Latest Blockchain News: Finextra Research

Bank for International Settlements cast as digital currency regulator

Regulatory intervention in the digital currency marketplace would need to be co-ordinated by an international body such as the Basle-based Bank for International Settlements, according to the Reserve Bank of Australia.

07 April 2015

Company update/Blockchain

Bitcoin startup Buttercoin shuts up shop

Buttercoin will be turning off our service on April 10th at 11PM Pacific.

07 April 2015

Company update/Blockchain

Bitcoin API outfit Gem raises $1.3 million

Gem, a developer API platform that simplifies integrating Bitcoin into apps and services, today announced that it has raised an additional $1.3 million.

02 April 2015

News/Blockchain

UBS to investigate blockchain technology in new London innovation lab

The Swiss bank is planning to open an innovation lab in Level39's high growth space, HighGrowth:42, to explore the role of blockchain technology in financial services.

02 April 2015

News/Blockchain

Future Money Focus: Jon Matonis

A former foreign exchange dealer for Visa, CEO of HushMail, director of financial services at VeriSign and one of the founding board directors of the Bitcoin Foundation, Jon Matonis' career has blended the world of security, financial services and crypto technology - now Matonis is a public speaker and non-executive director for several startups in the space.

02 April 2015

News/Blockchain

Ex-federal agents charged with stealing Silk Road-related bitcoins

Two former federal agents have been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin during the investigation of the Silk Road dark web marketplace.

30 March 2015

News/Blockchain

EBAday attracts titans of transaction banking

More than 850 bankers and treasury professionals from across Europe are expected to descend on Amsterdam in May to hear senior executives from ING, ABN Amro, HSBC, RBS and Deutsche Bank speak at EBAday 2015, the continent's pre-eminent annual payments event.

30 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Swift London Business Forum to continue discussions on FinTech innovation

Challenger banks will feature heavily in the upcoming Swift Business Forum in London. Craig Donaldson, CEO at Metro Bank UK, is joined by keynote speaker Sir David Clementi, ex-deputy governor of the Bank of England and chairman of Virgin Money.

27 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Credit Suisse paper offers qualified bitcoin backing

While it is unlikely to ever truly compete with traditional currencies, bitcoin could, when combined with the traditional finance system, have cost advantages over credit cards and money transfer firms like Western Union, according to a Credit Suisse article.

24 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Future Money Focus: Robert Sams, Clearmatics

An ex-hedge fund manager who spent a decade trading interest rate derivatives is now jumping headfirst into the world of the blockchain with his newest venture, Clearmatics, a clearing and settlement technology for financial OTC markets based on a distributed ledger.

19 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Government report sets out plan to make UK world's fintech capital

A new report from the UK government's chief scientific adviser has set out 10 recommendations designed to help achieve Chancellor George Osborne's stated aim of turning Britain into the world's fintech capital.

18 March 2015

News/Blockchain

UK govt plans money laundering rules for digital currency exchanges

The UK government has set out its approach to digital currencies, vowing to start applying anti-money laundering regulation to exchanges but also promising to put cash behind research into the potential of blockchain technology.

18 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Intel to probe blockchain potential

Chip maker Intel is the latest tech giant to investigate the potential of blockchain technology, advertising for a cryptographic researcher to work on decentralised ledgers.

17 March 2015

News/Blockchain

IBM in talks with central banks about blockchain adoption - Reuters

IBM has held informal discussions with a number of central banks about the creation of a blockchain-based digital cash and payment system for major currencies, according to a report by Reuters.

13 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Coinbase adds support for FIX protocol as Wall Street boards bandwagon

Bitcoin exchange operator Coinbase has added support for the FIX protocol for order management by professional traders.

12 March 2015

News/Blockchain

Abra taps the blockchain for P2P remittances

A US startup is hoping to shake up the multi-billion dollar remittance market with a mobile app that bypasses the middle men by using the bitcoin blockchain and a network of 'human ATMs'.

10 March 2015

Company update/Blockchain

Heartland Payment Systems collaborates with BitPay

BitPay has worked hard to build and leverage partnerships with existing payment processing networks.

10 March 2015

Company update/Blockchain

Symbiont.io to foster relationship between financial markets and blockchain tech

The founders of the most advanced Bitcoin 2.0 project to date, Counterparty, have joined forces with MathMoney f(x) to found symbiont.io.

10 March 2015

Company update/Blockchain

Big data and virtual currencies leading to massive changes in cybercrime landscape - Europol

A decline of traditional hierarchical criminal groups and networks will be accompanied by the expansion of a virtual criminal underground made up of individual criminal entrepreneurs, who come together on a project basis.

03 March 2015

News/Blockchain

ECB plays down virtual currency risks

Despite flagging some concerns, the European Central Bank says that it does not think that the rise of virtual currencies currently provides a material risk to the smooth operation of payment systems.

03 March 2015