For the past two months, Wired has published a detailed account of how the FBI, DEA and other US authorities tracked and traced Ross Ulbricht, the libertarian founder and owner of the Silk Road. For those who have not heard of it, Silk Road is the notorious website that exploited the dark net to sell…
I've recently been saying that the Uber of Finance is not a company, but the Blockchain. Many people have tweeted and asked what I mean, so here's the explanation. Various stories appear about money but the first mentions appear to date back over 12,000 years ago, when ancient tribesmen in Antonia swapped Obsidian stones to store value. What…
I often sit and think about the claim from my bitcoin friends that they’ve invented money without government. I’ve blogged about it quite often too. The reason it is of so much interest is that if the blockchain and bitcoin can circumvent the financial system and the banks, then we really are in transformational times. …
I hosted a dinner last night under Chatham House Rule (no quoting anyone) in a superb venue (Rules, the oldest restaurant in London, established in 1798). The conversation was all about client onboarding and the challenge of keeping it fresh. You get the KYC info, and then the customer is onboard. But for how long? …
I wrote a while ago about the contrast between the innovators (jeans and beers) and regulators (suits and canapés) and was struck by this again as I attended EBADay in Amsterdam. Like SIBOS, EBADay is attended by the best people in transaction banking and payments, and they all wear suits and ties. The focus of…
There’s an interesting debate about blockchains, sidechains and identity taking place that is emergent right now but, soon, will be mainstream. For those who are unclear about these things, blockchain is the technology protocol invented by Satoshi Nakamoto with bitcoin, although it doesn’t have to be based upon bitcoin. The blockchain allows you to create…
Following our regular weekly interview, the Finanser talks this week with best-sellng author Jeffrey Robinson. Jeffrey Robinson is a native New Yorker and an international bestselling author of 30 books. He is a recognised expert on organised crime, fraud and money laundering, and has been labelled by the British Bankers’ Association as “the world’s most…
I’ve blogged before about how bitcoin will become institutionalised, that you cannot have money without government, why it needs a Foundation and how a Wild West structure for value exchange will fail. It’s certainly moving in that direction after the latest revelations about the Bitcoin Foundation, alongside the equally revealing announcements that banks are incorporating…
Nicholas Carson of Business Insider interviews Silicon Valley entrepreneur Wences Casares. Here's why bitcoin will be bigger than the internet "In Spanish, we have a saying that when a genius points at the moon, a fool looks at the finger. I find that happens a lot with bitcoin." —Wences Casares Serial entrepreneur Wences Casares created Argentina's first internet…
Bitcoin still stirs up a huge debate about where it will go in the future; will it become institutionalised; what is the blockchain going to do to banking; and more. In order to clarify the debate, we interviewed Jon Matonis, a renowned expert on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, to find out what is the truth. Tell…
