1. SBI Ripple Asia Wins Payments License for Blockchain Money App
A joint venture between SBI Holdings and Ripple has moved a step closer to launching its blockchain-based payments app for consumers. SBI Ripple Asia announced Wednesday it has completed registration with the Kantou bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Finance as a licensed agent for handling electronic payments. The move clears the regulatory path for SBI Ripple Asia to roll out its MoneyTap payments app – one aimed to facilitate peer-to-peer money transfer for retail users over a DLT network. SBI Ripple Asia explained that, as MoneyTap uses blockchain as the underlying technology and connects with open APIs among participating domestic financial institutions, it falls under this regulatory category as a third-party transaction agent.
2. US SEC Seeks Sanctions Against Individuals Behind Alleged Crypto Scam
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking sanctions against the individuals behind the reportedly fraudulent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) known as PlexCoin. Securities and Exchange Commission had been participating in court proceedings against Dominic Lacroix and Sabrina Paradis-Royer, the owners of PlexCorps since December 2017. The PlexCoin allegedly had raised $15 million from thousands of investors, with a previous promise of 1,354 percent return in just 29 days. Yesterday, SEC decided to file a motion to compel and a motion for discovery sanctions against the duo. They have ignored a court order from August which demanded further accounting documents regarding to investor funds as well as the defendants’ assets. It seems that defendents demonstrate no intention to participate in the outgoing case, and could potentially use a defferal strategy.
3. UK – Based Crypto Platform Launches $1.45 Million Crowdfund Campaign to Bank the Unbanked
The London – based crypto platform, Nebeus, has launched a 1.1 million pound ($1.45 million) crowdfunding campaign in order to bring financial services to people around the world. Nebeus is a new crypto bank which facilitates crypto-collateral Bitcoin loans globally. The Nebeus’ campaign went live on Sept. 24, 2018 and it will last until October 23, 2018. So far, Nebeus has already attracted more than 400,000 pounds ($527,490). According to data from the World Bank, there are 1.7 billion adults globally who remain unbanked, and two-thirds of them own a mobile phone that they could use for online banking. The company wants to make banking simple, offering user-friendly Bitcoin wallets and its recently launched Exo card, that will allow users to convert crypto into fiat, making transactions convenient online, offline and at ATM – s. According to the company, 30,000 users of the Nebeus platform have already created active blockchain-based wallets.