JD Alois

The Financial Technology Association Welcomes House Move to Reverse Digital Payments Rule

The Financial Technology Association (FTA) welcomed the House’s decision to pass the Congressional Review Act resolution overturning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) rule for digital consumer payments. As the Senate has already passed the resolution, SJ Res. 28 now heads to the President’s desk… Read More

Markets Rocket Higher as President Trump Reveals 90 Day Pause on Tariffs. China Still in the Crosshairs

As was posited earlier today, President Trump had a choice of taking the path of cutting deals with countries interested in negotiating trade agreements or making tariffs an ongoing policy and cratering the economy. Fortunately, the White House decided to pause tariffs for 90 days… Read More

ICAN Hammers FINRA for Unnecessary Delays: 15 Months of Regulatory Limbo for Entrex

The Investor Choice Advocates Network (ICAN) is criticizing FINRA for an unnecessary delay in dealing with an application filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. FINRA is a non-governmental regulator which has broad oversight over the securities industry. ICAN states that client Entrex Carbon Market,… Read More

Morgan Stanley Loan Deals Now on Versana

Versana is reporting that Morgan Stanley Agented Broadly Syndicated Loan Deals are now live on its platform. Versana says it is bringing real-time loan data to institutional clients, improving transparency, efficiency, and data accuracy across the syndicated loan industry. Versana is an industry-backed centralized platform… Read More

Blockchain: France, Italy Partner to Submit Recommendations to European Commission Regarding Distributed Ledger Technology Usage

The French Autorité des Marché Financiers (AMF) and the Italian Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSAB), have joined to submit recommendations to the Europea Commission pertaining to the usage of blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). The AMF shares that the European… Read More

Tokenized Funds Grow by 400% – Report

Tokenized funds have risen by almost 400% during the past year, according to Moody’s. Tokenization typically refers to digital securities. The tokenization of an asset brings improved efficiencies and characteristics to the asset. The report states that the market capitalization of tokenized funds stands at… Read More

Markets Continue to Tank, Infighting Among GOP as President Trump’s Message on Tariffs Remains Opaque

Global markets have been in upheaval since President Trump’s Liberation Day, which slapped tariffs on just about all trading partners. Volatility has been spurred by market rumors as the message from the White House has been mixed. At times, it appears that the Trump White… Read More

House Hearing to Discuss Digital Assets and Securities and Need for Updated Rules

Tomorrow, April 8, 2025, the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Fintech and AI, part of the House Financial Services Committee, will hold a hearing to discuss digital assets and securities. While the hearing memo is rather brief, there is a dire need to update existing securities… Read More

Ripple Buys Hidden Road Partners for $1.25 Billion

Ripple has acquired Hidden Road Partners for $1.25 billion. Hidden Road is a prime brokerage that enables FX, digital assets, derivatives, synthetics, and more. Ripple is a digital asset platform probably best known for the issuance of XRP, a crypto for value transfer. This, as… Read More

Fried Ice Cream and Chimichangas: Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant Offering Raises Money on StartEngine

Chi-Chi’s, once a popular Mexican restaurant that emerged in the 70’s only to disappear in 2004, may emerge once again. That is if an attempt to reanimate the brand is successful. Raising money on StartEngine, Chi-Chi’s reborn has attracted the support of 360 investors, with… Read More

Cybersecurity for Crypto Octane Raises $6.75 Million in Seed Round

Cybersecurity for crypto firm Octane has announced a $6.75 million seed round as it emerges from stealth mode. Winklevoss Capital and Archetype led the funding round. Other investors include Gemini, Circle, Legion Capital, Druid Ventures, Duke Capital Partners, and strategic angels Balaji Srinivasan, Sina Habibian,… Read More

Apollo Funds Invests in Plume, an RWA Blockchain

Apollo Funds has committed money to back Plume, according to a note from the company. Deal terms were not revealed. Plume is a blockchain built specifically for Real World Assets or RWAs. Plume says it is building an EVM compatible environment to transform traditional financial… Read More

Companies House Needs More than Update, It Needs an Overhaul

As a regular user of Companies House, this author believes the database needs more than some make-up. It needs a major overhaul. Companies House makes the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s EDGAR system look like a supermodel in comparison. That’s a heavy lift. From posting documents with opaque… Read More

US Department of Justice, National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit Shuttered – Report

Multiple reports indicate that the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Unit (NCET), part of the US Department of Justice, has been shut down. Fortune first reported this, stating that a memo indicates that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the decision to eliminate the entity, claiming the DOJ is… Read More

Innovate Finance Demands a National Anti Fraud Centre to Battle Consumer, Business Fraud

Innovate Finance, an association that advocates on behalf of the Fintech industry in the UK, has issued a statement calling on the UK government to create a National Anti-Fraud Centre to battle the financial fraud crisis. The cost of payments fraud is said to be… Read More

SEC Crypto Task Force Announces Agenda, Panelists for Next Roundtable

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force, created by interim SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda, has revealed its agenda for its next Crypto Roundtable. Led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the Task Force aims to work with industry participants and other insiders to chart a… Read More

SEC Commissioner Dissents on Stablecoin Opinion

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement on stablecoins declaring they are not securities and thus not regulated by the agency. The SEC, Division of Corporate Finance, said that as long as the stablecoin is tied to the dollar and does… Read More

Fasset, Dinari Report the Tokenization of $1 Billion of US Equities for Investors

Digital asset platform Fasset has partnered with Dinari to tokenize $1 billion of US equities, which are available to investors, according to a company statement. Fasset is a Dubai-based blockchain firm. Dinari, through its blockchain-based tokenization technology, aims to enable investing in anything from anywhere…. Read More

Tokenization: House Financial Services Committee to Discuss Digital Securities

The House Financial Services Committee, Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Fintech and AI, has scheduled a hearing for April 9, 2025, to discuss tokenization or digital securities. The hearing is entitled: American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets: Aligning the US Securities Laws for the… Read More

SEC Division of Corporate Finance Issues Statement on Stablecoins

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Division of Corporate Finance (CorpFin), has issued a statement on stablecoins. During the last administration, the SEC’s position was that pretty much all crypto was deemed to be securities. Bitcoin was an exception, and perhaps Ethereum. Things have changed… Read More

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