How to revive the music industry: Imogen Heap explains why blockchain could bring about a music revolution July 10, 2016 Whether we stream it through our smartphones or buy tracks from our laptops, technology has made music more accessible than ever before. For consumers, this is good news. But for the music industry, it’s a different story. In 2015, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) estimates music consumption increased 3.7 per cent and streaming grew a whopping [...]
Driverless cars, artificial intelligence and blockchain: Meet the Gartner Hype Cycle of 2016 August 16, 2016 Driverless car technology is careering towards the trough of disillusionment after hitting the peak of hype, according to Gartner analysts monitoring the progression of the world's emerging technology trends. The firm's annual Hype Cycle tracks where trends such as virtual reality, robotics, personal voice assistants and, of course, driverless cars, are in their journey from talked-about technology to [...]
Winklevoss twins’ Bitcoin exchange Gemini gets a license from the New York State Department of Financial Services October 5, 2015 A top US regulator has licensed a bitcoin exchange set up by the Winklevoss twins, who rose to fame on the back of a lawsuit against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Gemini, which will let individuals and institutional customers buy and sell the cryptocurrency, received a banking charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services today. The [...]
“We are heading into a world of unprecedented political risk”: Seven investors react to Donald Trump’s victory November 9, 2016 In a poll last week, 80 per cent of financial advisers predicted a Donald Trump victory in the US election would have a negative impact on investments. Just four per cent of the 202 UK independent financial advisers surveyed by Opinium Research said it would be positive. With that in mind, here are the early [...]
Here’s one piece of EU red tape you won’t escape by voting for Brexit June 21, 2016 UK companies will be affected by an incoming piece of EU data protection legislation regardless of which way Thursday's vote goes, an international law firm has said today. Speaking ahead of a conference at the Institute of Directors headlined by specialist insurer Beazley, Hans Allnutt, head of the cyber risk and breach response team at DAC Beachcroft, pointed [...]
Blockchain just had two major firsts with new social payment app Circle, Barclays and Britain’s financial regulator April 6, 2016 London may be the centre of fintech innovation, but there’s one huge trend we’ve failed to jump on board with yet – social payment apps. Messaging your mate with that fiver you owe for last night’s round at the pub and a big smiley face emoji is pretty common in the US and China, especially [...]
Swot up in 2016: Four great finance books to read – from Bitcoin to the history of gold, how to spot a ponzi scheme and money making tips from motivational guru Tony Robbins November 25, 2015 BITCOIN by Dominic Frisby Bitcoin is king of the digital currencies and, for all its naysayers, it is not going away. 2015 was a year when both bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain, inched further towards mainstream acceptance. Frisby explains the modern history of currencies and why bitcoin’s anonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, was [...]
London takes the lead in Bitcoin innovation June 28, 2015 London is fast becoming a global hub for development of innovations using digital currency Bitcoin. City institutions including the Bank of England, Barclays, UBS and Goldman Sachs are all looking into the potential for using Bitcoin to speed up processes in traditional finance. TRANSPARENCY Bitcoin is a digital currency which is bought online and [...]
Airbnb’s hired blockchain technology experts April 13, 2016 The home rental startup superstar Airbnb is the latest business eyeing up blockchain technology. Just weeks after Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczy spoke to City A.M about the potential blockchain technology might have in its business, than the company has made several hires of experts in the technology. Several staff from US-based ChangeCoin, a startup which created micro-payments platform ChangeTip, have been snapped up by Airbnb. [...]
Nearly half of insured businesses are not sure whether their cyber policy would cover them for this kind of attack June 7, 2016 Despite splashing out on cyber security insurance, new research out today has found an alarming number of businesses have little idea if they are covered against one particular growing threat. The study, by data security company Mimecast, discovered 45 per cent of companies with cyber insurance were not aware of whether their policy would pay out in [...]