Politics, Legal & Regulation

April 5, 2022 @ 3:30 pm By JD Alois  |  

  The JOBS Act of 2012 was signed into law by President Barack Obama ten years ago today, on April 5, 2012. In a rare moment of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats joined together to help private firms raise much-needed growth capital via online securities offerings…. Read More

April 5, 2022 @ 11:00 am By JD Alois  |  

Last Thursday, Members of European Parliament (MEP) voted to create new rules to track crypto transfers. The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) adopted the legislation, with 93 votes for and 14 against, and 14 abstentions. The… Read More

April 5, 2022 @ 10:38 am By JD Alois  |  

Today, at 2:30 PM ET, Congressman Patrick McHenry, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, will be hosting a roundtable to mark the 10th anniversary of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012. The JOBS Act legalized securities crowdfunding including, Reg CF,… Read More

April 5, 2022 @ 10:02 am By Omar Faridi  |  

  The Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE) is pleased to confirm the publication of the Open Banking Standard, version 3.1.3 – including updates to the Read/Write API Specification and Customer Experience Guidelines (CEGs). This is “a minor update to version 3.1.2 which was released in… Read More

April 5, 2022 @ 9:51 am By JD Alois  |  

The UK Financial Conduct Authority has made several new hires according to a release. The appointments include a Fintech executive who steps into the Finance Director role. According to the FCA, Craig Chapman will join the regulator as Finance Director in May. Chapman is currently… Read More

April 5, 2022 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

Crowdcube is accelerating in France. That is how the new French version of Crowdcube announces itself. Crowdcube is one of the largest securities crowdfunding platforms in the UK as well as Europe. Having long operated in Europe, recent rule changes will make it easier for… Read More

April 4, 2022 @ 9:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

HM Treasury announced today that the UK government will acknowledge stablecoins as a form of valid payment. The government is expected to create legislation to bring stablecoins within the payments regulatory perimeter, creating conditions for stablecoins issuers and service providers to operate and invest in… Read More

April 4, 2022 @ 6:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

In remarks for the Penn Law Capital Markets Association Annual Conference, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler sent a clear warning to crypto exchanges and other marketplaces that trade in crypto. Gensler explicitly stated that he has asked staff to review how the Securities and Exchange Commission… Read More

April 4, 2022 @ 10:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at PeerBerry notes that we have already seen and have already been there (when remembering all the panic during the first wave of Covid in March 2020). But on the other hand, “nothing compares with the current events,” the team at PeerBerry wrote… Read More

April 4, 2022 @ 10:19 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The team at Lithuania’s Debitum, a borderless financing platform, has shared omportant news about “war-affected assets” in Ukraine On March 30, 2022, Debitum had received “an official response letter and data from the borrower in Ukraine.” This data consists of the company’s “update on its… Read More

April 3, 2022 @ 4:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last November, the European Union authorized pan-European crowdfunding, European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSPR), for issuers to raise up to €5 million across all member states. Investment crowdfunding platforms that aim to sell securities in the European Union must be regulated by the relevant authority… Read More

April 3, 2022 @ 10:32 am By Omar Faridi  |  

European lender Mintos notes that previously, they had prepared an overview of the “broader” effects of the war in Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, and Russian “responding policies on the financial markets.” As noted in a blog post, Mintos is now sharing “an insight into how… Read More

April 2, 2022 @ 7:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has reportedly put the card schemes on notice that it is looking into their fees and how to assist merchants with entering better deals, including by promoting the alternative of account-to-account payments. While sharing its plans for 2022/23, the… Read More

April 2, 2022 @ 1:20 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Elastos, the provider of open-source solutions and developer of the first decentralized infrastructure for the Modern Internet (Web3), is pleased to confirm that its ecosystem DAO, Cyber Republic (CR), has now been incorporated into “a legal entity in the state of Delaware.” The filing… Read More

April 1, 2022 @ 6:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael J. Hsu, addressed the American Bankers this week speaking about “tail risks” – or low probability, high impact risk events. In a world pummelled by geopolitical challenges like Russia’s war with Ukraine, and the ever-present concern of cyberattacks, Hsu… Read More

April 1, 2022 @ 6:05 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has released its work program for 2022. Priority areas of work and new initiatives, “including key deliverables to the G20 Indonesian Presidency,” are as follows: Supporting international cooperation and coordination on current financial stability issues. Against the backdrop of the… Read More

April 1, 2022 @ 9:34 am By JD Alois  |  

Christian Faes is one of the leading voices in the UK advocating on behalf of the Fintech ecosystem. He is a founder and Executive Chairman of LendInvest – a successful property financing platform that is now traded on the LSE, and the Chairman of Fintech… Read More

March 31, 2022 @ 2:52 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted a Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) expressing the view of the staff regarding the “accounting for obligations to safeguard crypto-assets an entity holds for platform users.” The SAB adds “interpretive guidance” regarding “obligations to safeguard crypto-assets held for… Read More

March 31, 2022 @ 9:55 am By JD Alois  |  

Today is the deadline (March 31, 2022) for crypto firms to be registered with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Reports have filtered in that multiple UK-based crypto firms have abandoned the effort with some planning a departure from Great Britain. The list of UK crypto… Read More

March 31, 2022 @ 8:45 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The UK’s FCA recently revealed that they are interested in what the industry “sees as the role of the regulator in the provision of synthetic data.” The FCA pointed out that they are particularly interested in synthetic data when it comes to their “competition remit,… Read More