MoonPay, the global payments solution for cryptocurrency, has partnered  with Sumsub, an identity verification platform to provide its 250 customers better compliance processes. 

The partnership will see MoonPay utilise Sumsub’s industry-leading compliance solution to create a stronger and  safer Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) processes for its global clients. 

MoonPay users now simply have to go through a two minute verification process to purchase cryptocurrencies, with Sumsub’s dashboard providing customisable settings to support users across different regions.

Sumsub will also provide business client verification for MoonPay with a multilayered  KYB solution combining AML screening, database screening, and legal review of corporate documents. Sumsub has also enabled  MoonPay to establish the control structure and Ultimate Beneficial Owner of any entity, ensuring a transparent view of their business clients.

Ivan Soto-Wright, founder and CEO of MoonPay said, ‘Safety and compliance is of the utmost priority for MoonPay. We needed a service that knows how to work with international clients from over the world in line with local requirements. With Sumsub, we are able to tick all the boxes and free our clients from unnecessary difficulties and delays, making them focus on growth and profit instead.’

On the partnership, Jacob Sever, Co-Founder of Sumsub said, ‘The cryptocurrency sector is experiencing explosive growth. Every day we see tens of thousands of users expressing new interest in crypto-related projects. So we are very happy and excited to work with MoonPay, one of the most important providers of crypto infrastructure in the current market.’

Since launching in 2019, MoonPay has over 250 partners, including Bitcoin.com, Trust Wallet, and ZenGo. The company supports over 80 cryptocurrencies and over 30 fiat currencies. So far, MoonPay has processed over one million transactions across 160+ countries worldwide. 

Nucleus Commercial Finance, one of the UK’s leading fintech lenders, has today announced enhancements to its Business Growth Loans, helping to support more UK SMEs as lockdown restrictions are eased. The product, initially launched in March, was the industry’s first solution designed to support SMEs as the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) came to an end.

Following high demand for the product, the maximum term length has been extended from six to 12 months, and the upper limit has been raised from £25,000 to £50,000. 

Business Growth Loans are powered by Nucleus’ award-winning technology, enabling SMEs to apply, get decisions and receive funding within hours. This technology is leading the way in the industry, with automated decisions using machine learning and AI, allowing businesses to receive the money they need quickly.

The enhancements are part of the lender’s commitment to enable businesses to access immediate and flexible financial support in the ongoing challenging environment. Brokers will be able to submit Business Growth Loans applications to the industry-leading myNucleus portal. Businesses can also directly apply via Nucleus’ website.

Chirag Shah, CEO, Nucleus Commercial Finance comments: “At Nucleus we’re committed to providing SMEs with access to fast and flexible finance solutions and these enhancements are testament to this. Due to increased demand, we’ve implemented these changes to enable more businesses to access support when they most need it, and timed it with the recent lifting of restrictions to ensure we can help all those that are now open and preparing for summer trade.”

For more information please visit www.nucleuscommercialfinance.com

 Following its most recent funding round, Stripe became the most valuable private company in Silicon Valley. According to the research data analyzed and published by ComprarAcciones.com, the digital payments giant raised $600 million at a $95 billion valuation.

VoxSmart Ltd., a global leader in communications surveillance, has announced the appointment of former BNP Paribas executive Larry List as Head of North America, and former Traiana executive Scott Feldman as SVP of Operations to drive growth in North America.

With over four decades of combined industry experience, both Larry's and Scott’s diverse background in business operations, regulatory change, and product management will support North American firms with VoxSmart’s end-to-end SaaS surveillance technology to address key compliance and supervisory challenges, driven by the need to monitor employee conduct from any location.

Larry’s professional background also includes a combined seven years at Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank. He joins VoxSmart most recently from BNP Paribas where he was the Global Markets Americas Chief Conduct and Controls Officer, and CAO Fixed Income during his eight years with the company.

Scott spent the last 16 years at Traiana, a subsidiary of the CME Group, where he was a Senior Director of Product Management and Business Development. He was a key contributor to the growth and success of Traiana from FinTech startup through acquisition. In addition, Scott had a stint at PWC, working with clients such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

Oliver Blower, CEO of VoxSmart: “Following the recent investment from Toscafund, we are strengthening our North American team and continuing to work with market professionals to shape our product development and innovation. Both Larry and Scott bring invaluable experience in building businesses and developing technology solutions for risk management and business analytics, which makes them ideally placed to support and broaden our customer reach in America.”

Larry List, EVP Sales and Business Development, Head of North America, VoxSmart: “The industry is at a key inflection point for surveillance and supervision which is marking how leaders are managing the new dimensions of risks and threats posed by new working environments. There has never been a better time to join a forward-thinking company like VoxSmart and I am excited to be working closely with the team to support the next stage of growth across the Americas.”

Scott Feldman, SVP of Operations, North America, VoxSmart: “At a time where surveillance technology is in such high demand, this is an excellent opportunity to work with a global and industry acknowledged company with pioneering products. My focus will be to develop even more sophisticated and interoperable solutions to meet and excel our clients’ needs and expectations.”

These appointments mark the continued growth of VoxSmart following an announcement in March regarding a $25 million growth equity investment from Toscafund, designed to support further expansion and growth into North America and the emerging markets.

About VoxSmart

VoxSmart Ltd. is a global SaaS communications surveillance provider with offices in New York, London, Singapore and Madrid. VoxSmart designs, develops, and deploys cloud-based mobile recording and communications surveillance technology for global financial institutions to manage their business risks and regulatory requirements. Its rapidly evolving technology, with proven accuracy in financial voice transcription and real-time instant message capture, supports over 100 clients with regulatory requirements to monitor and reconstruct all trade communications from voice, mobile, email and chat.

VoxSmart has unparalleled expertise in unstructured data processing and indexing for complex technology environments and believes that by harnessing this data, a business will build a strong foundation for intelligent risk and control analysis. VoxSmart’s goal is to become the global reference for risk and compliance surveillance technology and offer end-to-end remote conduct and employee monitoring that connects a firm’s people, processes, and technology to drive significant operational efficiencies and enable smarter business decisions.

X-Margin, a pioneer in applying privacy technology to credit and financial market risk, and Fireblocks, a leading digital asset infrastructure provider, today announce a partnership enabling financial institutions to source credit for cross exchange trading without revealing positions and other sensitive information to lenders. 

Currently, most trading requires institutions to make separate allocations of capital for each exchange where they trade. This major inefficiency in the fragmented universe of digital assets is holding back wider adoption of the asset class by financial institutions. The cornerstone to the partnership's Portfolio Lending service is X-Margin Credit, the first solution to deliver instantaneous credit scoring and risk monitoring across entire portfolios while preserving privacy at all times.

Celsius, one of the largest crypto platforms in the industry, is the first to make loans to institutional borrowers using X-Margin’s credit infrastructure. It has made its first loan using the partnership’s Portfolio Lending service to high frequency trading firm Dunamis Trading, the terms of which are not being disclosed. Dunamis was part of the first ten adopters of Fireblocks and a key collaborator with X-Margin in its product development process. 

Delfos Machado Neto, Managing Partner, of Dunamis Trading, said: “This solution will allow us to get similar leverage levels on our trading as one would with portfolio margining, position offset relief mechanisms and similar structures that exist in the traditional prime brokerage space, enabling us to increase our trading, and still allow us to stick to our conservative risk control metrics.”  

X-Margin Credit allows lenders to monitor a borrower’s net trading position in real time, utilizing it’s proprietary privacy preserving risk scoring so if it falls outside the agreed parameters or risk profile, they can immediately call for additional collateral. This in turn enables institutional trading companies to source credit to leverage their positions, often at multiples of their original funds, across exchanges via the Fireblocks Network. 

Alex Mashinsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Celsius, said: “As a lender, this gives us the tools to extend credit with confidence, managing credit risk when the value of the borrower’s trading portfolio changes constantly. We’re excited about this partnership because it removes the brake on growth for our clients’ businesses and the broader development of digital asset markets.”

Most lending for trading today is opaque and relies on trust and an institution’s track record. X-Margin’s infrastructure makes credit in the market more competitive by increasing transparency and security for lenders while keeping borrowers’ trading information private. 

Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks said: “Ultimately, the Portfolio Lending infrastructure will lead to deeper and more liquid markets, which will in turn make pricing more attractive. Deploying Fireblocks to secure the Portfolio Lending infrastructure allows digital assets to be safely transferred between borrowers and lenders for cross-margin trading. We’re thrilled to partner with X-Margin, as minimizing capital and security risk will ensure the capital markets infrastructure continues to mature and attract institutional investment.”   

X-Margin Credit is provably unbiased when evaluating an institutional trading company’s risk. The software conducts the computations without seeing the underlying trade data. It allows borrowers to build a credit profile.

Darshan Vaidya, Co-Founder and CEO of X-Margin, said: “X-Margin Credit sets a new benchmark for portfolio lending, reducing risk and increasing capital efficiency for trading digital assets. It’s a seismic shift for borrowers who can now access credit for cross-exchange trading by establishing trust directly without the need to disclose commercially sensitive information.”

NFT Investments, a company specializing in the identification, acquisition, investment, and development of non-fungible tokens ("NFTs"), is pleased to announce it has made its maiden investment by acquiring a stake in AEON International, a leading developer of cutting-edge technology for the luxury fashion industry.

The Company has invested US$1,000,000 in AEON in an oversubscribed private round. NFT Investments joins an exclusive club of existing investors including a NYSE listed Chinese ecommerce giant which has a significant stake. This is the first investment made by the Company since its flotation on the AQSE Growth Market on 16 April 2021.

Based in Hong Kong and operating across Europe, the US and Asia Pacific, AEON uses sophisticated digital solutions to support and innovate supply chain processes in the luxury fashion industry. It has an extensive list of tier one luxury labels and preeminent fashion houses as clients, including but not limited to Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Balmain, Balenciaga, Gucci, Chloe, Alexander Wang, Michael Kors and many others.

Under its business division AUTHENTIQUE, AEON’s offering includes NFT based verification technology that is being used to strengthen product authentication for designer goods and combat luxury counterfeiting. The global market in counterfeit goods is valued at over US$450 billion and is a great cost to the fashion industry. Beyond this, AUTHENTIQUE is also applying NFT technology to open new revenue streams through minting unique fashion NFTs and by using smart contracts written into NFTs to grant original product manufacturers ongoing royalties for each physical product resold. The global resale market is currently estimated to be more than US$50 billion, access to this lucrative market will be a first for luxury brands.

AEON is supported by an experienced management team and is led by fashion industry veteran Simon P Lock. Simon is the founder of Australian Fashion Week and former SVP & MD of IMG Fashion & Models and has been at the cutting edge of digital innovation in the industry globally for 20 years.

NFT Investments is also pleased to announce that it will pay the salaries and bonuses of its Board and management team entirely in cryptocurrency with immediate effect. NFT Investments will convert salaries from fiat to ETH at the spot rate on the last day of the month.

Jonathan Bixby, Executive Chairman of NFT Investments, said: “AEON is a pioneer in fashion technology that is leading the way in demonstrating the concrete benefits that NFTs can bring the fashion industry. The market opportunity for NFTs in the industry is huge, beyond using NFTs to establish digital ownership and verify the transfer of luxury products, AEON is also advancing the frontier of digital-first fashion products using NFTs. We expect this to be a growing future market and are delighted to support AEON alongside a roster of high calibre investors.

“NFT Investments’ DNA and growth is based on digital currencies and assets, so it is perfectly appropriate that our team is showing its conviction in the long-term value of crypto by receiving their emoluments in cryptocurrencies. I am delighted to be a part of the first company worldwide to achieve this milestone.”

Simon P Lock, Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman of AEON, said: “NFTs are set to revolutionize luxury goods authentication. Counterfeiting is the enemy of luxury brands, eroding brand value, revenue and profitability. We look forward to applying NFT technology to this space as well as supporting the emerging digital-first fashion category in which NFTs will play an enormous role.”

PwC has announced the latest cohort of FinTechs who have joined the Wealth Scale programme. The programme will support nine of the brightest WealthTech businesses with their ambitious growth plans. 

Focused on the UK and International Insurance and Asset and Wealth market, this cohort will see a number of connections generated between industry leaders and WealthTech firms, with the aim to build commercial opportunities and relationships.

Will Conner,  ScaleWealth Tech Programme Sponsor, said:

“It gives me great pleasure to announce our cohort of nine innovative WealthTech companies, all of whom have great potential to build impact and scale within the wealth  industry. 

‘’FinTechs are increasingly essential to our economy and crucial to future innovation for the financial services industry. From a group of 600 firms, we have selected nine exceptional Wealth Technology firms, to whom we will be providing access to advice, bespoke support and client networking events. 

“Our 2021 ‘Scale’ programme enables high-potential start-ups to accelerate their growth by opening the door to new opportunities. We welcome our WealthTech cohort and look forward to working with them.’’

“We are excited to follow this intake and work with them to continue to drive transformation within the wealth  industry.”

The 10-week programme will connect industry leaders to emerging firms to help boost innovation at a critical time for the sector. The pandemic has seen an increasing need for new ideas and flexible thinking to help address the evolving landscape.
Key to this will be addressing changes to consumer behaviour and the new operational challenges and opportunities resulting from the pandemic. As part of the programme, firms will explore the heightened focus on adviser efficiency, risk and compliance, ESG as well as the growing need for operational simplification.

PwC is proud to present the Scale Wealth Tech 2021 cohort:

Datactics provides business with user-focussed, no-code tools for data quality and matching giving wealth and asset managers fast access to trusted, ready-to-use data

Creative Mass delivers WealthConnect. The world’s first Wealth and Advice platform based solely on Salesforce.

Novastone is bringing customer centricity back to financial services allowing relationship managers and client service teams to chat directly to clients using personalised secure messaging. 

Tiller delivers digital solutions to the wealth industry for firms that want to perfect their client journey. From automated onboarding, to digital advice, through to digital client portals.

Conser is a pioneering third-party ESG verifier which has developed ESG Consensus (R),  a unique and innovative digital tool to measure and improve the impact and sustainability of investments portfolios.

My Compliance Centre provides regulated financial institutions with an integrated platform to manage their core compliance activities

Opus Nebula provides investment firms, wealth managers and asset servicers with a world-class reporting solution without the costly overhead of managing, maintaining and developing the reporting system themselves.

3rd Eyes Analytics  empowers financial institutions to deliver goal-based investing with realistic and scenario-based asset liability management methods, integrating sustainable investing beyond regulatory requirements.

Clear Macro selects, analyzes, synthesizes, and presents macro and thematic data that allows institutional investors and corporates to make better investment decisions and expand coverage.

The PwC Scale team has already run 45 Scale programmes in the UK working with 438 scale-ups across sectors such as FinTech, InsuranceTech GovTech and Retail. The model brings real-time value to all parties, as the cohort itself is curated around PwC’s large client challenges, bringing through highly relevant solutions to drive opportunities for both.

The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of LawtechUK, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, has today published its Digital Dispute Resolution Rules designed to enable faster and more cost effective resolutions to legal disputes relating to novel digital technology such as crypto assets, smart contracts, and blockchain applications, and foster confidence amongst businesses in the adoption of these technologies.

The use of these technologies in business has rapidly gained in popularity in recent years. JP Morgan, for example, is just one of many large-scale corporations already regularly taking advantage of the use of smart contracts (self-executing contracts run on blockchain technologies that automatically process transactions without the need for a third-party). The business benefits of smart contracts are wide-ranging, including enhanced security, improved efficiencies, and cost reduction in the implementation (and automating performance of) contracts between parties.

However, until now, there has been little consistency in how legal disputes relating to these types of technologies should be resolved, leading to lengthier and more costly processes.

Drafted in extensive public and private consultation with lawyers, technical experts and financial services and commercial parties, the Digital Dispute Resolution Rules published today are designed to facilitate the rapid and cost effective resolution of disputes arising in the context of these technologies, and to foster industry confidence in their use.

One important feature of the Rules is that they allow parties to resolve their disputes by an arbitrator, rather than by a judge in court (which can be a more time-consuming and costly process). They have also been drafted to provide maximum flexibility to adapt to as yet undeveloped technologies, and to reach a resolution to disputes quickly and efficiently by arbitrators with appropriate technical expertise and enabling on-chain implementation of decisions.

The UK has been at the global forefront of developing the legal infrastructure to support the deployment of these nascent and evolving technologies. In November 2019 the UKJT published its well-received legal statement on the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English and Welsh law. The legal statement was a significant step by the UK towards legal certainty for blockchain technology and crypto assets. Furthermore, English law provides an established and familiar framework by reference to which rights in respect of digital technologies can be effectively established and enforced, and has an impressive track record of dealing with and adapting to technological developments.

Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, chair of the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce and LawtechUK Panel member, commented: “I am delighted to welcome the publication by the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the ground-breaking Digital Dispute Resolution Rules. International business is rapidly adopting the use of digital documentation and on-chain smart contracts. The Rules aim to provide a process for speedy and cost-effective resolution of disputes originating digitally. They will hopefully give global businesses greater confidence to adopt and utilise new digital technologies.”

Jenifer Swallow LawtechUK Director at Tech Nation, comments: “Analogue ways of doing business will be widely restructured and digitised in the coming years, increasing efficiency and transparency.  The smart contracts market alone is set to reach $345.4 million by 2026. Methods of dispute resolution must keep pace. The Digital Dispute Resolution Rules are a step change in that evolution and in enabling wider confidence and adoption of these technologies - underpinning those readily-available today and capable of adapting to those yet to be developed. This is an exciting next step in the UK’s leadership at the forefront of business, law and technology, and also demonstrates how simple legal processes can be.”

The UKJT will keep a close watch on how the  Digital Dispute Resolution Rules are used, and will aim to consider whether further development or revision would be valuable within the coming year, based on user feedback.

Options Technology, the leading provider of cloud-enabled managed services to the global capital markets and a long-term Murex partner, empowers MX.3 through its highly secure, enterprise-grade SaaS-enabled Managed Apps platform. Murex, the global leader in trading, risk management and processing solutions for capital markets, is continuing to meet the changing and growing needs of clients harnessing its powerful MX.3 platform through a best-in-class SaaS solution.

“Our partnership with Options provides Murex SaaS clients scalable performance, platform flexibility and advanced security,” Murex Head of SaaS Services Paul-Alexandre Lourme says. “Murex values the capabilities this partnership presents. Our company is recognized as an established and industry leading SaaS provider thanks to this close collaboration.”

Capital markets players aim to trade new financial instruments, manage risks more effectively and securely, and comply with new regulations without costly capital investment in technology and support. As a result, demands to use MX.3 in SaaS mode are growing. Murex MX.3 SaaS, hosted on the Options Managed Apps platform, provides agility through on-demand delivery and a well-defined, all-inclusive subscription model. The global Options platform allows rapid connectivity to a wealth of markets and data.

To give a sense of the scale and growing adoption of the solution, Murex now leverages almost 2,000 CPUs managed by Options to host the various installations of the different customers used in Production, Disaster Recovery, Development and Test purposes.

As a mission-critical platform, MX.3 delivers high computation capabilities and requires round-the-clock technical support. In 2012, as clients aimed for a SaaS solution to reduce demands on their internal teams, Murex enlisted Options to provide managed infrastructure services. Murex was attracted by Options’ adaptable, team-focused approach.

“Options came into this with a great understanding of the fact that each of our clients have unique requirements,” adds Paul-Alexandre Lourme. “They are very innovative on the technical and services side and provide adaptive pricing.”

Additionally, Options meets all accreditation and third-party certification audit report requirements, a must-have for financial institutions.

Options’ COO, Stephen Morrow, says, “Our partnership with Murex has been a long-standing and mutually beneficial alliance. It has been fantastic to see the momentum MX.3 has been gaining through the leveraging of our Managed Apps product, and we are proud to be a key element in its growth.”

Murex and Options have established deep experience in providing MX.3 via the Options Managed Apps solution to a wide array of customers with diverse requirements and are ready and eager to begin a conversation with market participants about how the solution can meet their needs.