Coin News

Bitcoin prices have recovered following the Bitfinex hack earlier this week, but worries are beginning to grow about the future of the exchange.

The Chamber of Digital Commerce, a trade association dedicated to promoting the understanding, acceptance and use of digital assets and...

The post Smart Contracts Alliance Aims to Help “Change the Landscape of Modern Business” appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

In a new interview, CoinDesk speaks with Sweden's SEB Group to learn more about the bank's first bitcoin investment.

The U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) now sees digital currencies such as bitcoin as a cash equivalent that its licensees could accept as a payment method. This is contained in a new version of its Licence conditions and codes of practice (LCCP). The newly-released document includes changes from recent consultations. Its Section 5 which addresses payment-related issues says: […]

The post UK Gambling Regulator Views Digital Currencies as Acceptable by Licensees appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

An individual claiming to be behind the recent Bitfinex (BFX) hack has announced the giveaway of 1,000 bitcoins, prompting those within the online community that this could be a money laundering scheme. Earlier this week, the Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange revealed that it had suffered a major security breach after 119,756 bitcoins, amounting to around […]

The post Bitfinex Mastermind in Bitcoin Heist Giveaway appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A Q&A with blockchain expert Adam Ludwin

Is the EU seeking to limit the privacy of bitcoin users? A deeper analysis of recent proposals suggests that the question may not have an easy answer.

In a recent blog post, bitcoin and ether exchange, Coinbase, has unveiled to its users that they will be able to credit the full amount of Ethereum Classic (ETC) that is linked to their account. It was only last week that the San Francisco-based company announced that they would not be supporting ETC after the […]

The post Ethereum Classic Credits Will Soon Be Available on Coinbase appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In a bid to tackle the issue of how users can separate their Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) coins, ShapeShift has unveiled a new digital currency feature designed to do the job. The Ethereum Splitter tool is a new feature unveiled by the digital exchange platform, created to split ETH and ETC coins automatically. […]

The post Digital Currency Exchange Launches New Ethereum Splitter Tool appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin Press Release: Vulture Capital has announced the launch of its VCAP cryptocurrency crowdsale to fund the upcoming feature film ‘Listen Carefully’. Vulture Capital now hopes to aid mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies by merging the technology with the film industry. August 3, 2016, New York – Vulture Capital, the cryptocurrency arm of Hedley Productions has recently […]

The post VCAP Crowdsale to Fund the First Ever Cryptocurrency Crowdfunded Feature Film appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Blockchain technology will have a major impact on fintech and other sectors, according to discussions during a fintech conference sponsored by Cyberport, a technology hub of more than 700 members owned by the Hong Kong SAR government. Speakers at the Blockchain Strategies for Business conference in Hong Kong focused on the technology’s transformational potential, practical […]

The post Blockchain To Transform Fintech, Speakers Note At Hong Kong Technology Conference appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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

TransferWise, the international money transfer firm, has been granted direct access to the UK's Faster Payments Service (FPS) via a partnership with private UK bank Raphaels Bank.

FPS enables payments within the UK to be made instantly at any time. TransferWise is currently testing the integration, and a full launch is expected later this summer. 

Direct access to FPS gives TransferWise a number of advantages:

• Better service for UK customers. TransferWise will be able to initiate transfers for UK customers as soon as it receives the funds from the customer's bank, including overnight or on weekends. Previously, TransferWise could only send or receive customers' money during regular banking hours. It's worth noting that FPS does not enable instant international payments, so these transfers could still take a number of days.  
• It's no longer reliant on banks' infrastructure. TransferWise's direct integration to FPS means its payments no longer rely on a third-party bank. This means that TransferWise can now avoid delays caused by the policy of a third party or downtime. 

TransferWise's long-term aim is to take advantage of the Bank of England's plan to open up settlement accounts to nonbanks. Right now, nonbanks can only access settlement services via one of four agent banks. Having their own settlement accounts would allow fintechs like TransferWise to be completely independent of legacy banks, likely resulting in a significant increase in competition in the financial services industry. 

That competition is driving 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 »

Credit Suisse has identified what it sees as 8 "key challenges" for the mainstream adoption of blockchain, the innovative database technology first developed to underpin digital currency Bitcoin.

Banks and financial institutions have been going crazy for blockchain technology over the last year and a half.

Institutions are spending thousands on proof of concepts using the technology, issuing countless white papers, and joining industry-wide bodies to figure out how to use the protocol.

Blockchain, also known as distributed ledger technology, is a kind of decentralised database system. Instead of one central database of who owns what in a settlement house somewhere and duplicate records in banks based on this master ledger, blockchain is a network of identical databases that talk to each other and are updated simultaneously.

Every time someone wants to make a change or add something onto the blockchain, the majority of members of the network must sign off on it. This cuts out the need for middle men in transactions, because the fact that everyone signs off means trust is built into the system. Bitcoin's original blockchain is used to record bitcoin transactions — but the tech could theoretically be used to record just about anything.

In essence, blockchain helps cut out a lot of admin, and has the possibility to reduce costs and increase simplicity in finance. Goldman Sachs went as far to say that blockchain has the potential to "change, well, everything."

But in a note on the technology sent to clients this week, Credit Suisse analysts Charles Brennan and William Lunn says they are "less sanguine" about the technology, and identify 8 key barriers to blockchain's successful transition from interesting, leftfield technology to mainstream, financial services core technology.

They are:

1. Security vs Cost trade-off: Basically, the current set-up either means your blockchain is cheap but risky or expensive and secure. In bitcoin's blockchain, the integrity of the records is guaranteed by the fact that the majority of the network are signing off on each transaction — more eyes are inspecting it. Bitcoin incentivises this by rewarding people with bitcoin for the job of inspecting and cryptographically sealing off the transactions. This is costly. Permissioned networks are the alternative and operate like a private members club. There's a doorman but once you're in, you can do what you want on the network. The fact that there are fewer people on the network means there's less oversight of transactions and potentially room for abuse by one of the members.
2. Do you actually need blockchain? Credit Suisse says: "'If it ain't broke, don't fix it,' for a blockchain to be relevant you must: (1) require a database, (2) need shared write access, (3) have unknown writers whose interests are not unified, and (4) not trust a third party to maintain the integrity of the data."
3. Critical mass is essential: Blockchain is, after all, a network. What use is it being the first one to join if you can only really use it when there are lots of members? There is some progress on this problem with various industry-wide bodies, such as R3 and the Hyperledger foundation, but getting people together is one thing — getting them to agree and work together is another.
4. The input problem: Pretty much the same as problem one. A blockchain is only as good as the information on it, and so far good processes haven't been developed for vetting anything other than bitcoin transactions. Vetting people who are allowed on the chain needs to be sorted too.
5. Hackable: The more people on the network, the more entry points, and the more vulnerabilities for hackers. Of course, part of blockchains appeal is that once data is logged it can't be changed but bad actors could place false trades, for example. Even proprietary data about who's trading what with who could be valuable.
6. You have to see it to believe it: Credit Suisse writes: "Although identity can be encrypted relatively easily on a blockchain, transaction data are not for the simple reason that nodes have to see it to verify it. This may be an issue for those concerned about data privacy."
7. Identity problems: Basically, what if you lose the private key that unlocks ownership of a specific asset registered on the blockchain? Credit Suisse: "The issue with bearer instruments is you can lose them; cash being the most salient example. A better solution to reconciling on and off-chain identity appears necessary."
8. The DAO attack: The Decentralised Autonomous Organisation, which holds hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital currency Ethereum, was hacked in June, forcing it to "fork" its network to stop thieves taking more. But the problem is Ethereum, like bitcoin, is a decentralized network and so needed the consensus of the community before it could make the immediate change. Credit Suisse says: "The 'hard fork' undertaken by the Ethereum community also shows that blockchains are only immutable when consensus wants them to be."

Despite all the above, Credit Suisse says they see blockchain as potentially "disruptive" technology that should be embraced. Just don't get too caught up in the hype.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: TONY ROBBINS: Here’s the secret to investing like hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones

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

IBM is reportedly in early-stage talks to purchase iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) firm Revel Systems, according to sources that spoke with Bloomberg.

Though both companies refused to comment, IBM could begin running trials of Revel’s product, which is used at retailers including Cinnabon and Goodwill, later this year. Revel was valued above $500 million following a $13.5 million funding round last August. 

The sale could help IBM break into a fast-growing and lucrative segment of the payments industry.

• Buying Revel could help IBM regain a share of the payments hardware business. In 2012, the firm sold its POS terminal business to Toshiba for over $800 million, according to Bloomberg. As card payments continue to become more popular, buying Revel could help IBM build a new stream of revenue.
• Revel in particular has some features that make it a lucrative purchase. As the mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) industry becomes more competitive, top players are doubling down on their software and services offerings in order to grow their revenue and keep clients loyal — for example, Square's software and data revenue segment grew 197% year-over-year (YoY) in Q1 2016. Revel offers many of these services, including scheduling, payroll, inventory, and shipping and delivery functionality. These offerings could make Revel, and by proxy IBM, competitive with other processors, mPOS providers, and software firms immediately upon entering the space. 

Revel is just one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which contains processors, card networks, and more.

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, 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 »

Following the recent hack at Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is considering whether or not to supervise the cryptocurrency, according to an expert. CCN recently reported that around 120,000 bitcoins valued at approximately $65 million were stolen after a breach of security saw the bitcoin exchange shutting down […]

The post Bitcoin Could Be Supervised by Hong Kong Authority Following Bitfinex Hack, Says Expert appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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

US-based processor Vantiv announced the launch of PaymentsEdge Advisory Services for Integrated Payments, a “channel-focused business advisory service.”

PaymentsEdge will give Vantiv partners, including financial institutions, resellers, and independent software vendors (ISVs), tools that help with business functions like employee management, leadership development, and change management, in order to help these partners function more effectively. The new program is part of Vantiv’s Xcelerator Solutions, a program designed to “optimize partner portfolio revenue growth and attract new customers.” 

Helping vendors improve their capability to sell ultimately helps Vantiv grow its own business. The new program focuses on financial institutions, resellers, and ISVs, which then supply or sell Vantiv’s processing services to their own merchant clients. Helping these firms strengthen their capabilities will then allow them to attract new customers, expand their portfolios, or bolster sales channels.

That then puts more potential clients into Vantiv’s prospect pool, which ultimately expands the firm’s reach and could help it continue to scale. Vantiv has a key incentive to do that, since it was the second-largest US payment acquirer in 2015, and could use client acquisition as a tool to push closer to or into the top spot. 

This could help accelerate Vantiv’s growth trends. In its Q2 2016 earnings call, Vantiv noted that it has been able to differentiate itself and grow its business across channels because of its scale, omnichannel capabilities, and “unique value-added services.” Using PaymentsEdge to help sellers more easily acquire new merchants, and then keeping those merchants by providing them with an array of tools will help Vantiv continue to scale and grow its market share.

Vantiv is one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which contains processors, card networks, and more. 

Evan Bakker and John Heggestuen, analysts at BI Intelligence, 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 »

Digital currency exchange Bitfinex is planning to slowly re-enable user access following its announcement that it had been hacked and robbed of nearly 120,000 bitcoins. The exchange reiterated past statements that it was in the process of bringing the exchange online and allowing users to check their balances, and that trading, withdrawals and deposits would remain suspended. […]

Moon Express is the first private company to get permission from the U.S. government to go to the moon, Facebook shows us its “Area 404” hardware lab, Tesla delivers 14,402 vehicles in Q2 2016, Time Warner takes a 10% stake in Hulu, and bitcoin value drops 20 percent after $70 million worth stolen from Bitfinex. All this on Crunch Report. Read More

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex said late on Wednesday that after a security breach on its website it will temporarily disable trading, deposits and withdrawals.

The announcement was made on its website.

Bitfinex also said it was working to restore limited service to its trading platform. The firm runs one of the largest exchanges for trading bitcoin and other digital currencies such as ether, and litecoin.

On Tuesday, Bitfinex announced it discovered a security breach, with about 120,000 bitcoins, or roughly $70 million, stolen from customer accounts.

The company said only the bitcoins were stolen.

The theft at Bitfinex is the second largest bitcoin heist from an exchange since Tokyo's MtGox lost about $350 million bitcoins in early 2014. MtGox's loss eventually forced it to file for bankruptcy protection.

"To accommodate the relaunch, all withdrawals, open orders, and open funding offers will be canceled," said Bitfinex. "Furthermore, in order to compute losses for relevant parties, settlement of all financed positions will occur in all accounts."

Zane Tackett, Bitfinex's director of community and product development, said on social media website Reddit that the company is "settling all positions, not liquidating."

He added that the investigation on the bitcoin theft is still ongoing.

The bitcoin price fell significantly in the aftermath of Tuesday's security breach. On Tuesday, after Bitfinex confirmed the theft, bitcoin fell 11 percent. It has since recovered, and last traded at $566.79 on the BitStamp platform.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sandra Maler)

Join the conversation about this story »

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex said late on Wednesday that after a security breach on its website it will temporarily disable trading, deposits and withdrawals.

The announcement was made on its website.

Bitfinex also said it was working to restore limited service to its trading platform. The firm runs one of the largest exchanges for trading bitcoin and other digital currencies such as ether, and litecoin.

On Tuesday, Bitfinex announced it discovered a security breach, with about 120,000 bitcoins, or roughly $70 million, stolen from customer accounts.

The company said only the bitcoins were stolen.

The theft at Bitfinex is the second largest bitcoin heist from an exchange since Tokyo's MtGox lost about $350 million bitcoins in early 2014. MtGox's loss eventually forced it to file for bankruptcy protection.

"To accommodate the relaunch, all withdrawals, open orders, and open funding offers will be canceled," said Bitfinex. "Furthermore, in order to compute losses for relevant parties, settlement of all financed positions will occur in all accounts."

Zane Tackett, Bitfinex's director of community and product development, said on social media website Reddit that the company is "settling all positions, not liquidating."

He added that the investigation on the bitcoin theft is still ongoing.

The bitcoin price fell significantly in the aftermath of Tuesday's security breach. On Tuesday, after Bitfinex confirmed the theft, bitcoin fell 11 percent. It has since recovered, and last traded at $566.79 on the BitStamp platform.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sandra Maler)

Join the conversation about this story »