India's CoinTribe has partnered with SMERA Ratings to incorporate a new rating system for its online business lending services; through the partnership CoinTribe will gain access to SMERA's ratings database for micro, small and medium size businesses; CoinTribe plans to integrate the ratings information with its current credit underwriting system for enhanced analytics on business credit loans. Source
TruePillars, an Australian SME lender that focuses on individual investors, raised $3.9 million in a series A round; the round was led by a Melbourne-based private investor; "This investment will give us the means to further innovate and build on our service, including our ground-breaking secondary marketplace which allows investors to liquidate their investments ahead of schedule by selling to another investor in real time," says John Baini, TruePillars co-founder and CEO; the company allows for individual investors to fund loans with a $50 minimum commitment per loan. Source
Red envelope gifting is a Chinese New Year tradition that has become digitized as a result of advanced payment processing; the January 27 weekend marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year and the country is expected to transact over 100 billion digital envelopes, an increase from 32 billion in 2015 which reported a 1,000% increase from the prior year; payment processors integrated with social media have increasingly been gaining market share and supporting digital transaction growth; bitcoin transactions are also expected to increase for the Chinese New Year. Source
Faircent has released a market report on P2P lending in India; report says Faircent, India's largest P2P lender, had funding of over Rs 1 crore ($150,000) in August 2016 and has been growing originations at a 15% to 20% monthly rate; report also provides insight on the platform's borrowers; in India, P2P platforms continue to await guidelines from the government which are expected to help improve business efficiency. Source
New regulations for peer-to-peer lending in Thailand are scheduled for approval by the end of the year; the new regulations will be formulated from an open comment, public hearing which ended on October 15; a licensing process is also expected to follow in 2017. Source
Blockchain Capital has raised $10 million for the Blockchain Capital III Digital Liquid Venture Fund, LP which plans to invest in blockchain startups; the funds were raised through a digital shareholder token offering; Blockchain Capital says the tokens can be traded, offering enhanced liquidity for investors. Source
Southern Cross Financial is seeking to take advantage of New Zealand's expanding real estate supply with challenges in traditional mortgage lending; on December 1, the firm will become a P2P mortgage lender, evolving from a mortgage brokerage business; the firm has been arranging loans between alternative credit consumers and approximately 150 investors as a mortgage broker; the new P2P structure will provide a more standardized process for borrowers and investors. Source
Automotive parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group has been actively investing in China and is the country's largest blockchain investor; Wanxiang Group recently committed $30 million to a smart cities initiative and is now planning a blockchain accelerator 'Chainbase Accelerator' with four startups involved in the program; Chainbase Accelerator will focus on blockchain initiatives for next-generation energy delivery, digital currency and smart governance; Wanxiang has also reported that it will begin to reveal plans for its smart city which will result in an innovative global platform for businesses. Source
Korea's Financial Services Commission just issued a guideline that limits most individual investors from committing more than 10 million won ($8,750) to P2P investments in a year; those individuals who have earnings over 100 million won ($87,500) can still commit up to 40 million won to P2P; Korean P2P platforms are complaining that investments in any equity project or loan portfolio tend to be skewed to a few individuals who invest more than 10 million won (60% of investors fall into this category on average across platforms there), therefore the new regulation will drive up funding costs; regulators say this over-concentration of funds from few investors is precisely the trend they hope to curtail. Source
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was victims of what the CEO called a well orchestrated large scale security breach; more than $40mn...