Blockchain

The world’s biggest maker of smartphones and semiconductors may use the technology behind cryptocurrencies to manage its vast global supply network.

Amber Baldet is exiting JPMorgan Chase to start her own venture, and another female executive is taking charge of the blockchain effort. BofA makes major progress on digital mortgages and gets gun-shy after Parkland. Plus, GM’s one-sentence dress code.

Acting director wants agency run by a bipartisan body, not a lone director; Fed and OCC push for relaxing the supplementary leverage ratio at the biggest banks.

GSE reform a likely scratch from this year’s to-do list; banks’ difficulties in speaking emoji; reactions to Mick Mulvaney’s plans for the CFPB; and more.

Fintech companies such as WorldFirst, TransferWise, OFX, and WorldRemit give people more cost-effective means to make cross-border transfers, writes Jon Dela Cruz, a researcher for iCompareFX.com.

This year could be a pivot point for blockchain to move past proofs of concept to adoption, propelled by strong investor interest. But many still see the tech as being three to four years away from going mainstream.

The software firm MonetaGo and three Indian factoring exchanges have launched a blockchain that can identify invoices that have already been financed.

A BankThink argues that Treasury's GSE cash infusions are just the return of stolen money; MUFG wants its Union Bank to be one of the nation's 10 largest; fintech promises a 30-minute mortgage; and more.

Becoming a member of Hyperledger fits Ripple’s ideal of allowing different blockchains or distributed ledgers to communicate with each other.

The CU blockchain vendor joins global entities like American Express, IBM and Samsung in a consortium aimed at creating distributed ledger technologies.

A startup called Spring Labs has launched a blockchain network with the goal of getting lenders and data providers to share data to help verify customers' identity.

Just two months after going all-in on crypto, venture firm Full Tilt Capital LLC has been acquired by a hedge fund looking to make a big bet on blockchain.

Governments are studying ways blockchain can safeguard property records and simplify how they get tracked.

JPMorgan Chase is said to be dropping its Quorum blockchain technology, and little is happening with other blockchain projects that have been in the works for years. What gives?

Luckily for Amazon, the OCC is no longer “the angry dad on the porch with a shotgun," trying to keep tech companies from hooking up with banks. JPMorgan Chase’s Amber Baldet can pack a room for a lesson on blockchains. And it is the end of catcalls in France.

The bank said it won’t do business with clients who sell guns to minors or those who fail background checks; JPM, B of A and Wells now hold nearly one-third of U.S. deposits.

The new law, which is modeled on a similar effort in the United Kingdom, aims to lure financial firms to the desert. It has drawn support from business organizations but opposition from consumer groups — a dynamic that is likely to be replayed in other states.

Localized industries that provide local services are a great fit for the blockchain model, argues F. Mark Kosierowski, finance and insurance adviser at the Dentacoin Foundation.

Employees at the second-largest Indian bank falsified documents in a scheme that ultimately cost the institution at least $2 billion. Some argue a distributed ledger would have helped prevent or minimize the fraud.

The speed at which money transfer payments are evolving from legacy, paper-based systems to digital platforms couldn’t be more stark at Western Union, where Sheri Rhodes has just been named executive vice president and chief technology officer.