labs, which is set to launch soon, and will be leveraging technology “to empower citizens for democratic participation in the digital age.” Engage claims it is a Public Benefit Corporation. According to Engage Labs, to… Read More

December 6, 2022 @ 9:45 am By JD Alois  |  

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan (NYSE:JPM) – the most respected CEO on Wall Street, visited with CNBC today in an extended interview that also involved a brief discussion on crypto. In the past, Dimon has been highly critical of cryptocurrencies, recently describing crypto as… Read More

December 5, 2022 @ 2:49 pm By JD Alois  |  

The failure of FTX and the allegations of fraud pointed at founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried continue to garner much coverage in both traditional media as well as more modern digital news providers. The speed of the collapse, and the amount of funds involved… Read More

December 4, 2022 @ 5:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has oversight of commodities markets, held a hearing on the collapse of FTX, once an inside-the-beltway darling, today a virtual pariah as policymakers rush to react to the bankruptcy of the crypto exchange. Before the crypto exchange went bust,… Read More

December 2, 2022 @ 3:40 pm By JD Alois  |  

Online capital formation is getting hit by all of the things impacting public markets. Record high inflation, rising interest rates, war in Ukraine, and tension with China all combine to compel investors to pull back. Crowdfund Capital Advisors (CCA) has shared some information on activity… Read More

November 30, 2022 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

Binance recently announced the creation of an “Industry Recovery Fund” following the collapse of FTX and the collateral damage it has caused to the cryptocurrency industry. Several other platforms have indicated they have been impacted by the bankruptcy of FTX, and several have shut down… Read More

November 30, 2022 @ 10:36 am By JD Alois  |  

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a blog post that predicts the demise of Bitcoin – the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Authored by Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf, entitled “Bitcoin’s Last Stand,” the article claims that Bitcoin is in its “last gasp before the… Read More

November 28, 2022 @ 3:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

Crypto markets are far off from their all-time highs, and today another crypto firm announced a bankruptcy filing due to FTX collateral damage. 2022 is not so much a crypto-winter but perhaps a crypto-ice age. The failure of FTX has harmed the entire crypto sector,… Read More

November 28, 2022 @ 8:37 am By Alex Zeltcer  |  

There’s no doubt in the minds of financial organizations and anti-laundering regulators that Know Your Customer (KYC) verified accounts prevent fraudulent activity– and that’s exactly the problem. In the early 1990s, governments around the globe had a growing concern about preventing the increasingly connected banking… Read More

November 23, 2022 @ 10:32 am By JD Alois  |  

Warwick Business School held an event in recent days that discussed central bank digital currency (CBDCs), according to a note from the school. The Gillmore Centre Policy Forum heard Antoine Martin, a Senior VP of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where… Read More

November 23, 2022 @ 9:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a member of the Senate Banking Committee and a longtime crypto-skeptic, has published an Op-Ed on WSJ.com, slamming the crypto industry and warning that crypto is poised to destroy the economy. The opinion follows a series of prominent crypto platform failures topped… Read More

November 21, 2022 @ 5:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the US Department of Treasury published a report entitled Assessing the Impact of New Entrant Non-bank Firms on Competition in Consumer Finance Markets. The report was delivered to the White House Competition Council. The 128-page document informed the White House that Fintech firms… Read More

November 21, 2022 @ 12:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

  QED Investors is probably the most prominent and successful Fintech-focused venture capital firm. Holding dozens of well-known names in their portfolio – including multiple unicorns, QED is hyper-engaged with the  Fintech ecosystem around the world. Recently, QED distributed a couple of comments on the… Read More

November 20, 2022 @ 4:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Autumn Statement delivered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, last week included some grim news – including the declaration that the UK economy is in a recession. Fiscal sobriety was the message, a sharp turn from the mini-budget under Truss that caused… Read More

November 18, 2022 @ 11:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory agenda during the current leadership has changed little since it was first revealed in 2021. One item that has been near the top of the list is Reg D “improvements,” including an update to the Accredited Investor definition. Regulation… Read More

November 17, 2022 @ 11:27 am By JD Alois  |  

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt delivered the Autumn Budget today, and once again, there is a bundle of adjustments and announcements aiming to improve the UK economy that is struggling with high inflation, unsustainable energy costs, and a recession. The UK government has already… Read More

November 15, 2022 @ 10:20 am By JD Alois  |  

SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, boomed in 2021. This year, the story is rather different. According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, through Q3 2022, there have been 78 SPAC initial public offerings (IPOs). This compares to 444 for the nine-month period… Read More

November 14, 2022 @ 9:45 pm By JD Alois  |  

BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler has distributed a public statement on the FTX bankruptcy and its impact on the overall digital asset industry. BTC Markets is an Australian exchange that says it has set the industry standard for compliance in Australia. Last month, it announced… Read More