Resources

Tight credit standards and student loan debt may be holding back the housing market, but equity research analyst Ivy Zelman thinks that homeownership will pick up along with the cyclical recovery. Banks are already "incrementally easing" their requirements for mortgage applicants with credit scores above 660, she says, and banks need to "fill the void" left by the refinancing slump.

As banks lower down payment requirements and graduates get a handle on student loan debt, young people in their twenties and thirties are inching back toward homeownership, according to equity research analyst Ivy Zelman. "The perception that no millennial is buying today is just false," Zelman says.

Every day, consumers give out their credit card or bank account numbers to strangers whom they trust to take out the correct amount and safeguard their sensitive information. "That's terrifying if you really step back and think about it," says Jeremy Allaire of Circle Internet Financial.

"Cold storage" of cryptographic private keys, private theft insurance, and audited full reserves can prevent another Mt. Gox-like debacle, says Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Bitcoin startup Circle Internet Financial.