May 25, 2020 @ 7:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Andy Mukherjee argues in a recently published Op-Ed in the Washington Post that the virtual yuan could potentially transform “the relationship between money, economic power, and geopolitical clout.” The digital renminbi has been under development since 2014. Its top-level design was recently finalized and its… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 5:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Nobody really knows when Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies will be “vulnerable” to the threat from quantum computers, according to most experts in the field. Twitter and other social media users have been warning and reminding people that we should stay informed about the… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 4:25 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  We recently caught up with Jonah Schulman, the Head of Marketing at Security Token Market, a US-based company focused on a listing website for Security Token Offerings (STOs) from all over the world. The firm’s STO listings include basic information about the company and… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 2:33 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Ed Lane, VP of Sales for the EMEA region at nCino, a US-based cloud banking provider, has argued that the United Kingdom still leads the evolving global digital banking sector. Lane, who has previously served in senior management roles at Oracle and Salesforce, writes that… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 1:29 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Many large banks in the United Kingdom appear to be falling behind their all-digital competitors when it comes to providing better overall customer service, which includes the ability to allow clients to quickly open new accounts – according to a recent review performed by Peter… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 11:44 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference recently began conducting their annual sessions. Both government bodies are considered the most powerful or influential political groups in the country. These meetings are commonly referred to as the “Two Sessions”… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 9:21 am By Omar Faridi  |  

  Digital banks are on track to serve as many clients in Ireland as traditional banking service providers, according to N26, an all-digital challenger that recently secured $100 million in funding for its ongoing growth and development. The German neobank reports double-digit growth in the… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 8:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Consumers across the globe continue to increasingly use digital payments options instead of physical cash, due to COVID-19. NatWest claims that it has witnessed a significant increase in UK businesses that are now ready to accept payment cards. The lender notes that 70% of local… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 8:04 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Giant Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs will be hosting a conference call on May 27, 2020, which has been titled “US Economic Outlook & Implications of Current Policies for Inflation, Gold, and Bitcoin.” Interestingly, the conference has been scheduled after the bank published a… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 1:03 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Indian Fintech firm Zaggle has teamed up with Visa in order to support various payments solutions for SMEs. Both companies will work cooperatively to develop solutions for startups and SMEs that will help them improve their overall productivity and efficiency. Businesses will be able to… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 12:59 am By Omar Faridi  |  

iCONECT CA Inc., a privately-held firm focused on legal technology (Legaltech) and eDiscovery, has teamed up with Big Four auditing firm PwC’s Canada division. PricewaterhouseCoopers has chosen the iCONECT document eDiscovery platform, in order to improve its ability to take care of legal, privacy, regulatory,… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 11:57 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), an independent think tank organization focused on central banking, economic policy, and public investment, recently established the Digital Monetary Institute. The Institute aims to serve as a high-level group that brings together policymakers, tech specialists, financiers and regulators… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 11:35 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

An increasing number of transactions are being conducted online by the residents of the Philippines due to COVID-19. The nation’s government has confirmed that it will launch a branchless bank that will offer services to Filipinos working and living abroad. The digital bank will also… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 11:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase began supporting trading with OmiseGo (OMG) on May 21, 2020. The OMG token price surged 200% in only 15 minutes after the listing, however, it then crashed immediately. OMG is trading at $1.88 at the time of writing, down 5.44%… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 10:54 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Fintech Zopa, the one platform to launch an entire sector of Fintech as it became the first peer to peer lending platform in the UK, recently reintroduced C risk loans back into its Plus product offering. Zopa, which still offers online lending in a more… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 10:48 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

  Ethereum-based anonymization protocol, Tornado.cash, has introduced “completely immutable”smart contracts, which developers claim will make the protocol “unstoppable.” Although the initiative’s developers boldly claim that Tornado.cash is committed to supporting  immutability and the “code is law” principle, Ethereum (ETH) ecosystem developers and community members have… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 3:32 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Peer to peer (P2P) lender, Lendy, which shut down last year and went into administration, will be requiring previous investors to pass certain anti-money laundering (AML) checks again, before they qualify to get refunds. As confirmed on the firm’s website (which is not offering any… Read More

May 24, 2020 @ 1:16 am By Omar Faridi  |  

  Israel-based ThetaRay, a provider of Big Data and artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced analytics tools, has launched FastStart, a product that aims to address the requirements of financial institutions during the COVID-19 crisis. As noted on ThetaRay’s official website: “Since the pandemic began, banks have seen… Read More

May 23, 2020 @ 10:09 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Digital asset exchange FTX has introduced a crypto trading platform for US-based users. FTX.US supports spot trading for major virtual currencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Paxos Gold token (PAXG), and stablecoin Tether (USDT). The new platform will provide up… Read More

May 23, 2020 @ 9:14 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Southeast Asian banks will most likely accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and changing consumer behavior resulting from safe distancing measures and lockdowns. Incumbents could be challenged more than ever before, as they might struggle to offer the same level of… Read More