Coin News

Bitcoin Press Release: Vulture Capital introduces various additional benefits for the participants of the ongoing VCAP cryptocurrency crowd sale. August 22, 2016 New York – The cryptocurrency based fundraising arm of New York-based Hedley Productions continues to run a successful VCAP cryptocurrency crowd sale to produce the first ever completely cryptocurrency funded feature film. As […]

The post The Movie Lover’s Cryptocurrency VCAP Offers Much More Than a Return on Investment appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin Press Release: Lisk has made its long-term plans for the blockchain based decentralized applications platform public. The project has five major milestones set with a long list of goals and areas of focus. August 22, 2016 Berlin, Germany – Lisk, the multi-platform blockchain applications platform has announced its future plans in the form of […]

The post Lisk Blockchain Platform Releases its Product Development Roadmap appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin Press Release: TAO Network has partnered with Boogie Shack Music Group to develop Blockchain-based tools and services for the music publishing company. August 22, 2016 Los Angeles, CA – TAO Network, the cryptocurrency based smart contract DAO platform specializing in offering solutions to the music industry has announced its latest partnership with the leading […]

The post TAO Network Partners with Boogie Shack Music Group to Offer Blockchain Solution appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A recent study by Gartner has shown that blockchain has reached the ‘peak of inflated expectations’ phase of the hype cycle as the chief architect of ACI Worldwide states that the distributed ledger technology is not yet able to handle financial transactions at scale. The study by Gartner ‘Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2016,’ found […]

The post Hype Cycle Peaks as ACI States Blockchain Can’t Handle Financial Transactions at Scale 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.

In May of this year, Japan made some regulatory changes to try and encourage the development of its fintech industry.

These included the reduction of investment restrictions for banks that want to invest in fintechs, and the creation of a requirement that virtual currency exchanges be registered with the regulator. Recently, we've seen further signs Japan wants to encourage fintech in the country, and that its strategy is working. 

• Japan's Central Bank is open to using fintech. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda hosted a seminar on fintech this week, and said that the bank is ready to start investigating and promoting fintech, given its potential impact on central banking, according to Reuters. Kuroda also noted that the bank may start to use fintech in its own operations in the future. 
• Further regulatory changes. Last month, a governmental advisory council — called the Financial System Council — started a working group to explore ways to make bank data and systems more accessible to fintechs. The EU already has regulation in place that will soon require banks to enable registered fintechs to access their systems. 
• A new bank consortium to leverage blockchain. Ripple, the US fintech that uses blockchain technology for payments and settlement, entered into a joint venturein January with Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings. It's called SBI Ripple Asia, and last week it announced the creation of a consortium of 15 Japanese banks, which will build a platform using Ripple technology to enable instant national and cross-border payments. It plans to expand the consortium to 30 banks and launch the service in spring 2017.

Japan is diving headlong into 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 "Fintech Briefing" subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

In May of this year, Japan made some regulatory changes to try and encourage the development of its fintech industry.

These included the reduction of investment restrictions for banks that want to invest in fintechs, and the creation of a requirement that virtual currency exchanges be registered with the regulator. Recently, we've seen further signs Japan wants to encourage fintech in the country, and that its strategy is working. 

• Japan's Central Bank is open to using fintech. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda hosted a seminar on fintech this week, and said that the bank is ready to start investigating and promoting fintech, given its potential impact on central banking, according to Reuters. Kuroda also noted that the bank may start to use fintech in its own operations in the future. 
• Further regulatory changes. Last month, a governmental advisory council — called the Financial System Council — started a working group to explore ways to make bank data and systems more accessible to fintechs. The EU already has regulation in place that will soon require banks to enable registered fintechs to access their systems. 
• A new bank consortium to leverage blockchain. Ripple, the US fintech that uses blockchain technology for payments and settlement, entered into a joint venturein January with Japanese financial services giant SBI Holdings. It's called SBI Ripple Asia, and last week it announced the creation of a consortium of 15 Japanese banks, which will build a platform using Ripple technology to enable instant national and cross-border payments. It plans to expand the consortium to 30 banks and launch the service in spring 2017.

Japan is diving headlong into 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 »

An anonymous cryptographer named after Harry Potter’s archenemy has put forth a proposal experts believe could help solve major issues facing bitcoin.

Bitcoin price continues slumping as the smaller timeframe chart indicators continue to swing wildly. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3-hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 13h00 UTC Wednesday Bitstamp 4-Hour Candle Chart From the analysis pages of xbt.social, earlier today: […]

The post Bitcoin Price At The Final Slump? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The modern smartphone is a remarkable device. A single device that fits in your pocket can do all the tasks that once required cameras, camcorders, GPS devices, watches, alarm clocks, calculators, and even TVs.    

But the next change might be the most radical of all—it could eliminate the need to carry cash and credit cards.  

The growing importance of the smartphone as the go-to computing device for every digital activity is having a profound effect everywhere you look, but it’s only the biggest story among many exciting developments in the world of payments:   

• Apple Pay was first out of the gate, but now mobile wallets are everywhere you look—Android Pay, Google Pay, Chase Pay and even Walmart Pay are making smartphones a real alternative to carrying credit cards. And the potential for mobile wallets to limit a merchant’s fraud liability could help them really take off in acceptance for small businesses.   
• As consumers move more purchasing online, gateway vendors that can act as a front-end processor for online businesses are seeing explosive growth.   PayPal-owned Braintree grew 111% YoY in the number of cards on file in Q4 2015, while Stripe and Klarna now have multi-billion dollar valuations.
• Mobile Point-Of-Sale (mPOS) startups like Square and ShopKeep have pioneered a whole new payments niche—accepting payments via tablets and smartphones.   Coupling their transactions capabilities with new apps can revolutionize a small business’ inventory management, marketing, loyalty and even payroll.   
• Mobile Peer-to-Peer payments in the U.S. are forecast to grow from $5.6 billion in 2014 to nearly $175 billion by 2019 as consumers increasingly skip the hassle of writing a check or going to an ATM.   But smartphone vendors like Apple could cripple the dominant player of 2016 (Venmo) if they make a serious push to own the space.   

If your job or your company is involved in payment processing in any way, you know how complex this industry is. And you know that you simply can’t understand where the next big digital opportunities are unless you know the key players and roles in each step of the payments “supply chain:”   

• Acquirers
• Processors
• Issuers
• Card Networks
• Independent sales organizations and merchant service providers
• Gateways
• Hardware and software providers

Fortunately, managing analyst John Heggestuen and research analyst Evan Bakker of BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, have compiled a detailed report that breaks down everything you need to know—whether you’re a payments industry veteran or a newcomer who is still getting a basic knowledge of this complex world.

Among the big picture insights you’ll get from this new report, titled The Payments Ecosystem Report: Everything You Need to Know About The Next Era of Payment Processing:

• The 5 key events of 2015 that have set up 2016 as a watershed year for the entire payments ecosystem. 
• The basics of traditional card processing from the start of the process through to the very end.    
• Why new players and innovations like prepaid cards, store cards, and PIN debit transactions are gaining market share and creating new opportunities.   
• The effects—good and bad—of the transition to new mobile payment methods.   New players and old have surprising threats and opportunities in areas as varied as carrier billing, remittances, wearables, and more.   

This exclusive report takes you inside these big issues to explore:

• The critical steps in credit card transactions and how they are changing.
• The six major types of organizations involved in the payments ecosystem.
• The significant differences for industry players who operate closed-loop networks and offer prepaid cards.
• The challenges and opportunities facing hardware and software providers for the payments sector.   
• The 8 reasons why mobile wallets are growing so fast and how they will disrupt all aspects of the mobile ecosystem.    
• The exciting possibilities ahead in fast-growing payments subsectors like remittances, connected devices and mobile P2P payments.   
• And much more.

The Payments Ecosystem Report: Everything You Need to Know About The Next Era of Payment Processing is the only place you can get the full story on the rapidly-evolving world of payments.

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

1. BEST VALUE:  Join our BI Intelligence INSIGHTS service level and gain immediate access to this report PLUS much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT

Join the conversation about this story »

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

Citigroup is still experiencing hurdles after purchasing the roughly 11 million cardholder Costco portfolio from American Express earlier this summer.

Last week, the firm mistakenly emailed a “small portion” of Costco members telling them that their membership had ended and their cards would be canceled, according to Business Insider. Citigroup has since notified the affected consumers that the message occurred as a result of a “systematic error.”

The error marks another in a series of problems that Citigroup has faced managing the transition.

In the week following the transition, the company fielded multiple complaints from consumers who hadn’t received new cards or were struggling to activate them and couldn’t get the necessary support. Despite that, the portfolio has been performing well, giving Citi $5.7 billion in purchases made on Citi Costco cards in its first three-and-a-half weeks.

But ongoing errors could begin to turn off consumers and increase cardholder attrition, particularly since Costco now accepts any Visa card, not just the Citigroup-branded Costco card. That would limit the potential financial impact of the portfolio, which could give Citi over $80 billion in annual billed business and help it further establish separation as the third largest US card issuer this year.

Citigroup is just one piece of the larger payments ecosystem, which contains card issuers, processors, merchants, gateways, and more.

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 »

Synereo, a Tel-Aviv based company developing a blockchain-based, decentralized social network and a platform allowing web applications to exist without centralized servers, will move into alpha phase this September. The open source social network has been two years in the making and aspires to be the first fully decentralized network based on principles of what […]

The post Synereo Announces Alpha Phase As World’s First Decentralized Social Network appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Blockchain technology has gotten a major boost in Japan as Rakuten has committed itself to the research and development of blockchain...

The post Japanese Banks, E-Commerce Giant Ramp Up Blockchain Development appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

A new study by MIT researchers has provided details on a free bitcoin giveaway conducted at the US university in 2014.

Anthemis, a fintech VC and strategic advisory firm with offices in London and New York, recently held its fifth annual "Hacking Finance Retreat," a get together of fintech founders, big institutions, regulators, academics, and more. The retreat is an opportunity for all parties to get together, chew the fat, and try to work out the future of finance.

Anthemis shared a video it produced a the retreat in the French Alps with BI of its attendees discussing the big issues in finance and fintech today, including Brexit, regulation, and LendingClub's recent crisis.

Here are the highlights:

Brexit

The views are mixed on Brexit. 

Leanne Kemp, founder and CEO of London-based blockchain startup Everledger, says: "Those that focus too much on the effect of politics inside of their company are not busy enough doing work."

Daniel Egan, directors of behavioural finance and investing at US online wealth manager Betterment, says: "Uncertainty is not just a downside, it's also an opportunity to show your value and actually step up to the plate."

But Mike Laven, CEO of London-based Currency Cloud, does not mince words, saying: "This is massively disruptive and anyone who tells you this is an opportunity isn't telling you the truth."

(You can read more about the London fintech communities reaction to Brexit here.)

Blockchain

Another question asked by Anthemis is whether the blockchain hype has peaked.

Banks and financial institutions around the world are investing huge amounts of time and energy into blockchain technology, spending thousands on proof of concepts, issuing countless white papers, and joining industry-wide bodies to figure out how to use the protocol.

Blockchain is a type of database technology first developed to underpin digital currency bitcoin. Instead of one central database of who owns what, blockchain allows for a network of identical, linked databases that talk to each other and are updated simultaneously.

The general consensus at the "Hacking Finance Retreat" is that yes, the blockchain hype is slowly starting to cool off. Casey Kuhlman, CEO of blockchain company Eris Industries, says: "I think we're slowly getting over the peak of blockchain hype."

LendingClub's collapse

LendingClub rocked the worlds of finance and fintech earlier this year with a scandal that claimed the head of its CEO and led to a collapse in share price and a full internal review.

Currency Cloud's Laven believes this crisis will hurt the whole fintech ecosystem, saying: "What's happened with LendingClub is a lack of trust. Anything that threatens credibility is a threat to the concept of trust in our segment."

Future of fintech

As you might expect from a conference of fintech enthusiasts, they are bullish on fintech's future prospects.

Betterment's Egan says: "People thought that things evolve at a constant rate. Actually, evolution happens in punctuated equilibrium. Stuff remains the same for a long time and then some dam breaks through.

"We know that there will be a lot of evolution in a relatively short period of time."

Sean Park, Anthemis' cofounder, says: "Our thesis is that [financial business models] are changing. We are starting to see the tremors from those fundamental changes."

Watch the full video at the top of the page or on YouTube here.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Warren Buffett's sister needs your help giving away millions

I receive the question all the time: can Bitcoin bring something to the table when it comes to cannabis transactions? While many technologists claim this is a very real possibility, the current answer to this is a very strong ‘no.’ This might change in coming months and years, but, for now, that’s the verdict in my […]

The post Would Bitcoin Help the Cannabis Industry? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

South Africa’s central bank is open to the innovation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, the bank’s governor revealed in a speech given in cybersecurity conference in Johannesburg, yesterday. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) organized and hosted a cybersecurity conference in Johannesburg yesterday. While opening the conference, Lesetja Kganyago, the governor of SARB, spoke about […]

The post South African Central Bank Open to Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Tech appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Four banks are teaming up to bring a blockchain inspired clearance and settlement system for worldwide transactions. BNY Mellon, Deutsche Bank, Santander and UBS believe they can launch a commercial blockchain by 2018. The banks work with a blockchain startup called Clearmatics. The Financial Times‘ Martin Arnold reports: “The utility settlement coin, based on a solution […]

The post Four Big Banks Are about to Launch a Blockchain Token Digital Currency appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

A group of people in Australia will trade their excess energy on solar panels using a blockchain to record the transactions. The local Australian startup PowerLedger is in charge of the project in a retirement village in Busselton, Western Australia. The startup explores yet another use case for a burgeoning blockchain technology that proponents argue […]

The post Australians Want to Trade Excess Solar Power on Blockchain appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets on Wednesday.

American International Group (AIG) is in early talks to sell Lloyd's of London's insurance operations to Canada Pension Fund (CPPIB), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. If the deal comes through, it could fetch the insurance conglomerate hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Oil is crashing. Brent is down 1.16% to $49.38 and US crude is down 1.37% to $47.44 at the time of writing (6.30 a.m. BST/1.30 a.m. ET). Prices are falling after an unexpected build in US crude stocks and amid fears that Chinese crude demand could falter as Beijing clamps down on alleged tax evasion in the oil industry.

Mortgage approval numbers are coming. The British Bankers Association (BBA) will announce the number of UK mortgages approved in July at 9.30 a.m. BST (4.30 a.m. ET), giving another signal of how the UK property market has fared post-Brexit vote. Economists are expecting a fall from 40,100 in June to 38,500.

Asian markets are mixed. China's benchmark Shanghai Composite is down 0.04% at the time of writing (6.30 a.m. BST/1.30 a.m. ET), while Japan's Nikkei is up 0.60%, and the Hong Kong Hang Seng is down 0.76%. US stock markets were quiet overnight.

Investors took £5.7 billion ($7.5 billion) out of UK-based stock market funds last month in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, according to latest market figures. The Guardian reports that concerns over the referendum result prompted investors to withdraw £5.7 billion from UK equity funds and a further £470 million ($619.5 million) from property funds in July, according to figures from data company Morningstar.

Four of the world’s biggest banks have teamed up to develop a new form of digital cash that they believe will become an industry standard to clear and settle financial trades over blockchain, the technology underpinning bitcoin. The Financial Times reports that UBS pioneered the “utility settlement coin” and has now joined forces with Deutsche Bank, Santander and BNY Mellon — as well as the broker ICAP — to pitch the idea to central banks, aiming for its first commercial launch by early 2018.

The CEO of one of Australia's biggest foreign exchange companies says the peer-to-peer technology pioneered by fintech startups like TransferWise is "an incomplete model" that only works in "fair weather." OFX Group CEO Richard Kimber told BI: "The major challenge with the business model in peer-to-peer is inherently it assumes you’ve got an equal amount of buyers and sellers is any given currency."

Iron ore, dubbed by Citigroup as one of the hot commodities of 2016, looks set to cool off. Prices may soon sag as supply rises and steel demand fades, the bank said according to Bloomberg, adding to a chorus of forecasters who are calling time on an unexpected rally.

The Tesla Model X and Model S are getting longer ranges and an improved Ludicrous mode thanks to a new battery option, Tesla announced on Tuesday. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla will offer a new 100-kilowatt-hour battery option for the Model S and Model X cars that have new "Ludicrous" modes. The new battery option will extend the range of the Model S to 315 miles per charge, making it the first electric car on the market to exceed 300 miles of range.

Australian carrier Qantas Wednesday posted record annual profits and announced its first payout to shareholders in seven years, staging a turnaround after axing jobs and selling aircraft in an aggressive restructuring. Qantas' results were also boosted by the sharp fall in global oil prices and a less competitive domestic market that has given the firm a stable base of earnings.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: These are the watches worn by the smartest and most powerful men in the world

A total of five people bid on $1.6 million in bitcoin the government auctioned on Monday, according to Inverse, which begs the question: why did so few seek to bid on the last block of bitcoins the government was auctioning from the Silk Road bust of 144,000 bitcoins? The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) auctioned the block […]

The post Final Silk Road Bitcoin Auction: $1.6 Million Value, Draws Only 5 Bidders? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Litecoin prices rose nearly 10% today as word the digital currency would be listed on Coinbase's GDAX exchange spread among traders.