Tagged: perspective

July 20, 2018 @ 9:21 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week, the Subcommittee on Monetary Policy, part of the House Financial Services Committee, held a hearing on the future of money that addressed the rise in prominence of cryptocurrency. While some members of Congress remain supportive of crypto and Fintech in general, others… Read More

July 20, 2018 @ 7:26 am By Tom Fortin  |  

When people hear I moved from BlackRock to Fintech iCapital Network, I see a fair number of raised eyebrows. On one hand, you have BlackRock, an established asset-management behemoth. On the other, there’s iCapital, a small, young Fintech company – so the transition seems curious… Read More

July 16, 2018 @ 9:37 am By Masha Prusakova  |  

Male and white – this was the start of the cryptocurrency world. Since the early days of cryptocurrencies, miners, and blockchain developers have been comprised of men – and today’s token projects are reflective of that gender disparity. There is a gender imbalance in the… Read More

July 13, 2018 @ 2:15 pm By Alessandro Lerro  |  

ICOs (Initial Coin Offering) have established themselves in the last year as an effective tool to finance technological start-ups, generally linked to the digital world: from January 2017 to May 2018 about 12 billion dollars were collected issuing tokens. As with more traditional equity offerings,… Read More

July 12, 2018 @ 12:00 pm By Jor Law  |  

The flight to Barbados isn’t a short one.  I left home at 5am and didn’t get into Barbados until after midnight thanks to a minor delay caused by inclement weather surrounding Miami.  I heard that it’ll take roughly 35 hours for another person who’s coming… Read More

July 11, 2018 @ 6:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

Recently, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) – the self regulatory organization (SRO) that oversees broker dealers and other financial firms – issued a “Regulatory Notice” on digital assets. Digital assets, as defined by FINRA, include just about anything associated with blockchain including digital assets that… Read More

July 9, 2018 @ 6:26 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC’s) “Statement of Priorities for the Financial Year to End March 31st, 2018,” provides little guidance to Ontario companies trying to advance blockchain-based financial technologies, says Toronto-based blockchain lawyer Amy ter Haar. T Though the report restates the commission’s commitment to protecting… Read More

July 6, 2018 @ 8:45 am By Cali Haan  |  

Money, “brings the best out of every individual..(and) makes the machinery work…” says famed Mexican economist and General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Agustín Carstens, but “the system is fragile” to interest rate and trade gyrations, and young people must stop printing from nothing in… Read More

July 2, 2018 @ 8:16 am By Anthony Zeoli  |  

Through a triad of recent releases/interviews, the SEC has further clarified how it views the offering and sale of crypto assets. These guidance materials provide some really good insight on the SEC’s thinking with respect to its treatment of crypto assets; including some bright line… Read More

June 24, 2018 @ 1:00 pm By Zac Prince  |  

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

June 23, 2018 @ 3:43 pm By Cali Haan  |  

At a party this Spring on the 30th floor of an apartment that overlooks Lake Ontario, an accountant said something fascinating. A majority of the recent growth in the North American economy, she claimed, had occurred mainly at the level of stock speculation. The reason… Read More

June 22, 2018 @ 6:18 pm By Lowell Putnam  |  

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

June 6, 2018 @ 10:07 pm By JD Alois  |  

The number of Reg CF crowdfunding platforms in the US continues to slowly grow with several recent additions. Last time we reviewed the number of FINRA approved investment platforms in March, there were 38 regulated sites. So what has changed? First, to update on what… Read More

May 30, 2018 @ 11:00 pm By Samuel Guzik  |  

  If the Wall Street Journal is any indicator, so called Regulation A+ offerings, which sprung to life in June 2015, courtesy of Title IV of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the JOBS Act) and SEC rulemaking,  are (or should be) all… Read More

May 27, 2018 @ 6:00 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In April, a policy advisor in Fintech working at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco took a stab at establishing the value of a Bitcoin. His conclusion?  Bitcoin is overpriced, informed investors are likely taking profits now and we may be about to enter… Read More

May 22, 2018 @ 10:47 pm By JD Alois  |  

On the same day the North American Securities Administrators Assocation (NASAA) announced “Operation Cryptosweep” – a coordinated enforcement action targeting fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo delivered a speech to NASAA members. Within his prepared remarks, Giancarlo stated;… Read More

May 21, 2018 @ 10:12 pm By Jim Borzilleri  |  

Earlier this month Hester Peirce, a commissioner of the SEC, delivered a powerful speech in LA that bodes well for the future of cryptocurrency regulation. She addressed the challenges she faces as a regulator of the financial sector, and shared her own philosophy regarding initial… Read More

May 21, 2018 @ 4:41 pm By Alan Yong  |  

Recently during a television interview, world-renowned investor and well-known Bitcoin cynic Warren Buffet described Bitcoin as “rat poison squared”. Buffett made the comment while responding to questions about Bitcoin’s meteoric and highly-publicized growth in the last five years. It would be an easy matter to… Read More

May 18, 2018 @ 2:39 pm By Gene Grant  |  

Several news reports this month have pointed to a slowdown in the crypto token issues that have been used to finance early stage companies, and the reports predicted that the increased regulatory activity echoing around the globe will serve as a deterrent to further growth…. Read More

May 17, 2018 @ 6:37 pm By Cali Haan  |  

    In a morning talk Monday at the massive cryptocurrency conference Consensus, economist James Bullard, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, challenged the vision of a muliti-coin paradise espoused by ICO (Initial Coin Offering) marketers. His thesis in a… Read More