Bitcoin price soars past $450 on the back of China turbulence January 7, 2016 Bitcoin is having a roaring start to 2016 so far. While the pound has fallen to a five-year low against the dollar amid another turbulent day in China, bitcoin has benefited from the drama to go on a tear to $450 and beyond, hitting its highest point since Christmas. The cryptocurrency started the day at [...]
Fintech 2016: Bitcoin rises again and compliance gets sexy January 7, 2016 It was another big year for fintech in Europe in 2015. The frenzy of activity in London has continued. There’s been an overload of conferences and events, an occasional dose of premature back-slapping, but most importantly some great companies have raised serious investment. The rest of Europe, Germany in particular, has leapt forward too – [...]
Blockchain, the technology behind digital currency bitcoin, makes a splash in insurance to offer a solution to homeowners renting out part of their property March 10, 2016 SafeShare is making digital waves by launching the first blockchain-based insurance solution for the sharing economy on the market. The insurance startup, in partnership with Vrumi, is offering the product, which was created with Z/Yen Group and using open source timestamp service MetroGnomo, to homeowners. Sharing economy firm Vrumi allows homeowners with extra rooms to [...]
Paypal adds Xapo bitcoin entrepreneur Wences Casares to its board January 14, 2016 Paypal just added fintech and bitcoin entrepreneur Wences Casares to its board. The move marks a big step forward for Paypal’s push into bitcoin, launched in 2014. 41-year-old Casares is founder and chief executive of bitcoin payment firm Xapo, but has previous experience from a number of other fintech ventures. “I am honored to serve [...]
The US is looking to formalise policy around blockchain technology September 26, 2016 The UK faces competition from across the pond in positioning itself as a world leader in blockchain technology. The fledgling technology that underpins bitcoin, but has far wider implications beyond digital currencies, is hitting the agenda of the US government with the creation of a cross-party working group to look at policies surrounding the technology as well as digital currencies such [...]
Banks are still betting on blockchain over bitcoin December 10, 2015 Bitcoin is back in the limelight, with speculation again swirling around the mysterious identity of the creator of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency. Intense media coverage caused a spike in the bitcoin price, following the publication of parallel investigations by tech news sites Wired and Gizmodo into the identity of the founder. In Wired’s own words: [...]
Bitcoin Black Friday 2015: Get your bitcoin wallets ready as the cryptocurrency gets in on the retail bonanza November 27, 2015 Get your bitcoin wallets ready: Bitcoin Black Friday is here again. Because of course, this year’s biggest shopping frenzy is hardly restricted to high street shoppers, and bitcoin spenders will be able to make the most of slashed-price bargains until midnight today. Over 150 merchants are offering discounts to mark the event, as the sale [...]
Bitcoin just became the national currency of Atlantis (really) December 14, 2015 No seriously, bear with us here… Bitcoin just became the national currency of the tiny island Pontinha, a self-proclaimed country off the coast of Portugal. The micronation, which is in the process of being renamed Atlantis after the mythical lost civilisation, has officially adopted bitcoin as its currency – making it “the first country in [...]
Charitable cryptocurrency Cross-Stratum Coin to be launched next year August 10, 2016 A NEW cryptocurrency slated for release next year is set to bridge the world of digital currencies and international charity payments. The Cross-Stratum Coin (CSC), created by UK-based fintech company Cross-Stratum Mutual Community (CSMC) Asia, will utilise trading fees as a method for donation to global charities when it launches in the first quarter of [...]
How Blockchain technology will change the financial services industry February 20, 2017 Blockchain technology has been hailed as a potential “second generation of the Internet.” A whole vocabulary has sprung up around it, with an emphasis on key words like distributed ledger, cryptography, and trust. But what is blockchain, exactly? It’s basically a database where recorded transactions are copied to a participating network of computers. Since the [...]