August 25, 2024 @ 6:52 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has uncovered unsatisfactory practices at several “deemed-to-be-licensed” cryptocurrency exchange platforms during recent on-site inspections, according to a Bloomberg report. These findings come as the city pushes forward with its ambition to become a leading digital-asset hub, but faces… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 6:33 pm By Michael Wong  |  

Financial technology (fintech) investments in China showed a modest recovery at the end of 2023 and continued into 2024, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech H1’24 report. Among the top ten fintech deals in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, five were from Mainland China and Hong… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 6:12 pm By Michael Wong  |  

MoneySmart Group, a personal finance company in Southeast Asia, has rejected MoneyHero Group’s unsolicited, non-binding offer to acquire 100% of its shares. The offer, which MoneySmart’s board deemed neither serious nor credible, was dismissed unanimously due to its misalignment with the company’s strategic objectives and the… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 6:00 pm By Tony Zerucha  |  

While the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) recent interpretive rule on earned wage access (EWA) products has generated plenty of interest, Jason Lee believes history will view it as a small, but inevitable step towards its logical conclusion – zero-fee products. Lee is the founder… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 5:00 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Global Fintech Thunes noted that the Philippines is swiftly emerging as a fast-growing digital payments hub in Southeast Asia, fueled by significant advancements in its financial sector. Thunes explained in a blog post that government initiatives, particularly from the BSP, have driven “a surge in… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 12:32 pm By Michael Wong  |  

California-based crypto startup Sorella Labs has announced raising $7.5 million in its latest funding round anchored by tech investment firm Paradigm. The round, which will be used to finance the expansion of the startup’s operations and development efforts, was also backed by a host of… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 11:56 am By Omar Faridi  |  

4 in 5 consumes are spending the most time on X, Telegram and YouTube for crypto, according to an update from CoinGecko. The social media platforms most used for crypto “are X (formerly Twitter), Telegram and YouTube, which represented a combined 84.0% of the crypto… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 11:17 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Soneium by Sony Block Solutions Labs has officially been introduced in order to support the future of Web3. Soneium, by Sony Block Solutions Labs is “building a public Ethereum layer 2 next-generation blockchain ecosystem designed to invoke emotion and empower creativity.” Soneium will connect the… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 10:09 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Alpaca’s local currency trading API now supports limit, stop, and stop limit for both nominal and fractional order types. Additionally, Local Currency Trading now reportedly “offers extended hours trading to further open financial services to everyone on the planet.” Local Currency Trading API enables businesses… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 9:40 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Israel announces the issuance of an identification code to a second global fintech company that has chosen to operate in Israel as “a participant in a controlled payment system” – Revolut Ltd. Participants in the Israeli payment systems are “identified using a… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 9:37 am By Michael Wong  |  

Pavel Durov, the Russian-French billionaire founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday evening. At one point, Durov sought to issue a native crypto TON (Gram), but following an enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 6:14 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Workday, Inc. (NASDAQ: WDAY), a provider of solutions to help organizations manage their people and money, and Equifax (NYSE: EFX), a global data, analytics and technology company, today announced a partnership to help make employment and income verifications for Workday customers’ employees easier and faster… Read More

August 25, 2024 @ 5:22 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Checkout.com, a global digital payments provider, announced it is the first payment provider to partner with Google Pay to bring its biometric-based secure payment authentication service to merchants. Checkout.com, which offers authentication to merchants “such as Remitly, will offer Google Pay’s biometric authentication to brands… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 10:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Zumo, the B2B digital assets infrastructure, has signed the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration, reinforcing its commitment to a greener financial services industry as it extends its reach further into the region. The Abu Dhabi Sustainable Finance Declaration “is a voluntary membership-based initiative launched by… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 7:46 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

PhonePe announced the launch of Credit Line on UPI on its platform. Consumers who avail credit lines from their banks “can now link these credit lines to UPI on PhonePe and seamlessly make merchant payments.” This feature enables consumers to “make purchases with ease across millions… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 3:13 pm By Michael Wong  |  

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Hong Kong Association of Banks (HKAB) have launched a joint Taskforce on SME Lending, intensifying efforts to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as they navigate a challenging economic landscape. The new Taskforce, announced by HKMA Chief… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 2:55 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The SUBSCRIBE alternative investment technology platform that helps institutional and wealth manager firms digitalize, centralize, and operate their complex private market programs is now available to financial advisors affiliated with MML Investors Services, a  independent broker/dealer and investment adviser subsidiary of MassMutual Vaughn Bowman, CFA,… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 1:47 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Baton Systems, a global capital markets tech provider orchestrating the optimized settlement of $20-30 billion (USD) in asset value daily, has introduced new treasury management tools designed to optimize intraday liquidity, reduce costly buffers and mitigate risk in real-time. The new liquidity management capabilities offer… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 12:41 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Agora has launched its “fully collateralized” US digital dollar, AUSD, on the Avalanche network. Built on the philosophy that money should be neutral, AUSD brings to “bear an open model that incentivizes businesses–from exchanges and applications to Fintechs and payment providers–to contribute to and service… Read More

August 24, 2024 @ 11:51 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Superstate Industry Council is welcoming the second cohort of institutions. This diverse group of institutions joins them in “shaping Superstate’s product roadmap and driving the adoption of tokenization within traditional financial services and capital markets.” Since the council’s inception in March 2024, dozens of organizations… Read More