Tagged: perspective

March 2, 2018 @ 8:48 am By JD Alois  |  

What is money? In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith defines money by the roles it plays in society, in particular, how well it serves as: –  A store of value with which to transfer purchasing power from today to some future time; –  A… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 3:03 pm By JD Alois  |  

Switzerland has become known as a center of excellence for the cryptocurrency industry. In fact, many initial coin offerings (ICO) call Zug, Switzerland home – even if they are not really based there. The Swiss regulators (FINMA) have recognized the emergence of digital currencies as… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 10:48 am By JD Alois  |  

As we reported yesterday, Circle has acquired cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex for $400 million. Not a small sum. But Poloniex has a small issue it must address soon. It is currently operating as an un-licensed securities exchange. Additional information regarding the acquisition surfaced yesterday that indicated… Read More

February 27, 2018 @ 9:52 am By JD Alois  |  

Amazon is one of the most innovative and disruptive big tech companies today. Led by visionary Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s story starts from humble beginnings as a mere book seller. Today, Amazon is pointing its tech guns at many different industry. Sure, Amazon is the place… Read More

February 26, 2018 @ 11:53 am By JD Alois  |  

We have been hearing for some time now that past issuers of initial coin offerings (ICOs) have been receiving subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This should come as no surprise to anyone as the SEC has been messaging their concern regarding ICOs… Read More

February 26, 2018 @ 9:32 am By Philip Liu  |  

Two months into 2018, it feels a little like the calm before a regulatory storm in terms of cryptocurrency regulation.  A series of pronouncements and announcements from the SEC toward the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 gave industry insiders more clarity on what… Read More

February 25, 2018 @ 5:05 pm By JD Alois  |  

Bank of America, one of the largest banks on the planet, published its 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this past week. The Annual Report for most publicly listed institutions is a routine event with few people digging into the document except for… Read More

February 23, 2018 @ 10:55 am By Joshua Ashley Klayman, Julian Hammar, Shiukay Hung, and Anna Pinedo  |  

The recent and rapid proliferation of cryptocurrency¹ transactions involving retail or “Main Street” customers has left some — including many cryptocurrency platforms serving retail customers — grappling conceptually with the answer to a fundamental question: what constitutes “actual delivery” of cryptocurrency in the eyes of the… Read More

February 18, 2018 @ 12:25 pm By David Jinks  |  

Cryptocurrencies are fast swapping their shady past for respectability. But investors pushing hard for regulated trading and adoption by Amazon may be destroying the reason for Bitcoin’s existence. Last December, Bitcoin climbed above $18,000, and finally launched on the CME futures exchange. There was little… Read More

February 7, 2018 @ 9:58 pm By David Felsenthal and Jesse Overall  |  

Truly, it was a tale of two cities. On February 6, 2018, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the oversight role of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in respect of virtual currencies like Bitcoin… Read More

February 7, 2018 @ 1:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

Yesterday, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) took a step forward to streamline the process of licensing  Fintech firms seeking to operate across the US. If you are based outside the US you may be surprised to know that banks and Fintechs must comply… Read More

February 4, 2018 @ 5:24 pm By JD Alois  |  

It is that time of year again. Tax time. The dreaded annual routine where you compile all of your state and federal tax forms into an envelope and shuffle it off to your accountant. Alternatively, you may use a tax software and do it yourself… Read More

January 30, 2018 @ 12:44 pm By JD Alois  |  

The creation of Bitcoin, along with the Blockchain technology that enabled the digital currency, was a revolutionary act that has changed the world of finance forever. Originally envisioned as a transactional digital currency, Bitcoin has evolved more into an investment, or vehicle to speculate, due… Read More

January 29, 2018 @ 2:00 am By Greg Carter  |  

2018 has started strongly. According to the UK Office of National Statistics data, it looks like the UK could be starting to overcome its productivity challenges. Meanwhile, manufacturing output is at its highest level in a decade. And, of course, we’ve seen the global economy… Read More

January 26, 2018 @ 9:44 am By JD Alois  |  

  This past week both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission came out with strong statements warning the exuberant initial coin offering industry (ICO) that regulators will no longer tolerate the flouting of existing securities law. ICOs have increased rapidly… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 8:12 pm By JD Alois  |  

The passing of the baton from former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Richard Cordray to acting Director Mick Mulvaney was rife with confusion and questions all driven by parochial politics. In a snub to the President’s prerogative of appointing a new Director, Cordray decided to… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 1:11 pm By JD Alois  |  

In a speech delivered on January 15th at Bercy, Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of Economy and Finance, announced he has appointed Jean-Pierre Landau, former Deputy Governor of the Banque de France, to head a mission investigating cryptocurrencies. Le Maire stated (translated from French); “We want… Read More

January 17, 2018 @ 1:30 am By Timothy Li  |  

Last year, I boldly predicted 10 Fintech movements that will take place as Earth makes another perfect rotation around our Sun. It’s always fun to look back and see how wrong I was, so let’s stump the chump! Here are my original predictions. Let’s score… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 3:42 pm By JD Alois  |  

The price of Bitcoin is tanking today, depending on which exchange you are looking at Bitcoin, or BTC, is hovering over $11,000.  It was not that long ago that Bitcoin was barreling down on $20,000 per BTC. But oh, what a day or two makes… Read More

January 16, 2018 @ 1:20 pm By Amy Wan  |  

Last week, on LinkedIn, I called out the North American Bitcoin Conference for having merely 1 female speaker, out of 85 male speakers, and for having their afterparty at what essentially is a strip club. All that, accompanied by event photos from last year’s conference,… Read More