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Educational institutions are turning their attention to the public blockchain to record and verify student credentials. Under normal...

The post Holberton School Begins Tracking Student Academic Credentials on the Bitcoin Blockchain appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Robo-advisors are starting to grow in popularity in the financial world, but one group likely won't adopt them.

A new CFA Institute survey reveals that 88% of investment professionals worldwide believe that robo-advisors will replace human advisors that target the mass affluent, or individuals who have $100,000 to $1 million in investable assets.

But only 58% of those surveyed believe that robo-advisors are either somewhat likely or extremely likely to replace human advisors for the wealthy, or individuals with more than $1 million in investable assets.

Robo-advisors make wealth management more efficient by automating a majority of the processes that human advisors currently control. This means that these computerized advisors can offer both mass affluent and wealthy investors a variety of benefits, such as lower fees.

Respondents to the survey also said that robo-advisors would by far have the greatest effect on the financial services industry both one year from now (particularly in the Americas) and five years from now.

This is all further evidence that we’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs.

No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new fintech revolution.

The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some of the most powerful names in the financial world: The most contentious conflicts (and partnerships) will be between startups that are completely reengineering decades-old practices, traditional power players who are furiously trying to adapt with their own innovations, and total disruption of established technology & processes:

• Traditional Retail Banks vs. Online-Only Banks: Traditional retail banks provide a valuable service, but online-only banks can offer many of the same services with higher rates and lower fees

• Traditional Lenders vs. Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces: P2P lending marketplaces are growing much faster than traditional lenders—only time will tell if the banks strategy of creating their own small loan networks will be successful

• Traditional Asset Managers vs. Robo-Advisors: Robo-advisors like Betterment offer lower fees, lower minimums and solid returns to investors, but the much larger traditional asset managers are creating their own robo-products while providing the kind of handholding that high net worth clients are willing to pay handsomely for.

As you can see, this very fluid environment is creating winners and losers before your eyes…and it’s also creating the potential for new cost savings or growth opportunities for both you and your company.

After months of researching and reporting this important trend, Evan Bakker, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together an essential report on the fintech ecosystem that explains the new landscape, identifies the ripest areas for disruption, and highlights the some of the most exciting new companies. These new players have the potential to become the next Visa, Paypal or Charles Schwab because they have the potential to transform important areas of the financial services industry like:

• Retail banking

• Lending and Financing

• Payments and Transfers
• 
Wealth and Asset Management

• Markets and Exchanges

• Insurance

• Blockchain Transactions


If you work in any of these sectors, it’s important for you to understand how the fintech revolution will change your business and possibly even your career. And if you’re employed in any part of the digital economy, you’ll want to know how you can exploit these new technologies to make your employer more efficient, flexible and profitable.

Among the big picture insights you'll get from The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry:

• Why financial technology is so disruptive to financial services—it will soon change the nature of almost every financial activity, from banking to payments to wealth management.
• The basic conflict will be between old firms and new—startups are re-imagining financial services processes from top to bottom, while incumbent financial services firms are trying to keep up with new products of their own.
• Both sides face serious obstacles—traditional banks and financial services firms are investing heavily in innovation, but leveraging their investments is difficult with so much invested in legacy systems and profit centers.
• Meanwhile, startups are struggling to navigate a rapidly-changing regulatory landscape and must scale up quickly with limited resources.
• The blockchain is a wild card that could completely overhaul financial services. Both major banks and startups around the world are exploring the technology behind the blockchain, which stores and records Bitcoin transactions. This technology could lower the cost of many financial activities to near-zero and could wipe away many traditional banking activities completely.

This exclusive report also:

• Explains the main growth drivers of the exploding fintech ecosystem.
• Frames the challenges and opportunities faced by incumbents and startups.
• Breaks down global and regional fintech investments, including which regions are the most significant and which are poised for the highest growth.
• Reveals which two financial services are garnering the most investment, and are therefore likely to be transformed first and fastest by fintech
• Explains why blockchain technology is critically important to banks and startups, and assesses which players stand to gain the most from it.
• Explores the financial sectors facing disruption and breaks them down in terms of investments, vulnerabilities and growth opportunities.
• And much more.

The Fintech Ecosystem Report: Measuring the effects of technology on the entire financial services industry is how you get the full story on the fintech revolution.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide to the fintech revolution, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the fast-moving world of financial technology.

Join the conversation about this story »

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence "Payments Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Customers will have to wait a little while longer to use Chase Pay.

JPMorgan Chase's proprietary mobile wallet will now launch in the fourth quarter of this year, Chase Commerce Solutions head of global e-commerce and large omnichannel solutions Kim Fitzsimmons said at the Shoptalk retail trade show, according to Digital Transactions News. This is several months later than the original launch timeframe of mid-2016.

Chase has already teamed with Starbucks to insert its mobile wallet right into the Starbucks app. And the financial company reportedly continues to sign merchants onto Chase Pay as it prepares to roll out the app by the end of 2016.

Consumers will likely adopt the mobile wallet in droves when it debuts because Chase is providing incentives for merchants to accept Chase Pay by offering them lower transaction fees on Chase Pay purchases compared to other payment methods.

The arrival of Chase Pay could be another milestone in the incredible evolution of the payments ecosystem. The flood of mobile wallets on the market (Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay, Walmart Pay, etc.) have changed the way we pay for goods, and these wallets are just one piece of the puzzle.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report on the payments ecosystem that drills into the industry to explain how a broad range of transactions are processed, including prepaid and store cards, as well as revealing which types of companies are in the best and worst position to capitalize on the latest industry trends.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• 2016 will be a watershed year for the payments industry. Payments companies are improving security, expanding their mobile offerings, and building commerce capabilities that will give consumers a more compelling reason to make purchases using digital devices.
• Payments is an extremely complex industry. To understand the next big digital opportunity lies, it's critical to understand how the traditional credit- and debit-processing chain works and what roles acquirers, processors, issuing banks, card networks, independent sales organizations, gateways, and software and hardware providers play.
• Alternative technologies could disrupt the processing ecosystem. Devices ranging from refrigerators to smartwatches now feature payment capabilities, which will spur changes in consumer payment behaviors. Likewise, blockchain technology, the protocol that underlies Bitcoin, could one day change how consumer card payments are verified.

In full, the report:

• Uncovers the key themes and trends affecting the payments industry in 2016 and beyond.
• Gives a detailed description of the stakeholders involved in a payment transaction, along with hardware and software providers.
• Offers diagrams and infographics explaining how card transactions are processed and which players are involved in each step.
• Provides charts on our latest forecasts, key company growth, survey results, and more.
• Analyzes the alternative technologies, including blockchain, which could further disrupt the ecosystem.

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

1. Subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND over 100 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of the payments ecosystem.

Join the conversation about this story »

The recent hacks at ShapeShift, a sort of vending machine for altcoins, has been one of the biggest stories in Bitcoin for the past few...

The post Erik Voorhees: Complying With BitLicense Would Have Made ShapeShift Hack Much Worse appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The recent hacks at ShapeShift, a sort of vending machine for altcoins, has been one of the biggest stories in Bitcoin for the past few...

The post Erik Voorhees: Complying With BitLicense Would Have Made ShapeShift Hack Much Worse appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin price meanders – seemingly without aim – as volume continues shrinking. Markets sometimes experience the doldrums and this seems to be it. Remain focused, however, since such periods typically precede sudden large moves. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and […]

The post Bitcoin Price Meandering Above $450 appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In a month of big news for the Bitcoin wallet, Mycelium has announced the integration of Glidera. Now, users can buy and sell bitcoin in the...

The post Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet Crowdsale Closes in on $1 Million Fundraise, Integrates Glidera appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Beneath the headlines, there’s arguably been the early stirrings of a sea change in the blockchain industry.

IBM sees blockchain technology as an essential tool for business, government, and society, and as such, its development calls for government support, according to Jerry Cuomo, the company’s vice president of blockchain technologies. He believes the technology can transform commerce as well as interactions between individuals and governments. Cuomo presented his viewpoint, which he posted on […]

The post IBM Calls For Government To Play A Support Role For ‘Permissioned Blockchain’ appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In April, Red Hat announced the OpenShift initiative to aid financial services industry in building hosted blockchain applications. Red Hat would manage container application deployment with OpenShift Dedicated support for financial institutions interested in experimenting with the blockchain. “We are pleased to partner with Red Hat and have initially deployed BlockApps STRATO, our Ethereum Blockchain […]

The post More On Red Hat Launching Blockchain Open Source Initiative appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Acronis, a provider of backup and recovery software, announced an initiative at its 2016 VIP Partner Summit to develop blockchain technology-based applications for data protection, according to IT Brief, an Australia-based technical news source. A dedicated research and deployment team will provide “tamper proof” data storage to guarantee privacy and data authenticity. The technology is […]

The post Data Security Provider Acronis to Offer Blockchain Based Data Protection appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The competition between public blockchains like Bitcoin's and private ones being developed by financial institutions is heating up. The just-announced Thunder network is capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second -- even more than Visa.