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Is transparency a good thing?

Who wants transparency when you can have magic? Do you watch The Crown? If not, maybe you should as Series 3 is about to begin with Olivia Coleman, a great actress. The first two series weren’t bad either, with Netflix spending $130 million on the season (around $10 million per episode some estimates) making it…

The regulator’s view of Facebook’s Libra currency

A lot of discussion at the United Nations, where I’ve been all week (blogging about that next week), has raised the question of Libra, the Facebook digital currency. I’m avoiding calling it a cryptocurrency, as it’s more a stablecoin that is focused upon transactions, which is why it has Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Stripe as…

The 10-year-old who runs a blockchain company

I often talk about the world changing thanks to young people who can code. My examples include John and Patrick Collison, Stripe, who were 19 and 21 when they started their business; Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail, who were in their mid-20’s when they created Venmo; Nicolay Storonsky, who was working for Lehman Brothers in…

So, Facebook launched a currency …

I’ve blogged a few times about Facebook planning to launch a currency … Will Facebook become the world’s central bank? If Facebook launch a cryptocurrency, will US government shut it down? … and the fact that most regulators won’t like it. In fact, there are already questions being asked in US Gov about their plans,…

If Facebook launch a cryptocurrency, will US government shut it down?

I’m writing more and more about Facebook launching its own cryptocurrency lately: Will Facebook become the world’s central bank? (March 2019) Will a global platform connect all of our money? (April 2019) This is because they are getting serious about payments and blockchain, after a variety of reports that they will launch their own stablecoin,…

Bitcoin, Stablecoin, Blockchain, Enterprise Ledger … WTF?

I used to blog about blockchain and cryptocurrency almost every day. I stopped as it got too hyped, scammed and boring. In fact, my last blog was about the blockchain hype being dead, but the blockchain dream is still very much alive. Now, most people think that blockchain is something to do with bitcoin, but…

UPDATE: The Blockchain Hype is Dead!

For those fooled by yesterday’s spoof news about Alipay and Visa, did you notice it was April 1? If not, you should have clicked the link in the blog. Talking about spoof news, I think my blog Blockchain is dead upset a few blockchain enthusiasts. Don’t get me wrong, as it’s not me saying blockchain is…

Blockchain is dead

I used to blog about blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) almost once a week … four years ago. Today, I hardly blog about it at all. I guess it just shows what’s top of mind and what’s not at any time in FinTech and, right now, blockchain is not top of mind. In fact,…

Is JPMCoin a cryptocurrency and what should SWIFT do about it?

It’s not often that the Twittersphere I watch lights up in deep conversation, but a long one started last week thanks to JP Morgan’s announcement of the JPM Coin. Here’s a decent piece of coverage on CNBC: (JPM Coin) will be one of the first real-world applications for a cryptocurrency in banking. The industry has…

Will blockchain replace core banking?

I’ve got lots more to write about digital transformation and the things I’m learning from banks engaged in doing it but, to give you a break, I also have a couple of fantastic guest submissions which are worth sharing. Today’s share is from Simon Taylor, he of the blockchain fame from 11FS. Simon recently wrote…

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