Fintech News Issue #69 May 27th, 2016

Brett King returns to the Breaking Banks hosting chair to talk about disruption in the insurance industry, learning from fintech, and other hot topics.

For the first time since its creation, Bitcoin is in danger of losing its status as the world's leading cryptocurrency. The new challenger is a Bitcoin-like technology called Ethereum that has seen a surge of interest from users, developers, and the corporate world.

With blockchain, for the first time, we have a new digital medium for value where anyone can access anything of value — stocks, bonds, money, digital property, titles, deeds — and even things like identity and votes can be moved, stored and managed securely and privately.

Heads up guys. PSD2 is coming to a payment screen near you. And for those who don't know about it, here’s a quick trailer. So, just what is it?

This is your chance to be a part of the most exciting growth the world has seen around smart cards, payments and identification. Attendees coming from the Middle East, North Africa, Indian Subcontinent, Asia and Central Europe for the fastest growing payment show in EMEA.

Digital banking laggards are under serious existential threat, says Sudhir Kesavan, and digital pioneers are leading the charge.

Consumers today have no patience. They want instant gratification. This means simplifying everything. You must chop out steps and minimize the number of clicks to perform any task in digital channels.

My preferred method of accelerated learning is arguing with smart people, and the Congress delivered them in spades. But before I come back to this particular argument, let’s just frame the big picture.

Like any new technology, blockchain is morally neutral. It can be used to decrease costs and inflate bank profits. It can be used to expand the reach of financial services to the world’s poorest people.

Chris Skinner provides some interesting resources around the topic of the future of banking, including a video of his presentation.

I’ve said a few times that I think the Internet of Things is where mobile was a couple of decades back. Some of us had mobile phones, and we loved them, but we really didn’t see what they were going to turn in to.

IT SOUNDS like a cult, but it wants to be a venture-capital fund of sorts. As The Economist went to press, the DAO (short for decentralised autonomous organisation) had already raised the equivalent of nearly $150m to invest in startups. This, say its fans, makes it the biggest crowdfunding effort ever.