Barclays is teaming up with blockchain startups Chainalysis and Wave as the bank’s bitcoin experiment expands October 15, 2015 Barclays has signed contracts with two blockchain startups in what the bank is calling a “game-changer”. This is one of the first times a major bank has opened up for such a cooperation with blockchain clients, as many bitcoin companies have had difficulties gaining access to banking services. Barclays chief design and innovation officer Derek [...]
Australian police raid Sydney home of reported bitcoin creator Craig Wright following reports he might be the true identity behind Satoshi Nakamoto December 9, 2015 Australian police have raided the home of the man suspected to be the creator of bitcoin, hours after articles revealing his identity were published. Police entered 44-year old tech entrepreneur Craig Wright’s Sydney home at 1.30pm local time on Wednesday afternoon, with 10 police officers searching the house. Australian police said the raid had nothing [...]
Bitreserve rebrands as Uphold and connects cryptocurrencies like bitcoin with credit cards and bank transfers October 14, 2015 Bitreserve has just launched anew after a massive overhaul which has the platform transformed into Uphold, where customers can fund their accounts via not just bitcoin but also credit cards or bank transfers. The newly launched service marks an integration of cryptocurrencies with legacy financial systems. Before, the cloud-based money platform could only be funded with [...]
Blockchain could soon be settling gold transactions June 22, 2016 Gold trading in London could soon be settled using blockchain technology in a new initiative between Euroclear and itBit. The settlement house is working with the New York startup to introduce its private distributed ledger Bankchain to the London gold market in a bid to make it more efficient. Read more: London startup claims first working blockchain platform launch "Precious metals [...]
These big banks are working on a digital currency together August 24, 2016 Several of the world's biggest banks are working together to create a digital currency to speed up settlements with the ambitious goal of putting the blockchain-based system into practice by 2018. UBS has been working on the Utility Settlement Coin (USC) since last year and is now being joined by Santander, Deutsche Bank, BNY Mellon and the broker Icap on [...]
Big banks can’t be allowed to hijack blockchain and digital currencies September 1, 2016 Digital currency and the technology that underpins it, blockchain, are still so young that nobody has worked out what they're really for yet. In this world of cutting-edge technology and pioneering disruption, we must make sure big banks and financial institutions don't try and force this new technology into old models. Last week, major financial intuitions comprising [...]
Bitcoin’s price surges as Greeks rush to buy in July 1, 2015 Greeks have rushed to Bitcoin as the country’s financial future hangs in the balance. The digital currency has risen seven per cent since Friday and, at £262, is at its highest level since March. Interestingly, gold – which has long been relied on as a store of wealth during crises – has actually fallen in [...]
US agent Carl Force caught stealing bitcoin on the Silk Road case sentenced to seven years in prison October 20, 2015 A US federal agent has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin, while he was supposed to be investigating the Silk Road case. Former Drug Enforcement Authority agent Carl Force was working to take down the infamous dark web drug trafficking site. But [...]
A Decentralised Autonomous Organisation – “DAO” – has already raised a staggering $33m. What does that mean? May 9, 2016 The first Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) fund has now raised over $33m, making it the second-largest crowdfunding project of all time. DAOs enable people to buy tokens in Ether, the cryptocurrency of Ethereum. Token-holders (who are a bit like shareholders) are then able to invest in smart-contract projects that run on the Ethereum blockchain – operating [...]
These are 2016’s top 100 influential leaders in fintech (part 2 of 4) December 7, 2016 City A.M. is publishing Hot Topics' top 100 fintech influential leaders list for 2016, supported by 360Leaders. This is part 2 of 4, in alphabetical order. Part 1 is here. For part 3 visit this link, and this is where you can view part 4. The most influential fintech leaders in 2016, E to J Eileen [...]