Blockchain

Roxe says the distributed ledger technology that removes costly middlemen from international transactions can also lower expenses for currency conversions.

Distributed ledger projects in banking are few and far between — many have stalled and others remain experiments. Robert Townsend, who has worked with banks around the world and written a book about blockchain technology, explains some of the ways financial institutions could be using it, for instance in small-business lending and supply chain finance.

The Series B round, also led by Blockchain Capital, marks the first investment in the blockchain industry by Morgan Stanley's opportunistic investment arm.

Blockdaemon has seen rapid growth in the past year, and has won customers including JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

The e-commerce giant is looking for someone whose skills pertain to distributed ledgers and digital currency.

The bank and card brand will combine digital connections for supply chain finance and corporate disbursements.

Figure Technologies, the blockchain-based startup co-founded by Mike Cagney, is closing its latest funding round that values the company at $3.2 billion.

Silvergate Bank CEO Alan Lane, former HSBC executive Stuart Levey and experts at Anchorage Bank are helping Facebook make its digital currency more palatable to regulators and potential bank partners.

Government digital currency projects have the potential to displace banks and fintechs from the payment process. But three major participants — Accenture, Ant Group and Swift — argue that incumbents have a role to play.

The fintech already sells loans on its distributed-ledger-based trading platform but needed the Securities and Exchange Commission's blessing to bundle its mortgage and student loans into securities and sell them to investors.