Coin News

A food truck that specializes in Vietnamese, French and vegetarian food in Keene, N.H. accepts bitcoin, according to Free Keene, a pro-decentralization and pro-bitcoin organization in New Hampshire, a very independence-minded state in the U.S. The food truck features a bitcoin sign and may be the first food truck in the U.S. to accept bitcoin. […]

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Two competing Bitcoin forums on popular social media website strike a startlingly different tone when it comes to one of the most popular and influential corporations in the Bitcoin industry: Coinbase. Bitcoiners like to express disdain for leading Bitcoin wallet service and exchange Coinbase on r/Bitcoin, the Bitcoin forum moderated by the controversial administrator Theymos, […]

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Longtime blockchain developer and enthusiast has warned blockchains could bring about a dystopia in new essay. Stefan Thomas, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple Labs, a leading private and public ledger company, wrote an essay titled “The Subtle Tyranny of Blockchain.” The blockchain industry, he writes, foresees a blockchain revolution across a swathe of industries like […]

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Longtime blockchain developer and enthusiast has warned blockchains could bring about a dystopia in new essay. Stefan Thomas, Chief Technology Officer at Ripple Labs, a leading private and public ledger company, wrote an essay titled “The Subtle Tyranny of Blockchain.” The blockchain industry, he writes, foresees a blockchain revolution across a swathe of industries like […]

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After significant growth in Q1 2016, global VC-backed fintech funding in Q2 2016 dropped back to levels closer to those seen in Q4 2015, according to data from KPMG and CB Insights. 

Funding reached $2.5 billion in Q2 2016, down 49% from $4.9 billion Q1 2016, and down 52% from $5.2 billion in Q2 2015. Deal numbers in Q2 also declined to 195 from 221 in Q1, and 218 in Q2 last year. The data only includes VC-backed funding rounds, and therefore doesn't count other sources of fintech funding — Ant Financial's $4.5 billion round in April is excluded, for example. 

Here are the key events in fintech funding from Q2 2016:

• A lack of super rounds drove the overall decline. In Q1, Chinese fintech Lu.com raised $1.2 billion, and JD Finance, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant JD.com, raised $1.0 billion. Without these deals, fintech funding in Q1 would have been $2.7 billion. This suggests that fintech funding is actually plateauing. 
• In the US, insurtech and alt lending continue to win. US insurtech saw a boost in Q1 when health insurer Oscar attracted $400 million in funding, and in Q2 another health insurer Clover continued the trend with a smaller but still significant $160 million round. Alt lender Affirm raised $100 million. 
• German fintechs raised more than UK fintechs for the first time. VC-backed fintech deals in Germany reached $186 million in Q2, 45% more than the $102 million pulled in by deals in the UK. The three largest European VC-backed funding rounds were raised by German fintechs — alt lender Finanzcheck raised $46 million, digital-only bank N26 raised $40 million, and payments firm Aevi raised $34 million. UK fintech funding could have been affected by Brexit uncertainty, while Germany is increasingly establishing its credentials as a fintech hub with government support. 

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.

Over 3 million Bank of America small business customers can now directly enroll in Viewpost's digital invoicing network to securely exchange electronic invoices and payments at no or low cost, according to the Orlando Business Journal.

Bank of America and Viewpost initially partnered in late 2015, but only added a direct enrollment option, which will help onboard customers faster, this week. Bank of America is Viewpost’s third bank partner, following Fifth Third Bank and US Bank, but the first to offer direct enrollment. 

The addition of simple, digital B2B payment options solves small business pain points.Most small businesses don’t use advanced accounting software or send out electronic invoices, Viewpost CEO Max Eliscu told BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service.

That’s likely because full-service solutions are often too expensive for smaller platforms to use, which pushes them to other options that tend to be time-consuming and limit payment visibility and transparency. Viewpost’s platform helps resolve many of those issues, which in turn makes it easier for small businesses to focus on other things.

Investing in these types of services ultimately helps Bank of America.

• Adding these services meets customer needs. Small businesses are interested in electronic options to better understand invoicing, payments, and other critical functions, according to Eliscu. Meeting these needs pleases customers, which in turn could make them more loyal and reduce churn.
• Banks can turn that satisfaction into revenue. Platforms like Viewpost also gives banks better access to information about their customers' needs in real time, Eliscu told BI Intelligence. Banks can then leverage that knowledge to offer specific products, like loans or consultative advice, in a targeted way so that merchants are more likely to accept. That could grow sales of lucrative services like loans, which ultimately allows banks to capitalize on client needs and boost their own business. 

Business-to-business transacations are just one piece of the broader payments ecosystem, which includes card networks, issuers, vendors, acquirers, processors, 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 »

In an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor, more needs to be done to attract more women to the cybersecurity fields.

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