Blockchain

Making micropayments feasible and viable for businesses will open up a whole new world of online commerce that was just not possible before, writes Sushil Prabhu, CEO of OpenCrowd.

Facebook is inching closer to threatening traditional processors and financial institutions with its own digital currency by adding staff with expertise in the underlying technology.

Payment companies and businesses that want to leverage blockchain need to properly connect the decentralized platform they use to existing databases and back-end systems, writes IIya Pupko, chief architect at Jitterbit.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication is testing a link between e-commerce and trading platforms within its Global Payments Innovation network, with the first trial taking place on the Corda blockchain platform.

Blockchain reclaims proof of trust and allows users to reassign the data management role to a decentralized network guided by autonomous and immutable code, writes IIya Pupko, chief architect at Jitterbit.

Spring Labs is spearheading a group of prominent fintech lenders to use a blockchain-based, peer-to-peer network to share consumer information to help with ID verification on loan applications.

Data scientists from NASA, Google and hundreds of other places are working for financial firms in their spare time. Is this a good idea?

Canada needs to embrace digital identification to "unlock the full potential" of banking and the economy, Canadian Bankers Association Chief Executive Officer Neil Parmenter said.

The bank missed expectations although profit rose 67%; with the California Democrat leading the House Financial Services Committee, deregulation could slow.

New York isn’t giving up on the digital-ledger technology that makes Bitcoin and other tokens work even after last year’s collapse of the cryptocurrency market.

Ant Financial’s Alipay is deploying blockchain technology to power a cross-border remittance service for Pakistan’s Telenor Microfinance Bank and Valyou of Malaysia.

U.K.-based Nuggets is integrating its blockchain technology to existing payment rails, creating a system wherein merchants will no longer have to access or store consumers' personal data.

Despite controversy surrounding Ripple’s digital token, one bank is pushing forward to use it in cross-border payments.

Its early days yet, but decentralized apps will democratize finance, says Andrew Keys, cofounder of ConsenSys Capital, the financial services arm of ConsenSys.

A digital exchange opening next week will enable investors to trade in companies including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Tesla Inc. outside of the U.S. even when the stock markets are closed.

The industry has largely avoided added federal oversight after the Equifax hack; the product has created a “financial albatross” as consumers game the system.

Blockchain technology will allow players to purchase items or games faster, while ensuring their payments are secure, according to Nicolas Gilot, co-CEO of Ultra.

The National Bank of Kuwait is leveraging Ripple’s blockchain technology for a new cross-border payments service.

The year saw anxiety over how banks would respond to record consumer debt, disruptive glitches at TD Bank and SunTrust, ongoing scandal at Wells Fargo, and much, much more.

Even the best technologies take time, making it necessary to rein in expectations about what will happen and won't happen in the coming year.