Bitcoin Testing Matures as Global Universities Join BSafe Network
An effort is underway to encourage more researchers and academics to investigate and test #bitcoin and other #blockchain tech.
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ItBit Hit With String of Departures in Bitcoin-to-Blockchain Transition
A slew of recent #departures from #itBit suggest a changing future for a startup originally founded as a #bitcoin exchange service.
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FinTech Infographics: The Evolution of FinTech
The #FinTech industry offers #technology solutions and services to solve financial isues. This #evolution started with the birth of the signature verification system Pantelegraph, invented by Giovanni Caselli in 1865. The system set the initial milestone for the glorious development of FinTech.
For 2 centuries, both Technology and Finance had developed significantly. The financial ecosystem had grown, more complicated businesses with many kinds of stakeholders took part in a fair and legalized playground. Mean while, Technology has been moving forward, going beyond what it had developed and through the industry disruption, especially Finance.
Dealbook/NYT wrote an article about the Evolution on Fintech, this is based on a study from the university of Hong Kong. We tried to summarize this information in an interactive graphic.
Have a look!
Infographics: The Evolution of FinTech
#Infographics | The evolution of FinTech – Information source: the NYT
2009, #Cryptocurrency was introduced at the first time
Over last decades, FinTech gains impressive achievements. The 1st-version cryptocurrency #Bitcoin, introduced in 2009, offered an equivalent type of transaction and goods exchange. It is a new kind of asset, a new investment. It is opening a cashless world where people can go shopping with a handy device or even their own unique identity.
The evolution of FinTech &8211; Information source: the NYT
2011, Google launched Google Wallet
The desire of a convenient and safe payment method initiated the launch of e-Wallet. Its first shapes are credit/debit cards, visa/master cards in the system of mPOS (mobile Point of Sales). In 2011, Google pioneered to release Google Wallet. This year, the mobile phone giants Apple and Samsung released their e-Wallet, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Before the introduction of this payment solution, the American FinTech company PayPal offered Payment Gate to connect merchants and buyers, which enforces online payment to be used widely. Paypal was launched in 1998 and still holds its position in the market as a Top FinTech of over the last decades.
2015, mobile banking is more popularly used than physical branch and Alibaba released “Smile to Pay”
With the whole FinTech industry’s development and the community&8217;s adoption of its products (e-Wallet, Cryptocurrency, Crowdfunding, etc.), more people use Mobile Banking than Physical Bank in 2015.
The most latest milestone has been created by Chinese E-commerce giant, Alibaba. In 2015, Alibaba launched &8220;Smile to Pay&8221;. The launch of &8220;Smile to Pay&8221; had impressed people greatly because it solves the issue of identity / identification in payment and finance.
The evolution of FinTech &8211; Information source: the NYT
The road of FinTech expanded with promising products when more and more labs researched and applied Technology into Finance. Moreover, the financial ecosystem has shown the opportunities for FinTech Startups to join and solve many FinTech problems.
The post FinTech Infographics: The Evolution of FinTech appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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Swiss Fintech Startups Accounts to Follow on Instagram
Just like Facebook, Twitter and recently, Snapchat, #Instagram are one of the most active social media platforms which attract millions of users globally.
According to statista.com, Instagram users had increased from 9 millions in 2013 to 500 millions in June 2016, an impressive growth in such a short period of time.
If Facebook is your big community to share interests and stay connected, Twitter is your latest stream of news and updates with simple texts, images and links, Snapchat is your place for live videos, then Instagram is your favourite daily photo album. It’s all about images and just images.
So, social media wise, does Instagram fit for #Fintech #startups, Fintech firms and companies to develop their awareness? The answer is, just like any other social media platform, it depends on what is shared with the community. Several Fintech startups have been picking up the trend and doing quite well on Instagram.
In the list of Top 30 Swiss Fintech Startups, Social Media Ranking by Fintech News Switzerland, 11 out of 30 startups have been running an active Instagram #accounts.
Top 30 Swiss Fintech Startups. See details at http://fintechnews.ch/top-30-fintech-startups-in-switzerland-2/ fintech customerexperience banking digital payments onlinepayment blockchain bitcoin insurtech financial technology cryptocurrency crowdlending crowdfunding Lending finance event startups entrepreneurship entrepreneurs bigdata cryptocurrency lending p2p peertopeer switzerland banking banks innovation insurance roboadvisors
Because of the uniqueness of Instagram, a few #Swiss Fintech startups have been sharing their news and updates in form of images only with their followers in different ways.
EthereumProject – 1,071 followers
Finance Fox &8211; 737 followers
Crowdhouse.ch &8211; 128 followers
Numbrs &8211; 136 followers
Sentifi &8211; 97 followers
truewealth.ch &8211; 30 followers
Other accounts are Advanon, CreditGate24, Knip, Splendit, Investiere
The post Swiss Fintech Startups Accounts to Follow on Instagram appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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Bitcoin: The Trust Anchor in a Sea of Blockchains
#Bitcoin software engineer Jameson Lopp takes a deep and enlightening dive into the unique attributes that make up #blockchains.
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Bitcoin Developers Warn Ethereum Fork Sets Unsettling Precedent
#Bitcoin Core #developers are concerned that the side effects of a hard #fork on the #ethereum #blockchain could have negative impacts on all blockchains.
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30 Swiss Fintech Startups To Watch
The #Swiss #fintech startup scene has been growing steadily during the past year, expanding from 157 #startups in November 2015 to 185 players in June 2016, according to Swisscom’s Fintech Map.
Image via Wikipedia
Despite the growing industry, Switzerland&8217;s fintech sector is lagging behind the likes of New York and London. Industry observers have pointed out the lack of governmental and institutional support in comparison to these front-runners.
A report released in February by EY and the Swiss Finance + #Technology Association on the Swiss fintech sector argued that there were “clearly some room for improvement regarding governmental support,” adding that Switzerland had yet to leverage its strong position as a financial center in Europe to become a global fintech hub.
Swiss financial regulators have been slow to react to the emergence of the digital economy. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has recently introduced a new ruling to facilitate client on-boarding through digital channels.
At the Swiss International Finance Forum in June, FINMA&8217;s director Mark Branson said:
&8220;The financial revolution is evolving so rapidly that we can’t get bogged down striving for a 100% perfect legislative solution. We are advocating swift action that we can fine tune later.&8221;
That said, there are several reasons to be optimistic about Switzerland&8217;s nascent fintech sector. The country&8217;s strong data protection laws, tax regime and political neutrality have attracted a number of foreign companies and organizations including the Ethereum Foundation and Xapo.
Switzerland has notable competitive advantages as a fintech hub in comparison to the likes of London or Berlin. To mention here the stability and reliability in general (financial, legal, government, and so on), which continues to be a hard value for other locations to match. The existing financial services expertise remains another strong advantage. However, the high salaries in Switzerland is another story.
Today, a number of Swiss fintech startups are standing out. These are covering varied industries and applications ranging from wealth management, #blockchain technology, to insurtech and crowdfunding.
Crowdlending/ Financing and Peer-to-Peer Lending
Based in Zurich, DealMarket is a Swiss fintech startup provide three distinct products: a global marketplace for fundraising and deal sourcing, connecting the private equity industry; a browser-based deal flow management and deal exchange tool; and the DealMarket Intelligence which offers affordable access to third-party data, research and services.
Another crowdlending platform is Splendit, which focuses on allowing students to access a fair source of financial their education. The platform matches students and investors in an auction process, issues documents and manages payments.
CreditGate24 is a highly automated platform that connects borrowers with private and institutional investors, offering an efficient and scalable settlement of loans. The company applies a strict credit check based on classic credit assessment methods, Big Data analysis, as well as the insurance and the solidarity arrangement.
Blockchain Technology
Image credit:
Xapo, one of the #bitcoin industry&8217;s best-funded startups, provides bitcoin storage services and a digital wallet. Initially headquartered in California, Xapo relocated to Switzerland in May 2015 in a bid to boost customer privacy protections. The startup has raised US$ 40 million in funding so far.
The Ethereum Foundation is the organization overseeing Ethereum, the open source decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run as programmed without possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. Ethereum&8217;s crowdfunding campaign is one of the most successful campaigns to date, raising over US$ 18 million in bitcoin.
iProtus is a company that provides consulting services on blockchain technology and helps businesses implement new business models with distributed ledgers.
Insurtech
Knip is undoubtedly one of the most visible insurtech ventures in Switzerland. Founded in 2013 by Dennis Just and Christina Kehl, Knip has now over 100 employees based all over Europe. Knip provides users with a digital insurance manager and a mobile app that allows for the management of existing insurance politics, tariffs and services.
Wealth Management and Personal Finance Management
Image credit: Pressmaster via Shutterstock
True Wealth is an online wealth management platform and an automated investment solution based in Zurich. True Wealth is an independent asset manager and a member of the Swiss Association of Asset Managers (SAAM).
Qontis is an online personal finance management (PFM) platform that provides users with the ability to document and organize data from all instances of private income and expenditures.
MoneyPark is an independent provider of personalized financial advice on mortgages, providing pension planning and investment guidance. MoneyPark is a financial intermediary that is subordinated to FINMA and holds a license as a distributor of collective investment schemes.
Other ventures worth mentioning include Qumram, a cybersecurity firm; Advanon, an invoice financial platform; CashSentinel, an online platform focused on facilitating the purchase and selling of vehicles; TawiPay, a financial services comparison platform focused on money transfers and remittances; Amnis, an online platform for currency exchange and foreign currency payments; Contovista, a digital banking software company; and Run My Accounts, an automated online accounting platform for SMEs.
See the Full List of all 30 Swiss Fintech Startups to #Watch HERE
The post 30 Swiss Fintech Startups To Watch appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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UK Legislators Cast Critical Eye on Bitcoin and Blockchain at Parliament Event
A committee of the House of Lords struck a curious but at times #critical note when discussing #blockchain and its impact on finance and government.
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Bitcoin Miner Bitmain Acquires Blockchain Data Startup
#Bitmain has acquired a #bitcoin #data and analytics #startup Blocktrail for an undisclosed amount.
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Ether Prices Spike Above $12 Amid Build Up to Hard Fork
#Ether #prices surged this week, outshining #bitcoin as the Ethereum community made progress toward a #hard #fork for The DAO.
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