FinTech Update

Financial Services News for FinTech Companies and Lawyers

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By: Reed Smith LLP

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Anthony Diana
Anthony J. Ford
Andy Moss
Alex Murawa
Ashley Shively
Dr. Andreas Splittgerber
Brett Hillis
Charmian Aw
C. Neil Gray
Daniel Weiner
David Krone
David Mittelman
David Reidy
Divonne Smoyer
Evan Thorn
Farzeen Tariq
Herbert F. Kozlov
Heather Cantua Phillips
Henry Pietrkowski
Hagen Rooke
Haley Torrey
Howard Womersley Smith
Jim Barbuto
Jane Grinblat
Judith L. Harris
Jacqui Hatfield
John P. Feldman
Jessica R. Stumacher
Jeffrey D. Silberman
Kelley Chittenden
Katarina Jankovic
Kari Larsen
Le-el D. Sinai
Maria B. Earley
Maxwell J. Eichenberger
Matthew H. Kita
Michael Selig
Melanie Shone
Ndidi Elue
Nicholas Smyth
Paul Bond
Peter Zaman
Robert M. Jaworski
Roberta G. Torian
Dr. Simon G. Grieser
Sheila Kadura (US)
Tyler Layton
Wendy A. Grasso
William S. Veatch

Latest from FinTech Update

Quadriga “Loses” Keys to Stored Digital Assets Quadriga, Canada’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is unable to gain access to about $145 million (USD) of bitcoin and other digital assets following the sudden death of Gerald Cotten, its co-founder and CEO, in December 2018.  According to Quadriga, Cotten stored those digital assets in a “cold wallet” on his encrypted laptop and repeated attempts by his widow to gain access to the laptop have proved unsuccessful.  Additionally, details…
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced the launch of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN), an association of 29 regulatory bodies (Members) which will cooperate to promote innovation and share experiences and approaches to supervising new technologies in the financial services sector. The proposal to launch the GFIN was set out in a consultation paper in August 2018, and has received strong industry support. A key GFIN initiative is a pilot scheme allowing…
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After several successful trials over the last year, Israel’s largest cargo shipping company, Zim, has implemented a blockchain platform for electronic bills of lading.  According to Zim, this technology could replace paper bills of lading and further improve other activities which rely on physical means of transfer. Zim recently conducted several transactions in which bills of lading were transferred to the receiver less than two hours from the vessel’s departure, a process that typically takes…
At the end of 2018 the UK Treasury Committee announced that it would launch an inquiry into information technology (IT) failures in the financial services sector. The Treasury Committee has stated that it will appoint a specialist advisor to help provide analysis and aid the inquiry. The past 18 months have seen numerous IT failures in the financial services sector. Equifax, Barclays and TSB have all suffered incidents, to name a few. TSB is arguably…
As much as there can be tradition in something that is less than five years old, London has ‘traditionally’ been considered to be the capital of financial technology (FinTech). London provides a haven in which FinTechs have been able to grow operational expertise, supported by the combination of significant and sophisticated investment, tech-skilled talent, tech-minded people, a pragmatic and forward-thinking regulator, and a supportive government with its own strategy on FinTech. These have been the…
Every month is probably a busy month for the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, but September and October seemed especially so. The quiet Remainer was asked in September by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, to extend his tenure for a further seven months, which Mr Carney responded positively to. From Mr Hammond’s perspective, it is one way of ensuring some form of stability somewhere. Mr Carney has so far managed to hold back…
On November 28, 2018, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California denied the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request for a preliminary injunction against Defendants Blockvest, LLC (Blockvest) and Blockvest’s founder and chairman Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III (Ringgold). Securities and Exchange Commission v. Blockvest, LLC, et al.[1] The SEC alleged that Blockvest and Ringgold were offering and selling unregistered securities in the form of digital assets called BLV tokens.…
On Friday, November 16, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it settled two cases against digital token issuers. The settlements, one with CarrierEQ Inc. (AirFox) and the other with Paragon Coin Inc. (Paragon), are the first time that the SEC has imposed civil penalties on companies solely for offering digital tokens in an initial coin offering (ICO) that allegedly violates the securities laws. In addition to agreeing to pay civil fines…
On November 8, 2018, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) settled its first case against an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange.  Zachary Coburn, founder of EtherDelta, agreed to pay $313,000 in disgorgement and interest, along with a civil fine of $75,000, in order to settle SEC allegations that EtherDelta was acting as an unregistered securities exchange.…
Last month (September 2018), the House of Commons Treasury Committee issued a report on its inquiry into the regulation of crypto-assets. The inquiry examined, amongst other subjects, the role of digital currencies in the UK; the impact of distributed ledger (blockchain) technology; and how these should be regulated. The report recommends improvements to consumer and anti-money laundering protections (AML) when dealing in crypto-assets. The improvement will be achieved in part by extending the Financial Services…