Podcast talks with former SEC Enforcement Division attorney Nick Morgan; Nick Morgan says the SEC is reviewing all types of cases and using the Howey Test to determine whether the deals are considered an offering of securities; explains that the Howey Test considers whether the expectation of profit relies on efforts of investors and also says that the investigations center around whether the investors are passively investing or actively involved in creating value; Morgan also noted that the SEC's resources are limited given the vast number of ICOs being offered and reports that the investigations will likely focus first on any fraudulent activity with potential investigation efforts also on exchanges that encompass the inclusion of many ICOs. Source
News Roundup
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Through a partnership with MicroVentures, Indiegogo will allow investors to participate in ICOs; accredited investors will be able to buy Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) where tokens are delivered on a certain date; the first ICO being advertised is the Fan-Controlled Football League. Source
deBanked spoke with ID Analytics and learned that the firm has increased its visibility into the consumer lending market to 85%; ID Analytics offers a tool which allows lenders to see where a borrower is at with other lenders which is only accomplished with this kind of visibility into the market; ID Analytics also helps lenders combat fraud by analyzing applications for credit; the company analyzes about 1 million credit applications a day. Source
ID Analytics LLC has launched the Online Lending Network; launch of the network was announced at Money 20/20; network is focused on responsible lending, borrower protection and security; Lending Club, Prosper Marketplace and Marlette Funding are founding members; member firms have access to data that can help in detecting fraud and assessing risk. Source
ID Analytics introduced the Online Lending Network in October 2016 with the goal of providing greater resources to lenders for mitigating fraud; Online Lending Network members access internetwork supplied data and information from ID Analytics for greater detection of fraudulent loan applications and loan stacking; ID Analytics reports that the network has achieved visibility into 75% of US domestic marketplace lending activity since inception with membership increasing by 50% since its launch. Source
Trust Stamp, who focuses their business on identity authentication that leverages artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies, just raised a new round of funding from Second Century Ventures; the amount of the funding has yet to be disclosed; Trust Stamp uses artificial intelligence software to comb through public records and social media data to provide ID verification to real estate professionals who meet new clients; the new funding will help them to continue building out their technology and integrate blockchain into their processes. Source
Boris Batin and Alexander Dunaev have grown a successful lending startup after partnering together and launching ID Finance in 2012; the company is an online balance sheet lender that has been expanding throughout Russia, Europe and South America; the partners claim a digital lending business model that can launch and obtain profitability in nine months; part of their success is attributed to identifying challenging markets with growth potential that traditional banks have not entered. Source
Russian marketplace lender Blackmoon allows professional investors to acquire portfolios of emerging market loans; it has now reported a new partnership with ID Finance, a data science, credit scoring and nonbank digital lending as an application provider; loans are screened and scored by ID Finance's advanced risk assessment system and qualifying loan transactions are automatically transferred to the creditor setting up an automated securitization process. Source
ID Finance will collaborate with Yuri Popov and asset manager Da Vinci Capital to launch the FinTech Credit Fund; estimated fund value is $200 million with debt financing focused on fintech and alternative lending; ID Finance is a growing fintech firm with three businesses: MoneyMan, Ammopay and Solva. Source
Business Insider caught up with ID Finance co-founder and CEO Boris Batin at LendIt Europe; the company hopes to raise around $100 million through bond issuances over the next year; to date ID Finance has raised $10 million in equity and $70 million in debt; the startup is based Barcelona and lends in Russia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Poland, Brazil and Mexico; ID Finance has lent $300 million so far. Source