Digital Asset Latest to File Blockchain Patent Application
#Digital #Asset Holdings’ #patent #application reveals new details about how its #blockchain product will work.
Updates from user Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
user
-
user
New Visa Developer Videos Show Eagerness To Open APIs to Startups
A new series of #videos highlights #Visa’s #eagerness to #open its API platform to FIs and #startups. Visa has been releasing videos for the API platform, known as Visa #Developer, for several months, but the newest videos feature testimonials from institutions and startups. The platform, which launched in February, is designed to openRead More
Bank Innovation -
user
Seed Capital Investors Focused on Fewer, Bigger Deals in 3Q
As expected, third-quarter #seed funding dropped sharply in the third quarter in New York’s Silicon Alley. Fintechs were hit particularly hard, but let&8217;s set that aside a moment. The numbers raise an interesting question: Is the venture community trying to cure the indigestion it got by swallowing too many new companies like aRead More
Bank Innovation -
user
Be your own Bank, oder: Wenn die Digitale Identität das Bankkonto ersetzt
Kann es sein, dass die Kunden ihr #Bankkonto demnächst in gewisser Weise selbst verwalten? Mit der Verbreitung digitaler Identitäten könnte dieses Szenario Realität werden. Bereits vor einem Jahr war die Frage auf diesem Blog ein Thema:
Digitale Identitäten lösen das Bankkonto und damit die klassische Bankverbindung ab
Die #Blockchain könnte hierbei eine Schlüsselrolle übernehmen. Beispielhaft dafür ist das Projekt be &8211; your own bank. Näheres dazu ist in dem Beitrag “Identity on the blockchain” — chapter 2 zu erfahren. Als quasi letzte Verifikations-Instanz fungiert hierbei die e-Residency Card von Estland.
Weiterhin heisst es in dem Beitrag zur Rolle der Banken in der #bank 2.0 Architektur:
The idea we wanted to test out was what to us will be the “bank 2.0” architecture — with #banks being not custodians but just facilitators. The Blockchain enables, for the first time in history, to have a third party offering financial services while keeping the users fully in control of their funds.
Ganz abgesehen davon, ob das Projekt die Erwartungen erfüllt, bleibt festzuhalten, dass die Banken durchaus auf die Rolle von facilitators reduziert werden könnten.Robin Knox von Intelligent Point of Sale dürfte mit seiner Einschätzung nicht alleine sein:
With advances in online identity verification also disrupting the market, the role of the traditional bank is in danger of diminishing. Who ultimately manages your money need not be the person it always was. (in: How technology will transform Scotland’s banking sector)
The post Be your own Bank, oder: Wenn die Digitale Identität das Bankkonto ersetzt appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
-
user
Credit Unions Turn to Blockchain Amid Increasing Competition
The #credit union industry’s distributed ledger initiative has sparked the interest of CUSOs, a group that has typically not collaborated much.
-
user
Credit Unions Turn to Blockchain Amid Increasing Competition
The #credit union industry’s distributed ledger initiative has sparked the interest of CUSOs, a group that has typically not collaborated much.
-
user
Capital One Blankets Mobile Space with 3 Apps in Top 20
Credit Karma is king of both #mobile platforms this week, but it may have a challenger rising in the ranks. PayPal follows at second and third in Google Play and iOS, respectively. That’s not a surprise, but #Capital One having not one, not two, but three #apps in the top twenty inRead More
Bank Innovation -
user
ING Will Lay Off 12% of Staff in ‘Digital Transformation’
Fears of #technology displacing human workers are often dismissed by futurists as technophobia or Ludditism, but a Monday “strategy update” from the Dutch bank ING may change the conversation. In the next five years, the bank expects to reduce its workforce by around 5,800 workers, mostly in Belgium and the Netherlands,Read More
Bank Innovation -
user
Reflections: one year working blockchain
I’m amazed that it’s over a year since I started this adventure, and figured that it’s good to reflect on what I’ve learnt.
[1] First projects make #blockchain real
First #project is what we call our customer’s initial excursions into blockchain usage. More than a disposable “proof of concept” first projects are designed to scale up into production usage. They consist of a two-day design thinking workshop combined with between two and five, two-week agile development sprints. Our goal is to rapidly render an initial solution to prove the benefit of blockchain.
We’ve seen customers moving quickly from awareness through experimentation towards production. We only recommend blockchain to clients when convinced usage will drive significant business benefit. We seek out initial “baby steps” so our customer can learn fast, prove initial benefit and drive larger benefits over time.
Most of our work has been in the financial sector, but there are compelling use cases in all industries. We enjoy learning and sharing cross industry – which is exciting and invigorating!
[2] Business networks drive value
We use the business network as the first “acid test” – no business network means think again about blockchain usage! Our customers have different approaches to building out the networks to drive full value from blockchain, and we often get to advise and guide them in the pragmatic, practical steps of network formation.
Our advice is objective, based on the first projects we’ve done with customers, and the key consideration are:
- WHAT is the business network – who are the members, their roles and what part will they play in the process of consensus?
- HOW will the network be formed? Will all parties be involved from the beginning, or more likely) will the network be incrementally grown over time?
- WHEN will new network members be introduced to the blockchain solution? Some of our customers decide to do the first one or two sprints themselves, simulating the role of other network participants whilst others want to involve key network members at the beginning of the journey through participation in the design thinking workshop.
[3] Choosing a first project is key
One of the most common questions we get asked in our work with customers is “what’s a good blockchain use case?” So we’ve developed a way to ensure we are adding enough value by applying blockchain to a particular business problem. The approach is in five common sense steps, as explained in my previous blog post.
The steps culminate in a “blockchain fit” test – where make sure that the use case hit the attributes of Network | Consensus | Provenance | Immutability | Finality.
This selection process and associated discussion ensures we end up with a use case that:
- is suitable to augment customer awareness on blockchain
- can be implemented with blockchain in its current maturity state
- ensures blockchain is a good fit and drives significant business value.
[4] Permissioned networks are ideal for business
#IBM’s interests are in the application of blockchain to permissioned, business to business networks. In these networks privacy services – rendered with cryptographic technologies – ensure that participants see only the parts of the ledger that are relevant to them, and that all transactions are secure, authenticated and verifiable.
Hyperledger blockchain fabric includes fine grained privacy services which can be tuned and configured to meet the needs of a vast variety of different use cases. Our customers’ needs are also evolving, and our close links with development allow us to influence future requirements based on real customer needs.
We’ve also noticed that regulators are taking an active interest in most of our first projects in all industries, to understand how they can best interact with this new, fast moving #technology.
[5] Hyperledger project engenders open innovation
We are a founder member and key contributor to the Linux Foundation Hyperledger project to build out a blockchain fabric for business. The project now enjoys some 100 members – impressive growth from the 17 founder members in December 2015!
We’ve already taken early code drops from the project and rendered these as blockchain (beta) services on our BlueMix cloud, and developed a High Security Business Network variant of blockchain that run our z-Series server.
We are very excited about the promise of Hyperledger and convinced that the open governance, open source and open standards based fabric will engender true open innovation in multiple industries, making the most from the transformation opportunity offered by blockchain for business.
More blockchain Information?
- Blockchain for Government
- Proving Provenance with Blockchain
- Blockchain and Cyber Security
- Blockchain, how SMART is your contract?
- Blockchain Privacy Services
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpalfreyman” connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”John Palfreyman”] is Director – Blockchain at IBM Cloud Division
-
user
Freetrade to Launch Commission-Free Trading Platform in The UK
UK-based #Freetrade will be launching a new commission-free #platform for #trading stocks and shares. The company will be joining iDealing, another UK brokerage, that has opted for a zero commission model for stock trading.
Freetrade‘s mobile-first investment platform seeks to democratize investing and targets demographics that have been priced out of investing on the stock exchange notably due to costly broker fees. These include Millennials, which currently counts some 14.8 million individuals in the UK alone.Freetrade’s mobile app was designed to make stock market investing more accessible for UK investors, the company says. It offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to search for companies that are trading on an exchange. The platform has no restriction around portfolio sizes and operates on a zero-commission model “so low value traders are not excluded.”
Additionally, the company will introduce fractional share dealing to the UK market, an option available in the US through the likes of DriveWealth and Stash Invest that has yet to be brought in the UK.
A fractional share is a share of an equity that is less than one full share. They are considered as an efficient way for investors to diversify every penny in their investment portfolio.
Furthermore, the Freetrade app will offer access to a network of independent financial advisors (IFAs) using a model similar to &8220;Uber and Airbnb.&8221; Independent advisors will be able to provide advice directly through the app, providing thus people new to trading with access to the same professional advice as more seasoned investors.&8220;We came across the model they have in the US, and not being satisfied with simply bringing the same concept to the UK, we looked at how we could raise the bar,&8221; said Adam Dodds, co-founder of Freetrade.
&8220;Professional advice is an intrinsic part of making a good investment decision, and no one, as far as we can see, is offering low-cost, flexible access to IFAs and other advisers,&8221; he said.
&8220;We are creating a world-first – an Uber or Airbnb model for IFAs, alongside a zero commission trading model. With all these elements combined, we’re unlocking the stock market for millions of people, and creating an investment platform that will massively disrupt a huge market.&8221;
Freetrade is in the process of applying to the UK&8217;s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to become an execution-only broker. The company plans to start officially trading by early 2017.
Earlier this month, Freetrade announced that it has been selected to join Octopus&8217; #fintech program, Octopus Labs. Octopus is a UK fund management business managing over £6 billion worth of assets on behalf of over 50,000 retail and institutional customers.
The 12-week acceleration program will give Freetrade a workspace in Octopus&8217;s London headquarters as well as top level mentoring from financial industry experts and successful entrepreneurs.
The success of American companies such as Robinhood and Loyal3 has demonstrated that zero commission trading models can work. Robinhood Markets Inc., the Palo Alto-based company behind the popular commission-free stock trading app, has announced plans for international expansion in 2015. The company said it will start with Australia and China.
Although Robinhood says it has no plans to start charging commissions to trade stocks, the company launched Robinhood Gold premium features last week, reports Techcrunch.
For US$ 10 per month, users can skip the three-day waiting period with instant deposits and reinvesting, trade 30 minutes before and 2 hours after the market is open, as well as borrow up to double the money in their account to trade on margin with leverage.
Featured image by ESB Professional via Shutterstock.com.
The post Freetrade to Launch Commission-Free Trading Platform in The UK appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Reply