Change Financial looks to shake up the status quo for financial enterprise
US-based yet ASX-listed fintech company Change Financial (ASX: CCA) has announced three commercial deals to assist the growth of its enterprise division ahead of the full launch of its Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. The fintech newcomer has secured variously structured deals with Mastercard, Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC) and Pulse, respectively. The deals aim to improve operating conditions primarily for its enterprise division, although upon further analysis, it seems Change will be able to derive synergies for all three of its business units, serving consumers, enterprises and blockchain users. Its consumer unit is focused on ChimpChange, an award-winning digital bank account and mobile app. ChimpChange makes free […]
Novatti makes commercially astute blockchain move
Online payments processor Novatti Group (ASX: NOV) has made a commercially-astute move into blockchain payments by integrating its proprietary payments platform with The Stellar Network, an open-source protocol for exchanging money used via shared servers and “forming a global value exchange network”. In essence, Stellar is a blockchain-payment and asset transfer platform connecting banks, payment systems and customers with a network of low-cost financial services providers, including financial institutions, payment aggregators and technical specialists. The prime feature which attracts users is the commonly-shared commitment to support a new and inclusive global infrastructure for payments. Stellar is growing rapidly and sports a proprietary “native asset” digital currency called the Lumen. Its […]
Who invented Blockchain?
Contrary to popular belief, shadowy inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, did not invent blockchain. So who did? In 1991, Dr W. Scott Stornetta and his co-author Dr Stuart Harber published a whitepaper introducing ‘blockchain’, a decentralised, cryptic database where digital transactions are secured. The cryptographers’ research focused on creating a digital hierarchy system which time-stamped and chronologically secured transactions in a chain of blocks. Together, they co-authored several publications in the cryptography field to pioneer a system that was transparent and verifiable. The first major blockchain innovation came in 2008, when the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin whitepaper. Bitcoin is a digital currency which can be bought and transferred […]
How you may be confused about Ethereum
According to Coinmarketcap.com, Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin leads with a cap at slightly over US$100 billion, and Ethereum follows at about US$40 billion. While this evaluation is commonly accepted, it isn’t entirely accurate. The assumption places a false equivalence in the mind of anyone exploring the number two cryptocurrency after learning about it through Bitcoin. The coin versus the blockchain Most importantly, Ethereum is not actually a cryptocurrency but a protocol with a blockchain on which, theoretically, an infinite or endless number of cryptocurrencies can reside. Its equivalence is Bitcoin, a protocol with a blockchain that only supports the bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency. In the […]
Blockchain is ready for prime time despite its critics
By John Heaton – Moneycatcha CTO Over the last few years the hype around Blockchain has been brought to the forefront via mass entry into cryptocurrencies. This is not too dissimilar to when online trading systems became publicly available in the late 1990s early 2000s. The pattern of behaviour is similar with an opportunity being presented and individuals trying to make a return on investment. As with the online trading systems, there will be individuals who manage to make significant returns on investment but the vast majority made marginal or no returns. Before technology is fully commercialised it endures certain growing pains such as awareness, decision to adopt, initial use […]
Initial coin offerings challenge traditional venture capital
Satoshi Nakamoto, whoever he or she is, probably didn’t consider the effect blockchain would have on the innovation ecosystem when they launched the first usable blockchain in 2009. Regardless, amid all the cryptocurrency hype, it’s clear a new pathway for start-ups is emerging. With a growing number of technology projects turning to initial coin offerings (ICOs) for fundraising, it seems the whole “idea-to-market” process has been turned on its head – revolutionising the lean start-up methodology: Decades ago it used to be the case of “build something, get funded, market it”. The lean method tried to lower the founder’s risk by decreasing the costs to market and introducing the idea […]
DigitalX advances crypto market intentions with crypto-asset investment fund and news sources
DigitalX (ASX: DCC) is back trading on the ASX after coming out of a self-imposed trading halt. The reason for short-lived market hibernation was the launch of its newly-founded investment division and “crypto-asset” investment fund, DigitalX Investments, to be led an managed by former Goldman Sachs Associate Director Tim Davies. As an emergent fintech provider DigitalX has made headlines in recent months after netting several high-profile corporate advisory clients linked to the emergent growth of cryptocurrencies and their associated initial coin offerings (ICOs). Its activities and market achievements have seen the company’s value swell to almost A$100 million by market capitalisation, framed within the larger interest in distributed ledger technology […]
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