When banks finally come to improve their technology experience, they go no deeper than changing the front end. They’ll make a button blue instead of green or create rounded edges on buttons instead of square ones. They think in terms of their interfaces, not the back end. If a bank were to truly innovate its technology, it’d dig deeper into the back end and transform its legacy technical infrastructure, which has been the same for decades. Few today even know how to work on those old programming languages of yesteryear, such as COBOL, so they’re stuck with upgrades that turn …

One of the biggest challenges emerging markets face is volatility. Fueled by political and economic instability, dependency on a limited number of industries, and constraints on market accessibility, these matters are exacerbated by a bad or nonexistent regulatory framework. While it doesn’t appear that many of these elements will change anytime soon, there are financial and technological implementations that can be introduced to provide stability. Tokenization — a relatively novel, blockchain-based, cryptographic ratification of assets — can be the vehicle that empowers this vision to be realized. What emerging markets are missing: Participation and liquidity Essential to a successful, mature …

With over $13 billion in total value locked, decentralized finance has truly shaken the crypto world in the last year. It has provided a new way to profit from the crypto market. Meanwhile, DeFi right now is only a niche trend with a gigantic potential to start a revolution in the business loan market. In order to grow out of diapers, DeFi desperately needs to be connected with real-world assets and exist in an environment where it can be used by real businesses, corporate clients, etc. As a concept, DeFi truly looks like a win-win solution for those who already …

A report published by Securities Daily explained how China's publicly-listed companies spend the millions they have allocated toward blockchain R&D. The study surveyed 23 companies in China who began working with blockchain back in 2016. Figures suggest that companies allocate an average 20% of their annual revenues toward such purposes. The majority of these funds are spent to further government-related solutions. The report highlighted that Yuanguang Software, an enterprise software provider, have increased their related research spending by around $24.3 million since 2016. Other companies, such as Xinchen Technology, have actively spent funds on blockchain-related government research projects in an …

On Sept. 27, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong sought to center his employees’ work around the company’s core mission: “to bring economic freedom to people all over the world.” Armstrong argues for a narrow interpretation of Coinbase’s mission to build the best possible product because it is “already hugely ambitious” and because companies generally cannot succeed if their goals “include all forms of equality and justice.” Armstrong’s perspective is not unique to Coinbase and represents a broader tech industry incarnation of the white-savior complex rooted in the belief of the product’s inherent goodness. This belief is especially noteworthy in crypto, given …

A new PwC study found that blockchain technology through its wide range of use cases will potentially add $1.76 trillion to the global gross domestic product in the next 10 years. It would make 1.4% of the global GDP in 2030. The report states that increasing interest in blockchain technology is primarily due to the need for a more efficient system that can integrate trust in processes that depend on intermediaries. In another survey, PwC found that more than 50% of the CEOs believed the faltering trust in the business process was affecting their organization. According to PwC, blockchain will …

Within a few years, a younger generation of financial services customers are going to be able to walk into a bank and gain access to credit products, savings accounts and investments that can host both crypto and fiat assets. In fact, the inroads that will allow for all of this to happen are already breaking ground. You probably already know that Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange based out of San Francisco, is now the first-ever cryptocurrency business in the United States to become a bank. For now, being an officially chartered bank means that Kraken will be able to offer more …

Africa is the home to 1.2 billion people and what has been described as the world’s largest trade area — the African Continental Free Trade Area. Africa is forging a new path to driving development, and access to financial services will play a significant role in its economic growth. The need to provide improved systems for poverty reduction, if not alleviation, is further accentuated when one considers that 416 million Africans live in extreme poverty, and access to financial services is right at the heart of the solution. In a review of the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, …

The cryptocurrency market is still in its infancy, and the overpowering sense of possibility is strong. The range of attitudes toward crypto is generally broad, but recent surveys shed light on certain inclinations one way or another. On one hand, we see beginners who venture into projects they fail to fully grasp, and on the other, we see aspirants to crypto investing who question their capability of getting involved. At one end of the spectrum are the crypto dilettantes, where interestingly, understanding and confidence tend to be inversely correlated. Last year, Dutch bank ING interviewed around 10,500 people in Europe …

Not unlike many other jurisdictions around the world, Russia has come to recognize the potential benefits and risks flowing from cryptocurrencies by taking its first step to define and codify digital assets. The new Russian legislation dubbed “On Digital Financial Assets” sets a clear direction for the treatment of cryptocurrencies by authorities and how both individuals and businesses can handle them in everyday practice. Nevertheless, the new legislation may give pause to payments companies and fintech companies keen on expanding into the Russian market. While the approach of the Russian legislature toward cryptocurrencies — or digital assets, as they are …

If Bitcoin (BTC) was born in response to the systemic failures laid bare by one global financial crisis, then the subsequent rise of various decentralized networks can be seen as differences in opinion on the best way forward. All are in agreement that the existing financial system is broken, but are slightly at odds in terms of how to fix it. In a sense, each of these networks represents a new, if partial, vision of what could make for a better system. For instance, we’ve seen Celo leverage cryptographic tools and mobile phones to put financial instruments into the hands …

This week’s headlines from Japan included one of country's leaders describing Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto's dream as meaningful, LayerX Labs collaborating with a Japanese university for blockchain research, the FINSUM blockchain conference hosts notable discussion on security tokens offerings, and the head of Monex Group saying Japan is falling behind the U.S. on STOs. Check out some of this week’s crypto and blockchain headlines, originally reported by Cointelegraph Japan. Japanese Financial Services Agency head describes Bitcoin as impactful At the end of Tokyo's 2020 Blockchain Global Governance Conference, or BG2C, also called FINSUM, Ryozo Himino, the secretary of Japan's Financial …