Barclay’s Antony Jenkins jumps aboard Blockchain bitcoin start-up
One of Europe’s top bankers is joining a bitcoin start-up. Antony Jenkins, the former chief executive of Barclays, has joined the board of Blockchain, a London-based start-up that provides services related to bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The company, named after the basic technology that creates the shared network used to move and track bitcoin, raised $US30 million ($40m) in an initial fundraising in 2014. Blockchain software has been used by other bitcoin firms, such as Coinbase, as well as its own app and website service for consumers to buy and sell digital currency. It is also developing tools for using bitcoin’s underlying technology for things such as tracking identity information or […]
5 enterprise-related things you can do with blockchain technology today
Diamonds. Bitcoin. Pork. If you think you’ve spotted the odd one out, think again: All three are things you can track using blockchain technologies today. Blockchains are distributed, tamper-proof, public ledgers of transactions, brought to public attention by the cryptocurrency bitcoin, which is based on what is still the most widespread blockchain. But blockchains are being used for a whole lot more than making pseudonymous payments outside the traditional banking system. Because blockchains are distributed, an industry or a marketplace can use them without the risk of a single point of failure. And because they can’t be modified, there is no question of whether the record keeper can be trusted. […]
EML boss sees cashless society as ‘tap and pay’ technology takes off
AUSTRALIA is likely to be a cashless society within a decade as “tap-and-pay” technology becomes commonplace, according to Brisbane-based EML Payments. The payment services provider is riding a wave of global demand for debit, prepaid and loyalty cards, providing transactions worth $2.5 billion for major Australian and global brands including the Good Guys, Toyota, Ladbrokes, Shell and Sprint. “Australia has one of the highest adoptions of tap- and-pay in the world, accounting for 75 per cent of transactions,” EML Payments chief executive Tom Cregan said. “In the US, it is only about 10 per cent.” Mr Cregan said the move to a cashless society in Australia had been pushed by […]
Peer-to-peer platform Folk2Folk gets authorised by the regulator
Folk2Folk has become the largest fully authorised peer-to-peer platform in Britain. The company announced on Wednesday that the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has given it full operating permissions, allowing it to offer the Innovative Finance ISA and giving it a stamp of approval that it can market to customers. Cornwall-based Folk2Folk lets people lend money to local projects and business in their area and has lent over £125 million ($157.5 million) across its platform since launch in 2013. It is different to other crowdfunding platforms in that it has a network of shops around the countries where businesses and lenders can talk to staff about lending on the […]
Xero and Receipt Bank scoop bookkeeping Oscars
Cloud accounting tools demonstrated their growing influence with a string of victories in the annual ICB Luca Awards. Styled by the institute as the “bookkeeping Oscars”, the awards were presented by ICB patron Prince Michael of Kent on Tuesday night at Mansion House in London. The highbrow venue was selected to celebrate the ICB’s 20th anniversary. In all, 22 Luca Awards were presented to individual bookkeepers and students, bookkeeping frims, trainers, “thought leaders” and international employers (see below for highlights). But the changing shape of the profession was best illustrated by the software categories, where Xero beat out Sage 50 and QuickBooks to both the payroll and bookkeeping prizes. AccountingWEB […]
Hot fintech app Revolut stops issuing new cards as it changes licences
Revolut, the fast-growing international money exchange service, has stopped opening new accounts temporarily as it changes licences. Founder and CEO Nikolay Storonsky told Business Insider: “At the moment, we don’t send new cards. We’re putting people on the waiting list.” Two sources told Business Insider that the freeze is down to a disagreement with partner Paysafe, a company that issues cards and processes payments on behalf of Paysafe. The sources say Paysafe, formerly known as Optimal Payments, told Revolut to stop issuing new cards after discovering that many cards were being issued outside of Europe. Last week it emerged that Revolut had stopped operating all of its cards outside of […]
The Next Phase in Fintech
These are the boom years for Fintech. Between the years 2010 to 2016, investments in the Fintech sector jumped. From $1.8 Billion in Fintech investments in 2010 to an investment of $5.2 Billion in the first quarter of 2016 alone. investments ranged from seed money for Fintech startups to takeovers by traditional banks, to banks’ internal research and development. So far, the industry’s primary focus has been P2P lending and P2P wire transfers, which have enabled dramatically lower wire fees to crowd funding platforms. But as technology in those key areas mature, and as regulation across the world differentiates, a new era has begun to emerge. With that emergence, the […]
London tops fintech index for second straight year
For the second year in a row, London has topped the European Digital City Index (EDCi), a composite index designed by innovation foundation Nesta and the European Digital Forum, according to City AM. The EDCi 2016, published on Friday, ranks European cities by how well they support digital entrepreneurship, and how attractive they are to fintech founders and companies. It is based on 10 core metrics, including skills, access to capital, business environment, digital infrastructure, mentoring, market, and entrepreneurial culture. Here are the results of this year’s index: London still leads. The British capital ranked first out of 60 featured cities both for startups and for “scale-ups,” or young companies […]
