Coin News

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• The NFIB's measure of small business optimism reached its highest level in 34 years in November.
• A handful of more specific indexes also climbed to record or near-record levels.

A measure of US small business optimism hit its highest level since 1983 last month, according to a National Federation of Independent Business survey released Tuesday.

The index gained 3.7 points in November, a big jump from the near-record performance seen in the previous month, NFIB data showed. In addition, eight of 10 components posted gains, including a rare 16-point increase in a reading of expected better business conditions.

"Not since the roaring Reagan economy has small business optimism been as high as it was in November," NFIB wrote in its release.

Here are some other key takeaways from the report:

• Job creation plans increased six points in November, "providing more evidence of a strong labor market," said the NFIB
• The number of owners who said it’s a "good time to expand" rose 4 points
• A net 24% of respondents said they plan to create new jobs, up 6 points to a record reading

"We haven’t seen this kind of optimism in 34 years, and we’ve seen it only once in the 44 years that NFIB has been conducting this research," Juanita Duggan, the organization's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Small business owners are exuberant about the economy, and they are ready to lead the U.S. economy in a period of robust growth."

SEE ALSO: A $200 billion quant fund says one of the biggest market concerns over GOP tax reform is a myth

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NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

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The post Analyst: How Bitcoin Price Could Reach $60,000 in the Mid-Term appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

• A penthouse in Miami is selling for the equivalent of about $547,000. 
• The seller is only accepting bitcoin. 
• Bitcoin has surged more than 1,500% this year. 

For 33 bitcoins, this "spectacular" penthouse in Miami could be yours.

That was the equivalent of about $547,000 on Wednesday. 

The one bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment is listed on a number of real estate portals including Redfin, Remax, and Coldwell Banker.

"PRICE? ONLY ACEPTING (sic.) BITCOIN," the listing said. Since Redfin doesn't yet list properties in bitcoin, the $33 listing price fell below its minimum-price threshold, and the apartment was not available for a tour. 

According to public records on Redfin, it was last sold in January 2016 for $315,000 and gained 7.4% annually since then. Justino Ferret, the agent on the property, told Business Insider that this seller is only accepting bitcoin. 

The cryptocurrency has surged more than 1,500% this year against the US dollar as it gained popularity with Wall Street and retail investors. 

On Tuesday, Joseph Borg, a securities regulator, told CNBC that he had seen mortgages being taken out to buy bitcoin. Borg likely was specifically referring to a home-equity line of credit, which allows homeowners to loan from their property's value for other purposes. The idea of using a house as an ATM machine grew in popularity as the housing bubble peaked in the mid-2000's.

Converting home equity to bitcoins is not advisable, said Nela Richardson, the chief economist at Redfin.

"You're taking money out of an asset class that is highly regulated and putting it into something whose value is based on no regulations," she told Business Insider. 

"We think this home for sale is more of a rare event than the start of a larger trend," she added. 

SEE ALSO: Bitcoin bull Tom Lee has identified 12 stocks that are perfect if you don’t want to own it

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NOW WATCH: Here's what bitcoin futures could mean for the price of bitcoin

[…]

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• Stockpile is a company that sells gift cards that can be redeemed for stock.
• The company also allows users to buy fractional shares, which it says makes trading more affordable.
• These two features have led Stockpile to have a fairly young user base that is trading stocks earlier than ever.

Gift cards have come to embody the lazy gift, the one for the relatives you don't really know and the colleague you drew in Secret Santa. But, what if buying a gift card was just the start of a gift that could potentially last a lifetime?

For Avi Lele, that's exactly what his company is trying to do. Stockpile is a FINRA licensed stock broker that is bringing stock picking to the masses, in the form of gift cards.

"A few Christmases ago, I wanted to get my nieces and nephews something a little bit different than what I had been getting them every year, which was toys and clothes," Lele told Markets Insider. "I said, 'Hey what if I give them stock in their favorite companies instead.'"

Lele tried to gift them stocks, but short of getting their social security numbers and opening a traditional brokerage account in their name, there wasn't a lot he could do. Besides, the stocks they wanted were some of the hottest tech names on the market and each cost several hundred dollars per share. It was that frustration that led Lele to start Stockpile.

Seven years and $45 million of funding later, Stockpile gift cards can be found at a number of major retailers like Target and Wegman's. Turn one of the gift cards over and scratch off the lotto-like grey material to reveal a code that the recipient can enter in Stockpile's app to redeem.

Perhaps more intriguing than the gift cards, is the ability to buy fractions of a share through Stockpile. Amazon is a company everyone knows, but at around $1,200 a share, one that not everyone can afford. Stockpile allows its users to invest in fractional shares of companies. You can buy one-tenth of a share of Amazon for $120, or one-half of a share of Apple for about $85.

A fractional share more or less works like a full one would. If a full share goes up in value by 10% in a day, so does the fractional share. Dividends are paid to shareholders according to the number of shares they own. If you only own half a share, you only get half the dividend payment. You can't vote in company elections with fractional shares though, according to the company's terms of service.

To make that all possible, Stockpile will buy a full share of the desired company and hold onto the remaining fractional share until it can use it to fill another user's order.

"You don't have to bottom fish for cheap penny stocks, or other bad investments," Lele said. "Every stock is in your price range."

Lele said the lower barrier to entry has attracted a unique set of users. Stockpile has more female users than other brokerages, but is still about 60% male. Users are a lot younger than traditional investors too, according to Lele. 65% of accounts are owned by millennials.

"Our youngest investors are literally a few weeks old because their mom got a gift card for a baby shower," Lele said.

The younger demographic on Stockpile tends to lean towards tech stocks. The most popular holdings on Stockpile include names like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Google.

The concentration of younger users is what sparked a newer section of the app devoted to teaching stock market fundamentals. Short articles on things like market cap and the S&P 500 help users expand their knowledge of the market and invest in smarter ways. Anecdotally, Lele says he sees accounts that start with a gift of stock and eventually end up investing in more complicated products like exchange-traded funds.

"We have some young investors that have started amassing some serious money. their lawn mowing money, their babysitting money, their bar mitzvah loot, all of that adds up to a pretty significant account," he added.

Lele hopes that Stockpile can help millennials invest for their future better than he did. He said being intimidated by the process led him to invest too little, too late.

Lele declined to provide information about the number of users or disclose how well they tend to do on the app. What he did say though, was that he was a bit envious of the returns from his young users.

"The millennial generation tends to spot things early," Lele said. "The Peter Lynch principal, buy what you know. Millennials know. I think they are in the know more than we are, more than I am. I'm not a millennial, wish I was."

Read more about how bitcoin might be like a bubble from the 1600s.

SEE ALSO: There's a lot to learn about bitcoin from looking at the tulip bulb bubble

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to buy and sell bitcoin using one of the most popular cryptocurrency apps on the iPhone

• Stockpile is a company that sells gift cards that can be redeemed for stock.
• The company also allows users to buy fractional shares, which it says makes trading more affordable.
• These two features have led Stockpile to have a fairly young user base that is trading stocks earlier than ever.

Gift cards have come to embody the lazy gift, the one for the relatives you don't really know and the colleague you drew in Secret Santa. But, what if buying a gift card was just the start of a gift that could potentially last a lifetime?

For Avi Lele, that's exactly what his company is trying to do. Stockpile is a FINRA licensed stock broker that is bringing stock picking to the masses, in the form of gift cards.

"A few Christmases ago, I wanted to get my nieces and nephews something a little bit different than what I had been getting them every year, which was toys and clothes," Lele told Markets Insider. "I said, 'Hey what if I give them stock in their favorite companies instead.'"

Lele tried to gift them stocks, but short of getting their social security numbers and opening a traditional brokerage account in their name, there wasn't a lot he could do. Besides, the stocks they wanted were some of the hottest tech names on the market and each cost several hundred dollars per share. It was that frustration that led Lele to start Stockpile.

Seven years and $45 million of funding later, Stockpile gift cards can be found at a number of major retailers like Target and Wegman's. Turn one of the gift cards over and scratch off the lotto-like grey material to reveal a code that the recipient can enter in Stockpile's app to redeem.

Perhaps more intriguing than the gift cards, is the ability to buy fractions of a share through Stockpile. Amazon is a company everyone knows, but at around $1,200 a share, one that not everyone can afford. Stockpile allows its users to invest in fractional shares of companies. You can buy one-tenth of a share of Amazon for $120, or one-half of a share of Apple for about $85.

A fractional share more or less works like a full one would. If a full share goes up in value by 10% in a day, so does the fractional share. Dividends are paid to shareholders according to the number of shares they own. If you only own half a share, you only get half the dividend payment. You can't vote in company elections with fractional shares though, according to the company's terms of service.

To make that all possible, Stockpile will buy a full share of the desired company and hold onto the remaining fractional share until it can use it to fill another user's order.

"You don't have to bottom fish for cheap penny stocks, or other bad investments," Lele said. "Every stock is in your price range."

Lele said the lower barrier to entry has attracted a unique set of users. Stockpile has more female users than other brokerages, but is still about 60% male. Users are a lot younger than traditional investors too, according to Lele. 65% of accounts are owned by millennials.

"Our youngest investors are literally a few weeks old because their mom got a gift card for a baby shower," Lele said.

The younger demographic on Stockpile tends to lean towards tech stocks. The most popular holdings on Stockpile include names like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Google.

The concentration of younger users is what sparked a newer section of the app devoted to teaching stock market fundamentals. Short articles on things like market cap and the S&P 500 help users expand their knowledge of the market and invest in smarter ways. Anecdotally, Lele says he sees accounts that start with a gift of stock and eventually end up investing in more complicated products like exchange-traded funds.

"We have some young investors that have started amassing some serious money. their lawn mowing money, their babysitting money, their bar mitzvah loot, all of that adds up to a pretty significant account," he added.

Lele hopes that Stockpile can help millennials invest for their future better than he did. He said being intimidated by the process led him to invest too little, too late.

Lele declined to provide information about the number of users or disclose how well they tend to do on the app. What he did say though, was that he was a bit envious of the returns from his young users.

"The millennial generation tends to spot things early," Lele said. "The Peter Lynch principal, buy what you know. Millennials know. I think they are in the know more than we are, more than I am. I'm not a millennial, wish I was."

Read more about how bitcoin might be like a bubble from the 1600s.

SEE ALSO: There's a lot to learn about bitcoin from looking at the tulip bulb bubble

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One type of ETF is taking over the market

This is not the kind of technology where you "move fast and break things." Financial market infrastructure is too big to bet on a buzzword.

[…]

The post Litecoin Price Surges by 10% Again to $300 as Demand Skyrockets appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

Not for easily swayed, vlogger Mike in Space narrates a tour through the world of bitcoin memes (and mixed messages) of 2017.

[…]

The post Top German Economist Says There Are Strong Reasons to Regulate Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoCoinsNews.

• Bitcoin came into existence in 2009 in part as a response to fears about financial intermediation and banking following the financial crisis of 2008.
• Aggressive rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and other central banks sparked fears, which proved unfounded, of high inflation that would sharply devalue major currencies.
• More recently, market liquidity generated by a low interest rate environment made its way into bitcoin, some analysts say. 

It’s a testament to the ferocity of the recent rally in bitcoin that Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was asked about it multiple times during her last press conference as central bank chair.

She said bitcoin "is a highly speculative asset" that "at this time plays a very small role in the payment system." The cryptocurrency "is not a stable store of value, and it doesn't constitute legal tender," Yellen said.

Yet for better or worse, the Federal Reserve has played an important, two-part role in the emergence of the bitcoin phenomenon.

Bitcoin came into existence in January 2009, in part as a response to fears — which proved unfounded with time — that central banks’ aggressive response to the Great Recession of 2007-2009 would generate hyperinflation and a collapse of conventional currencies.

In 2008, many of the world's marquis financial firms either went bankrupt or stood at the edge of bankruptcy until taxpayers bailed them out. Lehman Brothers' spectacular collapse in September 2008 marked the height of Wall Street's panic. 

“People were looking at what happened in 2007 and 2008 and thinking, is there a better way? These financial intermediaries turned out to be pretty risky they made terrible bets," said Martin Chorzempa, a digital payments expert and research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (where I used to work).

And more recently, some analysts say that the market liquidity unleashed by the Fed’s prolonged policy of low interest rates, which it has been gradually reversing with rate increases since December 2015, has helped drive the latest leg of the bitcoin rally, which has taken its price to ever mounting records now close to $18,000.

'It looks less like a currency every day'

For Chorzempa, the problem begins with calling bitcoin a digital "currency" when it is fact anything but a stable store of value. 

"It looks less like a currency every day because the price is just skyrocketing like a speculative asset," he told Business Insider. "I look at this latest addition of margin and leverage with great trepidation."

The Fed's low-interest-rate policies are aimed at stimulating investment and spending in a weak economy, but there are fears that some of the money makes its way to more speculative uses. 

"There's so much capital flowing around," Chorzempa said. "All the institutional investors are drooling over the kind of returns that you’re getting in bitcoin" even though very few understand the technology.

Chorzempa warned that a deep crash is very possible and could be self-reinforcing, because the incentives for bitcoin mining decline as the prospects for price gains decrease.

Another key concern for bitcoin holders is regulatory scrutiny. Yellen discussed bitcoin more as a risk for illegal activities than as a new paradigm that could lower the cost of funding for firms, as bitcoin evangelists tend to preach.

"The Fed doesn't really play any regulatory role with respect to bitcoin other than assuring that banking organizations that we do supervise are attentive, that they're appropriately managing any interactions they have with participants in that market and appropriately monitoring anti-money laundering bank secrecy act responsibilities that they have," Yellen said.

Then, there’s the issue of liquidity

Imagine deciding that, hey, at $18,000, it’s time to cash out. Not so fast. Turning bitcoin into cash can be difficult if not impossible.

"People overestimate their ability to cash out. If you have a million bucks in bitcoin trying to do it in an exchange you’re going to crash the price," Chorzempa said. "So you’d need to go to an old fashioned broker, do an over-the-counter negotiation.

"The hardcore people who have a lot will do 'cold storage' — a USB drive, or write the code down on a sheet of paper and store it in a bunker in Switzerland," he said.

Chorzempa does not believe a bitcoin crash would pose a threat to the financial system right now, but warned that steps to legitimize its trading, such as the introduction of a futures exchange, could ensnare more traditional banking institutions that could generate systemic risks.

"Where the problems start to emerge is where it starts to build links to the rest of the financial system. Futures build that link," he said. 

Interested in the rise of bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and all the rest? Never miss an update and sign up for Business Insider's new newsletter, Crypto Insider, and have all things crypto delivered to your inbox.

SEE ALSO: The rise of a new kind of finance is setting off alarm bells at the Fed

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here’s why your jeans have that tiny front pocket

• Bitcoin came into existence in 2009 in part as a response to fears about financial intermediation and banking following the financial crisis of 2008.
• Aggressive rate cuts from the Federal Reserve and other central banks sparked fears, which proved unfounded, of high inflation that would sharply devalue major currencies.
• More recently, market liquidity generated by a low interest rate environment made its way into bitcoin, some analysts say. 

It’s a testament to the ferocity of the recent rally in bitcoin that Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was asked about it multiple times during her last press conference as central bank chair.

She said bitcoin "is a highly speculative asset" that "at this time plays a very small role in the payment system." The cryptocurrency "is not a stable store of value, and it doesn't constitute legal tender," Yellen said.

Yet for better or worse, the Federal Reserve has played an important, two-part role in the emergence of the bitcoin phenomenon.

Bitcoin came into existence in January 2009, in part as a response to fears — which proved unfounded with time — that central banks’ aggressive response to the Great Recession of 2007-2009 would generate hyperinflation and a collapse of conventional currencies.

In 2008, many of the world's marquis financial firms either went bankrupt or stood at the edge of bankruptcy until taxpayers bailed them out. Lehman Brothers' spectacular collapse in September 2008 marked the height of Wall Street's panic. 

“People were looking at what happened in 2007 and 2008 and thinking, is there a better way? These financial intermediaries turned out to be pretty risky they made terrible bets," said Martin Chorzempa, a digital payments expert and research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (where I used to work).

And more recently, some analysts say that the market liquidity unleashed by the Fed’s prolonged policy of low interest rates, which it has been gradually reversing with rate increases since December 2015, has helped drive the latest leg of the bitcoin rally, which has taken its price to ever mounting records now close to $18,000.

'It looks less like a currency every day'

For Chorzempa, the problem begins with calling bitcoin a digital "currency" when it is fact anything but a stable store of value. 

"It looks less like a currency every day because the price is just skyrocketing like a speculative asset," he told Business Insider. "I look at this latest addition of margin and leverage with great trepidation."

The Fed's low-interest-rate policies are aimed at stimulating investment and spending in a weak economy, but there are fears that some of the money makes its way to more speculative uses. 

"There's so much capital flowing around," Chorzempa said. "All the institutional investors are drooling over the kind of returns that you’re getting in bitcoin" even though very few understand the technology.

Chorzempa warned that a deep crash is very possible and could be self-reinforcing, because the incentives for bitcoin mining decline as the prospects for price gains decrease.

Another key concern for bitcoin holders is regulatory scrutiny. Yellen discussed bitcoin more as a risk for illegal activities than as a new paradigm that could lower the cost of funding for firms, as bitcoin evangelists tend to preach.

"The Fed doesn't really play any regulatory role with respect to bitcoin other than assuring that banking organizations that we do supervise are attentive, that they're appropriately managing any interactions they have with participants in that market and appropriately monitoring anti-money laundering bank secrecy act responsibilities that they have," Yellen said.

Then, there’s the issue of liquidity

Imagine deciding that, hey, at $18,000, it’s time to cash out. Not so fast. Turning bitcoin into cash can be difficult if not impossible.

"People overestimate their ability to cash out. If you have a million bucks in bitcoin trying to do it in an exchange you’re going to crash the price," Chorzempa said. "So you’d need to go to an old fashioned broker, do an over-the-counter negotiation.

"The hardcore people who have a lot will do 'cold storage' — a USB drive, or write the code down on a sheet of paper and store it in a bunker in Switzerland," he said.

Chorzempa does not believe a bitcoin crash would pose a threat to the financial system right now, but warned that steps to legitimize its trading, such as the introduction of a futures exchange, could ensnare more traditional banking institutions that could generate systemic risks.

"Where the problems start to emerge is where it starts to build links to the rest of the financial system. Futures build that link," he said. 

Interested in the rise of bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and all the rest? Never miss an update and sign up for Business Insider's new newsletter, Crypto Insider, and have all things crypto delivered to your inbox.

SEE ALSO: The rise of a new kind of finance is setting off alarm bells at the Fed

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here’s why your jeans have that tiny front pocket

This article is written by Pini Raviv, a software engineer and front-end team leader for an Israel-based startup. A Bitcoin aficionado spends his time researching altcoins, mining Ethrereum and blogging about blockchain. Blockchain technology is often hailed as secure and incorruptible, mainly thanks to its decentralized and immutable nature. Because it’s so notoriously hard to

The post How Can Traditional Tools Help Secure and Speed up Blockchains? appeared first on CCN.

This article is written by Pini Raviv, a software engineer and front-end team leader for an Israel-based startup. A Bitcoin aficionado spends his time researching altcoins, mining Ethrereum and blogging about blockchain. Blockchain technology is often hailed as secure and incorruptible, mainly thanks to its decentralized and immutable nature. Because it’s so notoriously hard to

The post How Can Traditional Tools Help Secure and Speed up Blockchains? appeared first on CCN.

• Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, were found dead at their Toronto mansion on Friday.
• Police are treating the death as suspicious, but said there was no sign of forced entry.
• They had recently put their $5.4 million (£4 million) up for sale and their bodies were discovered by a real estate agent in a basement.

Canadian police are investigating the mysterious deaths of Canadian billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife, Honey, at their mansion in Toronto.

Sherman is the founder of Canadian pharmaceutical firm Apotex Inc and has an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion, according to Forbes.

He and his wife's body were discovered in the basement of their home by a real estate agent on Friday, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. They had recently put the property up for sale for $5.4 million (£4 million).

Police are treating their deaths as suspicious. Two bodies covered in blankets were removed from the home and loaded into an unmarked van on Friday evening.

"The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way," said Constable David Hopkinson. Homicide detectives told reporters gathered outside the home that there were no signs of forced entry.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted about Sherman's death:

Toronto Mayor John Tory said in statement he was "shocked and heartbroken" to learn of the deaths, noting that the couple had made extensive contributions to the city.

"Toronto Police are investigating, and I hope that investigation will be able to provide answers for all of us who are mourning this tremendous loss," Tory said.

The Shermans recently listed their home for sale for nearly C$7 million ($5.4 million). A real estate agent discovered the bodies in the basement while preparing for an open house, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported, citing a relative.

Sherman, 75, founded privately held Apotex in 1974, growing it by introducing large numbers of low-cost generic drugs that took market share from branded pharmaceuticals. He stepped down as chief executive in 2012 but remained executive chairman.

Apotex is the world's No. 7 generic drugmaker with 11,000 employees and annual sales of more than C$2 billion in more than 45 countries, according to its website.

The couple was known for their philanthropy, giving tens of millions of dollars to hospitals, universities and Jewish organizations, CBC reported.

"They were extremely successful in business, but also very, very giving people," former Ontario Premier Bob Rae told CBC. "It's going to be a very, very big loss."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Economist Jim Rickards on gold versus bitcoin — intrinsic value is meaningless for both but the bitcoin prices aren't real

• A former friend of IAm Bank founder Lee Travers claims he gave him his life savings to invest in shares in 2011.
• The former friend says he has been unable to retrieve either the shares or the money despite repeated attempts.
• It is not the first time Travis has been accused of owing people money — he and a former business partner are being chased for debts relating to a previous venture.
• Travers has not responded to several requests for comment.

LONDON — The founder of a US startup bank is being pursued by a former friend who claims he is owed £30,000.

Peter Swift, 40, claims he gave IAm Bank CEO Lee Travers his life savings to invest in shares in 2011 while Travers was working in London. Swift asked Travers to transfer the shares into his name around a year later but claims he has still not received either the shares or the money, despite repeated requests over five years. The pair did not sign any form of a contract before the transfers, making it difficult to enforce.

"Once I decide I trust someone, I don't really go for contracts and stuff like that," Swift told Business Insider. "I trust people — I'm stupid like that."

Swift, who now lives in Ibiza, provided emails between himself and Travers, bank records, and legal letters to support his claims. Travers did not respond to repeated requests for comment from BI over a period of weeks.

Travers would likely dispute Swift's account and repeatedly says in the email correspondence seen by Business Insider that he is acting in good faith. In one email he said the money "will be settled in full." There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on Travers' part.

But the dispute is relevant given Travers is currently trying to set up a digital challenger bank that aims to help young people struggling with debt.

Travers is currently understood to be in Chicago setting up digital challenger bank IAm Bank. In a blog post advertising the new venture published May 16, Travers says IAm Bank will help people with "paying off their debts sooner and building their wealth and savings faster."

Travers has promoted his new venture extensively in the media. He told US financial TV channel Cheddar earlier this year that IAm Bank will become the "Apple Store" of banking. Banking Technology reported that the startup has secured $3 million in funding and is targeting $20 million by launch. 

Business Insider previously reported that Travers is being pursued over alleged unpaid debts by former contractors and staff who worked for Travers' last company. Swift first got in contact with Business Insider in the wake of this story.

"We've come to the realisation that we might not ever get the money back," Swift said, referring to himself and his wife. "When your first story came out, and I saw he'd been doing exactly the same thing to other people, that was the straw that broke the camel's back."

'A sharp, smart guy'

Swift first met Travers through his brother when Swift moved to London from the Caribbean in 2010. At the time, Travers was working for an events company with Swift's brother, but Travers soon moved to a job at financial software business Monitise.

Travers worked at Monitise between 2011 and 2013 and rose to the level of executive vice president there, according to his LinkedIn profile. Founded in 2003, Monitise was one of the early pioneers of Britain's fintech sector and built apps for banks. (At one point the public company was valued at £1 billion, but it sold for just £70 million earlier this year after reporting heavy losses.)

Swift told BI that Travers struck him as "a sharp, smart guy."

"He was a professional, he looked like a suave English businessman," Swift said. "He talked the talk. He knew his way around town and — I wouldn't say I was in awe, but I was looking up to him a bit."

Originally from Australia, Swift had worked in hospitality in the Caribbean and had never invested in stocks before. He said he remembers hearing that Travers had "invested $20,000 and made $250,000 pretty quickly. That was the thing that got me interested."

Swift tried to open a trading account himself but was unable to provide the documentation required. He had only recently come to the country and was in between addresses. Swift and his girlfriend were living with Travers at the time.

As a workaround, he suggested to his then girlfriend, now wife, that they give their life savings at the time, £30,000, to Travers to invest.

"We had a big discussion about it," Swift told BI. "We had heated discussions about it. We sensed that we trusted him — we were living in his house, he was about to get me a job at Monitise."

Swift claims Travers agreed to the arrangement and Swift transferred the Irishman money in instalments in 2011, according to transaction records seen by Business Insider. Soon after, Swift began working at Monitise alongside Travers.

'Alluded or insinuated'

Swift claims he first asked Travers to transfer the shares to an account in his name in 2012 but was told this was a complicated process. Since then, Swift said he has tried repeatedly to retrieve either the money or the shares but has been unsuccessful. 

"He never actually said I used your money to buy shares," Swift told BI. "He never actually said anything about what he had done with my money. He always alluded or insinuated."

Business Insider has seen emails between Swift and Travers that appear to support Swift's claim, including one from Travers' account in 2013 that promises Swift "the full principal of your investment from my own personal funds on February 1st, 2014."In his emails, Travers claims an ongoing dispute with Monitise over his exit from the company in 2013 was delaying his ability to pay. Around this time, Travers moved to mobile payment company MPayMe as an executive. MPayMe was sold to Powa Technologies in mid-2014 and Travers left shortly after.

Swift claims he didn't receive anything by the February 2014 deadline set out in the email and eventually hired a solicitor in 2015 to draft a legal letter. The letter, seen by BI, threatens action against Travers. Swift said he has been unable to serve the letter as Travers had moved address.

Swift provided correspondence with solicitors Simon Burn supporting his claim. The lawyer he dealt with declined to comment on the case when contacted by Business Insider, saying he was not authorised to speak.

The 'Apple Store' of banking

Travers left Monitise in 2013 and, after his stint at MPayMe, went on to run WeAreBriqs, a fintech business that built apps for banks. Swift first contacted Business Insider after we reported that Travers and his then business partner were being chased for alleged debts of at least £100,000 by former staff and contractors at WeAreBriqs.

Business Insider has been unable to reach Travers for comment on this story. Emails, voicemails, and texts to numbers and addresses thought to belong to Travers went unanswered.

Business Insider contacted the press officer for IAm Bank for comment on this story but we were told they no longer worked for the startup. The former press officer said no one was now handling press for the startup and no alternative email address is listed on the website. The press officer said they would contact Travers about BI's story but we heard no response.

IAm Bank's website lists an address in East London as one of the company's four global offices. BI visited in early December and found the address was occupied by a press relations agency. A representative for the PR company told BI that IAm Bank had not been at the address for "four or five months" and had not left a forwarding address.

A property agent who represents the building in question told BI they had no memory of IAm Bank and recalled selling the unit in question around a year and a half ago. The PR company did not respond to an email asking for clarification.Swift's hope of retrieving his money has dwindled over the years but he told BI he is reluctant to give up the chase.

"We'd been working as villa managers in the Caribbean. That £30,000 was the savings we had saved while working in the Caribbean," he said. "At that moment, that was our entire life savings. That's why I put so much pressure on him.

"We know that when we worked in the Caribbean, we worked so hard, it was such a hard job for us. That's why I'm still chasing after five years. Just to let it go, it means all that work we did was for nothing."

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• Investment bank Citi says the government only really has two options left in Brexit negotiations.
• The first is full membership of the single market, the second is a hard Brexit which would have potentially disastrous consequences.

LONDON — Brexit negotiations are becoming "ever more binary", according to a note from analysts at Citi bank.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called for a "creative solution" to the issue of UK-EU trade post-Brexit. The PM wants to design a bespoke deal for the UK.

But investment bank Citi argues that there isn't "a full continuum of plausible outcomes to the next stage of discussions" and the government only really has two options left when it comes to trade.

The first is full membership of the single market — something Theresa May has explicitly ruled out. The second is a hard Brexit, in the form of a very narrow free trade deal that excludes services

The second option would see the City of London crash out of the EU's financial passporting zone with potentially disastrous consequences.

'Circles that cannot be squared'

The EU on Friday agreed to move Brexit talks onto the second phase, which will see the UK discussing future trade relationships with the 27 member bloc.

Citi said in its recent note that one option for post-Brexit Britain is a "soft" exit, which would see Britain retain full single-market membership.

In theory, that should be easy. The UK's decision to convert all EU law into UK law after leaving means it start from a position of total regulatory convergence. This is the minimum necessary requirement for such a trade deal.

In practice, however, Citi says this option "is not a likely outcome":

"First, because the level of mutual confidence required to dismantle (or in the Brexit case avoid raising) new borders is typically insufficient, in almost all circumstances and between any countries, in all sectors that carry significant risks with regard to financial stability, public health (e.g. medicine), or any other topic to which public opinion is sensitive. It is partly for that precise reason that the EU created a single market in the first place so that mutual confidence can be internalised in common institutions."

Put simply, the EU can't trust the UK not to erect a border in the future when it comes to critical services such as financial services and healthcare. This is precisely why the single market was created in the first place.

Theresa May has also committed to leaving the single market and described leaving the European Court of Justice — which governs the free-trade area — as a "red line" in negotiations on which she is unwilling to compromise. This makes the first option even more unlikely.

Theory vs. practice

What's the alternative? Theresa May routinely talks up the prospect of striking a bespoke free trade deal which covers all sectors of the economy, and it is the stated aim of the cabinet to pursue such a deal.

The "theoretical" reason a generous free trade deal covering all sectors of the economy should be easy is, again, because both parties start from a position of total convergence in terms of regulation and trading rules.

In practice, if the stated aim of Brexit is to move away from EU law, however, Citi says a deal would become gradually more unstable.

Citi said:

"The UK-EU discussion is an extraordinary (literally) situation of two parties negotiating a trade agreement in the context of divergence of legislation and regulation. The whole rationale of leaving the EU is for the UK to recover its ability to enact legislation separate from that of the EU.

"By contrast, almost every trade agreement ever negotiated has been in the context of convergence of legislation, regulation and enforcement. It is that convergence that typically legitimises, and stabilises, mutual recognition."

Even if the UK could initially agree a free-trade deal on the basis of alignment, that would in Citi's view become "fundamentally unstable" as the UK diverged and writes out key aspects of EU law.

The agreement struck between the EU and UK on the first phase of Brexit negotiations last week was, by Theresa May's own tacit admission, a fudge designed to keep both Leavers and Remainers happy by remaining vague on crucial issues like that of the Irish border.

"This is good news for people who voted Leave, who were worried we were so bogged down in tortuous negotiations it was never going to happen," she said. "And it is good news for people who voted Remain, who were worried we were going to crash out without a deal."

That happy compromise must soon end.

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