The word “fintech” is derived from “financial technology” which means the integration of technological tools and innovations into financial operations in order to enhance and automate the financial processes. Fintech is used to assist financial institutions, businesses in the management of their operations to provide better services to their customers. As the industry of fintech is actively evolving, there is no surprise at all that the news from this sphere can attract wide attention.
Adoption of fintech by a company would mean a significant change to their mode of operations as it involves the use of specialized algorithmic models, mobile applications and dedicated computer software packages.
At its initial introduction stage, companies from a range of industries including banking, education, fundraising, health, venture management, etc. only used fintech for back end systems where they get absolute and full control. Nowadays, most industries have started using the innovation for consumer-oriented services in an attempt to serve their clients better while increasing the transparency in their operations.
As we move towards a significantly digitized world, from the introduction of the internet to social media, smartphone evolution and now blockchain technology, the need for adoption of cryptocurrency cannot be overemphasized. As the underlying framework of pioneer cryptocurrency bitcoin, the blockchain is a vital part of fintech. We’ve seen a number of blockchain-powered fintech apps being employed by banking industries and data inclined platforms.
Fintech has become a major part of the finance space in recent years, this points to the fact that major conglomerates have identified and prioritized its importance in growing their businesses. Fintech works closely with other new technologies such as data-driven analytics and marketing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.
Coinspeaker presents the best and latest Fintech news, ranging from its use in cross border payments, startup business fundraisers, venture management, credit application, to remote banking, as investors and stakeholders’ awareness about the innovation continues to rise daily.
Atom Bank, one of the UK’s challenger banks, has secured a £50 million investment in a new funding round led by BBVA. Atom bank partnered with a fintech provider last year, to migrate its functions to blockchain platform – Vault.
Tinder is the latest app to join the growing revolt against the fees charged by app stores, with the launch of a new payment process that bypasses the Google Play Store. Google used to take 30 percent cut.
International Crypto payment firm Circle recently announced that Users on its affiliate exchange company Poloniex can now gain access to the exchange by means of the corporation’s Bermuda subsidiary called ’Circle International Bermuda.’
Facebook thinks that Switzerland’s data protection commissioner should oversee Libra’s stated commitment not to monetize users’ data in the way that Facebook makes profit from selling personal information to advertisers.
Japanese government to create a network similar to SWIFT, for international cryptocurrency payments. The Ministry of Finance and the Financial Services Agency will deploy this network to also tackle financial crimes.
Ontology together with NEO pioneer an underlying Blockchain solution for the Internet of the future. Fundamentally this partnership would alleviate the downturns of the Internet, standing to be an industry-wide milestone.
In recent news, Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan has said that he believes Facebook’s Libra isn’t a short-term concern of an impact on the traditional banks.
Even though Congress tried to inflict damage on Big Tech in hearings related to user data, antitrust concerns and Facebook’s Libra, it seems it has failed. That leaves Silicon Valley with little incentive to change.
Rep. Maxine Waters said she’s planning to call in Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify about his company’s new digital currency project Libra. She added that her staff has not made the formal request with Facebook yet, but they plan to do so.
Today’s the second day of Libra hearing. Amid questions of safety, compliance and consumer protection, Marcus kept stressing that Libra project would seek proper approval and registrations with the relevant authorities.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy praised Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain ledger technology for offering users privacy, especially given that big companies keep violating the privacy of its users – that’s probably why he’s not so optimistic about Libra.
Facebook’s Libra project is facing increasing opposition with the German minister of finance joining the bandwagon citing the coin’s disruption potential as a major threat to the EuroZone.
Receiving no attention at the senate hearing on Tuesday, Bitcoin price tanked over 10% on Tuesday. There’s little to no positive response from the US lawmakers for Facebook’s Libra which has created an overall negative sentiment around Bitcoin as well.
Most of the commentators of yesterday’s David Marcus’s hearing agree that Libra is here to stay. The fact that it has been one of the most important discussions on the state level – says that cryptocurrencies are indeed becoming part of everyday life.
The Treasury Department has concerns that Libra, as well as Bitcoin, could be misused by terrorist financiers and money launders, to carry out illicit activities ranging from cybercrime to tax evasion, extortion, and ransomware.