Articles by deBanked Staff
229 Companies Now Registered as Sales-Based Financing Providers in Virginia
April 20, 2026Almost four years since Virginia’s sales-based financing provider law went into effect, the state now lists 229 registered parties. That’s an increase of only 27 companies since last year.
Both funders and brokers are required to be registered if they intend to transact with Virginia-based merchants, subject to some exceptions. Registrants on the list include some big recognizable names like eBay Commerce, First Data Merchant Services, PayPal, and Wal-Mart.com USA, but dozens of smaller known MCA broker shops also appear.
If you are a broker or funder in MCA and are not registered to do deals with Virginia-based merchants, you should contact a knowledgeable industry attorney to get set up right away. The law went into effect in 2022.
Don’t Get Sued in Merchant Cash Advance. Christopher Murray to Speak at Broker Fair 2026
April 16, 2026
The highly acclaimed industry attorney Christopher Murray will be speaking at Broker Fair on June 1 in New York City for a special solo session. As one of the most seasoned litigators in MCA, Murray stands to bring especially unique insights.
Work in MCA? You won’t want to miss this! REGISTER HERE!
Christopher Murray’s bio:
Christopher Murray is a graduate of SUNY Buffalo Law School (JD, cum laude) and University of Delaware (BA). He is admitted to practice law in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Murray is a founding member of the Alternative Finance Bar Association and a member of its board of directors. Prior to founding Murray Legal, PLLC, he represented commercial creditors at two prominent boutique commercial litigation firms in New York.
Mr. Murray has litigated over one hundred cases on behalf of non-bank commercial finance companies. Mr. Murray regularly represents clients with regard to loans, factoring, receivables purchases and merchant cash advance transactions. He is also an experienced appellate litigator, having litigated and defended against multiple appeals in state and federal courts.
Mr. Murray regularly represents: commercial clients in litigation, mediation, and arbitration; receivables purchasers and commercial lenders against breach of contract, fraud, UDAAP, and RICO claims; merchant cash advance clients pursuing breach of contract claims; claims against former employees and contractors for breach of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements; and creditors in actions and special proceedings challenging collections and judgment enforcement. Mr. Murray also represents clients in various corporate and regulatory matters.
Satoshi Nakamoto is “Found”… Again
April 15, 2026
Since deBanked last entered its final best guess for whom Satoshi Nakamoto the creator of Bitcoin might be (Jack Dorsey), the New York Times has since published their own theory based on detective work conducted by John Carreyrou, the reporter that exposed the Theranos fraud with Elizabeth Holmes. Carreyrou says that Satoshi is probably Adam Back, the Bitcoin developer best known for being cited in Satoshi’s original 2008 research paper. While Carreyrou has said his confidence level hovers between 99-100%, his peers in the same field disagree.
For example, film producer Cullen Hoback, known for exposing the individual behind the QAnon Conspiracy, recently published his own work in an HBO documentary that led him to conclude that Satoshi was actually Bitcoin developer Peter Todd. Meanwhile, investigative reporter William D. Cohan, is releasing a documentary called Finding Satoshi in 7 days that claims it is more comprehensive than either of the others work and will reveal someone entirely different.
And then there is the CEO of Coinbase who has repeatedly said in podcast interviews that he believes Satoshi is the deceased cryptographer Hal Finney.
Sean Murray met with Carreyrou in February 2025 to discuss his Jack Dorsey theory but Carreyrou did not buy into it. On November 19th, 2025, Dorsey was given the opportunity in front of his shareholders and Wall Street analysts to deny the theory but instead sidestepped the question to say that it wasn’t important anymore.
Since all these high profile investigative reporters are confident in their answers and they can’t all be right, our theory that Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, and currently the largest originator of online small business loans, is actually Satoshi, continues to survive scrutiny to another day.
Fed: Banks King in Small Business Funding
April 14, 2026“Currently, banks hold roughly $600 billion in business loans that were originated under $1 million,” said Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle W. Bowman. “Banks are the primary financing channel for small business funding.”
Bowman was speaking at a Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) event. She offered impressive stats about banks in small business lending.
“Although large banks are less concentrated in small business lending, they are also a significant source of small business credit,” she said. “As of the second quarter of 2025, the largest banks—those with over $700 billion in assets—provided about 18 percent of business loans below $1 million, and 33 percent of business loans below $100,000.”
Despite this, she acknowledged that credit is still tight and offered ideas for how the Fed could ease capital requirements on banks making small business loans. They are below:
In the standardized approach proposal, the risk weight for corporates would decrease from 100 percent to 95 percent. The proposed changes are currently subject to an open comment period, and we encourage stakeholder feedback on this and other changes.
The Basel III proposal would make three changes. First, for small business loans exceeding $1 million, the proposal would generally reduce the risk weight from 100 percent to 65 percent for small businesses considered to be investment grade by the lending bank. This would free up capital that banks can use to extend additional credit to small businesses. It could also make larger loans more available and more affordable for growing companies that need capital for expansion, equipment purchases, or hiring.
Second, for small business loans less than $1 million, the proposal would generally reduce the risk weight by 25 percentage points—from 100 percent to 75 percent. This more accurately reflects the lower risk of the diversified portfolios of smaller loans.
Third, for small business credit cards specifically, the proposal would provide regulatory capital treatment that is more aligned with the actual risk of those exposures than the current rules, and relying more heavily on repayment history. We are also seeking comment on whether the proposed treatment of unused credit lines appropriately reflects the risk of these exposures.”
Pipe Originated $300M in MCAs in Last Two Years, Bouncing Back
April 9, 2026
Pipe originated $300M in merchant cash advances in the last two years, the company revealed. The figure was presented in its announcement that it has raised a fresh $16M round of capital. The $300M in MCAs was spread across 15,000 merchants.
“Pipe has built the infrastructure that small business financing should have had from the start; AI-native, partner-embedded, and easily accessible for the tens of thousands of businesses that have been told for too long they’re not worthy of capital,” said Pipe CEO Claurelle Rakipovic in the official release. “Pipe has kept its ambition while operating with a clear focus on the customer and fiscal discipline. That combination puts us in a powerful position. This new capital gives us the fuel to move faster on what’s already working as we continue to create a better future for small businesses.”
Pipe’s funding volume is actually lower than it used to be. In 2021 they shared that they had originated $1.2B in MCAs in a single year. At the time Pipe marketed itself as the “Nasdaq for revenue” and called its employees “plumbers” instead of sales agents, underwriters, and engineers. After raising $300M at a $2 billion valuation, fintech reporter Jason Mikula shared that the company had generated only $7.1M in revenue in 2024. Layoffs followed.
The new announcement says that revenue tripled in 2025 and that its “embedded financing” product relaunched in 2024. With the $16M round and several new board members, the company appears to be on a corrective return back up.
eBay Has Originated More Than $1 Billion in Business Loans & Merchant Cash Advances
April 7, 2026
More than $1 billion of business loans and merchant cash advances have been originated through the eBay Seller Capital program since its inception. The cumulative figure since 2021 was revealed last fall. eBay relies on partners like Liberis to fund the deals.
E-commerce platforms have experienced rapid growth in merchant funding programs over the years. Amazon, Shopify, and LightSpeed, for example, also offer their own financing solutions that generate significant annual volume.
When the eBay partnership with Liberis was announced in 2024, eBay VP & General Manager of Global Payments and Financial Services Avritti Khandurie Mittal, said: “As a pioneer in ecommerce and the home to small businesses in more than 190 markets, eBay understands the challenges small businesses encounter in securing fast, flexible and transparent financing. eBay Seller Capital is aimed at fueling our sellers’ growth by providing them with tailored financing solutions that meet the unique needs of their businesses. The addition of Business Cash Advance to our suite of offerings in partnership with Liberis enables us to expand capital availability for our sellers on flexible terms – when they need it the most.”
Former Operator of NACLB Conference Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison
April 3, 2026Kris Roglieri, the founder, and former operator of the National Alliance of Commercial Loan Brokers (NACLB) Conference, was sentenced to 97 months in prison. Roglieri previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy after it was revealed in 2024 that his commercial lending business, Prime Capital Ventures, was actually a ponzi scheme.
Roglieri’s attorney had argued that he should only get 4-6 years but the judge went with 8.
After the conviction this past fall, Acting U.S. Attorney Sarcone stated: “Kris Roglieri brazenly flaunted the proceeds of his scheme—including luxury vehicles, rare watches, and private jet travel—all while feeding his victims bigger and bigger lies to fuel his greed to even greater heights. But the truth stopped him like a brick wall. All those trappings of wealth will be forfeited, and he will be ordered to make his victims whole. I applaud the FBI and the members of my office on this case for unraveling this devastating scheme and bringing its perpetrators to justice.”
Roglieri founded the NACLB Conference in 2015 and operated it until 2023.
Diversity of Products Within Revenue-Based Financing
March 30, 2026Revenue-based financing has become extremely popular; So popular that it’s spawned its own variations of products. Some are loans, some are not. Many of the terms in the public vernacular are simply colloquial. The details are instead in the individual contracts. Refer to those contracts to understand how something works. Loans are absolutely repayable while non-loans structured as purchases tend to not be. The loans tend to have a hard term length built in if a merchant’s sales are well below what was projected even if it was based on a percentage of sales. Below is a small snapshot of how products are marketed with a percentage-of-sales payment mechanism.
One thing is certain. The trend of relying on a merchant’s revenue to determine payments is rapidly expanding.
