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Brett King joins cryptobank board: Technology author and Moven founder
Virtual currency exec steps aside: Shortly after suffering a theft of more than $63 million in cryptocurrencies, NiceHash CEO and co-founder Marko Kobal has resigned as CEO of the Slovenian company, according to an
A worldwide workaround: Just a month after reports surfaced that
Another blockchain affinity boost: The mere mention of blockchain and bitcoin has had a market impact recently, with the Long Island Iced Tea Company enjoying a tripling in its stock price in December after changing its brand to Long Blockchain. This week Chanticleer Holdings, which is a Hooters franchisee and minority investor, saw a 50% stock price boost after the company announced it's moving its rewards program to a blockchain, reports
From the Web
WIRED | Tue Jan 2, 2018 - In 2018 the banks will concede customer mindshare to the GAFAMs (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft) and the BATs (Baidu, Alipay, Tencent). The proof? Take a look at the trajectories of Paym in the UK and Venmo in the US. Non-banks are simply better at this than banks are. Non-banks are about to get a huge boost from European and UK regulators, thanks to the European Commission's Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), which becomes law in January 2018. Combine this with the UK Treasury's Open Data initiative and the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) open banking "remedies", and the UK's nine biggest banks will start the year with APIs in place for third parties to gain access to their customers' bank-account data (with your consent, of course) and initiate payments on your behalf.
CBS News | Tue Jan 2, 2018 - The growth of bitcoin is fueling speculation and debate about the environmental impact of the collective energy needed to power the virtual currency in the era of climate change. The sustainability concerns about bitcoin, voiced by economists and environmentalists, stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence. The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in bitcoins. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers. Some estimates say bitcoin's energy impact is more than that of a small country.
BBC News | Tue Jan 2, 2018 - A crypto-currency called Ripple has become the second most valuable virtual cash system. Over the weekend the value of the digital currency hit more than $100bn (£74bn) according to some market monitors. This valuation is higher than the other popular crypto-cash system - Ethereum. Each Ripple coin, called an XRP, is now worth about $2.34 - far higher than the half a US cent they were worth a year ago. Bitcoin still remains the most valuable crypto-currency. The value of the 16.8 million bitcoins in circulation is now worth a nominal $231bn. Each bitcoin has a value of about $13,580.
More from PaymentsSource
Group payments and peer transfers have become commoditized and aren't special anymore, according to Ari Daie.
After a year of trying to appease U.S. regulators, Ant Financial and MoneyGram have terminated their merger agreement, challenging the Chinese company's strategy for global expansion.
Prepaid2Cash has launched a mobile app enabling recipients of card network-branded gift cards to convert them to cash — targeting what the National Retail Federation says is nearly $30 billion in funds spent via gift cards in the U.S. during the holiday season.
Compliance checks today are not continuous or automatic, even in the largest of global enterprises. Traditionally, compliance audits are performed by organizations just once a year when, in reality, they need to be continuous in order to be effective, writes Manoj Asnani, lead of product and design for Balbix.
