40-50 banks expected to use Stellar (XLM) use in coming months
Put Tuesday 1.40am (UTC) on 19 March in your calendar of major Stellar Lumens events. Speaking to Finder at IBM Think 2019, IBM head of blockchain Jesse Lund revealed that 40-50 banks are expected to join the Stellar-based IBM World Wire service in the near future. “We’ve got a launch announcement coming out soon… we’re going to be supporting more than 50 countries out of the gate, 30-40 currencies, and enough market makers to drag along 30 or 40 banks, so we’ll have a significant portion of the world covered,” he explained. Several banks have already confirmed that they plan to issue digital assets, including stablecoins of their own, through […]
ICO Submission to the Australian Treasury – Why ICO should stand for “Illegal Coin Offering”
By Aleksandar Svetski, CEO of Amber Labs Preface This article is an extension to a submission the authors have made to the Australian Treasury during their information-gathering process. We believe it’s critical for people to better understand what really happened during this mania, the skewed incentives that resulted and the ramifications of this blind excess. The ultimate aim is to help ensure something this deranged does not happen in a space with so much promise. Please also note: Rory and myself are both 100% for free markets, choice and people’s right to do what they want — so this is not some request for socialist compensation. This is an exposé. The goal […]
Afterpay rival Zip narrows losses
Zip’s first-half net loss has narrowed as it more than doubled its turnover. On Thursday, the buy now, pay later provider posted a net loss of $6.8 million for the six months ended December 31, 2018, compared with a $14.6 million loss in the year earlier period. Its revenue was up 114 per cent to $34.2 million from $16.0 million turnover in the year earlier period. Zip said it now has over 1 million customer accounts and over 12,600 merchants. In the last six months Zip signed a number of major retailers to its platform, it said, including Bunnings, Target, Officeworks, Appliances Online and the Super Retail Group. To […]
FinTech opportunities to come from Australia’s Royal Commission
Australia is currently holding a Royal Commission into the banking sector and it’s fair to say that what has been uncovered so far has rocked both the public, the industry and policy makers alike. The Royal Commission has uncovered a culture of big business not acting in the best interests of their customers, which appears to especially be the case for large institutions. For example, AMP one of Australia’s largest financial institutions, deliberately mislead the regulator on several occasions and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has had several issues including criminal offences and has paid more than 700 million dollars fine to the regulator over a number of breaches over […]
Hut34 goes live with world’s first Google-powered Ethereum wallet and enhanced wallet-as-a-service offering
The Hut34 team has gone live with the world’s first Google powered cryptocurrency wallet. With a single click, users can securely, quickly and easily access their Ethereum and cryptocurrency tokens via their own Google credentials. The Hut34 Wallet beta launched late 2018 and since then a raft of exciting new features and functionality have been added to ease the public adoption of emergent token economies. “We are excited about the future applications of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but as it stands access to and using the technology is too hard and time consuming. Only the highly motivated are willing to cross the pain threshold to enter the space,” says Tim McNamara, […]
Trust deficit means fintechs will fly
Leading fintech founders believe the fallout from The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is a great opportunity for them to wrest market share from the major banks. They believe their existing focus on customers is a serious competitive advantage they can exploit as mainstream financial services businesses reposition their operations subsequent to the release of the final report last week. Jason Wilby, director of insurtech Huddle Insurance, says for too long, there has been an imbalance of power in the financial services sector. “Now is the time for new and emerging fintechs to flip the financial services industry on its head, for the […]
Techboard data shows the startling growth of the Australian fintech sector
US-based data company CB Insights recently reported that VC investment in Australian Fintech had grown from $67m in 2017 to $343 million in 2018. While this does show massive growth in funding for Australia’s fintech sector, data from Australian Startup Data Company Techboard indicates that this represents a significant understatement of the sector’s growth. Techboard has recently released its Report for the December quarter 2018 which revealed another $1.066B in funding for Australian Startups and young tech companies. This was the second consecutive quarter of over $1b funding across all sectors and took the total amount of funding for the 2018 Calendar year to over $4b, up around $1/2b revealed […]
Google-backed fintech GoCardless eyes Aussie ‘subscription economy’
Australia’s fast-growing “subscription economy” is among the key markets being targeted by fintech firm GoCardless, which has secured more than $100 million to fund its global expansion plans. GoCardless, based in London, on Monday said it had raised $US75 million ($106 million) from investors including Google’s venture capital arm, to roll out a global direct debit payment collection system, which it offers to business clients. The company on Monday announced a series of new backers, including GV (previously known as Google Ventures, and owned by Google’s parent, Alphabet), Adams Street Partners, and Salesforce Ventures. Director of international expansion Pranav Sood, who is visiting Australia, said the funding round meant the […]
