#Bitcoin was designed to be decentralized, but as it matures, the currency is moving increasingly toward centralization — in China. This has significant implications for the #cryptocurrency, whose future early developers imagined would lie in the hands of a distributed global network of miners, but now largely lies in the hands ofRead More
Bank Innovation
A #list of articles, blog posts, videos, books and courses to help get you started.
As #bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies have become more popular, we’ve gotten more and more requests from people seeking suggestions for how to learn about the #technology.
In pulling together this list of starter articles, blog posts, books and courses, we’ve found that most people are initially willing to invest about 30–45 minutes to learn about cryptocurrencies. That can then ignite enough curiosity to invest another 2–3 hours — and then they’re off to the races.
Feel free to share this list with others. Over the last year, members of the Digital Currency Initiative have sent it to several hundred people — from finance ministers to longtime developers interested in the #cryptocurrency space and, as a result, have seem them change their policy position or even change jobs.
This list of articles is by no means exhaustive; it’s a living document. Feel free to suggest your favorite ethereum, smart contracts, regulatory and DAO explainer articles ([email protected]) or create your own list and share it with the community!
Overviews (30–45 mins)
Applications (60–90 mins)
Technical Overviews (2–4 hours)
Books (1–2 days each)
Bitcoin Course & Textbook (4–5 weeks)
Special thanks to Michael Casey, Chelsea Barabas and Neha Narula for suggesting articles for this list!
Brian Forde is Director of the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab
#Credit #Suisse has released a #report on the Swiss financial center in which it points out the key #trends and #technologies that are #changing #banking.
The report, entitled ‘Swiss Financial Center 2016,’ addresses the ongoing changes occurring in the financial service industry worldwide.
The Internet is changing the behavior of bank clients. Meanwhile innovative startups are coming up with new business models and cutting-edge technologies to change the way we manage our money.
During the past two years, interest in #fintech has increased massively, becoming a dominant buzzword in the financial industry.
“Digitalization in the financial sector will change banking,” the report says. Notably, digital transfers and payments transactions provide an attractive alternative to cash payments as they can be generated via smartphone apps.
In retail banking, online processing of banking activities is providing greater convenience and flexibility to clients.
Personal financial management (PFM) applications give clients an overview of their personal assets, current income and spending. They generate analysis and recommendations for personal budgeting.
Trading and advisory platforms enable users to access stock exchange trading. These platforms also analyze client portfolios using algorithms and generate automated investment recommendations. #Robo-advisors are also used in private banking, complementing the work of client advisors.
Robo-advisors are increasing in popularity in the private banking segment, and their advantages are clear: they are low-cost, can be used in a multitude of areas, have access to huge databases and are on call 24 hours a day.
In credit operations and capital markets, new products are enabling users to avoid financial intermediaries. On these platforms investors and borrowers come into direct contact with one another. These platforms are for instance crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lendings platforms.
Virtual currencies are an alternative means of payment to national currencies. #Bitcoin for instance enables users to make payments directly to one another, without using the services of a bank or other middleman.
Digital support, also known as regtech, promotes the implementation of regulations and helps ensure that risk analysis of unstructured data, scenario analysis and monitoring activities are organized more efficiently.
&8220;The new technologies in the financial arena will lead to a rationalization of processes in the banking sector in the years ahead and due to the strengthening of the client&8217;s position are set to alter the client/bank relationship on a lasting basis,&8221; the report says.
Another #technology that plays a significant role within fintech is #blockchain technology, which the report claims has &8220;the potential to fundamentally change the financial industry.&8221;
It details:
&8220;Blockchain gained recognition above all thanks to the #cryptocurrency Bitcoin. However, its area of use is not just confined to digital currencies.
&8220;Indeed in principle the technology can be applied to a very wide range of areas: For example, the US Nasdaq stock exchange has introduced a trading platform based on blockchain.
&8220;It is conceivable that blockchain technology will replace clearing houses in securities trading. But in the art and diamond trade too, blockchain has the potential to make forgeries and the sale of stolen goods more difficult.&8221;
The report points out the conditions for the successful integration of digitalization into the business world. First, there must be a state-of-the-art communications infrastructure that meets current requirements. Then, the growing importance of the MINT (mathematics, IT, natural sciences and technology) subject must be addressed in order to ensure that businesses located in Switzerland can recruit the specialist personnel they need. Finally, overall regulatory conditions must be adapted to the new requirements.
It further advises on the formation of clusters of various different economic sectors, citing the example of Silicon Valley.
&8220;Switzerland is well placed with economic centers that are located in close proximity to one another such as Zurich (financial services, industry), Basel (pharmaceuticals, chemicals) and Geneva (financial services, commodities),&8221; the report notes.
For Switzerland to keep its position as a world leading financial center, there much be a number of actions to be undertaken by the public sector and the private sector. It suggests regular reviews and modification of existing overall regulatory conditions to facilitate new business models, as well as the creation of a recognized &8220;Digital Switzerland&8221; umbrella brand to improve external perceptions. Other ideas include launching sector initiative to encourage digitalization, adapting existing business models and services to the digital reality, as well as networking with other sectors to achieve scale effects.
Featured image by everything possible, via Shutterstock.com.
The post Credit Suisse Report Names Technologies Trends Changing Banking appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
#Beijing hosted the Global #Blockchain Summit last week and in typical fashion of Chinese events, it was a grand occasion. Over the course of the three day summit, participants were engaged in workshops, lectures and panel discussions. Leaders from the #Blockchain world all gathered at this event. Having been interested in Blockchain and #Bitcoin since the start of this year and integrating with the Blockchain community in Shanghai, this summit was the perfect chance to meet like minded people from all over the world and I found this as a unique opportunity to deepen my understanding of my newly found interest.
The conference, for me, was a bombardment of new information from thought leaders and experts on the matter of Blockchain and Bitcoin and it confirmed the 4 ways us humans anticipate and acknowledge information; There are things that you know that you know, things that you don’t know that you know, things you know that you don’t know and things that you don’t that you don’t know. Yes, slightly confusing, but learning anything with that framework helps a lot. Whether I was sitting through the talks or talking directly with people, not only did I find out new things I didn’t know but it made me deepen my understanding of the things I didn’t really know in depth but only knew that it had existed.
From a fresh mind that has just started to follow the developments and slowly learn the technical layers within the Blockchain space, and by no means an expert, here are 7 key takeaways I got from the Summit:
1. Faster innovation in China
Jeff Garzik of Bloq, and prominent figure in the Bitcoin Developer community, noted that there is faster innovation in China than the rest of the world within the Blockchain space. Aurelien Menant, CEO of Gatecoin, talked about why Blockchain Assets (cryptocurrencies/Dapp tokens) will become a leading alternative asset class. He predicts China will lead in Blockchain Assets due to the promise of cross border flexibility the #technology provides and the demand for transparency in China’s financial markets. With the Chinese government being accepting of the technology, it has become a gateway for Chinese entrepreneurs and companies to innovate and explore this technology and be a possible route for China to be transparent in their financial markets. One Chinese start-up that I thought was innovative is BitSe: BitSe, with their VEChain product aims to battle the counterfeit market to build a Blockchain for luxury brands to protect and secure the authenticity of their goods.
2. We will experience a new form of the internet
Many speakers put it differently; Jeff notably said ‘A Digital Wallet will be the new Browser’ where a user wouldn’t want 5 digital networks and wallets for 5 digital assets. There’d be that one wallet for everything. Jan Xie, a Chinese Ethereum Developer, pointed to an Internet 3.0 and there will be an interconnection of values on a larger capacity. According to him, it won’t be a social network anymore, now there will be an incentive network which will create a better business environment. Diego Guitterez of RSK Technologies compares what we have now as the Internet of Information to what we will have in the future as the Internet of Value.
3. Nobody likes the ‘Hard fork’
As the hack of the DAO came a week before the Summit, it was no surprise it will be a talking point. The consensus among many of the Chinese developers was that they were opposed to the ‘Hard fork’ idea suggested by the Ethereum Foundation.
4. Collaboration is key to push forward
Max Kordek, CEO of Lisk, emphasised the important of collaboration. He highlighted that competitors do not pose a challenge as it allows more of an opportunity to work with everyone else, but the biggest challenge is actually for that to happen, will projects collaborate and work together to move things forward?
5. Think Blockchain, Think Network
When wanting to build applications on top of a Blockchain on the biggest network and economy, I thought Jeff Garzik left us with another way to think about the Blockchain, he said not to think Blockchain as a technology but rather as a network.
6. Eric’s Law: Any asset can be digitised, will be digitised. Everyone, some machines and most AIs will have at least one digital ID
CEO of ViewFin, Eric Gu, was very vocal about how digital assets and smart contracts would shape our future. Thinking about how more digital our lives could be is interesting, and more particularly the implications. How will it impact the society, economy, business and our daily lives?
7. Things need to be made easier
During the Panel Discussion about Blockchain and New trends in #Fintech, Max Kordek emphasised the importance for things need to be made easy for the real world to understand. Deng Di, the Chairman of Beijing Taiyiyuan Technologies, stated how the 1st stage of the Blockchain era was a hobby for the techies, as Bitcoin was relatively new and Blockchain, the underlying technology, had not been explored. They were the first to get involved with Bitcoin and the #cryptocurrency network. The 2nd stage is when it became hot when central #banks and other big players started to recognise it a few years later, where many big players and governments are exploring the technology and he said we are currently in the 3rd stage, where the consumers have no idea about the Blockchain. A bottom up approach and top bottom approach is needed to educate the masses. He finally says, we show and thus prove to them how Blockchain works, not tell them how it works.
I really think the last point is crucial because with the advent of the internet or the phone, or any technology used by the masses, many use the technologies without thinking how it works. It may be explained in simple terms from a broad level, but it could only be done after there are use cases used by the masses. For a new technology to be explained simply that has not yet been in practical use by the world is still a difficult objective to achieve. Blockchain and its information is still in a sense raw, filled with code and technical jargon and Andre De Castro, CEO of the Blockchain of Things, has identified this problem as he aims to make it simple for enterprises to conduct business and not deal with technicalities such as making a new cryptocurrency and dealing with code.
Another observation I made when talking to people is that there is a huge split between those who are pro Proof of Work and those who are pro Proof of Stake. To my mind, when I think Blockchain, I think decentralisation, and Bitcoin offers the best example of a purely decentralised network, whereas the proof of stake is not completely decentralised and thus defeats the purpose of what the Bitcoin innovation and its underlying technology really stands for. I assume for specific use cases, it may make sense to have a Blockchain that uses ‘trusted nodes’ for verification. Anyways, this was just an observation which I won’t go into detail as there’s a lot of information about this online and there may be a long way till one prevails over the other, or perhaps coexist in the long run.
The Summit in Beijing showed me the promise of the Blockchain and what it could offer and I am excited in what the future holds. Our lives in the past decade have become more digital centric, particularly with the rise of smartphones and inter-connectivity and it could be even more digitalised if we can digitalise assets and exchange it. But it’s pretty funny; although we are so interconnected and exchanging information all the time, how is it that many people still do not know about Blockchain and Bitcoin?
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmed-al-balaghi-柏亚德-3a57215a” connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Ahmed-Al-Balaghi-柏亚德”] is Language Student at Fudan University (Shanghai)
This June 28th in #Zurich, #International Money-Tech is a #fintech event features 20 international digital payment and finance #technology company #pitches and offers 1:1 meetings in Zurich
Innovations presented will include digital currencies, mobile banking, peer-to-peer lending, crypto finance, new trends insurance tech, #robo advisors, among many others.
#Startup Pitches will inlcude:
Kantox, a pioneering firm in the foreign exchange industry, bringing light and fresh air to an uncertain, static market. Kantox offers a comprehensive FX management solution for SMEs and mid-cap companies.
Validity Labs educates patrons so they can adapt early an exploit opportunities rather than being rolled over by the #blockchain wave. Our courses, workshops and seminars provide hands-on education about smart contracts and the technology stack beneath it.
SynerScope, the next generation platform that provides analytics solutions to help discover critical information from massive amounts of data and turning it into useful insights. Synerscope combines Scientific Visualization Technologies, ultrafast predictive analytics and machine learning on top of its proprietary enterprise data navigation, -search and -linking. This technology stack provides enterprises high speed detection of abnormal behaviours and anomalies in complex data.
RaiseNow supports ambitious fundraisers to grow their online fundraising. Using solutions for all digital touch points – from SMS donations and mobile phone apps right up to peer-to-peer event fundraising and donation forms. The platform integrates your email and social media channels and makes everything tightly work with your existing fundraising and donor database.
Meniga is transforming the way #banks and advertisers use transaction data, by helping people becoming smarter consumers with great products. With current implementations worldwide Meniga is already serving +35 million consumers.
Speakers will include academics and executives from fintech startups and financial services firm including Roland Berger, Ascribe, the Ethereum Foundation, Nexussquared, Wikifolio, Crowdhouse, and more.
Stefan Greunz – Wikifolio, Head of Business Development
Stefan Greunz &8211; Wikifolio, Head of Business Development
wikifolio.com is Europe’s leading online platform for trading ideas by private traders and professional asset managers.
The Fintech company launched its Social Trading platform in Germany in 2012, followed by its Austrian launch in early 2013 and expanded to Switzerland in 2015.
All signs are pointing to continued growth,’ says Andreas Kern, CEO and founder of wikifolio.com, ‘during the past year we have at least doubled all relevant figures and we want to continue like that.’
More than 13,000 trading ideas called ‘wikifolios’ were already published, of which more than 4,300 are tradable as wikifolio-certificates at the Stuttgart stock exchange. So far 5.3 million trades in wikifolios triggered already a trade volume in excess of 7.9 billion euros.
Ming Chan &8211; Ethereum, Executive Director
Ming Chan &8211; Ethereum, Executive Director
Ethereum’s rapidly growing popularity has become the most talked about topic in #cryptocurrency ecosystem. It particularly came under spotlight when it crossed the $ 1 billion mark in March this year, making several cryptocurrency exchanges to announce their support for ether trading.
The market cap of Ethereum’s has once again surpassed the $ 1 billion mark as ether price recently found upward momentum and currently trades at $ 14.45 levels. Finance Magnates attributes this to the success of the DAO crowdfunding drive.
Speaking with EconoTimes, Aurélien Menant, CEO of Gatecoin, said that the surge seen earlier in Ethereum’s market cap was partially due to some concerns about the future of #bitcoin, which have been recently addressed following the announcement of the upcoming SegWit and Lightning network upgrades that will improve the scalability of bitcoin. He attributed the subsequent drop in the market cap to a correction to an “overly excited market”.
If you consider that the market even grew anywhere near 1 billion in less than a year since it was released that is very impressive. We are still very bullish about Ethereum and believe ether’s value will increase in the long term, Menant added. Source.
Special offer: Register with code “fintech16” to get 15% discount for event tickets!
The post International Money-Tech in Zurich: Startup Pitches Round 1 and Speaker Profiles appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
The financial services industry is another major area in which #client #information must be securely protected to prevent market manipulation. At the same time, however, compliance divisions must be aware of the identity of trading counterparties in order to mitigate potential money-laundering activity. As such, a system which balances both compliance requirements and trading anonymity is required.
Indeed, regulators may find the anonymity of #blockchain a challenge to wholly approve, as it makes it difficult for them to conduct their ‘know your customer’ (KYC) checks to prevent money laundering. Blockchain’s close association with #Bitcoin, moreover, hasn’t helped matters, especially as the #cryptocurrency has been notoriously used in criminal activity, and even funding for terrorist activity.
In November, Israeli start-up Polycoin showcased its blockchain-based compliance service, which will provide a verification system for financial transactions. This will help compliance officers to handle their anti-money laundering (AML) and KYC requirements. Polycoin’s platform scrutinizes financial transactions to try and identify who they are from, and they are then placed into a ranking system. Those transactions deemed as being suspicious – such as an AML breach – will be identified by Polycoin’s platform, which will then send an alert to compliance for further investigation.
Polycoin CEO Alfred Shaffir thinks his firm can provide a complete solution for blockchain compliance, and considers Polycoin’s innovations could have as profound an impact as digital financial crime prevention tool ‘NICE Actimize’ had in the late 1990s. As such, Shaffir is of the opinion that for any bank working with blockchain, transformation of compliance systems and procedures will be their first priority.
Indeed, #banks have already responded positively to Polycoin’s proposals, with the start-up participating in the innovation accelerator project in Israel conducted by financial services giant Citi, while also being chosen as one of 10 participants out of 170 applicants for Finnish bank Nordea’s accelerator in Helsinki. Shaffir has stated that Polycoin has received much interest from those banks that are interested in integrating blockchain into their businesses in the future.
Blockchain compliance specialist Tradle is simplifying the KYC process even further. Last August saw London’s Startupbootcamp #FinTech accelerator take place, where Tradle CEO Gene Vayngrib explained how blockchain #technology could ease the costly pain of compliance for banks. The company is creating a user-friendly smartphone interface that will allow documentation to be sent electronically, thus eliminating the need for inefficient paper-based communication. Furthermore, within each bank currently, separate KYC checks are conducted across products, divisions, locations and subsidiaries &8211; this lack of sharing elevates KYC costs unnecessarily.
Vayngrib instead proposes a blockchain-based app called Trust in Motion which stores KYC #data on a permitted ledger and which all authorized parties can access when required. He calls it the Instagram for KYC, as clients can snap a picture of their ID documents (their passport, for example) and send it directly to the bank. Once the compliance officer verifies the pictures using authentication processes, the documents are digitally signed and put onto the blockchain which, assuming the appropriate authorizations have been granted, can be co-managed by the bank and the client for updates and reverifications.
The technology could also be extended to include AML rules, whereby instead of having to prove to regulators that AML checks have been conducted by sending them mounds of data, automatic procedures can be established that perform AML duties such as the reporting of suspicious transactions. According to Vayngrib, the blockchain method wholly preserves the privacy of the data, while the regulator “could get information about suspicious transactions without banks sharing a lot of raw, private data with them”.
While regulators will like the fact that blockchain’s verification process involves a network of users providing authentication and security, bankers on the other hand will not like this lack of privacy, particularly when it comes to sensitive trading data. Furthermore, financial institutions (and other companies) have suffered numerous data breaches in recent years that have cost them dearly.
Even if several banks are operating on a shared private ledger (with only a limited number of network users), each bank will still want to keep data from every other user in the network. Banks are extremely secretive about the business they transact, as well as the clients with whom they conduct business, meaning that this information can’t be disclosed to competitors, even on a private blockchain.
The post Blockchain to Optimize and Secure Client Data Information &8211; Part 2 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
This morning, the US woke up to a financial meltdown. But not the kind you’d expect. Early this morning, #cryptocurrency exchange operators got urgent orders to halt trading activity on ethers, the cryptocurrency behind the #blockchain platform Ethereum. The reason: nearly $ 60 #million of ethers were #hack (i.e. stolen). The hack hasRead More
Bank Innovation
Jaxx plans to do for #blockchain what the #internet did for communications. Toronto-based #Bitcoin consultancy and software development company Decentral announced last week that it has integrated Jaxx, its unified platform for blockchain wallet services, with #cryptocurrency exchange platform ShapeShift. “You were able to buy and sell cryptocurrency, and alsoRead More
Bank Innovation
Jaxx plans to do for #blockchain what the #internet did for communications. Toronto-based #Bitcoin consultancy and software development company Decentral announced last week that it has integrated Jaxx, its unified platform for blockchain wallet services, with #cryptocurrency exchange platform ShapeShift. “You were able to buy and sell cryptocurrency, and alsoRead More
Bank Innovation
This video highlights how the #Accenture #Cryptocurrency and #Blockchain solution harnesses blockchain, distributed ledgers and cryptocurrencies to allow new commerce capabilities on smart devices anywhere in the world. The entire bookkeeping process is digitized and payment settlement occurs in seconds, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with lower handling and currency conversion costs. For more information on Accenture Mobility visit accenture.com/mobility
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