News Nuggets | 13 April: CySEC's Warning; New Features on Fortex's XForce

CySEC Adds One More Name to Warning List

The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a warning against Berkshire Hathaway TX, a fraudulent platform offering crypto services. The name of the fraudulent platform resembles the company of the American billionaire investor, Warren Buffett.

"The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’), wishes to inform the [investing] public that the website below, does not belong to an entity registered to CySEC’s register as Crypto Asset Service Provider," the Cypriot regulator added. "CySEC urges investors to consult its website www.cysec.gov.cy, in order to ascertain the entities, which are [registered] by CySEC, as Crypto Asset Service Providers, prior to establishing any business relation."

Crypto Venture Capital Funding Drops to a 2-Year Low

In Q1 2023, venture capitalists invested $2.4 billion in crypto-centric startups and protocols, marking the lowest amount since Q4 2020. However, the deal count increased to 439 in Q1 2023 from 366 in Q4 2022, which was driven primarily by growth in pre-seed deals (20% of total deals and the highest percentage since Q1 2021), according to Galaxy Digital data.

Despite a decline in invested capital, deal activity experienced a boost in Q1 2023. Most of the increase was due to a resurgence in pre-seed deal activity (89), following a lackluster Q4 2022 that only saw 42 pre-seed deals.

Binance Pay Collaborates with ivendPay

Binance, the blockchain ecosystem and crypto infrastructure provider, has integrated the international payment service ivendPay into Binance Pay, a user-to-user crypto payment feature available on the Binance App.

This collaboration aims to increase the role of cryptocurrencies in users' daily lives, enhance digital assets' real-world applications, and simplify payment processes. Binance users can now use their crypto to make purchases at all IvendPay locations within their global network.

Hoxton Capital Management Partners with Salt Edge

Hoxton Capital Management, a boundary-free financial advisory firm, has joined forces with Salt Edge to provide internationally mobile individuals and expats with a more extensive and in-depth understanding of their finances, empowering them to make well-informed financial decisions, including investments.

Hoxton Capital combines the expertise of top-notch advisory professionals with advanced technology to help clients attain their financial goals and manage their wealth independently. In just five years, the firm has managed one billion GBP in client assets across more than 3,000 private investors with accounts worldwide. This remarkable and sustained growth is attributed to the company's dedication to leveraging cutting-edge technology.

Japan's FTC Issues Warning to Mizuho Securities

Japan's antitrust regulator, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), has issued a warning to Mizuho Financial Group's brokerage unit for pressuring startups to accept underpriced initial public offerings (IPOs).

The admonition comes as the FTC focuses on price-setting processes to address concerns that IPOs can be deliberately undervalued to boost the likelihood of share prices surging upon trading debuts, ultimately benefiting brokerage clients but harming startups.

XForce Enhances Trading Precision

XForce, the flagship platform of the trading technology provider Fortex, added new features to display price levels in its charts. It will allow traders to view the order entry price level, stop-loss or take-profit order level, and the buy/sell limit and buy/sell stop order price level directly on the chart.

"By having these levels displayed on the chart, traders can better understand their trading strategies and make more informed decisions. For example, they can see whether their orders are being executed at the desired levels, or whether they need to adjust their orders to better align with their strategy," Fortex stated.

Altruist Pockets $112 Million

Altruist, the modern custodian built exclusively for registered investment advisors (RIAs), closed its Series D funding round, raising $112 million. The round was led by Insight Partners and onboarded Adams Street Partners as a new investor, along with the participation of existing backers.

Altruist was launched by  Jason Wenk in 2018 as he experienced the unique challenges that inhibit RIA growth and limit the reach of financial advice. The company has rebuilt the advisor technology stack from the ground up, vertically integrating a clearinghouse, custody, and all-in-one software that offers account opening, trading, reporting, and billing.

"We’re incredibly bullish on Altruist and the RIA market more broadly," said Brian Stern, a Partner and Co-Head of Growth Equity at Declaration Partners. "I have seen few investment opportunities in my career to back a team with this level of domain expertise and depth of vision, and applied to such a significant and compelling market need."

Botswana Warns against Unlicensed Crypto Platform

Botswana's Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority issued a warning against FS Global Properties Limited Botswana, which is using the Crypto Trading Platform to provide services related to a virtual token exchange and facilitating the exchange between virtual assets and fiat currency without a licence.

"The Regulatory Authority would like to inform members of the public that FS Global Properties Limited Botswana is not licenced to provide virtual asset business services in Botswana, therefore, the business and its representatives are operating illegally," the warning noted.

"FS Global Properties Limited Botswana has been directed to cease and desist operations. Members of the public are, therefore, warned to refrain from doing business with FS Global Properties Limited Botswana."

Credit Suisse’s European M&A Head Joins Deutsche Bank

William Mansfield, the veteran who spent the last 27 years at Credit Suisse, has left the Swiss bank to join Deutsche Bank. Most recently, he was the Head of M&A for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

His departure came only weeks after the acquisition of Credit Suisse by rival UBS in a 3 billion Swiss franc deal, which was backed by Switzerland's government. However, the deal caught the eye of Swiss prosecutors who are now investigating it. Recently, lawmakers in the Swiss lower house of parliament outvoted the government's move as symbolic voting.

Deutsche Börse Leads Next Gate Tech's €8M Funding Round

Next Gate Tech, a supplier of data management software to the funds industry, closed an €8 million funding round led by the corporate venture capital unit of Deutsche Börse. The investment was strategic and came months after Deutsche Börse's acquisition of Luxembourg-based fund data manager Kneip.

"This investment by our parent company Deutsche Börse Group cements our partnership with Next Gate Tech," said Enrique Sacau, the CEO of Kneip, who will now join the Board of Next Gate Tech. "The logic of it is to add more value to our clients on the back of delivering both exceptionally high-quality data and bigger coverage of their value chain."

The funding round was also participated by DB1 Ventures and existing investors, including NewAlpha Asset Management, Volta Ventures, Expon Capital, and Seed.