Latest Blockchain News: Finextra Research

Royal Canadian Mint offloads MintChip digital currency assets

The Royal Canadian Mint has offloaded its MintChip cloud-based digital currency to Toronto startup nanoPay, which plans to commercially deploy the technology within weeks.

12 January 2016

News/Blockchain

Earthport creates single API for access to distributed ledgers

UK-based payment network Earthport has launched a single API to connect banks to Ripple's distributed ledger protocol when processing cross-border payments.

12 January 2016

News/Blockchain

Accenture shortlists 15 for London Innovation Lab

Blockchain technology, cognitive computing and biometric security feature among the shortlisted applications selected to participate in Accenture’s 2016 FinTech Innovation Lab London.

06 January 2016

News/Blockchain

Blockchain consortium R3 begins recruitment drive

Bank-backed blockchain collaboration outfit R3 is in the market for talented developers, designers and architects capable of working on "some of the thorniest problems in financial technology".

05 January 2016

News/Blockchain

Crazy fintech predictions for 2016

Pascal Bouvier, newly installed as a venture partner with Santander Innoventures fintech venture fund, dusts off his crystal ball and peers into the not-too-distant fintech future.

04 January 2016

News/Blockchain

Nasdaq sees in the New Year with first blockchain transaction

Nasdaq is claiming a major step forward in the use of blockchain technology in capital markets after documenting a successful private securities transaction via its distributed ledger-based Linq platform.

04 January 2016

News/Blockchain

2015: That was the year that was

As Finextra pulls the shutters down on 2015, we take a look back at our most popular news stories, videos, and community engagement activities over the course of the past year. The site will re-open for business on 4 January 2016.

23 December 2015

News/Blockchain

R3 consortium numbers swell; FS giants join Linux Foundation distributed ledger project

The R3-led blockchain consortium is to close applications to new member banks as 12 more financial institutions sign up and will instead concentrate its efforts on recruiting non-banks to the coalition.

17 December 2015

News/Blockchain

NRI to test application of blockchain in banking

Nomura Research Institute (NRI) is to conduct a proof of concept (PoC) test of the application of blockchain technology to the core architecture of Japanese Internet bank SBI Sumishin.

17 December 2015

News/Blockchain

SETL commences fundraising; appoints former BofE exec Sir David Walker as chairman

Sir David Walker, a former executive director of the Bank of England, joins the ranks of financial luminaries clambering aboard the blockchain bandwagon by joining cryptographic payments and settlement infrastructure startup SETL as chairman.

15 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Blockchain startup hires former head of Swift Americas

Blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings has hired the former head of Swift's securities division and CEO of America's Chris Church as chief business development officer.

14 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Bank spend on blockchain tech to top $1 billion by 2017 - Magister Advisors

Spending by financial institutions on blockchain projects will exceed $1bn in 2017, making it one of the fastest developing enterprise software markets of all time, says boutique investment bank Magister Advisors.

14 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Swift bids to save correspondent banks from extinction

With the role of the middle man in financial services increasingly under threat from a host of new startups and technologies, international banking co-operative Swift has stepped in with a range of service level agreements intended to differentiate and improve the customer experience in correspondent banking by increasing the speed, transparency and predictability of cross-border payments.

10 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Omidyar Network invests in tech enabling central banks to issue digital fiat currency

EBay founder Pierre Omidyar's investment vehicle Omidyar Network has pumped money into eCurrency Mint (eCM), a Dublin-based outfit developing technology that enables central banks to issue digital fiat currency.

10 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Elusive bitcoin creator outed as man who attempted to launch world's first cryptobank

Craig Wright, the 44-year old Australian polymath outed as the creator of bitcoin, attempted to introduce the world's first cryptocurrency bank in 2014 but fell foul of Australian tax rules.

09 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Microsoft blockchain-as-a-service embraces Ripple

Microsoft is working with Ripple to add a pure play transactional financial services angle to its recently released blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) toolkit.

08 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Fintech makes Investopedia top 10 new financial terms list

After another high-profile year for financial technology, the term 'fintech' has finally made its way onto investing education site Investopedia.

08 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Infosys to create 250 fintech jobs in Ireland

Indian IT services group Infosys is promising to create 250 fintech-related jobs in Ireland over the next three years.

07 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Isitc looks to reboot with new interim CEO

Financial industry association Isitc Europe has appointed Citi's Nigel Solkhon interim chief executive as its bids to reboot and establish itself as a significant voice in the post-trade sector.

04 December 2015

News/Blockchain

Cyber risks pose the single biggest threat to modern financial markets - CFTC

Cyber risks are the "number one threat to 21st century financial markets", far outstripping the disruptive potential of advances in automated trading and emerging technologies like the blockchain, a senior official at the Commodity Futurues Trading Commission has warned.

04 December 2015