Why Twitter is taking the place of r/Bitcoin and Bitcointalk
Many Bitcoin core developers, business leaders and commentators post more often on Twitter than in crypto-related forums, such as Bitcointalk and the r/bitcoin subreddit. They engage in heated debates on the state of cryptocurrency. See this tweet from Samson Mow, the chief strategy officer at Blockstream, and the conversation that followed it: A check on core developer Peter Todd’s Reddit username discloses that he posts there a few times a week. However, he posts and engages other users on Twitter several times daily. Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer, one of the most known crypto security experts, also posts almost daily on Twitter, but never on Bitcointalk or Reddit. If […]
Why SpotJobs co-founder Lewis Romano has switched into fintech and is looking to raise $10 million for Credit Clear
An Aussie fintech company co-founded by Lewis Romano of SpotJobs fame has launched a $10 million Series A fundraising round to help expand the business overseas. Credit Clear was founded in 18 months ago by Romano and prominent property developer Mark Casey to act as an online, on-demand debt payment service for individuals and businesses. The company has not raised a seed round and to date has been largely funded initially by Casey. Romano co-founded SpotJobs — one of Australia’s largest job board websites — in 2012 with Jake Williams, before exiting the business in October last year. A switch into fintech from the recruitment industry might not seem intuitive […]
Sunshine Coast business promising easier bill payment
A Sunshine Coast business is promising to take their innovative bill payment platform to the next level with Queensland Government backing from the Advance Queensland Ignite Ideas Fund. Innovation Minister Leeanne Enoch said Noosa Heads business Promis Network’s automated bill payment platform had the potential to change the lives of business operators across Queensland, nationally and globally. “Promis Network have been working on the automated bill payment platform for over a year and have some customers already established on the Sunshine Coast. This Ignite Ideas funding will allow the business to take their amazing idea to new markets,” she said. Promis Network’s automated bill payment platform allows invoices to be […]
Prospa first Australian fintech to deliver a half billion dollars of small business loans
Prospa, Australia’s number one online lender for small business, has announced the delivery of more than half a billion dollars into the economy, providing loans to over 12,000 small businesses across the country. Now in its sixth year, Prospa has scaled rapidly, today placing second in the Fast 100 for 2017 thanks a 239 per cent average revenue growth since 2013-14. The AFR’s Fast 100 ranks the fastest growing companies in Australia, and in previous years has included the likes of Atlassian, Lonely Planet, SEEK and WebJet. 2017 has been been a bumper year for Prospa, having secured over $50m in equity and debt funding. The firm announced […]
Bitcoin to consolidate at $US8000 a coin: Goldman Sachs
Technical analysis of the unorthodox Bitcoin market has led Goldman Sachs to believe the major cryptocurrency is set to consolidate at $US8000 ($10,500) a coin. After a month that saw Bitcoin soar beyond $US5000, $US6000 and then $US7000 a coin, technical analysts Sheba Jafari and Jack Abramowitz have warned traders against betting on a near-term boost past $US8000. Applying the Elliott wave theory, the analysts deduced the crypto-asset is likely to consolidate at this price for a time, as it marks “the third of five waves up”. “The market has shown evidence of an impulsive rally since breaking above 6044,” said Sheba Jafari, vice-president of the bank’s FICC Market Strats […]
Brighte shines a light on new finance options
Innovative fintech companies have an opportunity to offer services banks can’t or won’t provide. Here’s how Brighte is doing that with interest-free finance for home improvements. Imagine having your hot water system break down and being told you need a replacement. How would you pay for it? What about if you want to install solar power but find the interest charges send your budget through the roof? It’s these types of issues that fintech startup Brighte is designed to address. Launched in 2016, the company offers homeowners an interest-free payment solution for home improvements up to $30,000. Company founder Katherine McConnell said this type of finance hasn’t been looked at […]
FinTechs present a policy wish-list
Improvements to the R&D initiative and government-mandated open data controls are top of the Australian FinTech industry’s wish-list, while gender diversity remains a major issue for the sector, a new survey has found. The 2017 EY FinTech Australia Census, released late last week, surveyed 166 local FinTech companies. This is the second year of the census and is the only industry-backed survey of its kind. The biggest things thing these companies said would help them to grow was improvements to the research and development scheme, with nearly 90 percent of the companies supporting this. The industry is still waiting on the government to respond to the controversial ‘Three F’ review […]
FinTech will change more in the next 5 years than the last 30, says PayPal CEO
PayPal’s CEO has said that the financial technology (fintech) sector is going to change more in the next five years than it has done in the last 30. Speaking with CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer, Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, said that millennials are changing the shape of many industries, in particular the finance sector. He said: You have to, to serve these markets, re-imagine how money can be managed and moved because there’s going to be more change in the next five years in financial services than happened in the past 30. According to Schulman, the millennial generation, those under the age of 30, think about everyday processes […]
