Crypto

Nov 18, 2014

Wrappers, replacers and reformers are all targeting banks

I’ve been talking about the hot new start-ups targeting the banking markets for a while. There are literally 1000’s of them – the Fintech Awards had over 750 firms to review this year alone – and sifting the wheat from the chaff is hard. There are a few standouts however, and these are the ones…

Nov 14, 2014

Will Bitcoin replace SWIFT?

So I made a slightly provocative comment, as it turned out, during my keynote at PaymentsNZ. It was picked up and referenced by Richard Meadows in yesterday’s article: “[Skinner] said the coding behind virtual currency Bitcoin could also prove to be enormously transformational, potentially even replacing the SWIFTnetwork for inter-bank payments”. This created a lot…

Oct 28, 2014

What is Money?

Blimey!!! When you start debating nuances of things with the Bitcoin community, it doesn’t ‘arf get into a pedants dream. In this case, we clarified some of the dialogue about the blockchain and bitcoin yesterday. The net:net of that discussion is that you have to a have a native currency to use the blockchain. It…

Oct 28, 2014

What is Money?

Oct 27, 2014

Banks using the bitcoin blockchain is like putting a bird in a cage

The Bitcoin community have been educating me lately in how their currency can not be regulated. This stems from my assertion that money was created to control people and therefore you cannot have money without government. The Bitcoin guys tell me that once you’ve converted your currency into bitcoins, then you can trade that currency anywhere…

Oct 27, 2014

Banks using the bitcoin blockchain is like putting a bird in a cage

Oct 21, 2014

Some bankers do have their head in the sand (luckily most don’t)

So I just chaired a panel discussion at Eurofinance 2014. There were six statements made during the panel which I wanted to discuss on stage but, being the moderator, I couldn’t really say: “what you just said is complete balderdash my friend” (I could, but it wouldn't have been appropriate). So luckily I blog and therefore I…

Oct 21, 2014

Some bankers do have their head in the sand (luckily most don’t)

Oct 16, 2014

You might believe you can change the system (but it’s far more likely the system will change you)

I got into a great discussion yesterday about the wild, Wild West of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin. The dialogue was with a new bright-eyed MBA graduate, who believes this is the future. I felt pretty bad to be the old Gandalfian cynic, who saw opportunities here but poo-poohed the notion that you could have a currency…