Market - FinTecBuzz

WeLab Bank Launches GoWealth

PRNewswire — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 14:00:46 +0000

WeLab Bank (or “the Bank”), the virtual bank dedicated to curating intelligent banking experience, announced that it had become Asia’s 1st purely-digital bank independent of traditional banking groups in major Asian markets to launch digital wealth advisory solution1 as its GoWealth Digital Wealth Advisory (GoWealth) rolled out to market today. Over the two-month trial period, the innovative solution achieved a satisfactory result in the goal-setting flow for over 65,000 visitors. 70% of reviewers expressed that they were looking forward to the official product launch. GoWealth combines the fintech strength of WeLab Bank with the investment expertise of Allianz Global Investors (AllianzGI), one of the world’s leading asset management firms, empowering customers to reach their financial goals on “autopilot” with an end-to-end approach.

Goal-based investment experience through “Set, Track, Goal”

Unlike most of the wealth management products in the market which are risk-based, GoWealth is a goal-based wealth advisory solution. It ties the entire investment experience with customers’ goals through an end-to-end advisory process, ranging from financial planning and investment portfolio recommendations to fund transactions and financial goal tracking, all in the WeLab Bank app. For customers who have clear financial goals, try to establish an investment habit, or get ready for financial independence, in just 3 steps – “Set, Track, Goal”, everyone can capitalize on the power of technology and reach their financial goals on autopilot.

WeLab Bank Chief Executive Tat Lee said, “Most of the existing wealth management services focus on high-net-worth customer segments; some relationship managers cease following up and stop tracking investment performance after customers buy investment products. Understanding these pain points, WeLab Bank is determined to digitalize and democratize wealth advisory through GoWealth. By providing goal-based end-to-end investment, we are enabling everyone to get easy access to professional financial advisory in our mobile app. On this occasion, by launching GoWealth, we are proud to become Asia’s 1st purely-digital bank to launch a digital wealth advisory solution¹. We envisage that GoWealth will raise the bar for the wealth management industry and mark an important milestone for the entire banking industry.”

WeLab Bank’s Intelligent investment engine powered by AllianzGI

WeLab Bank trail-blazes digital wealth management services through GoWealth, backed by its fintech experience and AllianzGI’s investment management expertise. GoWealth’s unrivaled intelligent investment engine can instantly calculate the “probability of success”², providing investment recommendations and managing risk for customers under all circumstances. GoWealth’s investment recommendation is made based on its 12 model portfolios, the intelligent engine runs simulations under 12,000 market scenarios and predicts their performance over the next 50 years³. Then it makes an investment recommendation that best-fits customers and stands the highest probability of success⁴. To empower customers’ risk management, GoWealth updates the “probability of success” on a regular basis which allows customers to understand the risks involved with greater ease. It tracks the progress of customers’ financial goals, and helps customers stay on track with smart alerts so that they can manage their portfolios at fingertips and gain traction under all market conditions.

AllianzGI Head of Institutional Business for Asia Pacific Philip Tso said, “We are excited to collaborate with WeLab Bank and deliver our expertise to more customer segments through fintech. GoWealth relies on the extensive portfolio simulation methodology and AllianzGI’s expertise in and investment management. We believe we can work with WeLab to help democratize digital wealth management solutions for more customers in the city, helping them achieve their financial goals and needs.”

Start GoWealth with as low as HKD100 and enjoy special kickoff offer

Customers can kick start their personalized investment plan at as low as HKD100 through the GoWealth tab in the WeLab Bank app. To celebrate the public launch of GoWealth, all new customers can enjoy a kickstart fund up to HKD500 and full rebate of the subscription fees is entitled to all customers for their first HKD30,000 investment, the total rebate amount is as much as HKD23,000⁵!

For more details about digital wealth advisory services GoWealth, please refer to the WeLab Bank website.

_{1According to a market research conducted by WeLab Bank on 26th May 2022, WeLab Bank is the first virtual bank that is independent from traditional banking groups to provide digital wealth advisory solutions in the below major Asian developed and emerging markets: Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.}

_{2″Probability of success” is a statistical probability to achieve your target wealth at the end of the investment plan. It is computed by simulating the potential growth of wealth based on the goal parameters provided by you during the goal setting process, model portfolio allocation and our capital market assumptions.}

_{3The algorithm in GoWealth relies on the portfolio simulation database containing 12,000 simulation paths for the model portfolios projected over the next 50 years (i.e. 600 months), which reflects our capital market forecast on various asset classes and the model portfolios in terms of risk, return and correlations.}

_{4GoWealth’s investment engine will recommend a model portfolio with the highest probability of success and lowest expected risk level within the 2% probability of success buffer range.}

_{5 From now until 15 July 2022, open WeLab Bank account with referral code “INVEST” and Investment Account and make your one-time investment of model portfolio to enjoy WeLab Bank GoWealth Seed Money Welcome Offer (“Welcome Offer”) and get up to HKD500 Seed Money as kickstart fund. From now until 30 September 2022, invest in mutual funds with a minimum subscription fee of 1.5% to enjoy WeLab Bank GoWealth Cash Rebate Subscription Offer (“Subscription Offer”) and get the subscription fee rebate and cash rebate. Investment amount shall not include any redemption amount of mutual funds made before accreditation of the subscription fee rebate and cash rebate. To enjoy the maximum rebate amount, new customers should fulfil both the relevant terms and conditions of the Welcome Offer and the Subscription Offer. The abovesaid offers are subject to terms and conditions. For further details, please refer to WeLab Bank website.}

_{Disclaimers: The above information is for reference only and does not constitute any offer, solicitation, recommendation, comment or any guarantee to the purchase or sale of any investment products or services. The investment products or services are not equivalent to, nor should it be treated as a substitute for, time deposit. Investment involves risks, the value of investment products may go up or down and the investment products may even become valueless. The contents above have not been reviewed by the Securities and Futures Commission.}

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Blockchain Coinvestors announces Meet the Blockchain Unicorns report

PRNewswire — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:30:07 +0000

Midyear 2022 Findings from Blockchain Coinvestors’ Global Blockchain Unicorns Report Point to Opportunities for Disciplined Early and Mid Stage Venture Investors

28 new blockchain enterprise unicorns with substantial value accretion
Fewer public crypto projects with market caps over $1bn as public markets fall

Blockchain Coinvestors, a leading blockchain early and mid stage venture fund of funds and direct investment platform with a combined portfolio of 400+ blockchain and crypto projects including approximately 60% of all blockchain unicorns, today announced its bi-annual Meet the Blockchain Unicorns report which includes the most comprehensive list of blockchain unicorns globally – including private blockchain enterprises and crypto projects whose valuations exceed $1 billion.

Through midyear 2022, there are 93 enterprise and 50 crypto project unicorns with 26 public blockchain companies. North America is leading the charge with 23 newly minted enterprise unicorns with four new unicorns emerging in Australasia, and one in Europe.

“Early stage venture capital has been the highest returning asset class over the last 25 years and blockchain appears to be the highest performing sector within it as witnessed by the large number of new blockchain unicorns, bringing the current total to 93” said Matthew C. Le Merle, Blockchain Coinvestors co-founder and Managing Partner.

Blockchain Coinvestors uses proprietary data sources and its own database of its combined portfolio resulting from its first three blockchain venture fund of funds (including their first fund of funds, ranked in the top decile for performance according to PitchBook) to track emerging unicorns. For the crypto project valuations, Blockchain Coinvestors relies upon CoinStats for its data.

“Unlike most asset classes, venture capital outperforms in the years following a downturn or recession, driven by lower valuations for investors. We believe it is an opportune time to gather dry powder for selectively investing into the best early and mid stage blockchain opportunities alongside the best blockchain investors,” said Alison Davis, Chairman and Managing Partner of Blockchain Coinvestors.

Blockchain Coinvestors will present the full results of its midyear findings during the upcoming “Meet the Blockchain Unicorns” webinars on July 12, 2022 at 7:00am and 12:00pm PT.

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Gate.io Hires Tom Yang As EVP To Accelerate Global Expansion

PRNewswire — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 18:00:06 +0000

Gate.io – one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges – announced the appointment of Tom Yang as Executive Vice President (EVP).

Tom Yang has driven global brand operation and management for many years in companies like Google and WeWork. Although the crypto market has been relatively turbulent recently, Gate.io believes that with its capital and technological advantages accumulated over the years, the current market conditions are an ideal time for them to deploy global marketing strategies and employ outstanding talents.

“Gate.io is one of the most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.” Tom Yang said, “It is an honor to join a company with such great potential. Moving forward, my focus will be enhancing Gate.io’s market share in key and emerging markets around the world, increasing its brand presence and strengthening the exchange’s relationships with users and partners around the world, and exploring new business growth possibilities.”

Lin Han, the Founder and CEO of Gate.io, said: “We have introduced a new brand identity during Gate.io’s 9th-anniversary celebrations. Gate.io is a trading platform that insists on long-term vision and operations. We believe that cryptocurrencies are the future of finance. Although the market is currently very volatile, we will continue to innovate and adhere to our globalization strategy.”

“We are delighted to welcome Tom Yang, who has extensive global operation experience, to our management team. We believe that his addition will give Gate.io a stable and long-term development path.”

With the addition of Tom Yang, Gate.io will gradually carry out its global brand building and market development. As of now, Gate.io has kicked off its local brand sponsorship and strategic cooperation activities in southern Europe, Latin America, and East Asia, including brand partnership negotiations with top-tier sports teams, athletes, etc. More details will be announced later.

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DIFX Launches Futures Trading

PRNewswire — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 17:30:22 +0000

Digital Financial Exchange (DIFX), a fully insured cross-asset exchange awarded “Most Trusted Cross-Asset Trading Platform in 2022″ and “Best New Trading Platform in 2021”, has launched a unique updated version of its trading platform with a slew of impressive new features. The changes show significant progress on DIFX’s mission to spread the adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, amid the current turbulence within the crypto market, massive changes, and looming liquidation fears.

The new update contains the highly anticipated futures trading, where users can leverage traditional and digital markets to maximize their profits on assets like stocks, indices, metals, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. Along with the addition of futures, the platform has revamped its layout and design to enhance the users’ trading experience. Users can now create accounts through valid emails & phone numbers and set a customized trading journey.

Within the custom journey, users can create a unique username, profile avatar & additional biometric & 2FA security, thereby giving the exchange a more gamified feel. New crypto-enthusiasts would also highly benefit from features, like viewing their digital assets in their preferred currencies, creating trading views with only their favourite assets and custom alerts to keep track of their investments.

Some of the advanced changes include the addition of crypto pricing and algorithmic trading, market pairs (Spot & Futures) organized by categories (USDT, NFT, DEFI, etc.), and an order book for filtering & decimal selection, and the conversion of small balances to DIFX tokens.

The lead-up to the feature launch has given DIFX increased traction from popular crypto hubs like Brazil, Spain, France, Lithuania, Vietnam, Ghana & Nigeria. The exchange has also seen an increased user sign-up by 20%. Furthermore, the new features also strengthen its Fully Insured wallets, which are a key market differentiator for the exchange, as their partnership with Fireblocks allows them to successfully have third-party insured custodian services.

Jeetu Kataria, CEO and Co-Founder of DIFX, believes that crypto winters are a good way to test the market and tease out weak performers because, at the end of the day, it is the stronger tech and community that survives. He considers the bear markets to be the best time for building.

He stated, “We have been re-writing the architecture of the exchange over the past nine months, adding assets from our MT5 platform to the spot platform. With this merge, users will be able to trade more than several assets on a single platform in conjunction with spot custody of BTC, ETH, or USDT. It is from here that DIFX will begin its real journey”.

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Columbia Bank Expands Business Lending Division in Utah

PRNewswire — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 14:30:56 +0000

Columbia Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Columbia Banking System, Inc. (NASDAQ: COLB) (“Columbia“), today announced the expansion of its Business Lending Division into Utah with the hires of veteran Salt Lake City-area bankers Jeffrey Thomas and James Divver.

Thomas and Divver, both with more than 20 years of banking leadership experience in Utah, will build a team dedicated to delivering the full suite of business lending services that Columbia offers across a footprint that also includes Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho. The executives will pair Columbia’s resources, technology and breadth of services with deep Utah market expertise and local decision-making to serve Utah businesses and residents.

“Our expansion into Utah is a logical extension of our growing Western footprint and a timely opportunity to enter one of the region’s strongest markets with proven local leaders who are well-positioned to ramp up quickly and make a substantial impact,” said Clint Stein, president and CEO of Columbia.

“Utah is one of the best places in the country to live and work, with a rapidly growing business community we are thrilled to join,” Stein continued. “The economy is diverse and poised for continued expansion. We aim to be the best regional bank in the West, and Utah is an important part of the big picture for Columbia.”

Last year, U.S. News & World Report ranked Utah’s economy No. 1 among all 50 states. Utah was also the second-fastest growing state in the country in 2021, trailing only Idaho, according to U.S. Census Bureau population data. Over the past decade, the state consistently ranked among the top 10 in the country in terms of net in-migration and economic growth.

Thomas joins as a Senior Vice President and Commercial Banking Lead. He will spearhead Columbia’s Utah operations. Thomas most recently was Senior Vice President and Business Banking Market Leader for U.S. Bank in the Salt Lake City area. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at Zions Bank in Utah. A graduate of the University of Utah, he also earned an MBA from Westminster College. Thomas is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at University of Washington as well.

“Utah boasts a robust talent pool from which I am confident we will attract the deep team of local bankers we need to exceed the expectations of customers throughout the state,” Thomas said. “Our plan is to quickly build a full-service team, beginning with a loan production office in the Salt Lake City area.”

Thomas is accompanied by Divver, who joins as a Senior Vice President and Business Development Officer.

Divver was previously Senior Vice President of Government Relations for Zions Bank. Over two decades at Zions, he held positions of increasing responsibility. During his tenure, he oversaw the bank’s sales resource team, private/executive banking, new business, and Zions Insurance Agency. Divver holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah.

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FinTech Interview with Eliot Hodges, the CEO of Anduin

FTB News Desk — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 13:30:24 +0000

Eliot Hodges highlights how Anduin’s technology brings trust and liquidity to the private markets, so they can function more like the public markets.

Eliot Hodges, CEO of Anduin

1. What led to starting Anduin?
Alin Bui and Joe Lonsdale co-founded Anduin as a direct response to the pain that Joe felt every time he participated in private market transactions. The entire investment process was cumbersome, irritating, and very costly. Joe and Alin believed technology could make a big difference—and it turns out they were right!

2. Tell us about your solution. What does Anduin do for private market investors?
Our technology brings trust and liquidity to the private markets, so they can function more like the public markets we all know. These qualities are the driving forces behind much-needed workflow and data standards in the private markets.
Our flagship solution is focused on empowering funds managers with onboarding investors quickly and efficiently into their investment vehicles. Simply put, investors no longer want to fill out static PDFs. We are really in the business of enabling funds by exceeding the rising expectations of their investors.

3. What challenges do private market investors face when onboarding / raising funds?
The current ugly process is centered on the PDF, which brings a lot of friction with it. These PDF forms can range anywhere from fifty to a hundred pages, and are challenging even for experienced investors to fill out. Often there is a lawyer involved on the other end of the process trying to ensure the accuracy of all of these forms.
Our solution does for the private markets what TurboTax did for the tax industry. We provide investors with a highly-consumerized, streamlined and guided experience that eliminates the endless back and forth whenever they want to put their money to work in the private markets. Ultimately this allows funds to go to market faster with their investment vehicles, at a lower cost, while giving their investors a great experience. Everyone wins.

4. Can you explain to us the different use cases your customers deal with?
Our technology platform is incredibly flexible, so we can serve a variety of use cases. We can serve fund customers across asset classes, size, or geography. In each case, we painstakingly translate your existing fund documents into highly-consumerized digital interfaces that your investors can engage with. This approach ensures you get the right data in the right format, so you can onboard your investors easily while ensuring compliance.

5. Is Anduin an industry first? Are there any others in the space? What are the alternatives?
Truth be told, our biggest competitors are still paper, PDFs, and Post-Its. That, after all, is how a lot of funds are still handling this onboarding process today. Our onboarding technology is evolving from a nice-to-have that a couple of bleeding-edge West coast VCs pushed us to build, to a standard for doing business in this industry.

Simply put, any fund that does not use technology to drive their onboarding process will pay a price whether it’s a loss in investor goodwill or simply being slower to market than your tech-savvier competitors.

Over the years, we have seen more and more players entering this space. For example, some law firms and fund administrators have tried to build solutions in-house. There are also tech companies, like Anduin, focused on bringing their own technologies to the market. Fundamentally, we think this is a good thing, because it really heralds a new way for investors to engage with and fund the private markets.

6. How has the recent 2022 slowdown in funding affected the investors you serve? What do you see as the opportunities / challenges?
With the recent downturn in the public markets, some institutional investors have pulled back on their private market allocations due to what’s commonly known as the denominator effect. Many fund managers are left with two options when raising their funds: compete with funds for a smaller pie of institutional dollars or go after high net worth individuals who are typically underallocated in the alt space.
If you choose to go down the latter path, it’s critically important to have technology in place that allows you to quickly convert a large number of these smaller investors. After all, manually onboarding one investor who is writing you one $100 million check is very different from manually bringing on one hundred investors each writing you a one million dollar check. Unsurprisingly, many fund managers are scrambling to build up their retail channels. That makes the use case for our technology stronger than ever before.

7. Are there any other cutting-edge technologies like AI and blockchain that are impacting your space?
We have only scratched the surface of what is possible. Today, we’ve brought meaningful and measurable change simply by helping fund managers capture more accurate data from their investors. This space has been traditionally pretty underserved by technology, so there is still a lot of low-hanging fruit that we are focused on gathering over the coming quarters. That being said, we do think AI has huge potential to drive additional velocity and efficiency in this industry.

8. How do you see the private markets evolving in 5-10 years as far as technology?
First off, the private markets will continue to grow—to well over $20T by 2026—and have become a huge source for institutional and retail wealth creation. Critically, as mentioned, we will see smaller investors enter this space that have been traditionally underinvested in alts.
As this space grows, I think we’ll also see more and more tech vendors, especially from Silicon Valley, enter this space. McKinsey published a Global Private Markets Review earlier this year and mentioned how funds are now spending more on technology to combat the friction associated with the private markets. With this additional spend, we’ll also see more and more firms entering and innovating in this exciting space.

9. Tell us a bit about your culture. What makes Anduin’s culture unique?
Anduin is an interesting company. This company was incubated in Silicon Valley, but the initial team was formed in Vietnam where it did most of its R&D focused on private market innovation. And that’s what I love about Anduin: the fact that we are a global team who are, in turn, driving crucial standards for the private market funds and their investors around the world. I am excited to see what the coming quarters and years hold for our company and our customers!

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AGIC Capital Completes Investment into Eulitha AG

BusinessWire — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:00:22 +0000

AGIC Capital invests into Switzerland-based Eulitha, a leading provider of non-contact Nano-UV-Lithography equipment and services
AGIC Capital will work with the management team to accelerate Eulitha’s growth globally and promote its proprietary PHABLE technology solution for the AR/VR, advanced optical components, and other industries

European-Asian private equity firm AGIC Capital today announces that an investment fund under its management has entered into a set of transaction documents in respect of an undisclosed amount into Eulitha AG, a specialized technology provider of non-contact Nano-UV-Lithography equipment and services.

Founded in 2006 in Switzerland, Eulitha offers unique and cost-efficient non-contact, high-resolution photolithography systems and customized patterning services for a wide range of applications, including DFB/DBR Lasers, AR/VR, Telecommunications, Optical Components and Bio Sensors/Chips. Eulitha’s proprietary PHABLE technology is considered to be a preferable option to traditional nanoimprint technology due to lower costs, higher throughput, better consistency, longer mask lifetime and compatibility with non-flat substrates.

AGIC Capital was attracted to Eulitha’s strong positioning as a unique and innovative technology provider in fast-growing markets including AR/VR (Augmented and Virtual Reality) industries and its promising commercialization pipeline backed by strong R&D abilities. AGIC Capital will work closely with the management team to support Eulitha’s international development in particularly the Asia Pacific region and use resources with large industrial players to help the company increase sales and customers.

Heiko von Dewitz, Partner of AGIC Capital in Europe, said: “AGIC Capital believes Eulitha is well poised to gain substantially from the underlying market trends favoring its proprietary equipment and process technology solutions. We are very pleased to have made this investment and will work with the Eulitha management team to scale up the business and accelerate its growth across a variety of industries.”

Dr. Harun Solak, CEO and Co-founder of Eulitha, said: “We are delighted to have AGIC Capital on board on our journey to become a global leader in offering lithography solutions to the growing photonics industries. With this investment Eulitha will be significantly expanding its resources, both financially and in terms of its market reach, to further develop and market its unique photolithography equipment and associated technologies.”

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Vesttoo Hires Dan Dijak as its VP of Insurance Markets in the US

PRNewswire — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 16:00:13 +0000

Mr. Dijak, formerly Senior VP at AM RE, will be in charge of Vesttoo’s business development and retention in North America and strengthening the company’s collaboration with brokers across the continent

Vesttoo, a leading digital insurance risk transfer and investment platform, announced today the hiring of insurance business executive Dan Dijak as its new VP of Insurance Markets in the United States. Mr. Dijak will be in charge of new business development, working with new clients to help them find the product or program that suits their needs.

Mr. Dijak has over 18 years of experience in the U.S. Insurance and Reinsurance markets. Most recently, as the SVP at AM RE, he facilitated the growth and profitability of the P&C reinsurance portfolio. Prior to AM RE, he was the Director of New Products and Director of UW Controls at StarStone Insurance.

Vesttoo is an industry leader in utilizing artificial intelligence to model non-catastrophe insurance liabilities. The company provides insurers with new sources of capacity from the capital markets while providing investors with access to low volatility, uncorrelated assets. To date, the company has provided close to $3 billion in capacity for insurers, boasting significant profits in times when companies worldwide are struggling to stay afloat.

“It is my immense pleasure to welcome Mr. Dijak’s to the Vesttoo team,” said Yaniv Bertele, CEO and Co-Founder of Vesttoo. “He has shown a proven ability to grow and retain business. We strongly believe in the key role of brokers in the market and Dan’s knowledge and experience are sure to strengthen our relationships, as well as increase market acceptance and accelerate our global growth.”

“I am excited to begin working for Vesttoo,” said Vesttoo’s VP of Insurance Markets US, Dan Dijak. “Working to expand the coverage available for insurers is sure to add tremendous value to our industry. Vesttoo’s track record proves that we are well positioned to provide new streams of capital to the reinsurance sector.”

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KuCoin Launches EUR Trading Pairs

BusinessWire — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 17:00:16 +0000

KuCoin, a leading global cryptocurrency trading platform, will offer EUR trading against BTC, ETH and USDT as part of its expansion on the European market. New trading pairs will become available on the KuCoin spot market starting June 28, enabling crypto users to make instant conversions between Euros and cryptocurrencies.

By supporting these EUR fiat trading pairs, KuCoin strengthens its presence across the European crypto market, which continues to see strong growth. Lowering the barriers to buying cryptocurrency with fiat currencies is a crucial step in onboarding more traders looking to set up their crypto portfolios. The addition of EUR fiat trading pairs will also provide a better fiat-to-crypto trading experience with high liquidity and security for global crypto users.

On March 23, KuCoin launched SEPA Payments to provide the most straightforward fiat-to-crypto exchange experience. Through SEPA transfers, users can deposit EUR to their exchange account for any cryptocurrency-related purchase through the “Fast Buy” channel.

KuCoin CEO Johnny Lyu commented on the EUR pairs support, “The new EUR spot trading pairs in the fiat-to-crypto service deployed by KuCoin is another major milestone after the addition of BRL a week ago. We hope this will bring excellent convenience to our local users and those who prefer to use euro. It is extremely exciting to add two fiat currencies with spot trading pairs within such a short time, which also reflects the efficient implementation capability of KuCoin’s strategic deployment this year. KuCoin strongly believes that providing a secure and stable bridge between fiat and cryptocurrencies will bring a better experience to crypto users, which is crucial for crypto mass adoption. In the nearest future, KuCoin plans to support more fiat trading pairs in the spot market thus becoming the best place to explore the crypto world with fiat for global users.”

On June 20, KuCoin added support for the Brazilian Real (BRL), which is now traded against USDT, BTC, and ETH through direct conversions on its spot market.

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Wilson Sonsini Adds Neel Maitra to Corporate Practice

PRNewswire — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 17:30:09 +0000

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, announced today that Neel Maitra has joined the firm’s corporate practice as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office. He will also be a member of Wilson Sonsini’s securities regulatory and complex transactions group. Prior to joining the firm, Maitra was a senior special counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he specialized in fintech and cryptocurrency issues.

After joining the SEC in 2016—just as the fintech industry was emerging in the U.S. and globally—Maitra became one of the agency’s key experts on a diverse range of issues and developments spawned by fintech companies entering or creating new markets. Examples include initial coin offerings, broker-dealer regulation of cryptocurrency companies, and innovative trading platforms. He also had substantial involvement with matters concerning 1940 Act-registered funds, digital asset trading platforms (including alternative trading systems, or “ATSs”), and issues related to digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).

“Neel has a unique combination of agency experience and industry awareness that is highly relevant to companies and investors in the fintech sector,” said Doug Clark, managing partner at Wilson Sonsini. “He understands the intricacies of applicable securities laws, regulatory priorities, and enforcement efforts, and the extent to which those can be advantageous or disadvantageous to fintech clients.”

Maitra worked on several proposals to create cryptocurrency-based, exchange-traded products, including the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust; the first proposal to create a national securities exchange for digitally enhanced securities; and various efforts to address broker-dealer custody of crypto asset securities. He has also helped to coordinate efforts between federal securities, banking, and commodities regulatory agencies. While Maitra was in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets, he was also a delegate to the FinHub, the SEC entity that has been central to defining the regulatory treatment of digital assets and blockchain-related products, as well as other innovative products within the SEC’s jurisdiction.

“I’m excited about joining Wilson Sonsini because it’s a one-of-a-kind law firm that has built its brand through its representation of companies and investors driving the new economy, and stands alone in its ability to deliver legal services to bold market creators in the fintech sector,” said Maitra. “I look forward to the opportunity to leverage my experience to help the firm’s clients define the new fintech frontier.”

Before working at the SEC, Maitra was an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell in Washington, D.C., where he worked on securities, funds, and broker-dealer matters. He started his legal career at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.

Maitra earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2010. He also received a Bachelor of Civil Laws degree from the University of Oxford, and B.A. and L.L.B. degrees from the National Law School of India University. He is admitted to practice in Washington, D.C., and New York.

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