Reports continue to show Chinese investors increasingly investing in bitcoin as the yuan devalues; over 90% of bitcoin trading has been reported by Chinese investors and the cryptocurrency's price is showing close correlation with the value of the yuan; Chinese regulation limiting foreign investment to $50,000 per year in order to stabilize the currency appears to be a factor as wealthy Chinese investors use bitcoin investment to evade the regulation since it is considered a borderless investment; while China appears to be a driving force for the currency's gains, experts also believe improved trading efficiencies and solutions for bitcoin are also factors for its recent appreciation. Source
News Roundup
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M-Pesa is now in 11 countries, has more than 30 million users and helped to lift thousands of people out of poverty; Business Insider took a trip to Kenya to get a look at how the app works and the effect it has had on the region; 80 percent of mobile banking in Kenya is done through M-Pesa and people use the service for groceries, paying off debts with friends and more. Source.
Shareholders and regulators have approved Sichuan XW Bank as the new name for one of China's newest online banks; Sichuan XW Bank is supported with capital by Xiaomi, an electronics and home appliances manufacturer; its leading competitors in the online banking market in China will be WeBank and MYBank. Source
Digital wealth management startup Wealthsimple raised $75mn from the digital investment arm...
The online lender has started a new marketing push to highlight new product offering to millennials; the company placed ads over the Thanksgiving holiday on TV and in newspapers with a unique twist on Black Friday. Source
Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) spoke about the MAS completing their first blockchain pilot covering interbank payments; Menon stated, "The killer app is really to go cross-border. If we can make a blockchain-based system support payments from one country to another, that could be potentially transformative in bringing costs down."; he also spoke about the increasing understanding of fintech by CEOs of major banks and how the MAS supports partnerships between banks and fintechs. Source
LendFoundry provides insights on the global fintech market opportunity in their featured blog post; the firm launched its fintech lending operating system at LendIt USA 2016; provides marketplace lenders with a comprehensive solution for loan originations, marketing, acquisition, underwriting and servicing. Sponsored Blog Post
The Ranger Direct Lending closed-end fund is seeking to raise £40 million through the sale of new shares; fund is currently at £236 million; company will offer new C shares in December; the fund's last two share offerings have been for Z shares with trading symbol ZDP; the Ranger Direct Lending Fund has been steadily leading returns for UK marketplace lending funds in 2016. Source
Here are the most read news stories from our daily newsletter today:...
Regulators are inspecting Chinese P2P lenders for compliance with new rules issued last year; specifically lenders must partner with a custodian and limit loans to RMB 1 million ($144,200) for individuals and RMB 5 million ($721,001) for companies; they are also not permitted to guarantee principal or interest; the country currently has more than 2,400 P2P lenders; experts expect the new rules will likely change the nation's P2P lending landscape significantly; Roger Ying, founder and chief executive of P2P lender Pandai stated: "[There] will be shakeouts, though good for those which are compliant. It will take time for P2Ps to move to custodian banks. Presumably the most risk for investors is with P2Ps who do not have escrow [or] custodian bank accounts as retail investor sentiment is low." Source