Valentine’s Day for start-ups: The perils of dating the co-founder
Aleks Svetski and Chantelle de la Rey, co-founders of digital currency exchange Amber, observe a rule: they don’t call each other babe at work. The pair had been dating for four months when they founded their company in late 2017. While scaling the business in a highly volatile market, the couple agreed to a series of measures – from keeping Sundays work-free to separating how they communicate at work and home – to protect their fledgling relationship. “These things are never smooth. We’re in a relationship and on a crusade to help more people get access to bitcoin,” Mr Svetski said. Amber, which swaps spare change from daily purchases to […]
Has Bitcoin entered a new normal?
Bitcoin has been experiencing low volatility recently, which could fuel greater adoption by enabling the cryptocurrency’s use as a medium of exchange. As for whether this will actually materialize, analysts have offered mixed views. Nigel Green, founder and CEO of independent financial consultancy deVere Group, forecasted that bitcoin’s modest price fluctuations will probably prompt greater use of the digital currency. While the digital currency’s price fluctuations have been “relatively modest” as of late, “volatility will return again,” he predicted. “However, there is a growing sense that crypto sector will have less extreme swings moving forward,” emphasized Green. “This is likely to further drive mass adoption.” To read more, please click on the link below… […]
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey: Crypto will deliver a global currency
Jack Dorsey has a lot of thoughts and plans for cryptocurrency. In a February 2 interview with Joe Rogan, the Twitter founder and CEO had a lot to say about the topic. In a wide-ranging interview that covers topics of censorship, app development, politics and other topics, Rogan steered the conversation towards Dorsey’s Cash App, which allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin Core (BTC). Rogan asked why Dorsey’s team introduced cryptocurrency exchanges in the app. Quite simply, Dorsey believes in a future of one global currency, if it is or isn’t BTC, and that starts in small steps. He said: “I believe the Internet will have a native currency […]
What will new tech mean for crypto in 2019?
Ten years on from the emergence of Bitcoin, there is no doubt that crypto and blockchain technology have made a massive impact. However, many forward-thinking observers still believe that digital tokens and the processes behind them have a long way to go. New systems and ways of doing things are emerging all the time, and this year, there are plenty of developments on the cusp of debuting online. A greater public awareness and more widespread adoption is on the cards, with the world of established financial institutions continuing to make moves and government-level discussions about the future of crypto also taking place. With many insiders predicting a wide range of […]
A faster, more efficient cryptocurrency
MIT researchers have developed a new cryptocurrency that drastically reduces the data users need to join the network and verify transactions — by up to 99 percent compared to today’s popular cryptocurrencies. This means a much more scalable network. Cryptocurrencies, such as the popular Bitcoin, are networks built on the blockchain, a financial ledger formatted in a sequence of individual blocks, each containing transaction data. These networks are decentralized, meaning there are no banks or organizations to manage funds and balances, so users join forces to store and verify the transactions. But decentralization leads to a scalability problem. To join a cryptocurrency, new users must download and store all transaction […]
Will the Samsung Galaxy S10 come cryptocurrency-ready?
If you need a smartphone that will also work as a mobile cryptocurrency wallet, Samsung may have a handset for you. Photos tweeted by leaker Ice universe on Wednesday purport to show the Samsung Galaxy S10 with support for cryptocurrencies and sporting a Blockchain KeyStore. Text on the handset’s screen calls the KeyStore a “secure and convenient place for your cryptocurrency.” Blockchain is an encryption technology best known for underpinning bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. But investor ardor over bitcoin has waned in the past year, with the cryptocurrency trading for about $3,555 on Wednesday after being worth more than $17,000 in December 2017. Samsung is widely expected to unveil the Galaxy S10 at an […]
Cryptocurrency is radical but who does the radicalism benefit?
“Free speech” is one of the battle cries of far-right activists who target democratic consensus and seek to divide the public. Alt-right agitators and trolls embrace the cry of “freedom” even as they take actions that fundamentally corrode Western unity, credibility and morale. Claiming “freedom” in fact makes it hard for defenders of the rules-based nations to identify the threat to public order posed by partisans on private-sector digital platforms. So it is somewhat alarming to see a similar dynamic – the cry of “freedom” – play out in another sphere, that of currency and payments. Right now, terminology being embraced in the world of cryptocurrency places the technology in […]
Fintech trends and predictions for 2019
Fintechs are big, growing and are disruptive. Why wouldn’t they be when they are using innovative technologies making banking and financial services more efficient. So what are the predictors and futurists saying the landscape will look like in 2019 and beyond? Here’s a collection of some of the sources we think are on point! Bitcoin is Just the Beginning The Australian predicts that Bitcoin is Just the Beginning and that the “fintech” revolution is upon us – but we may only be at the start of it. Highlights include: “Financial technology is not only changing the way people purchase and invest, it’s changing the very definition of money as well.” […]