Introducing MiCA: Europe's proposed cryptoasset laws, explained

As the European Commission launched its long-awaited Digital Finance Strategy in late September, a senior official announced: “The future of finance is digital”.

The Commission sees digital finance as a weapon in its arsenal as it seeks to relaunch and modernise the European economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Strategy sets out the Commission’s strategic objective: to embrace digital finance for the good of consumers and businesses.

The Digital Currency Crossroads: CBDCs across borders, and the UK approach

Growing interest in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has widely been viewed as a response by central banks to the emergence of private stablecoins, most notably Facebook’s Libra, announced in June 2019.

Regulators and intergovernmental organisations, such as the Financial Action Task Force, have been working to understand the risks and potential of stablecoins, and many central banks, including the People’s Bank of China and the Bank of England, have been advancing CBDC projects with gre

SmartKey is bringing NFTs to the Internet of Things

Excitement over the potential of NFTs has exploded out of the crypto-world and into the mainstream. In the last few months, NFTs for digital art, music, and even tweets have been capturing headlines and selling for millions. But these incredibly useful tokens aren’t just revolutionary for the business models of digital creatives — they also hold huge potential for the Internet of Things (IoT). The SmartKey network is bringing NFTs and IoT toge

SmartKey X Orange: the world’s first blockchain-of-things SIM for smart cities.

We’re excited to announce a ground-breaking partnership with global telecoms pioneer, Orange. Enabled by SmartKey, Orange will become the world’s first global telecoms operator to harness blockchain as part of its smart city initiatives. Orange BIoT SIM by SmartKey will roll out in cities in Poland where Smartkey is headquartered and integrated with city-wide infrastructure such as smart bikes, heating and water sys

Raising VC funding in lockdown (and beyond)

This article describes the 'state of the nation' for startups looking at their fundraising options in the next 6–12 months. We work with both startups and investors, and see hundreds of term sheets for investment rounds of all stages, from seed through to Series A to growth and so-called 'megarounds' ($100m+). We hope our panoramic view of the market and insight into investor strategies will help you create your own investment plans with the highest chance of success, both for now and the new future.

How biotech is financing the lockdown dip

At the start of the COVID-19 crisis, the life sciences sector was better funded than at any other time in history, with US venture funding reaching a peak of $5.5 billion in the first three months of 2020, according to PitchBook. Biotech companies are of course capital-hungry, generally being pre-revenue. They fund their R&D and general and administrative (G&A) costs from capital, typically returning periodically to investors in private financings or to
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