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The ban of all bitcoin and virtual currency-related advertising from the online portals of China’s largest search engine, Baidu, has thrown the fate of cryptocurrencies into a dicey state in the world’s largest market for bitcoin trading and mining. As China literally controls the bitcoin market, this move is likely to have a multiplier effect on the entire ecosystem. Though the reported […]

The post Baidu Ban Makes Bitcoin’s Fate Unknown in Its Largest Market appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

It has been half a year since the now infamous bank heist that saw the Bangladesh Central Bank lose over $80 million from its New York Federal Reserve account. Hackers were able to exploit the bank’s lax security framework with SWIFT transfers, at the time. Things haven’t changed much, SWIFT privately disclosed to its client […]

The post Banks Still Losing Money through SWIFT Attacks appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

15 winners have been selected by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) following its blockchain research challenge. Announced last month, the HHS sought whitepapers as a part of the “Use of Blockchain in Health IT and Health-related Research Challenge”, […]

The post US Health Department Blockchain Research Contest Sees 15 Winners appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

This September, blockchain hubs across North America will be giving out bitcoin to begin the next school year. Over a dozen regions...

The post Back to School: Blockchain Education Network to Host Global Bitcoin Airdrop appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

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

Many fintechs rely on partner banks to perform certain functions, like providing access to financial systems or the ability to hold deposits.

That's because getting their own licences for these activities is complex and can be expensive due to capital requirements and, in the US, the need to get multiple licences to operate in different states. But some fintechs have decided it's worth the hassle — including UK money transfer fintech TransferWise, which is looking to move away from its banking partners and acquire state licences in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, other fintechs, including UK digital-only bank Monzo and German competitor N26, are getting full banking licences.

There are a number of reasons why fintechs likely believe the financial outlay and cumbersome process are worth it:

• Reduced complexity. Having a licence that allows it to hold deposits or directly access systems means that a fintech can control a customer's end-to-end journey. For TransferWise, state licences would enable it to register to perform its own know-your-customer checks, and thus cut out a step in the customer journey. This would likely reduce complexity, which could help speed up transfers. 
• Ability to offer a wider range of products. With its own banking licence, Monzo can offer products like savings accounts and overdrafts. Meanwhile, TransferWise said its state licences would enable it to "potentially offer a wider range of features," according to the Wall Street Journal. 
• Reduced ongoing cost. Licences may be expensive initially, but relying on a third-party typically involves paying them a recurring fee. This is particularly important for TransferWise, which competes with other providers aggressively on price but operates asimilar business model, suggesting that it is absorbing higher costs. By finding ways to reduce overhead costs, its pricing strategy may become more sustainable. 
• No reliance on third parties for compliance. TransferWise recently partnered with Raphaels Bank in the UK to get access to Faster Payments — but it later emerged that the bank had previously been fined for compliance issues. TransferWise plans to move away from Raphaels Bank once the UK central bank enables it to access systems directly. For fintechs, having their own licences puts them in control of their own compliance, and protects them from any disruption of service caused by regulatory issues on their partner's end.

Obtaining their own licences makes fintechs more independent, and provides them with greater freedom to differentiate their products and services from legacy providers, which could lead to significantly increased competition in the financial services industry. We expect to see more fintechs using this strategy, especially as some regulators launch services designed to help fintechs get licensed more easily — like the UK regulator's Innovation Hub. 

As this situation unfolds, keep in mind 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 »

The Bank of Canada has published a new staff working paper on the valuation of digital currencies like bitcoin.

Bitcoin price pulls lower toward horizontal support near $560. The outlook remains that the market is engaged in a sideways base formation prior to advance. 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: 14h00 UTC Wednesday Bitstamp […]

The post Bitcoin Price Consolidation Holds Course appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The final pieces of the WWE 2K17 roster have been added. The latest batch is highlighted by NXT Women's Champion Asuka.

In 2015 Bitcoin Magazine covered the launch of the fintech company Symbiont, focused on fostering a symbiotic relationship between...

The post Wall Street Veteran Caitlin Long Joins Symbiont; Touts “Better Technology” appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The value of Monero has more than tripled in the last ten days moving from around $2.47 to $8.10 as at the time of this publication. Described as the new digital currency that online drug-dealers have started to adopt because it enables them to conduct business with more anonymity, the price of two-year-old Monero skyrocketed lately, […]

The post Untraceable Cryptocurrency Monero is Booming appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

DirectBet, the leading Cryptocurrency Sportsbook, Racebook & Casino, is now accepting Ethereum and is the first major company to accept Ether as a coin. “We are now seeing lots of Ethereum enthusiasts betting with their Ether on Sports, Horse Racing, Politics and other special events such as the Eurovision, as well as playing our provably […]

The post DirectBet Sees Influx of Ethereum Bettors appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

  MetLife Inc., one of the largest insurers in the world has joined the R3-led blockchain consortium that now counts 60 of the world’s largest financial institutions. Insurance giant MetLife is the latest financial institution to join the financial private blockchain consortium led by New York-based startup R3. MetLife will partner and interact with other […]

The post R3 Blockchain Consortium Sees American Insurance Giant MetLife Join Ranks appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

While bitcoin prices have enjoyed relative calm in recent weeks, analysts believe new forces could soon fuel sharp price gains.

Apple Inc. is battling with five of Australia’s banks that are seeking to negotiate collectively with Apple for access to its mobile payment technology. Over the last several months, the banks have complained Apple is not permitting access to mobile payment technology. Commonwealth Bank of Austrailia, National Australia Bank, Westpac Banking Corporation, Adelaide Bank and Bendigo have applied […]

The post Apple Battles Australian Banks over Access to Apple Pay Platform 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.

RushCard, one of the largest US prepaid card providers, is rolling out a new set of advanced features to clients, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The offerings include a new mobile app, added security features like Touch ID and the ability to remotely disable accounts, and a Walmart-based prescription refill program, according to Fast Company.

The news comes in the wake of a technical glitch in October 2015 that left users locked out of their accounts for up to two weeks and forced RushCard to pay a settlement of more than $19 million. Adding advanced features could give RushCard a needed brand reputation boost, since it helps improve the firm's user experience, the key area in which it's been struggling. 

The new features could also be aimed at affluent consumers, which is a growing population in the prepaid space. RushCard’s parent company named a new CEO in July, reportedly as part of an attempt to accelerate the launch of new products potentially targeted at more affluent consumers. Here's why these features could help attract that population: 

• The new features more closely resemble those of a traditional checking account or credit card. As of January, 608 financial institutions in the US offered fingerprint authentication in their mobile banking apps, up from just 252 in October 2015, indicating that it’s a feature that’s becoming more popular and commonplace. As consumers’ prepaid card use more closely resembles checking account usage — 43% of customers have paychecks directly deposited onto cards, and 75% reload cards on a regular basis — it’s logical that prepaid firms would seek to more closely resemble checking accounts as a service.
• It could also draw in business from clients looking for these offerings. Prepaid cards are generally thought to be primarily for the financially underserved. But prepaid usage is growing, and cards are evenly distributed among all income levels. The new features that RushCard is debuting could help it grab a share of the growing segment of banked prepaid users.   

Prepaid cards are just one piece of the broader payments ecosystem, which includes issuers, merchants, 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 »