Tagged: perspective

April 21, 2021 @ 10:10 am By Timothy Li  |  

Apple CEO, Tim Cook kicked off the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) “spring-loaded” event and announced the biggest head-scratcher that made no sense. Cook announced a new way to “build credit” for the rest of your family that’s called “Apple Card Family”. Cook said that Apple set out to… Read More

April 16, 2021 @ 11:30 am By Howard Marks  |  

On March 11th, Beeple became the third highest-paid living artist with a $69M sale of one of his works as an NFT, a non-fungible token on the blockchain. This sale is one of many at the front of NFTs, blockchain’s latest hype machine of digital… Read More

April 14, 2021 @ 10:21 pm By JD Alois  |  

Coinbase, perhaps the most anticipated public listing of 2021, commenced trading on the Nasdaq today following a direct listing that started with a reference per-share value of $250 and quickly went higher from there. Listed under the ticker symbol COIN, Coinbase traded as high as… Read More

April 12, 2021 @ 9:56 pm By Lee Schneider  |  

A murder of crows.  A pride of lions. A school of fish.  A conundrum of NFTs.  At least that’s how it feels when faced with the ever-growing craze for non-fungible tokens.  Here are five things about NFTs that may surprise you. They’re just another type… Read More

April 12, 2021 @ 12:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this month, Coinbase announced that its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list its shares on the Nasdaq, under ticker symbol COIN, had been approved. The public listing of Coinbase will thus represent a seminal event in the digital asset industry…. Read More

April 11, 2021 @ 3:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Several months ago, FinCEN submitted for publication in the Federal Register its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding certain transactions that involve virtual currency or digital assets. FinCEN or the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is a bureau of the US Department of the Treasury that… Read More

March 30, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Ariel Glasner and Amit Roitman  |  

President Joe Biden’s young administration is poised to deliver heightened – and perhaps unprecedented – regulatory scrutiny of the exploding Fintech industry.  The groundwork for a more active regulatory regime has been set over the course of the past decade.  Prior administrations harnessed existing enforcement… Read More

March 25, 2021 @ 9:35 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday it was reported that the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had provisionally decided to not allow the merger between Seedrs and Crowdcube. The two securities crowdfunding platforms combined were seen as dominating online capital formation for early-stage ventures to the point it would… Read More

March 23, 2021 @ 12:15 pm By JD Alois  |  

Lawrence C. Lee is a top merger and acquisitions attorney operating in the Fintech sector. A partner at Baker McKenzie and based in Palo Alto, Lee was previously in-house counsel for Coinbase where he led strategic transactions and investments. More recently, Lee and his team… Read More

March 22, 2021 @ 1:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

Like many people, I use several traditional banks but also have several digital-only accounts. A combination of necessity and inertia has led me to be a customer of incumbent banks for years. Like many people, I am looking at multiple options in the digital banking… Read More

March 22, 2021 @ 7:57 am By Lee Schneider  |  

CryptoUK issued a clarion call to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK financial and anti-money laundering (AML) regulator, demanding that FCA grant licenses as prescribed by AML rules.  Too many applications have gone unanswered since those rules came into effect over one year ago. … Read More

March 18, 2021 @ 11:44 am By JD Alois  |  

Bank of America has published a report on Bitcoin and it is swimming against the tide as the bank throws shade at the world’s most popular crypto as just a vehicle for speculation. The story has been picked up by many outlets at a time… Read More

March 16, 2021 @ 8:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

It is hard not to know something about the booming Non-Fungible Token or NFT market. Following Beeple’s sale of a digital work of art “Everydays—The First 5000 Days,” auctioned by Christie’s for a whopping $69 million, NFTs officially became a “thing” with non-stop coverage on… Read More

March 15, 2021 @ 3:00 pm By Lee Schneider  |  

Once the Coinbase registration statement becomes effective and Coinbase shares trade publicly, a sea change will have occurred in the US without most people recognizing it.  Part of that unacknowledged difference will be the broader awareness of blockchain and cryptoasset trading it brings. It is… Read More

March 14, 2021 @ 12:50 pm By JD Alois  |  

Financial technology or Fintech has been growing at a rapid pace for years now. Starting with online capital formation, today a growing number of sophisticated financial services are going through a much-needed. digital transformation. This can mean better/cheaper access to services for more consumers and… Read More

March 3, 2021 @ 2:43 pm By JD Alois  |  

Earlier today, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak presented the budget for 2021. Obviously, the government policy on spending comes at a difficult time as COVID-19 is still very much with us yet glimmers of relief are showing as the vaccine takes hold. The Chancellor… Read More

February 22, 2021 @ 6:33 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last year, the European Union approved pan-European crowdfunding rules that will apply to all member states thus finally offering a harmonized approach to online capital formation. Crowdfunding advocates and European platforms had long recognized the unnecessary friction intrinsic to raising capital based on national regulations… Read More

February 19, 2021 @ 10:44 am By Oliver Woolley  |  

Social media-hyped stocks took a beating on 18th February, with shares of game retailer GameStop (NYSE:GME) closing at around $40. The share price dove from an all-time high of $483 earlier this month, ending a wild ride for amateur investors still holding their position. The… Read More

February 17, 2021 @ 11:01 am By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, JOFF Fintech (NASD:JOFFU) filed an 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in regards to its initial public offering (IPO) that floated on the Nasdaq on February 9th. The SPAC indicated that it had raised $414 million, including warrants, in a hunt for… Read More

February 16, 2021 @ 7:41 pm By Lee A. Schneider  |  

Fellow DeFi adherents, let’s slow down on the outrage about GameStop (NYSE:GME) and the traditional finance system (TradFi).   Blockchain and DeFi offer lots of advantages over TradFi, but TradFi is not completely broken and DeFi is not necessarily vastly superior.  Two core characteristics make… Read More