Coin News

'Big Four' accounting firm Deloitte is now the owner and operator of its first bitcoin ATM.

Less than a week after Jaxx was advised that Apple would not allow Dash to be integrated into its iOS app, the digital currency wallet is...

The post Jaxx Aims to Be "Blockchain Agnostic" With More New Coin Integrations appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Blockchain technology has expanded rapidly in financial markets in the last year, drawing concern among financial regulators. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), an independent European Union authority, has released a paper on distributed ledger technology (DLT) as it applies to securities markets, including the possible benefits and challenges. ESMA believes DLT is expanding in […]

The post Coin Center Tells European Regulators: Be Open To Open Blockchains appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Barclays and Israel-based startup Wave, which has benefitted from the former’s accelerator program, have revealed what they claim as the first global trade transaction using blockchain technology. In an announcement today, Barclays has revealed a successful letter of credit transaction between Ornua, an Irish agriculture co-operative and Seychelles Trading Company a distributor of food products […]

The post Butter and Cheese Make the World’s First Blockchain Trade Finance Transaction appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The second Global Blockchain Summit and International Blockchain Week in Shanghai will take place from September 19-24, 2016, a combined...

The post Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai: "Uniting the Networks" of Blockchain Technology appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

As one of its most important properties and a key selling point, Bitcoin is not controlled by any government, (central) bank or company. Nor...

The post A Primer on Bitcoin Governance, or Why Developers Aren’t in Charge of the Protocol appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Bitcoin price was lagging in the Bitstamp chart at the time of the initial advance. Today it leads to the upside. 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: 15h00 UTC Wednesday Bitstamp 4-Hour Candle Chart From […]

The post Bitcoin Price, Jesus and Judas appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

We know that something is becoming really popular and entering the collective mind when it starts appearing in popular TV shows. Bitcoin has...

The post Fictional Digital Currency GenCoin Premieres in New Crackle Show, StartUp appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

A new report from the SWIFT Institute has found that fiat currencies are more likely to crowd out digital currencies such as bitcoin. The paper, Virtual Currencies: Media of Exchange or Speculative Asset? [PDF] analyses the dynamic relationship between virtual currencies, such as bitcoin, and fiat currencies. The research looked at whether or not the design […]

The post SWIFT Institute Report Summary: Bitcoin Isn’t Going Anywhere Fast 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.

PayPal is entering into a partnership with MasterCard that aims to increase MasterCard usage and boost PayPal's presence in physical stores, according to a press release.

The deal comes on the heels of a similar partnership between PayPal and Visa. Here are the key points from the deal: 

Benefits to MasterCard

• MasterCard will clearly be presented as a payments option in the PayPal wallet and MasterCard's branding will be displayed. 
• PayPal customers will have the option to enable MasterCard as their default payment method within the app. 
• PayPal won't promote ACH as a payment option to MasterCard cardholders any longer. 
• PayPal will use MasterCard to tokenize MasterCard payment information held in the PayPal app. 
• PayPal's Braintree will offer MasterPass as a checkout option. 

Benefits to PayPal

• PayPal will gain undisclosed financial incentives based on the volume of MasterCard transactions it processes. 
• PayPal will no longer have to pay a digital wallet operator fee for MasterCard transactions made using its services. 
• PayPal wallet will be able to be used at over 5 million contactless merchant locations globally. 

Benefits to card issuers

• Card issuers will benefit from transaction level data from MasterCard customers who are using PayPal. 
• MasterCard and PayPal will work together to scout customers who may be willing to move from ACH payments in PayPal to MasterCard payments. 

This is a good strategic decision for PayPal. Card transactions are more expensive for PayPal to process than ACH transactions; that could hurt PayPal's profit in the short term. But PayPal is in a precarious position. PayPal has been a top payment method for e-commerce transactions, but Visa Checkout, Stripe and others are creating more competition for those dollars.

Additionally, PayPal faces stiff competition for in-app purchases from Apple Pay and Android Pay. To continue to grow, PayPal needs to move into physical stores because they represent the largest volume opportunity. In-store transactions accounted for 92% of the $97 billion in US retail transactions in Q2 2016, according to the US Department of Commerce.

The growing partnership between PayPal and MasterCard is one small piece of the continually evolving payments ecosystem, which includes card issuers, merchants, processors, 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 »

Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has, in a public event at the London School of Economics, stated that bitcoin has been “effectively” shut down by the U.S. government.  

The post Nobel Laureate Economist Thinks the US Govt Has ‘Shut Down’ Bitcoin appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Adam Ludwin, CEO of Chain, a company that has developed blockchain protocols for Visa and Capital One, told Fortune Magazine that blockchain’s main purpose is to disrupt financial networks and not the non-financial areas that reports have cited as being disrupted. Ludwin said blockchain is a database for money, and he doesn’t know why people […]

The post Chain CEO Ludwin: Blockchain a Financial Disrupter, Other Uses Marginal appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

In a bid to break away from the U.K. and the pound Scottish Independence supporters have launched the Scotcoin; however, reports suggest that its low value would make the cost of everyday living increase. According to the British newspaper, the Express, the digital Scotcoin is worth less than the Zimbabwean dollar, with 1,000 Scotcoins amounting […]

The post Pro-Independence Cryptocurrency Scotcoin Needs Value Gains appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

New television series cements the digital currency in primetime. Bitcoin has made its way into the popular mind and most recently this can be seen with depictions in television, of which there have been a great many. But, perhaps most interesting, entire series are taking Bitcoin on as the main plot point, further cementing bitcoin’s […]

The post Bitcoin’s Next Frontier: Television appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.