Strategy

Report: First 5 Months of 2018 Saw 537 ICOs Raise $13.7 Billion

A new collaborative report by PwC Strategy& and the Crypto Valley Association provides an update on the global initial coin offering (ICO) market. According to their numbers, ICOs have grown dramatically during the first 5 months of 2018 with 537 ICOs, successfully raising $13.7 billion. This… Read More

Facebook Partially Reverses ICO Advertising Ban that Never Really Worked

Facebook has done an about face on their initial coin offering advertising ban – at least for a lucky few pre-approved platforms and exchanges. It appears that Facebook is recognizing the fact these are regulated securities and thus quite similar to other investment offers. Facebook… Read More

Why Borrow Against Your Cryptoasset Holdings?

I think we can all agree that, nowadays, cryptocurrencies are never far from the news. From huge surges in value to alleged overnight crashes, Bitcoin billionaires to the rapid rise of Ether, every day seems to bring another story. As someone who works in the… Read More

Banking on the Brand: What Financial Services Can Learn from Direct-to-Consumer Companies

Warby Parker, Casper, Bonobos, Allbirds, and Glossierare some examples of an ever-growing list of consumer brands that have significantly disrupted the retail industry, largely without appearing in brick-and-mortar stores. These brands have found success using a direct-to-consumer model, meaning that they sell and market directly to consumers via technology… Read More

Mulling an ICO? Look Beyond Glitzy Ads, Ask Tough Questions

  It’s fair to say there’s been a huge swell of investor interest in Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) – from crypto enthusiasts and retail investors, increasingly through even to institutions. These ‘token sales’, involving  the sale of newly minted coins based on Ethereum, saw businesses… Read More

Common Pitfalls that Startup Founders Must Avoid

Across the UK, there were 589,000 new businesses launched in 2017 – that’s more than 1,600 every day, or 67 each hour. It’s a remarkable statistic that illustrates how there is an insatiable appetite among large portions of the British public to move away from… Read More

What’s in a SAFE? New Site Open Sourced by Republic Helps Investors Figure it Out

SAFEs or Simple Agreements for Future Equity are popular investment options for early stage startups that are not quite ready to peg a value on the company.  They are also commonly used on investment crowdfunding platforms. SAFEs typically represent an opportunity to purchase stock at… Read More

AML and Sanctions Compliance Issues Facing Cryptocurrency Companies

Over the past few years, continued advancements in the payments industry and financial services technology have significantly expanded the way money financial transactions are processed and managed.  Banks and payment and technology firms are accelerating efforts to innovate and adapt financial services alternatives to meet… Read More

Seed&Spark Closes $2Million Seed Round, Shares Truth About Funding Pitfalls in Blog Post

Seed&Spark, an independent film funding platform founded by Emily Best, recently closed a $2 million seed round. Instead of shooting out a standard press announcement chock full of superlatives, Best hit the pages of Medium to share the truth as to how difficult funding is… Read More

Hosho Founder: Regulators Must Crack Down on Cryptocurrency Fraud

Last week, the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) announced Operation Cryptosweep – an attempt to shut the door on scam initial coin offerings (ICOs) that have polluted the digital assets marketplace. The profound abuse and fraud has marred this new sector of finance harming… Read More

SEC Again Urges ICO Issuers to Make Contact About Compliance

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairperson Jay Clayton told an audience in Washington Tuesday that companies seeking to raise funds via digital tokens in an Initial Coin Offering should be proactive in contacting the agency regarding compliance, Law360 reports. “We’re open for business,” said Clayton…. Read More

US Regulators on Consensus Panel Claim Their Doors Open and Rules Clear Regarding ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings)

Representatives from the three bodies policing securities in the US and the Chief Strategy Officer from the Bittrex cryptocurrency exchange spoke on an “Enforcement” panel May 15 at the Consensus conference in New York. Citing an “open door” policy, the regulators- James McDonald, Director of… Read More

Initial Coin Offering Best Practices: Old Rules Still Apply

There has been a lot of hype about initial coin offerings (ICOs) recently, but the truth is that many are failing to hit their target and raise funds for their promoters. Many fail because of their sheer lack of potential. However, many ICOs also fail… Read More

Whether Utility or Security Tokens, What We’re Really Talking About are Digitized Securities

The crypto industry is in transition. The relatively young space that is built on an exciting, new technology platform called blockchain, or decentralized ledger technology (DLT), has enjoyed the attention of invigorated developers and investors. These players are working to define the future of the… Read More

The Sometimes Dubious Practice of ICO Advisors

The world of initial coin offering (ICO) investing is chock full of peril and risk, as well as opportunity. Purchasing a tokenized asset has become a trip to Vegas-like event as investors attempt to discern which ICO will rise and which offering will quickly plummet…. Read More

Australian Cyber Security Firm Entersoft Claims $1 Billion ICO Milestone

  Entersoft, an Australian cyber security firm, says it has now helped to launch USD $1 billion worth of initial coin offerings (ICOs) around the world without a single hack or lost token value. According to Entersoft, during last ten months, the company has helped… Read More

Tone Vays Describes ‘Inevitable ICO Bubble’ at Blockchain Economic Event, Toronto

Well-known “Bitcoin Maximalist” and despiser of ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) Tone Vays has lately been so deluged with idiotic requests to advise on ICO’s that he has updated his LinkedIn profile to the following: “I am NOT interested in your ICO/Token Sale. Please send all requests… Read More

Has the Crypto Bubble Popped?

2018 has been a miserable year for cryptocurrencies, as prices have dropped by as much as 70% since their highs since the start of the year. The market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market fell from a little over $800 billion in January to a… Read More

Crypto Trends to Watch in 2018: Stepping Aside from Hype and Speculation

As recently noted by Omkar Godbole, only two of the top 25 cryptocurrencies, VeChain’s VET token and Binance coin (BNB), saw gains in the first quarter of this year. That fact really gave me pause for thought. Stepping back from the hype and speculation, in… Read More

PayPal’s Latest Disruption: Inspired by Brick & Mortars?

While some fintechers have announced that brick and mortar banks are dead, others are emulating key features of traditional banks. Fintech behemoth PayPal is reportedly rolling out its new innovations that harken back to mainstream brick and mortar banks. According to wsj.com, PayPal has been… Read More

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