Opinions

Initial coin offerings are the latest fad for many emerging cryptocurrency companies and projects. From the recently completed Lisk, Waves and Mycelium coin offerings to the historic crowd sale by the DAO – which was subsequently hacked for about $60 million – to Bitland, Project Decorum, Elastic Project and a good number more sales, the trend is clear.

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The business case for real-time payments is not the opportunity to charge high fees. Rather, the payoff – which will take time – will come in retaining customers, lowering operational costs, and delivering timely financial insights to smartphone-toting customers.

Attendees at the recent White House fintech summit shined a spotlight on shared innovation challenges. To overcome them and help the U.S. make progress in financial services, we need to embrace these three regulatory reforms.

The approach of many payment and financial services companies to security is still stuck in the 20th century. But luckily, firms of all sizes can choose to travel in time to 2016.

The cryptocurrency ecosystem operates on the fringes of tradition, with "initial coin offerings" announced, discussed and carried out largely via online forums and without regulation. The phenomenon is high-risk and should be treated as such.

Credit scores are useful in predicting the likelihood of whether someone will repay a loan. However, banks and others need to provide customers with another number that more accurately assesses their financial health.

People and businesses expect access to their money and payments in real-time, and electronic funds transfers such as Fedwire and Swift transfers offer a convenient way to send payments to vendors, clients and partners rapidly.

Federal regulations — including the FFIEC's recent mobile security guidelines — have not kept pace with mobile innovation and the security risks users face from smartphone banking platforms.

Since consumers find EMV cards frustrating and difficult to use, EMV may do more to promote NFC as the preferred payment method among consumers and business owners.