Coin News

What happened in crypto this week? Price Watch Bitcoin is up 16% this week to $9,000. This comes as part of an increase across the entire cryptocurrency market. It’s also likely the result of higher trading volumes. Fundstrat’s Thomas Lee made a price prediction of  Bitcoin reaching $91,000 by March 28, 2020. Morgan Stanley likened Bitcoin

The post Trump Bans Petro, a Pacquiao ICO and the Caribbean Goes Crypto: Week in Review appeared first on CCN

The EU has finally come out with an approved framework for how corporations should handle user data. Although this are quite good news for people generally, I can also see it as a massive blow for so many altcoins. Trust me when I say there is an enormous storm coming. GDPR – What’s Important to

The post GDPR: A Game Changer Is Coming for Cryptocurrency appeared first on CCN

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

This is a paid-for submitted press release. CCN does not endorse, nor is responsible for any material included below and isn’t responsible for any damages or losses connected with any products or services mentioned in the press release. CCN urges readers to conduct their own research with due diligence into the company, product or service mentioned

The post Six Markets in One Coin, Bitcoin Hexagon appeared first on CCN

With just one paragraph, an agency of the U.S. government may have just radically altered the dynamics of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The marketing of cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) is currently operating like the Wild West. From Ethereum to Litecoin to Neo, there are over 1,300 offerings in the burgeoning crypto market, and people like James Altucher are here to profit off the confusion. However, change is afoot. Facebook banned advertising of ICOs and cryptocurrencies, […]

At a recent annual meeting in New York, bitcoin's volunteer developer discussed their tech priorities for the year ahead.

• Santander UK CEO: "This spring, if not one beats us to it, we will be the first large retail bank to carry out cross-border payments at scale with blockchain technology."
• Consumer app in partnership with Ripple set to be launched to customers in Spain, Brazil, UK, and Poland.

LONDON — Santander is on track to launch an international money transfer app in partnership with fintech startup Ripple in the next few months, the bank's UK CEO has confirmed.

Nathan Bostock told the International Fintech conference in London on Friday: "This spring, if not one beats us to it, we will be the first large retail bank to carry out cross-border payments at scale with blockchain technology."

Bostock name-checked partner Ripple, the fintech company which specialises in cross-border payments through its blockchain-based xCurrent and RippleNet products. He did not give a specific date for launch of the new product.

A spokesperson for Santander declined to comment when Business Insider inquired about Bostock's comments.

Santander invested in US-headquartered Ripple in 2015 and then again in 2016. The bank also trialled an international payments app using Ripple technology with its staff in 2016.

Santander CEO Ana Botin flagged the upcoming launch to customers of the payment app in the group's 2017 results presentation at the end of January, saying the new app would go live in Spain, Brazil, the UK, and Poland.

Santander said when it launched its internal app trial that Ripple's technology allows transfers to be settled within 24 hours, compared to days with traditional cross-border payment providers.

The tech also lets people find out up front how much a transfer will cost. Most international transfer systems use various middle men to transfer money who will take cuts along the way so the final sum is often less than when it was sent. Because of the covulted process, most processors can't give an accurate estimate of the total cost.

Ripple, founded in 2012, is a San Francisco-headquartered company trying to bring blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions to the global payments and transfer market. MoneyGram and Western Union are trialing its liquidity solution xRapid while global transfer businesses such as UAE Exchange use its international transfer platform xCurrent.

SEE ALSO: Blockchain startup Ripple just got a big boost from Santander

DON'T MISS: Santander is letting staff use the tech behind bitcoin to send money to each other

NEXT UP: Everything you need to know about the complex relationship between Ripple and cryptocurrency XRP

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what Jim Chanos is tired of hearing about from Wall Street and Silicon Valley

• Santander UK CEO: "This spring, if not one beats us to it, we will be the first large retail bank to carry out cross-border payments at scale with blockchain technology."
• Consumer app in partnership with Ripple set to be launched to customers in Spain, Brazil, UK, and Poland.

LONDON — Santander is on track to launch an international money transfer app in partnership with fintech startup Ripple in the next few months, the bank's UK CEO has confirmed.

Nathan Bostock told the International Fintech conference in London on Friday: "This spring, if not one beats us to it, we will be the first large retail bank to carry out cross-border payments at scale with blockchain technology."

Bostock name-checked partner Ripple, the fintech company which specialises in cross-border payments through its blockchain-based xCurrent and RippleNet products. He did not give a specific date for launch of the new product.

A spokesperson for Santander declined to comment when Business Insider inquired about Bostock's comments.

Santander invested in US-headquartered Ripple in 2015 and then again in 2016. The bank also trialled an international payments app using Ripple technology with its staff in 2016.

Santander CEO Ana Botin flagged the upcoming launch to customers of the payment app in the group's 2017 results presentation at the end of January, saying the new app would go live in Spain, Brazil, the UK, and Poland.

Santander said when it launched its internal app trial that Ripple's technology allows transfers to be settled within 24 hours, compared to days with traditional cross-border payment providers.

The tech also lets people find out up front how much a transfer will cost. Most international transfer systems use various middle men to transfer money who will take cuts along the way so the final sum is often less than when it was sent. Because of the covulted process, most processors can't give an accurate estimate of the total cost.

Ripple, founded in 2012, is a San Francisco-headquartered company trying to bring blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions to the global payments and transfer market. MoneyGram and Western Union are trialing its liquidity solution xRapid while global transfer businesses such as UAE Exchange use its international transfer platform xCurrent.

SEE ALSO: Blockchain startup Ripple just got a big boost from Santander

DON'T MISS: Santander is letting staff use the tech behind bitcoin to send money to each other

NEXT UP: Everything you need to know about the complex relationship between Ripple and cryptocurrency XRP

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what Jim Chanos is tired of hearing about from Wall Street and Silicon Valley

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has gained $20 billion, as major cryptocurrencies bitcoin and Ethereum recorded solid gains. Bitcoin increased by more than 6 percent, while Ethereum, EOS, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash rose by around 4 percent. Volumes are Back Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO at Binance, the world’s largest

The post Bitcoin Price Notches 6% Increase as Cryptocurrency Market Jumps $20 Billion appeared first on CCN

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has gained $20 billion, as major cryptocurrencies bitcoin and Ethereum recorded solid gains. Bitcoin increased by more than 6 percent, while Ethereum, EOS, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash rose by around 4 percent. Volumes are Back Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO at Binance, the world’s largest

The post Bitcoin Price Notches 6% Increase as Cryptocurrency Market Jumps $20 Billion appeared first on CCN

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market has gained $20 billion, as major cryptocurrencies bitcoin and Ethereum recorded solid gains. Bitcoin increased by more than 6 percent, while Ethereum, EOS, Litecoin, Ripple, and Bitcoin Cash rose by around 4 percent. Volumes are Back Changpeng Zhao, the founder and CEO at Binance, the world’s largest

The post Bitcoin Price Notches 6% Increase as Cryptocurrency Market Jumps $20 Billion appeared first on CCN

• A fatal accident involving a self-driving vehicle was inevitable, but Uber is not currently in a position to handle one.
• Last weekend's fatal, self-driving car crash could make cities less likely to trust the company and undermine Uber's claim that it's a platform rather than a transportation service.
• But it could also force Uber to improve the safety of its autonomous and human-driven vehicles.

A fatal accident involving a self-driving vehicle was inevitable, but no tech or auto company was in a worse position to handle one than Uber.

The company has spent the better part of the past year cleaning up the mess left by former CEO Travis Kalanick, who oversaw the company's meteoric rise and turned it in into a symbol for the ruthless, growth-at-all-costs attitude that has come to represent the dark side of Silicon Valley.

Now, Uber has the ignoble distinction of being possibly the first company to be involved in a fatal crash with a self-driving vehicle. Immediately after last Sunday's accident — in which a self-driving Volvo XC90 operated by Uber hit and killed a 49-year-old woman, Elaine Herzberg, in Tempe, Arizona — local police indicated that the accident probably wasn't Uber's fault.

The video of the accident raises doubts about Uber's self-driving tech

But a video released on Wednesday and showing the moments before the accident indicates otherwise. The video reveals that Herzberg likely wouldn't have been visible to the human eye long enough for the car's backup driver to intervene, but the sensors, radar, and LIDAR systems that detect objects near self-driving vehicles shouldn't have had the same problem.

"The sensors should have been able to detect her for several seconds before she was struck," Navigant senior research analyst Sam Abuelsamid told Business Insider. "The system did not seem to respond at all. That's a sign that Uber's system really does not work very well."

The video could end up shaping the reputation of the company's self-driving arm in the same way a February 2017 video of Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver defined its current business as careless and insensitive. Even if Uber can perfect its self-driving technology by mid-2019, when it hopes to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service, city governments might not trust the company enough to work with them.

"Cities might be less willing to work with Uber," Abuelsamid said. "They might be less willing to trust Uber to do the right thing and make sure that their vehicles are safe."

Uber won't be able to say it's just a platform anymore

The effects of the accident could extend beyond Uber's self-driving ambitions and undermine one of its fundamental claims: that it's a platform which connects drivers and passengers, rather than a transportation service. Defining itself as a platform decreases the company's liability for what happens to its customers, drivers, and the other vehicles they affect.

It will be much harder for Uber to make that argument now, according to attorney Neama Rahmani.

"This death was caused by either their operator or their manufacturer and now, this is going to make them not a technology company, but really a transportation company," he told Business Insider. "And they'll have to step up and pay out and accept responsibility for the conduct of their vehicle. There's no independent contractor driver to blame anymore."

While that redefinition won't help Uber's reputation or stock price in the short term, it could end up forcing the company to become more serious about safety, which could save the company in the long run.

"I think the positive thing that will come out of this is Uber is going to invest a lot more in the safety of its riders," Rahmani said.

That process would be painful, but it could end up being the reason the company doesn't become a victim of its recklessness.

SEE ALSO: Self-driving cars could face a 'huge setback' after the tragic death of a woman struck by an autonomous Uber

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Goldman Sachs investment chief: Bitcoin is definitely a bubble, Ethereum even more so

This is a preview of a research report from BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about BI Intelligence, click here.

Fintech broke onto the scene as a disruptive force following the 2008 crisis, but the industry's influence on the broader financial services system is changing. 

The fintech industry no longer stands clearly apart from financial services proper, and is increasingly growing embedded in mainstream finance. We’re now seeing the initial stages of this transformation.

For instance, funding is growing more internationally distributed, and startups are making necessary adjustments to prove sustainability and secure a seat at the table. Most fintech segments in the ascendant a year ago have continued to rise and grow more valuable to the broader financial system. Meanwhile, several fintech categories have had to make adjustments to stay on top. New subsegments are also appearing on the scene — such as digital identity verification fintechs — as new opportunities for innovation are discovered. 

Significantly, incumbents are responding more proactively to the rising influence of fintech by making updates to their consumer-facing channels, back-end systems, and overall business operations. Most are realizing that the best way to adapt is to work alongside the fintechs that are transforming the financial services environment, either by partnering with them or acquiring the startups entirely. As fintech's power grows, incumbents will have no choice but to change in order to stay relevant and competitive. All around, fintech is becoming embedded in mainstream finance.

Maria Terekhova, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has written the definitive Fintech Ecosystem report that looks at the shifts in the broader environment that fintechs operate in, including funding patterns and regulatory trends; examines the adaptations that some of fintech's biggest subsegments have had to make to secure a foothold in the financial services system; and discusses how the continued rise of the fintech industry is pressuring incumbents to make fundamental changes to their business models and roles. It ends by assessing what a global economy increasingly influenced by innovative fintechs will look like.

Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• The fintech industry is far more than a group of digitally native, consumer-centric startups, although they are, in many ways, becoming the new face of financial services. It's increasingly clear that fintech no longer stands apart from financial services proper, and is morphing into an integral part of the financial system. 
• To secure their position in the mainstream economy, some of the main fintech subsegments have had to adjust their business models. These include neobanks, robo-advisors, and alt lenders. Other fintech categories, meanwhile, have instead found that current conditions are well suited to their original models, and are seeing largely smooth sailing, like regtechs, insurtechs, and payments fintechs. Innovation and dynamism is still alive in fintech too, with new categories still emerging.
• The rising influence of fintechs is having a dramatic effect on incumbents, from banks to insurers to wealth managers, pushing them to respond proactively to stay relevant. Incumbents are reacting to changes wrought by fintechs on three key fronts: the front end, the back end, and in their core business operations. As such, incumbents and fintechs are converging on a digital middle ground.
• As this happens, the fintech industry is on the cusp of becoming an integral component of the broader financial services ecosystem. But it will likely first have to go through a complete credit cycle, and survive an economic downturn like the one that set the stage for its arrival in 2008, for this to happen.

In full, the report:

• Looks at how the environment in which the fintech industry operates is changing, and what that means for the digitization of financial services.
• Gives an overview of the main subsegments within the global fintech industry, and discusses which categories have had to adapt to survive, which have reaped benefits from their original game plans, and which new segments have come to the fore in the past twelve months.
• Outlines the adaptations that incumbent financial institutions have begun making to adjust to an economy that's inevitably shifting to digital, and in which tech-savvy fintechs are increasingly setting the standards.
• Discusses what the future of financial services will look like as fintech embeds itself into the financial mainstream.

Subscribe to an All-Access membership to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to:

	This report and more than 250 other expertly researched reports
	Access to all future reports and daily newsletters
	Forecasts of new and emerging technologies in your industry
	And more!

Learn More

Purchase & download the full report from our research store

Join the conversation about this story »