KPMG Recap of Fintech in 2017 and Fintech Predictions for 2018 3

KPMG Recap of Fintech in 2017 and Fintech Predictions for 2018
The KPMG Pulse of Fintech report is a must read for anybody interested in technology and financial services. And the current installation The Pulse of Fintech Q4 2017 is doubly noteworthy since it both recaps the state of fintech in 2017 and also looks ahead with some predictions for fintech in 2018. Read the report for ...

My Notes From The Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin WhitePaper 1

Bitcoin has been pretty crazy lately, at the weekend even my Mum asked me about the decentralised cryptocurrency. Anyway, it got me thinking about the origins, and how it all began. So i turned to the bitcoin whitepaper – Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System – published 9 years ago by Satoshi Nakamoto in November 2008. For ...

The Top Payments News Stories in January 2018

January 2018, big month! Open Banking came to Europe, and while things were relatively quiet, in years to come I am sure we will all reflect back on Jan-2018 as the month where it all started. Fintech and blockchain announcements continue to catch my eye, as do the reports of the month. Check out the following ...

The Top Payments News Stories in December 2017

Well here we are, more than ready to break up for Christmas and prepare for the new year ahead. In the last few days i had my own mini crisis – my blog got hacked. Who tf would want to hack this blog?!?! Anyway, we’re back alive and kicking. In this final instalment of the ...

The Yin and Yang of Bitcoin 2

The Yin and Yang of Bitcoin
Over the last couple of days the infographic If Only You’d Invested in Bitcoin has been shared many times. And that is of course because the price of Bitcoin has gone crazy from approximately $1000 USD at the beginning of 2017 to just under $20,000 USD today. If you had invested about $100 in Bitcoin ...

The Difference Between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple & Litecoin 4

The Difference Between Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple & Litecoin
Okay, you may have noticed recently a lot of hype and press coverage around Bitcoin. It has been pretty phenomenal, last weekend even my Mum asked me – “what is this Bitcoin malarkey?” Also, last week that Deutsche Bank released a paper titled: Cryptocurrencies and blockchains – their importance in the future. It’s a good read, and ...

The Difference Between Permissioned and Permissionless Blockchains

The Difference Between Permissioned and Permissionless Blockchains
I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on blockchain recently, with a view to understanding the various components and the difference between them. In this post i would like to recommend an article: Why we should drop the whole “Bitcoin vs blockchain” discussion. Its a great read for folks wanting to understand more about blockchain, ...

Sibos 2017 Toronto – Should I Stay Or Should I Go…?

It’s that time of the year where payment folks are thinking about Sibos – the annual SWIFT conference, which this year is in Toronto. If you check out the Sibos website – the recurring message is that “Sibos is the worlds premier financial services event“. It is running from 16-19th October, all the major banks, ...

Quick Summary: SWIFT On Distributed Ledger Technologies 2

Last year SWIFT released a paper – SWIFT on Distributed Ledger Technologies – highlighting the opportunities and challenges of distributed ledger technology in financial services. I know I’m a year too late (!!), but better late than never, eh? Anyway, following is a quick summary of the key points that i noted from the SWIFT ...

Indiana Blockchain, the IoT and the Temple of IBM 1

Indiana Blockchain, the IoT and the Temple of IBM
Right now, I am immersing myself in all things blockchain. From “what is blockchain“, through to Ethereum and Bitcoin – I’m reading it all! IBM are at the forefront of this technology whirlwind – while i was at the IBM website i started jumping around and found this interesting blockchain/IoT infographic (see below). Gartner, McKinsey all the big consultancies ...