Tiger Brokers, a Chinese online securities brokerage start-up backed by Wall Street billionaire investor Jim Rogers, has landed an investment from Interactive Brokers Group, the amount of which Tiger Brokers did not disclose; Tiger Brokers offers an app to allow Chinese investors to trade on US stock markets and the Hong Kong exchanges and in Chinese A shares. Source
Coinbase announced a new customer support like to help users and expand customer service operations; according to Business Insider the call agents can only handle verification issues and unlocking accounts; the company has seen their user base skyrocket but at the same time the amount of issues and complaints have also gone up dramatically; adding more support is something they hope will help to provide an overall better experience. Source.
10x Future Technologies will soon announce a new funding round of over $40mn from China's Ping An and global consulting firm Oliver Wyman; the funds, according to Banking Technology, will help to speed up technology development and expand the company into Asia. Source.
On CNBC's Squawk Box Ray Dalio, the founder of the world's largest hedge fund spoke negatively about bitcoin stating "It's not an effective storehold of wealth because it has volatility to it, unlike gold. Bitcoin is a highly speculative market. Bitcoin is a bubble."; he went on to say that it could be a currency and work conceptually but the speculation going on hurts it. Source
JPMorgan Chase has been active in fintech partnerships with firms like Truecar, OnDeck and Roostify; they are now partnering with Bill.com in an effort to eliminate paper checks; JPMorgan spent $600 mn last year building fintech solutions and partnering with firms according to a letter CEO Jamie Dimon sent to shareholders in April. Source
The Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), J. Christopher Giancarlo, told government technology executives at an event that blockchain technology is in our national interest; Coindesk reports that the chairman said, "Distributed ledger and blockchain technologies ... are going to challenge orthodoxies that are foundational to our financial infrastructure."; he also discussed agencies moving beyond just talk of implementation but to actually try to use the tech within their agency's. Source.
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is beginning to give community bankers in the US headaches; the law applies to all companies processing and holding data of people who reside in the EU; if a EU citizen visits your website you could be subject to the law; community banks are starting to enlist legal help to better understand how they can protect themselves from steep penalties. Source.
Younited Credit is a marketplace lending platform that operates in France, Italy and Spain; the round included the French public investment bank Bpifrance among several other investors; total funding is now €103 mn for the company; François Fournier, chief innovation executive of Bpifrance stated, "We were attracted by Younited Credit’s team and by its unique positioning built in Europe. Its innovative digital platform model, great product agility thanks to big data, as well as its solid regulatory strategy, inspire confidence and sustainability." Source
Peter Renton from Lend Academy reflects on the news from SoFi last week which involved sexual harassment at the company; Renton shares his perspective on this problem, which is not specific to any one company or any one industry; there are many recent examples of women who are starting to speak out about inappropriate treatment and the negative behavior is starting to have real consequences. Source