Does this bitcoin rebound have longevity?
Bitcoin has been rallying sharply over the past two weeks, gaining around 40% from the USD$6000 mark. However, with the creation of lower highs throughout 2018, there is a risk that we will see another turn lower in the near future. Bitcoin has been on the rise over the past fortnight, with the price pushing through trendline resistance to reach the 61.8% retracement. That rally through the trendline certainly signals a slowdown in the decline of the cryptocurrency, yet the question over whether this marks the bottom remains to be answered. The downtrend that has been in place throughout 2018 remains, despite this trendline break, yet it is clear that […]
Half of Aussies prefer platforms: Stripe
The use of businesses such as Uber, Deliveroo and Vinomofo has reached a tipping point, with a new study revealing 50 per cent of Australians already prefer to use these online marketplaces versus traditional businesses like taxis, restaurants or retailers. The study conducted by Nielsen across nine countries, which was commissioned by payments technology business Stripe, revealed that Australia was significantly ahead of markets such as the US and the UK when it comes to the uptake of marketplaces, but trailed Singapore, where 73 per cent of respondents said they preferred using marketplaces. The Stripe head of growth of Australia and New Zealand, Mac Wang, told The Australian Financial Review […]
Woolworths and Coles embracing digital wallets
Grocery retailers Woolworths and Coles are moving quickly to embrace digital payments as shoppers increasingly shop with their mobile phones and leave their wallets at home. After reaching agreement with Apple last September to store Woolworths Rewards loyalty card details on Apple’s digital wallet app, Woolworths has now extended the service to Google Pay. Android users can earn Woolworths Rewards points in Woolworths supermarkets and BWS liquor stores by tapping their smartphones. Woolworths said the move, a first in Australian supermarkets, would give more of its 11 million loyalty scheme members a simple and secure way to earn and redeem loyalty points in-store. Once rewards details are loaded, customers can […]
Morgan Stanley likes the look of Fintech these days
Many people these days are wondering where to put their investments these days, and there’s no shortage of options. Morgan Stanley, in fact, offered up one outlook that will be welcome to those of us out here: fintech is actually very attractive. Fintech, or financial technology, is a fairly broad frontier that covers just about everything from e-wallet systems to payment processors to even credit card companies. In fact, Morgan Stanley executive director James Faucette pointed out Visa and Mastercard as the kind of companies that could absorb virtually any negative development in the economy. Faucette also notes that investors are “…underestimating the secular push from digitization” and the growing […]
Open banking gains momentum
As open banking gains momentum, the future of the industry will see a move away from product offerings in favour of customer experience and engagement, a panel of industry experts told a Temenos conference. The panel of experts told the conference that technology has placed the industry in a constant phase of reform, and the move to open banking would see a significant shift away from the big four banks to address the needs of underfunded sectors like small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Piers Balmer from business lending funding service for SMEs, Judo Capital, said they no longer used the term ‘product’, and instead opted for terms like ‘engagement’ and […]
OnDeck Australia secures $75m Credit Suisse loan
Small business lender OnDeck Australia has secured a $75 million funding line from Credit Suisse, the latest partnership between fintech players and established institutions. The subsidiary of the New York-listed OnDeck Capital said the asset-backed revolving credit facility would be used to refinance OnDeck Australia’s loan book and to fund new loans. The facility is due to mature in June 2020. On Deck Australia managing director Cameron Poolman said the lender was striving to lower its cost of funding, origination and to build a “leading credit model”. He said the online small business lending market is growing at a faster pace than it did in the US at a similar stage in […]
Bitcoin just hit $8,000 – Here’s what’s pushing it up
The bitcoin price has today climbed above the $8,000 mark for the first time since mid-May — leading many to predict a return to the bull run that last year powered bitcoin to almost $20,000. The latest boost for bitcoin comes after a week that saw it add almost 20% to its price on the back of news that established financial giants are looking to get in on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and a raft of positive regulatory news around the world.Meanwhile, the so-called bitcoin dominance rate — a measure of how much of the total cryptocurrency market is controlled by bitcoin — rose to 47% this week, the highest level […]
Breaking down blockchain’s potential for cross-border payments
By Simon Banks, Hyperwallet’s Managing Director and SVP of Asia-Pacific Blockchain has been labelled a disruptive force that could transform entire industries and even have potential to shake the foundations of economic and social systems. With the advent of cryptocurrencies, the banking and financial services sectors were among the first to feel its effects. In the payments space, it is important to separate the underlying distributed ledger technology from the cryptocurrency hype, and to understand the problems blockchain can solve, as well as the ways in which it can transform payments without disregarding barriers to implementation. Cross-border payments, a space that currently begets frustration but is increasingly dominated by innovative […]
