Coin News

Coin Center, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit and advocacy center focusing on public policy issues facing bitcoin and blockchain technology has led an effort that now sees the formation of a Congressional caucus focused on studying the innovation. Washington is buying in to Coin Center’s efforts to help policy-makers understand decentralized, open technologies such as the […]

The post U.S. Congress Sees a Bipartisan Caucus for Bitcoin and Blockchain appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Compliance efforts are a tall task for many financial services and other organizations worldwide. New regulatory requirements are leading to...

The post Kyker’s Rob Leslie on Blockchain and Regulatory Compliance appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

For many, the level of centralization found in the Bitcoin mining ecosystem is the biggest issue for the peer-to-peer digital cash system...

The post Problems Associated With Bitcoin Mining Centralization May Be Overstated appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The Australian Border Force have arrested a 31-year-old Australian man following an investigation that puts him in connection with drugs purchased and imported to the country via the dark net. The Australian Border Force (ABF) and the South Australian Police (SAPOL) have arrested a man alleged to have imported and distributed drugs purchased on the […]

The post Australian Border Police “Well Aware” of Dark Net, Nab Drug Buyer appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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The consultancy's latest study found that financial services providers in emerging economies stand to gain $4.2 trillion in new deposits and could reap annual savings of $400 billion through digitization.

Here are McKinsey's key findings: 

• Financial services providers could attract $4.2 trillion in new deposits, resulting in savings of $400 billion per year. New deposits can be attracted by offering digital wallets and accounts that enable users to receive remittances, salaries, and government benefits electronically rather than in cash. At the same time, shifting from cash to digital payments will reduce the costs associated with cash deposits, withdrawals, and remittances.
• China presents the biggest opportunity. McKinsey projects annual cost savings of $140 billion for financial services providers in this market. Digitization would raise $1.1 trillion in new deposits.
• Financial services providers in India would see the second-largest benefit. Here, annual savings from digitization would amount to $48 billion. New deposits would amount to $799 billion. 

McKinsey also pointed out that this opportunity is not limited to legacy providers. There are also possibilities for fintechs, which could enter emerging markets faster than incumbents since they would not have to digitize first. We think it likely that in addition to ongoing growth in home-grown fintechs in emerging markets, we will start to see Western fintechs moving into these regions to take advantage of the opportunities they present. 

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

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  A group of 8 banks from the R3 blockchain consortium have successfully tested a blockchain prototype developed by Intel by simulating bond transactions. Picking US treasury bonds as the instrument, New York-based private blockchain startup R3 and eight of its member banks from its larger consortium put to test a technology developed by Intel, […]

The post R3, 8 Member Banks Test Intel Blockchain Prototype appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Aesthetic Integration, a London-based fintech that applies “formal verification” to analyze safety and fairness of algorithms in financial markets, recently announced the launch of Imandra Contracts, a solution the company calls the world’s first platform using formal verification for blockchain-backed smart contracts. The announcement was made at the Devcon2 conference as part of International Blockchain […]

The post London Fintech Firm Launches Formal Verification Platform for Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

The Blockchain Education Network, a grassroots non-profit college collective of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and advocates distributed free bitcoin to students in multiple Chicago campuses this weekend.

The post A College Non-Profit Handed Out Free Bitcoin to Students in Chicago appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Needham & Company, LLC, an investment banking and asset management firm, just bumped the estimated value of bitcoin from $655 to $848, due to faster than expected adoption and improving fundamentals, according to Money Morning. The new estimate, an analysis of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), follows Needham’s original bitcoin price prediction in March. Spencer […]

The post Investment Firm Values Bitcoin Price at $848 Over Improving Fundamentals, $2,231 By 2020 appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Press Release: September 21, 2016, HitBTC cryptocurrency exchange adds Siacoin (SC) to the list of traded cryptocurrencies, opening SC/BTC market (https://hitbtc.com/exchange/SC-to-BTC). Siacoin is a new prominent cryptocurrency, used by the Sia network – an actively developed decentralized storage platform. Sia represents a peer-to-peer network that consists of many individual hard disk drives, connected to the […]

The post HitBTC Cryptocurrency Exchange Adds Support for Siacoin appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Press Release: Software Platform Gets A New Name The goal of the Shadow Project is to create an all-in-one software platform for a completely private, decentralized, and free economy. The Shadow Project’s software platform has a new name, Umbra. An umbra is “a region of complete shadow resulting from a total obstruction of light.” Umbra […]

The post Privacy within the Umbra appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

Bitcoin exchange and services firm Coincheck will soon enable Japanese citizens to pay utility bills with bitcoin. Bills will be cheaper, compared to payments made through traditional means. Come November 2016, users in Japan will be able to pay their electricity bills with bitcoin. The feature, called Coincheck Denki (Electricity), stems from a broad new […]

The post Bitcoin Accepted! Japanese Users can Soon Pay Utility Bills with the Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

KeyVendor.net, a bot for trading bitcoin keys used by the Steam entertainment platform, was not able to pay some customers their bitcoin a few days ago on account of a glitch at Coinbase, according to a notice KeyVendor posted on steamcommunity.com. The problem has been resolved, and KeyVendor paid everyone their missing bitcoin an extra 10% […]

The post Steam Key Trading Bot: Coinbase Glitch Caused Missed Bitcoin Payments appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.