Opinion

August 10, 2021 @ 5:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today the US Senate voted on a massive bill that, while labeled infrastructure, included a cornucopia of pet projects and unrelated policy goals. Squirreled away in the legislation was language designed to raise revenue by taxing crypto transactions as well as broadly defining the… Read More

August 9, 2021 @ 11:45 am By JD Alois  |  

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, long a supporter of Fintech innovation, has issued a statement in the wake of the enforcement action taken by the Commission against Poloniex, a crypto exchange. As was reported earlier today, Poloniex has settled the SEC’s allegations of operating an unlicensed… Read More

August 9, 2021 @ 9:17 am By JD Alois  |  

In what may be the first of many, the Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges against Poloniex for operating an unregistered digital asset exchange. Poloniex has settled with the SEC by agreeing to pay a $10.4 million penalty. Poloniex settled without admitting or denying… Read More

August 8, 2021 @ 12:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Hedera Hashgraph has shared an update on their plans to go Carbon negative. The Hedera Hashgraph team notes that public blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT) have “ushered in a new era of the web.” We now have the infrastructure required to… Read More

August 7, 2021 @ 10:57 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Blockchain.com, a leading crypto wallet provider, trading platform, and block explorer service, has shared their August Market Outlook report, titled, The Final Crypto Adoption Frontier. Bitcoin or BTC adoption as an investment asset began with what is “often characterized as ‘retail’ (smaller… Read More

August 6, 2021 @ 6:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

Following the kerfuffle regarding the infrastructure bill’s inclusion of a broad definition of brokers in regards to digital assets, the blockchain industry joined in roundly criticizing the language as being extreme to the point of undermining crypto innovation. Soon, several Senators partnered to create a… Read More

August 6, 2021 @ 3:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

Infrastructure used to mean roads, airports, bridges, etc. Today, infrastructure, as defined by our elected representatives, means oh so much more. The massive spending bill being foisted upon the populace by Congress is still being dissected but one area that it may impact is digital… Read More

August 5, 2021 @ 4:20 pm By JD Alois  |  

It has been a volatile week in trading for shares in Robinhood (NASDAQ”HOOD). Following a tepid initial public offering, last week that saw shares drop below its IPO price of $38, shares in Robinhood rocketed higher – at one point trading above $80 a share. Today,… Read More

August 3, 2021 @ 11:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss is one of the creators of Title III of the JOBS Act of 2012 – the legislation that legalized Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) and launched a new sector of financial innovation. Neiss also co-founded Crowdfund Capital Advisors along with Jason Best –… Read More

August 2, 2021 @ 11:17 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Jake Chervinsky, the General Counsel at Compound Finance, recently shared insights and his take on the deal with the recently proposed US infrastructure bill. 1/ 🚨 Here's the deal with the US infrastructure bill: A new provision has been added that expands the Tax Code's… Read More

August 1, 2021 @ 8:19 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Senate worked on Sunday to come to terms on a infrastructure bill that could end up costing trillions of dollars. The super thin margin in the Senate means moderates on both sides of the aisle will play a key role in the decision… Read More

July 30, 2021 @ 4:58 pm By JD Alois  |  

Congressman Patrick McHenry has submitted legislation to update the definition of an Accredited Investor. Currently, individuals deemed to be Accredited may participate in private, Reg D securities offerings – the most popular exemption utilized by promising young firms. To be deemed accredited, an individual must… Read More

July 29, 2021 @ 9:24 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Changpeng Zhao or “CZ”, the CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of adjusted trading volume, recently announced that he would be welcoming regulation. CZ also said he wants Binance to work cooperatively with regulatory authorities, across the globe, as it establishes… Read More

July 28, 2021 @ 4:53 pm By JD Alois  |  

LendingClub (NYSE:LC), a Fintech that started as a peer-to-peer lender and now operating as a digital bank, has posted strong 2nd quarter results that easily topped expectations. LendingClub finally turned the corner on profitability shredding guidance that had expected a loss. Shares moved considerably higher… Read More

July 28, 2021 @ 1:19 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

The recent news that Swift is launching Swift Go, a low-value, cross-border payment may not be as monumental as it seems, the founder of global B2B payment provider VertoFX believes. In an announcement yesterday, Swift said the new service would enable financial institutions to offer… Read More

July 27, 2021 @ 12:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Senate Banking Committee held a hearing today on cryptocurrency aptly titled Cryptocurrencies: What are they good for? And as one may anticipate, the questions and support of digital asset innovation largely fell along party lines. For the witnesses, there were representatives from Coin Center, Filecoin,… Read More

July 27, 2021 @ 12:04 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

We recently connected with Fernando Martinelli, the Co-founder and CEO at Balancer Labs, which supports the ongoing development of Balancer, an automated portfolio manager and digital asset liquidity provider. As covered in May 2021, Balancer Version 2.0, the “most flexible” and efficient automated market maker… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 3:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

Jeff Dorman, Chief Investment Officer at Arca, has distributed a statement criticizing the lack of transparency in digital asset offerings. Arca is a digital asset firm that offers institutional-grade financial services in the digital asset sector. In January, Dorman predicted that more attention would be… Read More

July 26, 2021 @ 12:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, a report was published regarding the European Commission distributing European (ESIF) funds through European crowdfunding platforms. Obviously, if this occurs it will be a boon for both platforms and issuers. The report was written by Karsten Wenzlaff, Ana Odorovic and Ronald Kleverlaan, along with consulting… Read More

July 23, 2021 @ 11:32 am By JD Alois  |  

The Texas State Securities Board is gunning for BlockFi – a leading crypto platform that raised $350 million earlier this year. According to the complaint, the SSB has scheduled a hearing with BlockFi this October to determine if a cease and desist will become effective…. Read More