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More than $100,000 worth of digital currency tied to ethereum’s biggest hack has been successfully converted into bitcoin.

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Apptrade, a US start-up based in California, has revealed to potential investors attending the CoinAgenda bitcoin and cryptocurrency conference in Las Vegas that is creating and cooking up what the fledgling fintech describes as the ‘Stockmarket of Apps’, complete with “regulatory tools and compliance” mechanisms. Presenting to this year’s CoinAgenda event [...]

The CME Group is launching two previously announced bitcoin price benchmarks next month.

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Although the US still trails far behind Europe in its number of digital challenger banks, more are starting to join the ranks.

The latest is MemoryBank, a national, digital-only subdivision of incumbent Republic Bank & Trust Company, that launched on Tuesday. 

MemoryBank's first product is a high-yield account with checking services. The account has a 1% annual percentage yield and offers an additional 0.5% on all deposits for the first year — returns the bank claims are 30 times higher than the national average interest checking rate.

In order to qualify for these rates, users must have at least one direct deposit come into the account per statement cycle, make at least 20 debit card transactions per month, and receive online statements. The bank charges no fees for everyday banking transactions and offers biometric security, including fingerprint and eye scans, push notifications, smartphone deposits by uploading photos of checks, online bill payments, and P2P payments via Popmoney. Customers can open an account in minutes.

It remains to be seen whether this high-return strategy will be sustainable. Santander UKlaunched an alike product, the 123 Account, in 2012. However, in August, it seemed to be struggling to keep up with customer demand — it slashed its interest rates and upped its monthly fees from £5 ($6) to £10 ($12).

Santander's experience suggests that MemoryBank could face a similar problem, especially considering the dearth of digital-only banks in the US and shortage of such offerings. But MemoryBank is offering a much lower return rate than Santander, and its brand is less well-known, so the venture may prove more sustainable. Given that Santander UK was also affected by UK interest rate cuts, while interest rates have gone up in the US, MemoryBank does not face additional rate pressure.

Digital-only banks such as MemoryBank demonstrate how 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, senior 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.

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Synechron, a consulting services and technology provider specializing in the financial services market, has announced a partnership with...

The post New Partnership With ConsenSys and BlockApps to Boost Synechron’s Blockchain Accelerator Program appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The Australian government is looking to update its anti-money laundering laws to include bitcoin and other digital currency exchanges.

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Print section Print Rubric:  Another crypto-currency is born Print Headline:  Known unknown Print Fly Title:  Digital money UK Only Article:  standard article Issue:  Liberty moves north Fly Title:  Digital money Main image:  20161029_FND002_0.jpg COMPETITION between currencies is the stuff libertarian dreams are made on—and central bankers’ nightmares too. Already digital monies, in particular Bitcoin and Ethereum, are rivals. On October 28th a new crypto-currency will join the fray: Zcash. Many such “altcoins” are dubious affairs and don’t add much. But this one brings important innovations. Zcash is based on Bitcoin’s code, but its creators, a bunch of cryptography researchers, have tweaked it. The new digital cash is minted more quickly and the system can handle more transactions. This makes for more liquidity and shorter transaction times, says Zooko Wilcox, ...

Print section Print Rubric:  Another crypto-currency is born Print Headline:  Known unknown Print Fly Title:  Digital money UK Only Article:  standard article Issue:  Liberty moves north Fly Title:  Digital money Main image:  20161029_FND002_0.jpg COMPETITION between currencies is the stuff libertarian dreams are made on—and central bankers’ nightmares too. Already digital monies, in particular Bitcoin and Ethereum, are rivals. On October 28th a new crypto-currency will join the fray: Zcash. Many such “altcoins” are dubious affairs and don’t add much. But this one brings important innovations. Zcash is based on Bitcoin’s code, but its creators, a bunch of cryptography researchers, have tweaked it. The new digital cash is minted more quickly and the system can handle more transactions. This makes for more liquidity and shorter transaction times, says Zooko Wilcox, ...

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