The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published its final standards for crowdfunding service providers. These include disclosing information to investors and governance arrangements. The standards follow the new rules harmonizing crowdfunding across the European Union (EU).

Peer-to-peer investment platform Lendermarket is partnering with Credory, a real estate financing company from Estonia. It is the second loan originator on the p2p lending platform.

Equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube has become the first platform to be approved under the new European Crowdfunding Service Provider Rules (ECSPR). It received the approval from Spanish regulator Comisión Nacional del Mercados de Valores (CNMV). The platform can now accept European investors.

Investment platform Scalable Capital sets foot in Italy, its fourth market in Europe. Italian investors will also have access to its newly launched crypto investments. Only last year, Scalable raised 165 million euros for international expansion.

Trading platform Robinhood has announced that it's placing a bid on Ziglu, a crypto trading platform from the UK. The US-based company previously attempted to launch in the UK, but ended up pulling the plug. Now, it will enter the market with this acquisition.

Online broker eToro has announced that it's stepping into NFTs with the launch of eToro Art, which is a new patron program to support NFT creators, agencies and brands. In order to do so, it has raised a fund of 18.4 million euros.

Investment platform Bondster has surpassed the milestone of 15 thousand investors. The number of investors has grown more than 30 percent last year. Together they have invested over 109 million euros through the website.

Twelve real estate investment platforms have joined together to form the Association of Real Estate Investment Platforms (AREIP). The association was founded by seven platforms, who are joined by five other platforms as members. Its main objective is establishing common market standards to build investor trust and liquidity.

Sequoia, a large venture capital firm from the United States, is launching an accelerator programme for early stage European startups. These companies have trouble finding seed capital from European investors. As a result, they often turn to American funding.

This week the European Parliament has rejected a ban of proof-of-work cryptos (PoW), such as bitcoin. Instead, it has advanced the Markets in Crypto Assets bill (MiCA). The bill will regulate current out-of-scope crypto-assets and their service providers in the EU.