Tagged: perspective

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

January 12, 2018 @ 12:51 pm By JD Alois  |  

In the land of initial coin offerings (ICO), a world that is starting to look a bit like Xanadu, an estimated $4.9 billion was raised. This number was buttressed by several sources. WSJ.com reported in December that ICOs had topped $4 billion. Crunchbase augmented that… Read More

January 11, 2018 @ 5:21 pm By Joshua Klayman  |  

With thanks to Greg Murphy of Outlier Ventures for his contribution to this article. Now that 2018 is well underway, traditional debt and equity capital providers would be wise to re-examine many of their familiar forms of contracts to identify new risks – and realize… Read More

January 9, 2018 @ 10:30 pm By David M. Adlerstein and Joshua Ashley Klayman  |  

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.” – Ansel Adams The past year has witnessed a flurry of remarkable “initial coin offerings,” or ICOs.  The pending KODAKCoin digital token sale jointly announced by Kodak and WENN… Read More

January 7, 2018 @ 8:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Anytime I am around a securities attorney (which is quite often) inevitably the 33 Act or the 40 Act comes up in conversation. For normal people (non-attorneys) this legal speak can be confusing, riven by acronyms and stifled by dogma. Yet much of the regulatory… Read More

January 5, 2018 @ 3:42 pm By Joshua Klayman  |  

Oh the excitement!  Oh the frustration! Each day, more and more people are becoming aware of digital tokens generally, and an ever increasing number of them have begun the journey into purchasing some of those tokens.  But a lack of mechanical technological know-how may leave… Read More

January 3, 2018 @ 5:41 pm By Gary Schwartz  |  

Blockchain initial coin offerings (ICOs) have democratized capital formation for a new generation of application services. From startups to nation states, tokens are a revolutionary construct that allow for innovative function, value and liquidity. Over the past three years, ICOs have successfully funded the development… Read More

December 31, 2017 @ 9:28 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last month, we visited the roster of FINRA approved Reg CF funding portals which stood at 34. Today, that number has increased by 2 so now it stands at 36 in total. Last week, we discussed the three Reg CF platforms that departed this segment… Read More

December 27, 2017 @ 11:29 am By Jim Borzilleri  |  

The initial coin offering (or ICO) explosion accelerated by Ethereum smart contract technology has resulted in over $3 billion in raised capital in 2017 and garnered the attention of governments worldwide.  The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken note.  In their statement on… Read More

December 26, 2017 @ 9:13 am By Julien Courbe  |  

It would be nice if digital transformation were something that firms could buy, like Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Unfortunately, there’s no one size fits all solution. What makes sense for one firm could be exactly wrong approach for another. But as we’re predicting that a lot of… Read More